Alabama head football coach Nick Saban has been one of the most vocal critics of the new name, image and likeness rules put into place by the NCAA this year. During an event in Birmingham for The World Games 2022, Saban accused Miami basketball of paying for players on their roster.
“These guys at Miami that are going to play basketball there for $400,000, that’s in the newspaper,” Saban said. “The guy tells you how he’s doing it. But the NCAA can’t enforce their rules because it’s not against the law, and that’s an issue, that’s a problem and unless we get something that protects them from litigation I don’t know what we’re going to do about it.”
Saban was talking about Miami landing Kansas State transfer Nijel Pack, one of the most sought-after players in this offseason’s transfer portal. Shortly after Pack announced his commitment to Miami, a tweet surfaced that pack was receiving $400,000 per year, as well as a car as a result of his commitment to the Hurricanes.
The Alabama head coach didn’t stop with Miami basketball. He also accused Texas A&M football of buying ‘every player on their team’ as part of this year’s No. 1 ranked recruiting class.
“I know the consequence is going to be difficult for the people who are spending tons of money to get players,” Saban said, via AL.com. “You read about it, you know who they are. We were second in recruiting last year. A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness.
“We didn’t buy one player. Aight? But I don’t know if we’re going to be able to sustain that in the future, because more and more people are doing it. It’s tough.”
Saban is not the first SEC coach to express that sentiment as Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin called out Texas A&M by name in February, suggesting that a “luxury tax” needed to be put on some programs in recruiting.
“It’s basically like everybody’s got different salary caps,” Kiffin said. “I joked the other day that they’re gonna implement a luxury tax on Texas and Texas A&M. What they’re paying the players is unbelievable. It’s legal. You’ve got players who have never played before making hundreds of thousands or even a million dollars. It is what it is, but it’s not going to be an equal playing field around the country at all. … What would happen in the NFL if people had different salary caps? Eventually, you know, those guys with the high salary caps are going to win a lot of games.”
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Chance Linton contributed to this report.