Jimbo Fisher addresses Nick Saban's idea of college athletes unionizing

It appears Alabama coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher still have different opinions on how college football should move forward with the changing landscape NIL has created. After Saban said during the SEC Spring Meetings on Tuesday that he believes college athletes should unionize, reporters asked Fisher for his response.

The Aggies coach said that doing so would open “a whole can of worms” and added that it could create “different complexities.” Ultimately, he admitted that he still has a lot to learn about how those issues work, and hopes the Spring Meetings can help him do so.

“That opens up a whole can of worms as far as different complexities across the board, which again is above my pay scale,” Fisher said. “That’s why they’re going through now explaining all the different things to us to get everybody’s opinion. We’re still gathering information and they’re explaining it to us and are gonna continue to do it while the meetings are going on.”

NIL was among several issues discussed at the SEC Spring Meetings, along with potentially moving to a nine-game conference schedule. Saban’s idea to unionize would even the playing field for NIL, truly treating players like employees.

Saban hasn’t been afraid to speak out on NIL in the past, getting into a back-and-forth feud with Fisher last offseason after claiming the Aggies coach “bought” his team. However, the two coaches have buried the matter since then and moved on.

Nick Saban calls for college athletes to unionize

At the SEC Spring Meetings, Saban discussed his thoughts on college football in general, saying it is time to take a professional approach to the sport, comparing it to the NFL.

“Unionize it, make it like the NFL,” Saban said, according to Action Network’s Brett McMurphy. “Make it the same for everyone. Everything they do for NFL is to create parity. If they have every team at 8-8 going into final week of the season, the NFL would love it.”

This comes after Saban seemed to take a nonchalance approach to the debate of whether the SEC should have eight or nine conference games every football season.

“Things go into this like TV contracts. I’m sure a lot of those things will factor into it,” Saban said. “I’ve always been in favor of playing all games against Power 5 opponents.”

On3’s Peter Warren contributed to this report.