When legendary University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban announced his retirement in January 2024 at the age of 72, various analysts and colleagues heralded his departure as the end of an “epic era” in coaching.
I expressed it.
“College football just forced the GOAT into retirement,” outspoken University of Colorado coach Deion Sanders said on GOAT.
With Saban’s record as a college coach of 297 wins, 71 losses, and 1 tie, not to mention his seven national championships, there is no doubt that he is part of an elite group of college coaches.
However, as the author of a book about the racially exploitative nature of college sports, I do not believe that Saban was “outed.
” Rather, I see Saban’s departure as a farewell to an evolving college sports system that increasingly empowers athletes in ways he has vocally denounced.
Saban has never been a champion of the rights of college athletes.
Instead, he sought to maintain a status quo that exploited players while enriching coaches, schools, and corporate sponsors.
Opposition Endorsements and Transfer Portal Saban has been outspoken about his dissatisfaction with recent rule changes regarding name, image and likeness, his NIL.
The new rules allow college athletes to win sponsorship deals and profit from their reputation.
Saban believed the NIL changes would allow programs to lure players to their teams by providing more funding to players and their families.
In other words, schools with wealthy donors may be able to take advantage of attractive NIL packages to attract top talent and outbid other schools with fewer resources.
Ironically, the NIL changes widen the existing recruiting gap between top Power 5 schools (such as the University of Alabama, University of Georgia, Ohio State University, and Louisiana State University) and their peers within the same district.
Not yet.
Still, had Saban continued to train, he would have earned a whopping $11.
1 million salary in 2024.
This included an annual base salary of $1.
1 million and a talent fee of $10 million, which would increase by $400,000 each year.
Talent fees are typically paid by universities from revenue from sponsorships and rights deals and cover the opportunity to use a coach’s NIL.
Because of his high profile as a coach, he also benefited from multi-million dollar sponsorship deals with Nike, Chevrolet and other brands.
Saban also criticized changes to the NCAA transfer portal that will allow players to transfer schools without taking a year off after transferring starting in 2021.
Saban said the portal makes it difficult for coaches to maintain player loyalty.
Coaches, on the other hand, could suddenly leave a program for a higher-paying job for years, regardless of their commitments to recruits or former players.
Saban himself left Louisiana State University in 2004 to coach the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.
A system that exploits players The 4,444 college football players are the main workforce of the multibillion-dollar college sports industry.
Given the amount of money they make for colleges, coaches and corporate sponsors, and the fact that most of them won’t make it to the NFL, this is a time of great income potential for them.
But unlike coaches, who are paid based on market value, player compensation in the form of scholarships is artificially limited.
Your income is limited to tuition, room and board, a meal plan, so-called health insurance, and a small stipend.
This means that Power 5 football and Division I men’s basketball athletes are denied full economic rights and the opportunity to receive fair market compensation for their work.
Additionally, scholarships are not guaranteed every year.
A coach may refuse to renew an athlete’s scholarship.
The scholarship agreement also requires players to attend practices and meetings, maintain academic eligibility, comply with in-season and off-season coaching assignments, and participate in athletic competitions.
A study of Pac-12 athletes found that athletes spent an average of 50 hours per week on track and field.
In addition to attending training sessions, film screenings and competitions, you also have to devote time to sports training, travel and physical therapy.
Although the NCAA sets mandatory athletic activities at a maximum of 20 hours per week, some activities are voluntary, even though there are penalties for noncompliance.
And then there are injuries.
In a study of 300 college football players, Harvard University professors found that one-third reported at least one concussion.
Two-thirds reported experiencing one or more injuries of a different nature.
This highlights the occupational and long-term health risks associated with sport.
A New Golden Era In other words, the grand era of coaching excellence that ESPN analysts believe Saban represents was also an era of exploitation and disenfranchisement for college athletes.
This highly exploitative system runs counter to the NCAA’s stated mission, which claims to value athletes more than its employees and corporate partners.
And this exploitation had overtly racist effects.
Division I, conference, NCAA, and corporate sponsorship coaches have secured millions of dollars while systematically draining the market value of college football’s predominantly black workforce.
The new NIL Bill of Rights would provide federal guidelines on NIL parameters and establish an independent monitoring group.
But the bill’s authors are still trying to prevent college athletes from being classified as employees.
Without employee or union status, the benefits that can be achieved through collective bargaining and that can create a more level playing field for college athletes remain elusive.
Nick Saban is sure to be in the Hall of Fame.
However, I believe his retirement does not represent the end of a golden age of great leadership.
Rather, it marks a potential shift toward a true golden era of equitable big-time college sports, one that treats college athletes as deserving of their fair share of the revenues they generate.
