Lawyer fires back at Nick Saban, Donald Trump discussing NIL executive order

May 1, 2025; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban introduces President Donald Trump. Trump delivered a special commencement address to University of Alabama graduates at Coleman Coliseum. Graduation occurs over the weekend. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News/USA Today Network via Imagn Images

Steve Berman fired back at reported talks between Nick Saban and Donald Trump about a possible executive order aimed at NIL.

Berman is the co-founder of the Hagens Berman law firm, who is representing a class of hundreds of thousands of current and former college athletes in a pending ‘historic $2.78 billion settlement with the NCAA.’

The law firm said interreference from Saban and Trump at this point is ‘unmerited and unhelpful.’

“While he was a coach, Saban initially opposed NIL payments to athletes, pushing to add restrictions and red-tape through national legislation to add ‘some sort of control,'” Berman said in a press release. “During his time scrutinizing the athlete pay structure, he made tens of millions of dollars and was previously the highest-paid coach in college football.”

Berman went on to further explain why he felt Saban and Trump’s involvement was ‘unneeded.’

“Coach Saban and Trump’s eleventh-hour talks of executive orders and other meddling are just more unneeded self-involvement,” Berman said. “College athletes are spearheading historic changes and benefitting massively from NIL deals. They don’t need this unmerited interference from a coach only seeking to protect the system that made him tens of millions.”