Legendary coach Nick Saban makes eye-catching remarks about Donald Trump's NIL executive order to officially end bidding wars

U.S. President Donald Trump sent shockwaves after he signed the NIL executive order on Thursday. The legislation titled, “Donald Trump saves college sports,” focuses on putting a hard stop on pay-by-play payments made by third-party fundraisers and NIL boosters.

Nick Saban welcomed the order with both hands and said that it was a huge step in reviving college sports.

The Texas Longhorns, Miami Hurricanes and Georgia Bulldogs are some of the top programs backed by loaded NIL boosters. They funnel the money to build rosters and help the coaches in times of recruiting. With this legislation coming into effect, third-party payments will be fully abolished.

This order doesn't impose any restrictions on third-party NIL deals and endorsements players sign with different brands during their college careers.

They can continue to sign lucrative deals apart from the direct pay from the university as part of the landmark House vs. NCAA settlement.

Syndication: Tuscaloosa News - Source: Imagn

“I think President Trump’s executive order is a huge step in providing the educational model which is what we’ve always sort of tried to promote to create opportunities for players, male and female alike, revenue and non-revenue, so they can have development as people, students and develop careers or develop professionally if that’s what they choose to do,” Saban said on Friday, via "FOX and Friends."

“I think we need to make a decision here relative to do we want to have an education-based model, which I think the President made a huge step toward that, or do we want to have universities sponsor professional teams. And I think most people would choose the former,” he added.

Nick Saban has always been an advocate for education over NIL in college athletics

Nnick Saban retired in 2024, allegedly due to the recent changes in college football.

The changing dynamics of NIL and player compensation were deteriorating the sanctity of what college athletics was supposed to be. The foundations of amateurism appeared to be lost.

Reports suggested Saban couldn't see himself running the program anymore, with players and coaches no longer loyal to the program. He reiterated the harsh reality of college athletics in a congressional hearing in March 2024 along with the Cavinder Twins.

Saban pointed out major flaws in the system and what needs to be done to salvage the situation.

It appears his pitch was heard and that college athletics is inching towards its traditional goals.