Nick Saban was not asked about Texas A&M Football’s recruitment Wednesday. But he liked talking about it.
In what can be aptly described as a shot across the bow of his SEC rival, Saban accused Texas A&M of manipulating aliases and likeness rules to pay players and land the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class under head coach Jimbo Fisher. He also managed to anger Deion Sanders.
Saban addressed local business leaders in Birmingham for an event promoting the World Games to be held in Alabama in July. During a nearly seven-minute statement, Saban spoke about NIL, explaining that he believes in the practice in theory, but that it is being manipulated by some of his rivals in ways that threaten the very existence of collegiate sport.
Saban believes that NIL is done “right”.
Saban made it clear that he is not against NIL when done “right” and that he encourages his players to hire agents to create opportunities.
“Our players created $3 million worth of opportunities last year by getting it right,” said Saban. “I have no problem with that and nobody on our team had a problem with that because the people who got the money deserved it. … The problem and the problem with name, image and likeness is coaches trying to take advantage of themselves.”
Which Saban doesn’t believe in
He then described a scenario where programs hire outside agencies funded by boosters who then “pass through” money to players based on what a coach promised them as recruits. He said Alabama doesn’t. He believes other programs do this and that it creates a situation where recruits ask for programs like Alabama, fulfill those offers, or miss their services.
And that, he believes, is the beginning of the end of college sports.
“If we start paying players, we need to eliminate esports,” Saban said.
For reference, the SEC’s sports programs generated $777.8 million in the 2020-21 fiscal year. This number does not include bowl earnings.
The story goes on
Saban: “A&M bought every player on their team”
Then, without being asked, Saban began to name names. The first name was Texas A&M, which beat Alabama for the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class in 2022, the first year NIL was involved in recruiting.
“We were second in recruitment last year, A&M was first,” said Saban. “A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness. We didn’t buy a single player. I don’t know if we can keep that going in the future because more and more people are doing it.”
Jimbo Fisher and Nick Saban’s next meeting could be a little awkward. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
Saban then named Jackson State and Miami Basketball.
“Read about it in the newspaper,” Saban said. “Last year Jackson State paid a guy who was a really good Division I player $1 million to get him into the school. And they bragged about it. Nobody did anything about it. it’s in the newspaper. The guy tells you how he does it. But the NCAA can’t enforce their rules because it’s not against the law.”
Deion Sanders responds
Jackson State stunned college football in December by flipping rivals No. 1 overall and recruiting Florida State’s Travis Hunter to sign with HBCU. Sanders coaches Jackson State. He wasn’t happy with Saban’s comment.
Stay tuned for more commentary from Coach Prime.
Fisher, meanwhile, did not issue a rebuttal Wednesday night. But he’s heard those accusations before. He mocked her when speaking to CBS Sports in February.
“This $30 million deal is a joke,” Fisher said. “This thing that there’s some money out there and all these things that happened and it was written on BroBible by a guy called Sliced Bread and suddenly the country believes it, it’s a joke. It hasn’t affected recruitment at all. … The people who want to comment on this have no idea what’s going on. It’s an insult to the players who come here and to the people around us.”
That’s certainly not the last we’ve heard from Fisher either.