Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban shocked the college football world last year when he announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 2023 season, just weeks after coming within a game of yet another national title.

Over the final years of his career and especially in retirement, Saban became one of the the most important and listened-to voices in all of college athletics when it came to big picture issues that put the sport’s future at risk.

Of course, the last several years, those discussions have largely revolved around the issue of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) as well as pay-for-play, the transfer portal, and really all three wrapped into one snowballing problem.

Saban has gone on many rants talking about the issues in the sport, but he delivered another one this week courtesy of the Pat McAfee Show:

“All I’m saying? The people out there need to know this model is unsustainable,” Saban on the current situation. “It’s not good for players…Players need to get compensated, no doubt. But it has to be done in a way where, you know, in some kind of way, have competitive balance, you know, and that every school has the same thing…One school can’t spend $30 million for players while another schools spending $3 million.”

Saban has placed himself at the forefront of the issue, even making multiple trips to Washington to participate in round table discussions with Senators and Congressmen in order to try to figure this out.

A popular idea which has been floated is Saban taking over a ‘commissioner of college football’ type role, a job that does not currently exist but has gained momentum as things within college football have moved further and further off the rails.

RELATED: Nick Saban as Commissioner of College Football? Penn State head coach James Franklin thinks he’s the ‘obvious choice’

Whether or not that ever becomes reality remains to be seen, but most agree the sport is not in a very healthy place and things need to change.