Tommy Bowden suggests Nick Saban, Charles Barkley could fix college football: 'They'll have it cleared up in 2 years'

On May 23, the NCAA and its Power Five conferences voted to accept the settlement of three antitrust cases in the House vs. NCAA case. The NCAA will now shift toward a revenue-sharing model, which will allow schools to directly pay athletes.

While the resolution may bring stability to the NCAA for now, the organization will inevitably face more obstacles in the future. This cycle may never be able to be broken. However, during an appearance on Doug Bell’s podcast, “The Ole Gabbox,” former Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden made a head-turning proposal of how the NCAA can bring order to college football, specifically.

“One quick solution, I think you gotta have co-commissioners to get this thing squared away in one year,” Bowden said. “Let Nick Saban and Charles Barkley be co-commissioners. They both bring perspective and unique angles to college football and what’s needed in the college game is from the professional aspect, NIL. Let Charles Barkley and Nick Saban be co-commissioners, and they’ll have it cleared up in two years.

“I think (Barkley) brings, let’s say, a common sense approach to the problem,” he added. “He would bring a unique perspective, no doubt. And he’d have some colorful comments.”

It’s undeniably an out-of-the-box idea. Saban went 292-71-1 in 28 years as a head college football coach, including an NCAA-record seven national championsip – six at Alabama alone – before retiring at the end of last season following 17 years in Tuscaloosa. Saban will now serve as an analyst on ESPN’s “College GameDay” during the upcoming season.

Given his history, Saban is well versed and has been outspoken regarding the issues collegiate football is facing.

“Look, the No. 1 thing we need to do in college football, the first thing you’ve got to do is address all the lawsuits because the lawsuits may break the NCAA and they may break college football,” Saban said at the Jimmy Rain Charity Golf Banquet in Birmingham. “Aight, so that should be the first order of business. The second thing is to try to create a system that continues to allow all people who have had the opportunity to participate in college athletics – that’s male and female, Title IX.”

Saban has spoken out in support of revenue sharing multiple times since retiring from coaching. That includes a trip to Capitol Hill where he spoke at a roundtable hosted by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and echoed a similar sentiment.

“Look, I’m all for the players sharing in the wealth of what’s happening in college football,” Saban said . “But it has to be a system that’s going to keep everybody having an opportunity – revenue sports as well as non-revenue sports – and hopefully, something that financially, the universities can continue to be able to operate because it works financially for the system.”

Charley Barkley criticizes the NCAA

Barkley has far less experience with collegiate athletics. He played basketball at Auburn from 1981-84 but has no coaching experience. Since 2000, Barkley has served as an analyst on TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” which will enter air its final season in 2025.

Despite Barkely’s lack of history with NCAA issues, he hasn’t been afraid to condemn the organization for how its handled the introduction of NIL.

“We screwed up college sports with the NIL thing,” Barkley said. “What can we do, the NBA, to get together with the colleges, because it is the wild, wild west on steroids literally between you’ve got college coaches leaving to take assistant jobs in the NFL, and things like that because they don’t want to have to pay all these players.

“We’re going to have to do something. Can you get together with the NCAA, because the NCAA, they’re boneheads. You know, the reason I call them boneheads, they always reactive and once you react to something it’s already out of control.”

Bowden believes Saban and Barkley could regain control of the situation. Although the duo would undoubtedly be entertaining, neither have expressed interest in such a role.