Donald Trump’s harsh critic gives $250k reality check to college athletes after “lobbying” from Nick Saban paves way for NIL change

United States President Donald Trump is looking into changing NIL in college sports after meeting with former Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban.

Saban has vented his frustration with NIL as he says it's just pay-to-play, which is what it wasn't supposed to be. After he met with Trump, it was reported that the President is looking into NIL, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"The Trump administration is considering an executive order that could increase scrutiny of the explosion in payments to college athletes since 2021, after the president met with former Alabama coach Nick Saban, White House officials said...," the article read.

"Trump said he agreed with Saban and would look at crafting an executive order, people familiar with the meeting said. Trump told aides to begin studying what an order could say, the people said," the article added.

After the report came out, one of Trump's biggest critics, Jemele Hill, blasted the President for trying to end NIL.

"Pay attention college athletes .. bet you didn’t know this when or if you voted. NCAA has dropped a cool $250K to lobbyists to seize control of NIL. Good luck!," Hill wrote on X.

Hill is a writer for The Atlantic, who previously worked at ESPN and has been a vocal critic of Trump. In 2017, Hill sent out a post on X calling Trump 'a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.'

So, it isn't a surprise that Hill isn't a fan of what Trump is trying to do after receiving advice from Nick Saban.

Nick Saban has been against NIL in college sports

Nick Saban is arguably the greatest college football coach of all time, and before NIL was official, he was against it.

Saban thought NIL would turn to pay-to-play, which is what has happened.

"That creates a situation where you can basically buy players," Saban told the Associated Press in 2022 about his worries with NIL. "You can do it in recruiting. I mean, if that's what we want college football to be, I don't know. And you can also get players to get in the transfer portal to see if they can get more someplace else than they can get at your place."

NIL and the transfer portal also ended up being a key reason why Saban retired from coaching the Crimson Tide.

Saban finished his college career with seven national championships and went 292-71-1 all-time as a college head coach.