Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban has been busy this week.
Saban was the headlining guest of a roundtable in Washington hosted by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on NIL and the goal of getting legislation created at the very least to create a national standard surrounding it.
After the roundtable, which made headlines in its own right, Saban appeared on Fox News with Bret Baier to discuss how he thought it went, his good friend Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), whether he would serve as college football’s commissioner, and more.
Manchin, who made headlines last month by announcing that he won’t run for president, received praise from Saban, who said that Manchin is a moderate.
“I love Joe Manchin,” Saban said. “He’s been a great friend for a long time. I think he’s a moderate in the middle. I think a lot of people support a lot of his thinking. I certainly agree with a lot of his thoughts on a lot of things.”
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“He’s not afraid to speak out on things and try to make change. I think he’s done a good job for the state of West Virginia. I think a lot of people would probably agree with that.”
It has also long been thrown around that Saban ultimately should or could serve as college football’s commissioner, and that getting at the forefront of the issues in the sport like this are laying the groundwork for that.
Baier asked Saban directly whether or not that would be something he is interested in.
“I’m interested in trying to help college athletes and college athletics be successful in the future, help people be more successful in life because of the college experience that they have, and improve their quality of life in a way that not only benefits them, but also allows us to keep creating opportunities for multiple sports that are non-revenue sports,” Saban said.
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“I think that’s important that we continue to create those kind of opportunities. The reason I’m visiting with you tonight is I’m very much committed to that. How I can do that best, I’m not sure of. But I certainly am committed to trying.”
Saban was also asked what he would tell the federal government, the current presidential administration and Congress if they were a football team and he was the coach.
With a chuckle, Saban said he didn’t know he would be put on the spot.
“I just think people need to work together and people need to do what’s best for the country,” he said.
“I think the current system we have puts a lot of pressure on our politicians to try to get reelected, and sometimes doing the right thing and getting reelected may not be the easiest thing to manage. So, hopefully we got a lot of people there that are smart people that are going to do what’s best for the United States of America.”
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP
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