Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban proved this week that he’s a hypocrite.
During an appearance Thursday at the Alabama Football Coaches Association (ALFCA) convention in Montgomery, Saban reportedly explained how he turned a few players away for lucrative NIL solicitations.
Here’s what Saban said, according to Outkick.com:
“Someone with one of the best corners in the nation (in high school) came up to me and asked if we would pay them $800,000 to have the player sign here. I told him he could find another place to play,” Saban said, according to Baker High School (Mobile) coach Steve Normand, who was there.
“I don’t pay a kid a bunch of zero money before they’ve earned it,” Normand said, adding Saban.
“Yeah, he said that,” Normand told OutKick on Saturday morning. “Coach Saban has talked about that and how there needs to be more regulation with NIL and how the NCAA needs more ways and means to control it because it’s getting out of control.”
It takes some serious rocks to ask Nick Saban to get your girlfriend into law school. pic.twitter.com/icUHKovSZB
— Jim Weber (@JimMWeber) January 29, 2023
Saban’s comments drew praise from anti-NIL college football fans this weekend.
Which is an odd response considering what Saban told reporters in the summer of 2021.
In 2021, during an appearance at the Texas High School Coaches Association convention (apparently Saban only talks about NIL deals at coaching conventions), Saban told the assembled crowd that quarterback Bryce Young had a nearly seven-figure NIL deal before he even made it had started playing for the Crimson Tide.
Nick Saban is speaking at the Texas HS Coaches Association Convention today. He was asked about NIL. Apparently, Bryce Young is doing just fine.
“Our QB has been approaching ungodly numbers before and he hasn’t even played yet. If I told you what it is…it’s almost 7 digits.”
— Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) July 20, 2021
I’m not sure how Saban can praise Young’s NIL deal in 2021 – which he earned nothing on – and then blast a player for wanting to sign $800,000.
If a recruit can bring their skills to an $800,000 deal, that’s good for them. College football is a billion dollar business. There’s plenty of money to get around (just look at coach salaries).
Likewise, if Saban doesn’t want to pay a recruit (via NIL Collectives) $800,000 to sign, that’s his prerogative. But praising Young’s rich NIL deal when he hadn’t even started a game for Alabama, and then making a comment about a recruit having to “earn it,” is as hypocritical as it gets.
Featured image via USA TODAY Sports