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Nick Saban addresses graduates during a special commencement ceremony which featured remarks from President Donald Trump on May 1, 2025.

Former Alabama head football coach Nick Saban is reportedly adding a new title to his resume after retiring from coaching following the 2023-24 season.

The now ESPN television personality will co-chair President Donald Trump’s commission on college sports, according to The Athletic. He is expected to serve in this role alongside billionaire businessman and Texas Tech University board chair Cody Campbell according to Yahoo Sports.

Yahoo Sports reported that the commission is expected to look at the rocky landscape of college sports, including the frequency of player movement in the transfer portal and the debate of college athlete employment and payment through “name, image and likeness” deals, also known as NIL deals. Since 2021, the NCAA has allowed players to profit off of NIL, and it is set to begin allowing college athletes to participate in revenue sharing this fall following the settlement of lawsuits brought forth by former athletes.

This comes after Trump reportedly met with Saban last Thursday when the two were in Tuscaloosa to speak at a special commencement ceremony. People familiar with the meeting told the Wall Street Journal that Saban discussed his concern about NIL with Trump and that he “believed the influx of money had damaged college sports.”

Trump reportedly agreed with Saban and said that he would look into creating an executive order. Saban also proposed “reforming” NIL due to it causing an uneven playing field.

Saban did not immediately respond to request for comment. 

Saban has previously been an advocate for regulating college sports, including speaking out against the current NIL and transfer portal structure. Although he insisted it was not a factor in his retirement when speaking to ESPN, he did mention it being an issue after making the move to step down as head coach.

“Now, I think everybody is frustrated about it. We had an SEC conference call, 14 coaches on there, and there’s not one guy you can talk to who really understands what’s happening in college football and thinks that it’s not an issue,” he said.

Saban also discussed college athletics when he visited Capitol Hill last March, just months after leaving his role at Alabama. He testified at a roundtable discussion hosted by Texas senator Ted Cruz, advocating for revenue-sharing in college athletics and discussing issues with NIL and the transfer portal.

“I’m for student-athletes being able to share in some of this revenue,” Saban said. “I think the No. 1 solution to all this is if we could have some kind of revenue sharing proposition that did not make student-athletes employees.”

He added that he believes that revenue-sharing could be the long-term solution, and that it could create a better quality of life for student-athletes. 

“You could still emphasize development, personal, academic, brand, and athletic development, with a system like that,” Saban said. “And it would be equal in all institutions. Somebody couldn’t go out and raise more money at one school to create a competitive advantage over another.”

 

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I assumed that UVA Basketball would get a decent payday out of its appearance in the 2025 Greenbrier Tip-Off, which was announced this week.

Turns out, not.

Not even close.

I know because, of course, I FOIA’d the University of Virginia to get a copy of the contract.

The FOIA folks over there are onto me now. They’re charging me $9.20 for “Collection and/or Ingestion” and “Review.”

Guess they’re trying to get me to limit the number of FOIA requests I’m making by making me pay $9.20 for somebody to push a couple of buttons.

Cost of doing business to me.

I’ll get more than $9.20 of value out of this one.

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ICYMI

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The contract, between the University of Virginia and Intersport LLC, executed on March 14, gives UVA Athletics

• a signing bonus of $10,000 in “resort credits”
• a $133,375 travel stipend “for use on reasonable and traditional travel measures within the discretion of the Institution”
• 20 hotel rooms for three nights – to include “room and tax only and exclude any incidental charges”
• “the cost of breakfast, lunch, and dinner for up to thirty people at the Greenbrier Resort during Institution’s stay at the resort for Event.”

That’s it, as to what UVA gets for playing games at The Greenbrier on Nov. 21 and Nov. 23.

Left out of the press announcement is that there’s a third game, to be played at JPJ, on Nov. 17, “against an opponent determined by Intersport.”

