Paul Finebaum explains the real reason Nick Saban is voicing his concerns about NIL

[DKW 86 7,419]

Paul Finebaum explains the real reason Nick Saban is voicing his concerns about NIL

Following day one of the SEC spring meetings, college football analyst Paul Finebaum joined ESPN’s Get Up to discuss the ongoing NIL conversation between the conference leadership. He revealed what he believes to be the real reason behind Nick Saban’s recent screed about Name, Image and Likeness reform.

Saban started a firestorm when he called out Texas A&M and Jimbo Fisher’s alleged NIL schemes and it’s been the main topic of the SEC meetings this week.

“[With] Nick Saban, this is not the first time he’s spoken [about NIL],” Finebaum said. “He’s really worked several members of the media privately over the last couple of months, and you know a few of them very well. (Likely everyone at SEC Network and ESPN) And he’s been trying to get his message out, but he really didn’t get it out very effectively. Because his message, as important as he is, is not really going to change anything.

“But as another coach told me yesterday, Nick Saban is concerned about a couple of things. We make a big deal about his age, he’ll be 71 [later this year], and he’s not old in the parlance of coaching, but he doesn’t have as much runway as these other coaches, including Jimbo Fisher. So, every recruiting class is critical for him to try to pile on some more national championships. And what he had over the rest of college football [in the past], he doesn’t have and that’s a stranglehold. That stranglehold has now been spread out and Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M are incredibly in better shape to recruit under the NIL model because they have so much more money at Texas A&M and in Texas.”

Fisher, Aggies pull in No. 1 recruiting class over Saban

The Alabama head coach has been one of the most vocal opponents of the direction of college football recruiting. Saban maintains that he approves of the system as it enables players to make money on their work. However, he continues to disapprove of colleges seemingly using money as a direct recruiting tool.

While speaking at an event celebrating the 50-day countdown to the World Games in Birmingham, Saban reportedly claimed that Texas A&M “bought every player on their team.”

“I know the consequence is going to be difficult for the people who are spending tons of money to get players,” Saban said via AL.com. “You read about it, you know who they are. We were second in recruiting last year. A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness.

“We didn’t buy one player. Aight? But I don’t know if we’re going to be able to sustain that in the future, because more and more people are doing it. It’s tough.”

The Crimson Tide came in second to the Aggies in the 2022 recruiting class rankings. With nine On3 Consensus five-star signees, the class Texas A&M class was the best in history.

In 2009 or 2011 UTx went to the Alamo Bowl and made more money than Alabama did winning the national title. Alabama made about $100-105M, Texas made $125M and barely had a good drive to San Antonio. Their Alumni and Fanbase is so much larger that the associated sales of sportsgear, tickets, donations, etc UTx actually made more money than the National Champ. We like to think of how Big we are in the SEC. We are not. 

List of United States public university campuses by enrollment - Wikipedia

Ten largest public university campuses by enrollment during the 2021–22 academic year
Ranking	University	Location	Enrollment	Reference(s)
1	Texas A&M University[note 1]	College Station, Texas	73,284	[1]
2	University of Central Florida	Orlando, Florida	70,406	[2]
3	Ohio State University[note 2]	Columbus, Ohio	67,772	[3]
4	University of Florida	Gainesville, Florida	60,613	[4]
5	Florida International University	Miami, Florida	56,627	[5]
6	University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign	Urbana/Champaign, Illinois	56,299	[6]
7	Arizona State University[note 3]	Tempe, Arizona	54,866	[7]
8	Georgia State University	Atlanta, Georgia	52,530	[8]
9	University of Minnesota	Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota	52,376	[9]
10	University of Texas at Austin	Austin, Texas	51,992	[10]

Edited June 4, 2022 by DKW 86

[DKW 86 7,419]

University	Undergrad	Total Enrollment
Texas A&M	47,093	61,642
Florida	32,829	49,459
Alabama	30,752	36,047
Missouri	27,642	35,425
Georgia	26,882	35,197
LSU	25,572	31,044
South Carolina	24,866	32,971
Kentucky	22,223	29,203
Arkansas	21,836	26,237
Tennessee	21,664	30,386
Auburn	20,629	25,912
Ole Miss	18,101	22,503
Mississippi State	16,536	20,138
Vanderbilt	6,851	12,686

Alabama and Auburn are really small schools in comparison. The money raising, donations, organizational realities of these bigger schools will LIKELY have profound effects on college football going forward. 

What started TAMU in on the NIL with such force? TAMU was a whipping boy to UTx for decades. They resent that to their DNA. The 'rivalry' with Texas was not really a rivalry at all. 

All-time series	Texas leads, 76–37–5[1]

Thats right boys and girls. While we have held our own with bama, TAMU was getting mudholed by Texas. The rivalry was not even close. TAMU wants nothing to do with going back to those days. Enter the NIL. Suddenly, the TAMU Folks have the equalizing device with Texas. THE NIL. 

The rest of the conference is taking note. The two big overwhelming in size and $$$ schools may be about to have a knockdown drag out war for dominance and soon some of the smaller schools may not be able to compete. 

Ohio State coach Ryan Day puts a number on NIL cost, says Buckeyes need $13 million to keep roster intact - CBSSports.com

What will that number be NEXT SEASON? $13M in 2022 may look like $15-18 next year. What about later on? Remember, there are no salary caps with NIL in College Football

Edited June 4, 2022 by DKW 86

[Gowebb11 9,314]

41 minutes ago, DKW 86 said:

The two big overwhelming in size and $$$ schools may be about to have a knockdown drag out war for dominance and soon some of the smaller schools may not be able to compete.

That’s always been the case for the most part. How many titles has Vandy, Duke, and Purdue won? They’ve been dominated by Bama, Clemson, and Ohio State for decades. The big rich powerful schools (who also don’t hesitate to bend the rules/academic standards) have always had the upper hand. And always will. 

[DKW 86 7,419]

Purdue is actually a school that could do very well in NIL $$$