Miami lawyer John Ruiz: Nick Saban comments 'felt like a little teenager whining'

Most of the attention surrounding Alabama head coach Nick Saban’s recent controversial comments revolve around NIL, Texas A&M, Jimbo Fisher, and Deion Sanders. But Saban called out the Miami Hurricanes, too.

Saban mentioned Miami as part of his long rant regarding NIL and college athletics, referring to former Kansas State guard Nijel Pack, who signed a $400,000 deal with LifeWallet after he committed to Miami out of the transfer portal. Pack was the No. 23 rated player to enter the portal during this cycle, according to On3’s rankings.

“These guys from Miami that are going to play basketball there for $400,000,” Saban said. “It’s in the newspaper. The guy tells you how he’s doing it. But the NCAA can’t enforce their rules because it’s not against the law, and that’s an issue, that’s a problem. Unless we get something that protects them from litigation, I don’t know what we’re going to do about it.”

While the responses from Fisher, Sanders, and others have gotten most of the attention, Miami wasn’t going down without a response to Saban. Miami lawyer John Ruiz, a billionaire who has played a big role in the development of NIL deals with the Hurricanes, had a very strong response to the comments in a recent interview with the Miami Herald.

“Shocked, shocked that somebody in the business for such a long time and on top of his game was totally clueless of what all of this means,” Ruiz said, via the Miami Herald. “He basically said, ‘I’m losing my market dominance because of everything that is going on and then starts… throwing everyone under the bus.”

Ruiz on Saban’s jab at Miami: ‘It felt like a little teenager whining’

Ruiz did not hold back any punches on Saban, saying that his comments on Miami’s addition of Pack “felt like a little teenager whining.”

“This was a very, very poor display of judgment and character,” Ruiz said of Saban’s rant at a speaking event in Birmingham, Alabama. “It felt like a little teenager whining about why previously they had free reign and all of a sudden when you level the playing field [it changes for Saban]. It was very ugly of him. It’s totally inappropriate the way he conducted himself and handled everything.

“More egregious is the very statements he made contained multiple NCAA violations of how he is involved in the process of the collectives and speaking to the kids about it and getting the kids involved. He was asking for collectives to be formed and provide payments to players because they would be at a disadvantage competitively [otherwise]. That is not what the NIL laws are designed to accomplish.”

Regarding his NIL deal with Pack, Ruiz said that the compensation “was warranted.” Ruiz also gives out NIL deals to lesser-known athletes, such as long snappers and special teamers.

“I felt the amount of money was warranted; it was a business decision,” he said, via the Miami Herald. “Would be very good deal for Nijel, LifeWallet and Cigarette and it turned out to be spectacular. That put LifeWallet on the map big time. I’m proud of what I’m doing and the staff. I take great satisfaction in making family and kids [happy].”