Former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban spoke at President Trump’s White House roundtable regarding the future of college sports.
Saban, who won seven national championships, is worried about what college sports have become.
“All athletics. I’m talking about football, basketball, Olympic sports, revenue, nonrevenue, it doesn’t matter,” Saban said. “My goal as a coach for my players, our players, was to help them be more successful in life; that we would create an atmosphere and environment that would help them through personal development, academic support – 668 degrees in 17 years at Alabama – and help them develop a career as a football player. That was our goal, so that they were creating value in life, and we were preparing them for their future past athletics. So, what happened?
“In this current system that we have, that became impossible to do, because people, instead of making decisions about creating value for their future, they were making decisions about how much money could they make at whichever school they could go to or transfer to.”
Saban, of course, made more than $150 million during his coaching career. While his players were leading his team to national championships, making tens of thousands per year in scholarship money, he was raking in millions upon millions.
The Alabama coach deserved it, of course. But so do the top players.
If the setup in college football is going to change, as Saban is suggesting, players need to be prioritized, too.
“Nick Saban made more than $150 million as a college head coach,” one writer pointed out in a tweet that has been liked more than 800 times.
Nick Saban made more than $150 million as a college head coach. https://t.co/0i574SRsYv
— Daniel Libit (@DanielLibit) March 6, 2026
College football fans weigh in on comments
Is Saban in the right or is he being hypocritical?
“With all the winning he did he deserves it. He’s. 74 put in tons of ears of all year-round, coaching and developing people and answering to the university./- 50 years of coaching you deserve it and winning,” one wrote.
“Salary cap everything in college sports. Athletes, coaches, staff. It’s a system that has always lived between two worlds … professional and amateur. And you’re right that the salaries of the professionals in that business (coaches and staff) should not have been allowed to expand as they did. The highest paid state employee should not be a HC,” one shared.
“Exactly. If coaches want to go back to “the good ole days”, cap coach salaries as equal to a tenured professor,” one shared.
“NIL leveled the playing field and he quit immediately when that happened,” another pointed out.
Saban, meanwhile, is calling for change.
“We need to develop an effective system of revenue sharing, authentic name, image, and likeness. Authentic being, you have marketing value, which now we have collectives, which just create opportunities, which has become pay-for-play.”
This story was originally published by The Spun on Mar 8, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
