Mike Florio shreds Nick Saban’s authority to speak on college football players’ interests

Nick Saban may have walked away from coaching, but he hasn’t stepped away from the spotlight — or the power circles trying to shape college football’s future.

According to The Athletic, Saban is being considered to co-chair a proposed presidential commission on college athletics, backed by former President Donald Trump. He would serve alongside Texas Tech board chair and major booster Cody Campbell.

On Wednesday, Saban addressed the report during an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show. While he admitted he didn’t “know a lot about the commission” and questioned whether it was necessary, he didn’t dismiss the idea of being involved. He also made clear that the current system — particularly NIL and player movement — is a problem.

“It’s not sustainable,” Saban said. “Probably not in the best interest of the student-athletes across the board, or the game itself.”

But longtime NFL analyst Mike Florio wasn’t having it. In a blistering column for Pro Football Talk, Florio questioned whether Saban should have any say over what’s in the best interests of players — especially given how much he profited from the old system.

“First, who is Saban to speak on whether anything is in the interests of the players?” Florio wrote. “The players can, and should, speak for themselves.”

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Florio also called out Saban’s language when he said pay-for-play is “not necessarily what we want.”

“Second, when Saban says he doesn’t believe ‘pay for play is necessarily what we want,’ who’s the ‘we’? (It sure as hell ain’t those who would be getting paid to play.)”

Though Saban insisted he retired because of age, not NIL, Florio — and many others — seem skeptical. And with Saban now rumored to help lead a federal overhaul of college sports, critics are already pushing back on the idea of letting the system’s biggest beneficiaries determine the rules for the next generation of players.

"The entire situation sucks for the players," Florio continued. "And the fix that will be engineered by the federal government will likely harm their broader interests, not help them.

"It won’t matter, if the commission doesn’t fairly represent their interests — and if those who clearly want to help the schools (like Saban) will be able to claim without opposition or scrutiny what they think the players’ best interests are or should be."