And then there’s this line:

“Institution agrees to pay to Intersport thirty (30) days prior to the first game of the Tournament a fee of Ninety Thousand US Dollars ($90,000.00) (the ‘Tournament Fee’) for the game played at the Home Facility.”

I’d be curious to know if this is just a pass-through from Intersport to the school that will be the opponent for Nov. 17, or if UVA will also have to give another payout to the opponent.

Guess I’ll find out later, when we get word on who the opponent is, and I drop another $9.20 on a FOIA request.

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The landscape of college sports is forever changing. The transfer portal is now the norm across the country and especially for teams in a power conference like the Big Ten. This is a ranking of how the conference has done in the transfer portal so far:

No. 1: Michigan

The Wolverines made a big splash, landing the top rated player in the transfer portal in UAB’s Yaxel Lendeborg from UAB. Lendeborg is still going through the NBA Draft process to see if he gets any first round interest, but if he doesn’t (which he hasn’t yet), then he’s going to be the top dog on Michigan. Last season with UAB, Lendeborg averaged 17.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per game and was one of the top players in the country last season. The Wolverines also got three four-star caliber players on top of landing Landeborg: center Aday Mara from UCLA, forward Morez Johnson Jr. from Illinois and guard Elliot Cadeau from UNC. Specifically with Mara, he showed flashes at UCLA and with Dusty May’s coaching, he could be in for a huge breakout season. Michigan is looking better than ever despite some of its own transferring out (guards Tre Donaldson and Justin Pippen as well as forward Sam Walters). Don’t be surprised if the Wolverines go back-to-back with a Big Ten Championship in 2025-2026.

No. 2: USC

I’m gonna start off with talking about who USC is losing in the portal this year. Desmond Claude, in his one and only year as a Trojan, led the team in scoring with 15.8 points and tied for first in assists with 4.2 per game. The other player to average 4.2 assists, Saint Thomas, is also in the portal alongside Claude. Both are currently looking for a new team. USC’s second leading scorer from a season ago, Wesley Yates III, is still playing in the Big Ten, just not for the Trojans. On the other hand, Chad Baker-Mazara from Auburn and Rodney Rice from Maryland were the two big splashes made by USC. Baker-Mazara was the second leading scorer behind Naismith College Player of the Year runner-up Johni Broome as the Tigers made it to the Final Four. Rice was the third leading scorer for the Terps behind Derik Queen and Ja’Kobi Gillespie as they made a run to the Sweet 16. Adding onto this transfer class are Jacob Cofie from Virginia and Gabe Dynes from Youngstown State. USC improved despite losing its top end talent from 2024-2025.

No. 3: Drake..I mean Iowa

Iowa hired former Drake head coach Ben McCollum. With that hire came an influx of former Bulldogs who followed their coach to Iowa City. The Hawkeyes added one of the top players in the portal in Drake’s Bennett Stirtz. The 6-foot-4 guard averaged just over 19 points per game on close to 50/40/80 splits. Also from Drake is four players who saw run in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. This includes Drake’s rebounds leader Cam Manyawu. Iowa also landed Robert Morris’s second leading scorer and top rebounder Alvaro Folgueiras and Kansas State’s sharpshooter Brendan Hausen. The Hawkeyes did say goodbye to Pryce Sandfort, Josh Dix, Owen Freeman, Brock Harding and Ladji Dembele, but Ben McCollum has brought over his players and his culture to reshape Iowa basketball into a tournament team.

No. 4: Indiana

Yes, Malik Reneau, Mackenzie Mgbako, Myles Rice and Bryson Tucker among others are no longer with Indiana, but the Hoosiers got a whole bunch of dogs and look to be stronger entering the 2025-2026 season. Tucker DeVries from West Virginia and Lamar Wilkerson from Sam Houston State headline the transfer class for Indiana. DeVries averaged 14.9 points and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 47.3% from three. He did only play in eight games after an injury ended his season early. Wilkerson averaged 20.5 points for the Bearkats last season (11th in the country) and was one of the best three point shooters in the country, making 109 on 44.5% shooting. Davidson’s Reed Bailey, Elon’s Nick Dorn, Troy’s Tayton Conerway and the North Florida duo of Jasai Miles and Josh Harris also headline this transfer group. Indiana got 10 transfers in and all could easily be playing next season.

