Nick Saban shares his thoughts on Name, Image, and Likeness
A day after Alabama unveiled its new branding platform, The Advantage, Nick Saban provided his thoughts on how name, image and likeness rights could affect his team moving forward.
Last month Alabama governor Kay Ivey signed a NIL bill that will allow college athletes to profit from endorsement deals beginning in July.
Speaking at the Regions Tradition pro-am on Wednesday morning, Saban said that while he supports his players’ best interest he has some early concerns over how the new policy will be handled.
“I’m not sure anybody knows for sure how it will impact us or affect us because we don’t know for sure what the parameters are and what the rules are,” Saban said. “Look, I’m all for the players. My biggest concern is how do we manage this, how do we police this and how do we make sure that it’s fair for everybody? The NCAA has always tried to keep a level playing field for everyone, so hopefully this is something that will be fair for everyone and everyone will have an opportunity to create some value for themself and their brand but at the same time it won’t create advantages for anyone.”
Here are some highlights from the rest of Saban’s brief media availability.
On the 2020 season being one of his biggest accomplishments
“I don’t think it’s my accomplishment. I think we had a great team of people who showed a lot of resiliency in being able to adapt and adjust to a different kind of time. I told the players in the beginning of the season — we got shut down March 13 — whoever handles the disruptions of this season the best is the team that’s gonna have the best opportunity to come out on top. Our players sort of took that to heart, and regardless of what we had to do, they always seemed to do it the right way and it helped us develop into being a pretty good team. We had really good senior leadership, we had really good leadership on the team, we had a lot of good players and they all played well. So a lot of people contributed to the success of the team. The coaching staff did a great job, and everybody in the organization really made it possible. I’m just happy to be somebody involved.”
On if he’s ever golfed with Nate Oats
“I have not played with him. But I don’t think he really played that much golf before he came [to Alabama]. This is not a game that you can just go play because you played baseball or basketball or something else. It looks easy, but it’s not. It’s a metaphor or life. It’s a lot of opportunities to overcome adversity and stay focused on the next shot, regardless of where you are and what the outcome might be. I enjoy playing because it’s the only thing I can play now.”
On if he still participates in noon-time basketball
“When I got my hip done, I got — to be honest — a little afraid to play because they didn’t want me to play. So I kind of retired. We haven’t come out of retirement yet, but there is a possibility that may happen in the near future.
On how his hip is feeling
“Hip feels great.”
