The headlines are hard to miss if you’re into college football and have an internet connection.
Lane Kiffin wants Nick Saban to be the commissioner of college football.
James Franklin also wants Nick Saban to be the commissioner of college football.
Kirby Smart too.
Everyone wants Nick Saban to be the commissioner of college football.
Sounds cool, but three questions, if I might.
- What is a commissioner of college football? Like in reality? We’re discussing this job, like it ACTUALLY exists. (It doesn’t)
- Does anyone think any single person could be given absolute power, wave a wand and fix the compounding issues facing the sport today?
- What makes you think the 73-year-old would want this monumental (though imaginary) task?
Not trying to end the year on a cynical note, but like, what are we talking about here?
Are coaches this desperate that they’re creating a mystical superhero from their former ultimate villain?
Nick Saban is going to swoop down from the College Football GameDay set and fix the problems that greatly contributed to his retirement from coaching?
That’s not to say the problems facing the sport are some fantastical Marvel storyline. They’re real and not going away.
The concern is valid because the intersection of NIL, revenue sharing, and recruiting is only getting more complicated and with real-world consequences. The NCAA is losing power every passing day after court rulings stripped much of its power in this realm.
With that power vacuum came a patchwork of state laws that created an untenable situation that we’ve been told can only be solved by Congress.
Like the one in Washington D.C.
And Tommy Tuberville’s trying to be a leader in that movement.
So, one can understand why these coaches are so frantic to find a competent leader who understands the reality of the situation.
But reality is where we should remain.
And in this dimension, there’s no such thing as a commissioner of college football. Are we suggesting the formation of a new governing body that breaks away from the NCAA to regulate the sport? That brings a whole new web of complications that nobody appears to be equipped to handle.
The College Football Playoff only governs the postseason with no power to do anything but fill a 12-team bracket.
And they stink at that. So, next.
Smart, a longtime Saban assistant, had the most realistic take on the situation when speaking before the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal this week.
“I don’t know if it as simple as let’s name a commissioner, and it solved all our problems,” Smart said in New Orleans. “I don’t think that’s that case. We are governed by separate circumstances. Conferences govern us. NCAA governs us. Now we have courts govern us.
“I think a commissioner would be a nice thing in theory, but what can they effectively get done if everybody can’t agree on something?”
That said, Smart added he thinks Saban “would be great” for this made up position.
Great in theory, but again, we don’t live in theory.
As with any of these discussions about the future of college football and collegiate athletics as a whole, it’s a matter of power. It’s a struggle between those at the top of the pyramid with conference commissioners on top of the current scheme.
Notice you don’t hear any of them suggesting the seven-time national champion retired coach should assume power over the sport?
Because as D’Angelo Barksdale once said, “The King stay the King, aight?”
There are multiple crowns in this realm, and none of them are bowing to kiss the ring of Saban (in this fantasy world where he’s actually trying to steal the power because he isn’t in this one).
In fact, Saban himself said the conference commissioners or ADs would be more qualified for such a mystical position as college football commissioner. It’s right there in a February 2024 piece from ESPN.
“I’m not really looking for a job,” Saban said in the piece, “but I do know I’d like to impact college football the best way I can, whether it’s being a spokesperson or anything else.”
He’s long been a thought leader in the sport who has always had an eye on the big picture while building and maintaining an empire unmatched in the sport’s modern history. None of this diminishes the idea of what he could do to salvage a sport at the crossroads.
In a perfect world, we’d have a functioning Congress.
Or Saban would be 10 years younger in a space where leaders were willing to cede power even if it was against their own self-interest.
But this is a world painted in the imperfect.
Instead, we’re trying to navigate the mess made by those already in power and who aren’t letting any of it go.
The idea of Saban in a wizard’s hat descending from the clouds, ready to abracadabra a functioning college football is awesome. Lane Kiffin never had a bad idea.
But we aren’t in a Disney movie.
Nick Saban isn’t Santa Claus.
So we should stick to solutions rooted in reality rather than fantasy because the clock is ticking.
