Alabama HC Nick Saban just proved he's a huge hypocrite
Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban proved this week that he's a hypocrite. During an appearance on Thursday at the Alabama Football Coaches Association (ALFCA) convention in Montgomery, Saban reportedly explained how he turned away a couple of players over lucrative NIL requests. Here's what Saban said, according to Outkick.com: “Someone with one of […]
Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban proved this week that he's a hypocrite.
During an appearance on Thursday at the Alabama Football Coaches Association (ALFCA) convention in Montgomery, Saban reportedly explained how he turned away a couple of players over lucrative NIL requests.
Here's what Saban said, according to Outkick.com:
“Someone with one of the best corners in the nation (in high school) came to me and asked if we’d pay them $800,000 for the player to sign here. I told him he can find another place to play,” Saban said, according to Baker High School (Mobile) coach Steve Normand, who was there.
“I’m not paying a kid a bunch of NIL money before he earns it,” Normand said Saban added.
“Yes, he did say that,” Normand told OutKick on Saturday morning. “Coach Saban was talking about that and how there has to be more regulations with NIL and how the NCAA needs more ways and means to control it because it’s getting out of hand.”
Saban's comments have been praised this weekend by anti-NIL college football fans.
Which is an odd response considering what Saban told reporters during the summer of 2021.
In 2021, during an appearance at the Texas High School Coaches Association convention (apparently Saban only speaks about NIL deals at coaches conventions), Saban told the gathered crowd that quarterback Bryce Young had an almost seven-figure NIL deal before he had even started a game for the Crimson Tide.
I'm not sure how Saban can praise Young's NIL deal in 2021 — which he did nothing to earn — and then slam a player for wanting $800,000 to sign.
If a recruit can leverage his skills into an $800k NIL deal, then good for him. College football is a billion-dollar business. There's plenty of cash to go around (just look at coaching salaries).
Likewise, if Saban doesn't want to pay a recruit (via NIL collectives) $800k to sign, then 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
