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Deion Sanders and Nick Saban had a brief spat over college athletics' new name, image and likeness (NIL) rules back in May when Sanders became upset with Saban after the Alabama football coach said that Jackson State, of which Sanders is the head coach, paid a player a million dollars to come to the school.
While the two squashed the beef — appearing in an Aflac commercial together in July — the topic of NIL is still dominating the world of college football.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban speaks during SEC Media Days on July 19, 2022, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
On Wednesday, the two head coaches appeared on "SportsCenter" and were asked to give their thoughts on the challenges that the NIL rules present to college athletics.
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"I think a couple of things are of concern," Saban said on Wednesday. "We allow alumni through collectives to get involved in recruiting and other things, that’s always something we’ve always guarded against in college football. I think what kind of competitive balance are we able to create if we allow that to happen, which is not going to be great for fans."
"The best competitive balance you can have is like in the NFL. They have rules to create competitive balance. Whether it’s salary cap, difficulty of schedule, where you draft, where you pick relative to your won-loss record. Those things are important I think in the interest of creating a lot of good matchups on a national basis."
As he has said in the past, Saban supported the concept of college athletes having the ability to profit off their name, image and likeness, but he also voiced his concern about college athletes being taken advantage of.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban addresses the media during SEC Media Days on July 19, 2022, at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia. (Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
"We don’t have any rules in place to protect the players from people who are trying to get between them and the money," Saban added.
Sanders, who coaches at an FCS school, poked fun at Saban’s response, saying that the two programs are on two different playing fields.
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"First of all, we can’t compete," Sanders said. "We don’t have collectives. We don’t have anything like that. We’re trying to rally up boosters, and you talk about collectives? I don’t even know the definition of a collective."
Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders speaks during the 2022 SWAC Football Media Day on July 21, 2022, at the Birmingham Sheraton Hotel in Birmingham, Alabama. (Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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"And it’s ‘name, image and likeness,'" he continued. "I’m happy that these kids are getting compensated, but when you talk about name, image and likeness — I haven’t seen anybody on anything. We keep talking about these kids making millions of dollars — what are they on? Where is the name, the image and the likeness? Or is it just collectives paying these kids to participate in this or that college?"
Sanders says that NIL will make it more difficult for the smaller schools to compete as it becomes more prominent, with players choosing the schools that can provide the highest level of compensation.