No. 5: Washington

After finishing last in the Big Ten this past season, Washington has a chance to finish higher up in the conference next year. The Huskies did lose Mekhi Mason and Tyler Harris to the portal, but they more than makeup for those losses with what they gained. USC’s Wesley Yates III is the highlight of this transfer class. Beyond that, the Huskies landed Quimari Peterson from ETSU, Lathan Sommerville from Rutgers, Bryson Tucker from Indiana and Jacob Ognacevic from Lipscomb. Peterson led ETSU in scoring last season, averaging 19.5 points per game and shooting over 40% from three. Sommerville was the third option on a Rutgers team that included likely top-3 picks in Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper. Tucker is entering his sophomore season and showed flashes at Indiana. Ognacevic was Lipscomb’s leading scorer (20.0) and rebounder (8.0) as the Bisons won the ASUN conference to make the NCAA Tournament.

No. 6: Maryland

Maryland did lose a lot of significant contributors in the transfer portal. The main ones being Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Julian Reese and Rodney Rice. However, with Kevin Willard going to coach at Villanova and the Terps bringing in Buzz Williams from Texas A&M, some of Williams’ players followed him to College Park. Pharrel Payne is the highlight of the former Aggies following Williams, plus three others. Outside of the A&M transfers, Maryland got Elijah Saunders of Virginia, David Coit Jr. of Kansas, Myles Rice of Indiana and Isaiah Watts of Washington State.

No. 7: UCLA

There are both pros and cons to UCLA’s transfer class. Starting with the negatives, the Bruins saw Aday Mara, Sebastian Mack and Dylan Andrews along with a few others. Mara, despite only playing 13 minutes per game, was a game wrecker at times and has insane potential. Mack was the third leading scorer for the Bruins and Andrews led them in assists. Now onto the positives: New Mexico’s Donovan Dent is now playing at UCLA. Dent entered the portal after his former head coach Richard Pitino took the coaching job at Xavier. In each of his three seasons at New Mexico, Dent took massive leaps. In his junior season he averaged 20.4 points per game (12th in the country) and scored 21 points in the Lobos’ Round of 64 victory over seven seed Marquette. The Bruins also got Xavier Booker to come play in Los Angeles. Although Booker struggled at Michigan State, he was a five star recruit out of high school in 2023 and might just need a change of scenery. UCLA also landed UMKC’s Jamar Brown and San Diego’s Steven Jamerson to round out its class.

No. 8: Illinois

Despite some major adds overall this season, the Fighting Illini only got two of those additions from the portal while losing some contributing pieces. The most impactful outgoing transfers were Morez Johnson Jr. and Tre White. Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, Carey Booth and Keaton Kutcher entered the portal as well. Even with some big blows to the roster from the portal alone, Illinois got two ballers. First is Tomislav Ivisic’s twin brother Zvonimir Ivisic from Arkansas. Zvonimir Ivisic averaged 1.9 blocks per game a season ago and was Arkansas’ fifth leading scorer. The other addition from the portal is California’s Andrej Stojakovic, son of NBA legend Peja Stojakovic. Andrej Stojakovic averaged 17.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game on 40/30/80 shooting splits. If he is anything like his dad though, he can become a lethal three point shooter.

