Nick Saban uses interesting analogy to describe NCAA's current approach to dealing with NIL

Alabama head coach Nick Saban has been outspoken about the state of NIL in college football. He’s called for “guardrails” and talked about the need for “parity” in the game — and he continued that ahead of the SEC spring meetings.

Saban cited an interesting analogy when talking about the current NIL rules. He found it in the Wall Street Journal and shared it with reporters ahead of the meetings, which are taking place in Destin this week. He also reaffirmed his position on NIL, saying it’s a good thing for athletes.

“This is not about Alabama, this is not about what’s best for us,” Saban said, via On3’s Jesse Simonton. “I just hope that we can sort of put some guardrails on all this. I read something in the Wall Street Journal that said what we’ve done in college football … is putting a canoe on top of our SUV to go to the lake, didn’t tie it down, took off and just hoped for the best. I think that’s kind of where we are right now.

“I think it’s a great thing for players to have the opportunity. They’ve always been able to work. I’ve always said I’ve encouraged this whole name, image and likeness thing for players to be able to earn money. It’s just something that I think we need to make sure that we have a uniform way to have equitable competition, it’s transparent, protect the student-athlete. Boosters have never been involved in recruiting. Hopefully, we’ll not allow that to happen relative to this.”

More on Nick Saban’s stance on NIL

Earlier this month, Saban had a highly publicized feud with Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher after alleging the Aggies “bought every player on their team.” After issuing an apology during an interview with SiriusXM, Saban joined a PGA Championship “MegaCast” on ESPN and brought up the “guardrails” he wants to see from the NCAA.

“It was not my intention to really criticize anyone,” Saban said. “I was just trying to make a point about the state of college football and college athletics right now. I think we have some unintended consequences of name, image and likeness in some of the circumstances that we’re in right now. The spirit of competition is what has made sports popular, created a lot of fan interest.

“But we’ve always had guardrails on rules that govern competitive sports to create parity, and I think the situation that we’re in now in college football, we don’t have that. There’s a lot of Division I schools that aren’t going to be able to do the same things that other Division I schools can do to create opportunities for players in some kind of way. I’m all for the opportunities for the players, but some way, we’ve got to create a balance in all that.”