There have been several high-profile coaches fired in the middle of this college football season, with coaches like Mike Gundy, James Franklin, and Billy Napier all being relieved of their duties over the past few weeks. It’s certainly been a major storyline this season, and legendary head coach Nick Saban seems to think that the culture created by pay-for-play and NIL is to blame.
So far, nine FBS coaches have been fired since the season started, six of which coached in Power Four conferences. Saban wasn’t exactly surprised by the recent firings, blaming them on the current college football environment that has been created by pay-for-play and NIL.
“You know, I’m not (surprised) because everybody’s raising money to pay players,” Saban told ESPN’s Mark Schlabach this week. “So, the people that are giving the money think they have a voice and they’re just like a bunch of fans. When they get frustrated and disappointed, they put pressure on the (athletic directors) to take action, and it’s the way of the world.”
This echoes some comments that Saban made over the weekend when he addressed Penn State’s decision to fire Franklin, calling the move “unfair as hell.”
“It’s unfair as hell,” Saban told Franklin last Saturday. “For you to go to the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, get to the final four (of the CFP), come out being ranked (No. 2) this year — an expectation that you created by what you accomplished at Penn State — and for those people not to show enough appreciation for that and gratitude for all the hard work that you did, I’m saying it’s unfair.”
Clearly, Saban is not a fan of the current state of college football, which is likely a big reason he is now an analyst and not an active coach.
About Dave Kelsey
Contributing author to The Comeback.