No. 9: Wisconsin

This is specifically transfer portal rankings, not power rankings. That’s why the loss of John Tonje doesn’t matter here. Wisconsin did very well in the portal this season. None of its top six scorers from 2024-2025 entered the transfer portal or have already transferred. The team’s biggest loss transfer wise is Carter Gilmore, who averaged just 3.9 points per game. On the flip side, the Badgers have brought in Andrew Rohde from Virginia. Rohde was the third leading scorer for the Cavaliers and led them in assists with 4.3 per game. Wisconsin also got Nick Boyd. Boyd played his first three seasons at FAU before transferring to San Diego State for the 2024-2025 season. He led the Aztecs in scoring and in assists. The other big get was Austin Rapp from Portland. The first-year was second on his team in scoring and averaged 1.5 blocks per game. The Badgers also landed Braeden Carrington from Tulsa to round out their transfer class.

No. 10: Minnesota

The Golden Gophers lost their top four scorers to the transfer portal. Dawson Garcia entered with the hope of being granted an extra year of eligibility, while Lu’Cye Patterson, Mike Mitchell Jr. and Femi Odukale are all still awaiting new destinations. On the other hand, new head coach Niko Medved, formerly of Colorado State, has enticed the fourth leading scorer for the Rams to come to Minnesota. Jaylen Crocker-Johnson averaged 9.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per game last season under Medved. Also joining the Gophers is Davidson’s three-point specialist Bobby Durkin, Northern Colorado’s Langston Reynolds, California’s BJ Omot and Western Michigan’s Chansey Willis Jr. among others headed to the Twin Cities.

No. 11: Nebraska

The Cornhuskers brought in a lot of new faces from the transfer portal. It’s headlined by Pryce Sandfort from Iowa, Ugnius Jarusevicius from Central Michigan and Kendall Blue from St. Thomas. Sandfort only averaged 8.8 points per game but shot 40.0% from three. Jarusevicius led the Chippewas in scoring (16.2 points per game) and rebounding (7.3 rebounds per game). Blue was St. Thomas’ second leading scorer and its leading rebounder. Nebraska also didn’t lose much. Only two ‘Huskers entered the portal: Nick Janowski and Gavin Griffiths. Both didn’t have much of an impact in 2024-2025 for Nebraska so transfer portal wise, it’s a solid class.

No. 12: Ohio State

In terms of the transfer portal, the highest scorer for Ohio State that entered was Meechie Johnson Jr. who averaged just 9.1 points per game. Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart also did enter which brings this class down a bit, but the Buckeyes got good returns out of the portal. Seven footer Christoph Tilly from Santa Clara averaged 12.5 points and 4.9 rebounds. Josh Ojianwuna from Baylor started in all 23 games he appeared in before going down with an injury. Before that, Ojianwuna averaged 6.4 rebounds while being on the same team as one of the best rebounders in the country in Norchad Omier. The last big get for the Buckeyes was Wright State’s leading scorer, Brandon Noel. Noel averaged 19.0 points per game on 50/35/70 shooting splits.

No. 13: Oregon

The Ducks didn’t lose too many impact pieces in the portal. Brandon Angel is the headliner of the transfer out group for Oregon as he was its fifth leading scorer and third leading rebounder. In terms of what the Ducks brought in, they chose to bet on younger players and upside. Penn State freshman Miles Goodman and Texas sophomore Devon Pryor haven’t played too much in their college careers. Ohio State sophomore Sean Stewart averaged 5.7 points and 5.8 rebounds for the Buckeyes a season ago in 18.4 minutes per game. Elon junior TK Simpkins is the veteran of this transfer class. Simpkins led the Phoenix in scoring on 16.4 points per game.

No. 14: Michigan State

The Spartans lost three players in the transfer portal. Xavier Booker was never able to find a spot in the rotation in East Lansing. The same went for Gehrig Normand. The big loss for Tom Izzo is Tre Holloman. Holloman was the Spartans’ third leading scorer and was second in assists. Coming in for Izzo is FAU’s leading scorer Kaleb Glenn. Glenn averaged 12.6 points for the Owls as they finished the season 18-16. The other transfer is Samford’s leading scorer Trey Fort. Fort averaged 14.6 points on close to 45/40/75 shooting splits.

