Nick Saban reveals how NIL, transfer portal has impacted his approach to roster building

With the transfer portal and NIL changing college football in a massive way, Alabama coach Nick Saban revealed how he has adjusted his approach to roster building. The Crimson Tide coach believes the only way to compete against teams with more NIL money to offer is by creating a program that puts players in a position to profit not only in the present, but the future as well.

He pointed to Alabama’s NFL success over the past decade, claiming the Tide already have the country’s top program.

“The only thing that I think we can do is continue to have the best program to create the most value in personal development and academic success for the players and their ability to develop in our program and create value for their future as football players,” Saban said at the SEC coaches meeting in Destin, Florida. “There’s a stat out there that our players since 2010 have made $1.7 billion playing in the NFL. They created that value and developed it. I’m sure a lot of other players have made a lot of money developing in a lot of other programs, but it’s not the same as ours. So you get players to focus on that and not just on where they can go and how much they can make (through NIL).”

Nick Saban has been outspoken in his criticism of the current NIL and transfer portal rules and guidelines, which he believes will be detrimental to the future parity of the sport. This has gotten the Hall of Fame coach into some trouble lately after he called out Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher and Jackson State coach Deion Sanders for working out million-dollar NIL deals for their players. Both Fisher and Sanders denied this and fired back at Saban with comments of their own.

The Alabama coach has since pulled back on his comments, saying it wasn’t his intent to single anyone out. However, he hasn’t changed his tune in calling for change. He is not alone in that regard, with several other coaches and conference commissioners also calling for federal legislation of NIL according to Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger.

Until that time comes though, Saban will have to continue to find creative ways to work within the current landscape.

“The issue of the transfer portal and name, image and likeness creates a bigger dynamic in terms of, ‘I’m gonna enter the transfer portal and see if I can get more someplace else,'” he said. “I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, I’m just saying that’s the road we’re going down. None of the players have really any contractual obligation at all to a school. We have to do the best we can to have the best possible program for them in terms of personal development, academic support, career development and development as football players. Hopefully there are people who see value in what they can create in the future. Not just in what they can make now. Not that I’m opposed at all to players making what they do make now, but I think you have to have some national competitive balance.”