Nick Saban responds to claim of him being anti-NIL

Sep 10, 2017; Nashville, TN, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban makes his way off the team bus through a crowd of fans gathered before a game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Vanderbilt Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

At the Nick’s Kids golf tournament on Tuesday, Nick Saban was asked how he feels about the public’s perception of him being against name, image and likeness in college sports. 

“I’m all for the players making money,” Saban said. “I don’t think we have a sustainable system right now. I think a lot of people would agree with that in terms of the future of college athletics. Period. Not just football. How do we sustain 20 other non-revenue sports that create lots of opportunities for people in the future.”

These comments are similar to what Saban said on Capitol Hill two months after his retirement. 

He said he liked coaching college football more than the NFL because he had the opportunity to develop young people with the goal of making their quality of life better.  

Saban’s stance is geared more toward the idea of an athlete making money as they find their footing in college, not paying athletes before they step on the field.

“Well, all the things that I believed in for all these years, 50 years of coaching, no longer exist in college athletics,” Saban said. “So, it always was about developing players. It was always about helping people when you’re successful in life. My wife even said to me, we have all the recruits over on Sunday with their parents for breakfast. And she would always meet with the mothers to talk about how she was going to help and impact their sons and how they would be well taken care of. And she came to me, like right before our retirement and said, ‘Why are we doing this?’ And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ She said, ‘All they care about is how much you’re going to pay them.’”

GET THE BEST ALABAMA FOOTBALL INSIDER INFORMATION, MESSAGE BOARD ACCESS, AND RECRUITING COVERAGE TODAY! SIGN UP HERETO UNLOCK OUR SUBSCRIBER ONLY CONTENT!*