No. 15: Northwestern

For Northwestern standards, this class is fantastic. The Patriot League’s 2024-2025 Rookie of the Year Max Green comes to NU, bringing a well-rounded skill set as a 6-foot-6 guard. The ‘Cats also brought in USF’s Jayden Reid, a volume three point shooter who can initiate the offense. Lastly, Northwestern added big man Arrinten Page from Cincinnati to try and fill in at the center position. The ‘Cats didn’t lose much to the portal; just Blake Barkley and Luke Hunger entered and are now with different teams. Because this transfer class has been discussed more in-depth on the site compared to the other Big Ten teams, make sure to check out the other Northwestern transfer portal content!

No. 16: Purdue

Purdue didn’t do much in the portal because it didn’t need to. Myles Colvin and Camden Heide were the main losses, but with Braden Smith and Trey Kauffman-Renn both returning, not much really changed for the Boilermakers. They did bring in Oscar Cluff from South Dakota State. Cluff led the Jackrabbits in scoring and rebounding, averaging a double-double and shooting 63.4% from the field. They also landed North Florida’s third leading scorer Liam Murphy. Murphy shot 42.3% from deep on 7.7 attempts per game.

No. 17: Rutgers

Obviously losing Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper to the draft is a big loss for the Scarlet Knights. That doesn’t change the fact that even without including them, they still don’t have a great transfer class compared to the rest of the Big Ten. Rutgers lost its first, second and fifth leading scorer from a season ago (not including Bailey and Harper) with Lathan Sommerville, Jeremiah Williams and Jordan Derkack either committed elsewhere or still waiting in the portal. They did bring in Baye Fall from Kansas State, Tariq Francis from NJIT and Darren Buchanan from George Washington. Fall has only appeared in 13 career games over his two seasons in college. Francis led NJIT in scoring with 19.2 points per game, but the team only won six games. Buchanan had a better year as a freshman than he did at a sophomore, with his scoring average dropping by five points from his first to second season.

No. 18: Penn State

All Penn State did in the portal was bring in forward Josh Reed from Cincinnati. Reed played over 17 minutes per game last season but scored under five points per game. While his shot volume was low, his shooting percentages weren’t that good. With an increase in volume, Reed may end up blossoming for the Nittany Lions. He’ll likely need to do so too as Puff Johnson and Miles Goodman among others are either in the transfer portal or have already committed elsewhere.

After conversations with retired coaches Nick Saban of Alabama and U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, formerly of Cincinnati, President Donald Trump has issued an executive order that could shake up college athletics.

The order stems from Saban and Tuberville’s complaints about what they view as disorganization in college football and a lack of regulation, particularly around athlete compensation. Both pushed for reform and suggested that the President intervene.

That suggestion appears to have landed.

President Trump’s Executive Order on College Athlete Pay Faces Pushback

Trump’s executive order targets name, image, and likeness (NIL) compensation, proposing restrictions on how college athletes can make money through endorsements, sponsorships, and outside business ventures. The sweeping order would also impose limitations on athletes, schools, conferences, and even the NCAA.

Legal experts say the order will likely face serious challenges in court, as it conflicts with federal and state laws recognizing college athletes as employees with rights to market themselves. Several states have passed NIL laws protecting those rights — laws that the federal government would now be overriding.

There’s also the NCAA’s own NIL policy, which allows athletes to benefit from commercial opportunities without pay-for-play deals from schools. While the policy was intended to promote personal brand growth, its lines have blurred amid rising commercialization.

Critics argue the executive order infringes on the Equal Protection Clause by treating student-athletes differently from other students. It may also violate First Amendment rights by limiting their ability to profit from their image or voice.

Observers warn the order could do more harm than good, potentially impacting coaching salaries and university revenues while stripping athletes of freedoms they’ve only recently gained.

Some see the move as politically motivated, an effort by former coaches frustrated by the financial boom in college sports that happened after their exits. Rather than embracing the modern college sports landscape, the order clings to a dated system that many believe no longer works.

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