Nick Saban publicly addresses President Donald Trump's college sports commission: 'I don't really know much about this'

President Donald Trump announced plans to form a presidential commission looking into college sports and its “unwieldy landscape” last week. Later that day, On3’s Pete Nakos confirmed the 45th and 47th President of the United States planned to name Nick Saban as a co-chair of the working group.

The only issue? Not much else is known about the commission. Even the former Alabama head coach and current ESPN College GameDay analyst is still in the dark.

“To be honest with you, I don’t really know much about this commission,” Saban said Wednesday morning ahead of his annual appearance at the Regions Traditions Pro-Am in Birmingham, Alabama, according to BamaOnline. “I don’t really know what the commission will do. I think we know what needs to be done, I just think we need to figure out who’s got the will to do it. I learned one thing about coaching all these years: when you get into a subject like this that’s very complex, it’s probably good not to talk about it off the cuff. So I’ll find out more about it, and if there’s something I can do to help college football be better, I’ll always be committed to do that. I was committed to do that as a coach, to help players be more successful in life, and I’d continue to do that same thing now.”

Yahoo! Sports insider Ross Dellenger first reported Trump’s plans to form a commission focused on college sports. The Athletic also added the president will be “very engaged” because of the national importance he sees in college athletics.

The commission on college sports is expected to “deeply examine the unwieldy landscape of college sports, including the frequency of player movement in the transfer portal, the unregulated booster compensation paid to athletes, the debate of college athlete employment, the application of Title IX to school revenue-share payments and, even, conference membership makeup and conference television contracts,” according to Yahoo! Sports. It is expected to be a months-long endeavor.

Saban was asked a follow-up about his personal concern with the current state of college football. Then, he dismissed the notion that it’s gone off the rails.

“Not really. I think that there’s always things we can do to improve it. And I know there’s a lot of people out there concerned about the direction that we’re headed in,” Saban added. “But I also know there’s a lot of good people out there that can do the type of things that you need to do to get it moving in the right direction.”

Nick Saban to co-chair President Donald Trump commission on college sports

News of Trump’s plan to consider an executive order and form a commission come with the backdrop of the House v. NCAA settlement, which continues to go through the final approval process. Attorneys filed an updated brief last Wednesday that sought to address Judge Claudia Wilken’s concerns about roster limits, and the plan would create a grandfather provision for athletes who lost their spots. A decision on final approval is expected in the coming weeks.

However, plaintiffs’ attorney Steve Berman called out Nick Saban and President Donald Trump’s discussions as the settlement seeks final approval. Legal experts say an executive order could create more problems, and Berman called for the conversations to cease while both sides work toward final approval for the House v. NCAA settlement.

“While he was a coach, [Nick] Saban initially opposed NIL payments to athletes, pushing to add restrictions and red tape through national legislation to add ‘some sort of control,’” Berman said in a statement. “During his time scrutinizing the athlete pay structure, he made tens of millions of dollars and was previously the highest-paid coach in college football.

“Coach Saban and Trump’s eleventh-hour talks of executive orders and other meddling are just more unneeded self-involvement. College athletes are spearheading historic changes and benefitting massively from NIL deals. They don’t need this unmerited interference from a coach only seeking to protect the system that made him tens of millions.”

NCAA leadership has taken multiple trips to Capitol Hill for discussions about NIL and college sports. Last month, leaders from across collegiate athletics took a trip to Washington, D.C. for College Sports Day. Saban has also spoken in front of Congress about regulation, notably doing so in a roundtable hosted by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) last year.

NCAA president Charlie Baker and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey also spoke multiple times about the need for national legislation to help regulate NIL. Saban also did so on ESPN’s College GameDay this past football season, calling for stability with both NIL and the transfer portal.

— On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.