University of Alabama coach Nick Saban is calling for more uniform regulation over the NIL landscape, and is questioning the direction of college football with some of the recent rule changes that appear to be on the verge adopted.
Saban made the comments during a recent wide-ranging interview with Ross Dellenger Sports Illustrated.
"The issue is, when you create those [collectives] for people, are you establishing a pay-for-play type of environment that can be used in recruiting?," he said. "So now, all the sudden, guys are not going to school where they can create the most value for their future. Guys are going to school where they can make the most money. I don’t think that is even the best thing for the player.
"You went to college. I went to college. Why were we going? We had goals and aspirations for how we wanted to create value for our future. Sometimes these things can be a distraction academically as well as athletically. But I’ll say it again: I think name, image and likeness is good for players. The whole concept of collectives is what has created this environment that we are in and I’m not sure that anybody really had the insight or the vision to see that was going to happen. So therefore, we had no guidelines and now we’re trying to develop some."
Saban told Dellenger that he believes athlete compensation should be more standardized and equal across a team. He doesn't necessarily have a solution, but says he has regular conversations with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and SEC associate commissioner William King about that and more.
As for the proposed rule changes, Saban is in favor of the clock continuing to run after a first down, but his position hasn't changed regarding no-huddle offenses in that he'd like to see the pace of play slowed down a little.
“When a team can snap the ball within 7 seconds of the [play] clock, is that really good for player safety?” he says. “I’m just asking the question.”
See the full exclusive Q&A.
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