The conversation about who, if anyone, is actually in charge of college football keeps getting louder, and Nick Saban is firmly in the camp that says the sport needs real oversight.
Now a fixture on ESPN’s College GameDay after stepping away from coaching, Saban has been vocal about what he sees as a leadership vacuum at the national level. In his view, the combination of NIL, free player movement, and shifting conference lines has created a system with plenty of power centers and no clear authority. His solution is straightforward: a single commissioner who can operate above the conferences, paired with a competition committee that standardizes how the game is governed.
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“I think that we need to have a commissioner who’s kind of over all the conferences, as well as a competition committee who sort of defines the rules of how we’re going to play the game,” Saban said. “Because that’s what we don’t have right now.”
Saban contrasted the current environment with an earlier era when expectations were more clearly defined. He pointed to contracts that once outlined academic duties, transfer guidelines, and commitments to schools, arguing that the erosion of those standards has left college football operating without guardrails. “If you really don’t support that, you’re kind of supporting a little bit of anarchy,” Saban said, adding that the attention surrounding the College Football Playoff has helped paper over deeper issues.
That sentiment isn’t limited to Saban. Last December, then-Penn State head coach James Franklin, now leading Virginia Tech, publicly echoed the need for a commissioner and went so far as to suggest Saban as the ideal candidate. “I think one of the most important things that we can do is let’s get a commissioner of college football that is waking up every single morning and going to bed every single night making decisions that’s in the best interest of college football,” Franklin said, calling Saban the “obvious choice.”
Whether that role ever exists remains to be seen. What’s clear is that even after retiring with seven national championships, Saban still sees college football as a sport at a crossroads, one that may not be able to keep evolving without someone firmly holding the wheel.
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This article originally appeared on Clemson Wire: Nick Saban on the changes he wants to see in college football
