Nick Saban 'Expected to be Integral' in Donald Trump's College Sports Commission

The University of Alabama's spring graduation ceremony last week featured in-person speakers like Donald Trump, the President of the United States, and Nick Saban, the legendary former head coach for Crimson Tide football.

But in addition to speaking at the commencement, the two of them discussed the current state of collegiate athletics as NIL has taken over. For the past year or so, a big reason why many college athletes and recruits have committed or transferred to schools has been based on how much they will be paid and which programs offer the most NIL money. It's gotten to the point where some athletes are making millions of dollars per year.

Saban has been a strong advocate for developing players both on and off the field, and this large sum of money on the table somewhat eliminates that. Nevertheless, Saban said that he wants to "reform" NIL, not destroy it. On Wednesday, Yahoo's Ross Dellenger reported that the Trump administration is planning to create a presidential commission on college athletics, which Dellenger labeled "a landmark moment in college athletics history."

"The commission 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, preserving the Olympic sport structure, the application of Title IX to school revenue-share payments and, even, conference membership makeup and conference television contracts," Dellenger wrote.

Dellenger explained that the details of the commission are currently being kept private, but this committee will feature prominent stakeholders and businesspeople "with deep connections to college football." He also said that Saban could be a member of it.

"Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, a central figure in the fight for college sports legislation, is expected to be integral to the commission’s work. During Trump’s visit to Tuscaloosa last week to give a graduation address at the University of Alabama, Trump and Saban met about college sports legislation — a meeting that’s now transformed into plans for this executive group to be formed."

Later on Wednesday evening, The Athletic reported that Saban is expected to be named co-chair of the Presidential Commission on college sports.

On May 2, The Wall Street Journal reported that Donald Trump was "considering" an NIL executive order following his meeting with Saban. Now it looks like this commission, which doesn't have an official name just yet, is the answer.

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