Nick Saban has always been critical of the negative impacts of Name, Image, and Likeness, commonly known as NIL. It actually ended up being one of the reasons he retired from coaching. Recently, Saban talked about how we’re starting to see the harmful ramifications of the current system, just as he had been warning for years.

It’s not that Saban is completely against NIL. In fact, he thinks it’s a great tool for players to use to gain leverage. But at the same time, he believes it has ruined the college experience.

Why? Because important things like education and development have seemingly been swept under the rug.

“So, I made the statement, ‘Is this what we want college football to become?’ And I got very much criticized for that. And now that it’s become that, a lot of people think it’s had a somewhat negative impact on things, like we don’t talk about education anymore,” Saban said on Pure Athlete. 

The former head coach would go on to mention that, when he was at Alabama, the team had an 87% graduation rate. Despite this, people often claimed he had recruiting advantages and that he wasn’t teaching the right things. Yet clearly, Saban always emphasized academics.

Saban understood that only about 2% of his players would go on to play professionally, so he focused on preparing them for careers beyond football.

But now, Saban sees young players constantly trying to capitalize on NIL money rather than focusing on development and long-term success. Even more concerning, players who aren’t good enough to make it to the next level often fail to consider that reality. They see the money, assume they’ve made it, and settle.

“We changed that dynamic when we started paying players, and players were no longer going to college to see how they could create value for the future. But they were choosing colleges and making decisions about college based on how much money they could make. And when you change that dynamic, it changes a whole bunch of things,” Saban said. 

It’s very true what the legendary college coach professed. We’ve seen players choose schools just to secure money, only to turn around and transfer elsewhere by season’s end.

Even a lawsuit has arisen between the University of Wisconsin and the University of Miami over defensive back Xavier Lucas’ eligibility and possible tampering. It’s felt like a complete mess. And it’s possibly because players are focusing on the wrong things now with NIL money in the fold.

But what’s the solution? Saban doesn’t know. He likes the new agreement that was signed to share revenue between all schools in a conference. Additionally, he thinks schools will need to start employing a marketing team that specializes in assigning a numerical value to a player’s NIL. Other than that, Saban doesn’t have too many ideas. Although, like many others, he thinks there has to be a system in place. 

All in all, maybe Saban was right all along. Maybe NIL was never a good idea, and it has forever ruined the purity that college sports used to have. But one thing is for sure, there’s no going back now.

The decisions have been made, lawsuits are happening, and kids are collecting. Stopping it all now would likely create even more controversy than we’re seeing at the moment. Everyone agrees college athletes should be compensated to some degree, but so far, the implementation has been terrible.

The Ohio State football program has prided itself on being at the forefront of NIL. They want to be a leader when it comes to handling NIL and how to fund its players. Early in the NIL era, they did a pretty good job of navigating the space well enough to win a national title.

Now, the House settlement has changed how they have gone about things. Instead of still having NIL collectives help with money outside the school, they have brought everything in-house. That has caused them to miss out on some very highly-rated recruits in the 2026 class.

For some unknown reason, Ross Bjork has decided not to let the Buckeyes use the collectives they were using before in order to pursue NIL ventures. That means that from now on, all of the football players will be paid directly by them. That’s not an avenue they need to go down right now.

The Ohio State football team needs to change their NIL rules

While the Ohio State Buckeyes might think they are following the rules to a tee, they are actually leaving themselves at a disadvantage. Other programs are still leaving collectives open to help fund the rosters. Instead, Ohio State thinks they are doing the right thing.

That has made recruiting a lot harder on them, especially in the 2026 recruiting class. If they want to start landing recruits with more regularity, they have to change how they are handling NIL until there is more complete unity with the rules across the country.

Ohio State won’t get some of the blue-chip recruits that they are after unless they change what they are doing in the NIL space. Other programs are able to land some of the top recruits in the country, while Ohio State has to battle uphill to land some.

Ryan Day needs to fix this before things get worse. Fans have already started complaining, and the team needs to make adjustments to stay competitive.

Before Paige Bueckers was picked by the Dallas Wings first overall in the 2025 WNBA draft, the forward played five years with the UConn Huskies under coach Geno Auriemma. She suffered season-ending ailments, missed another primary scorer for the season in one season before everything came together for her in the final season.

The Huskies went on to defeat Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks to give Bueckers and some of her teammates a perfect farewell with the national championship win.

On Friday, Bueckers joined Deja Kelly for an episode on NILOSOPHY to discuss her journey with the Huskies.

“Yeah, I mean, as much as I love UConn, being there for five years was a long time,” Bueckers said (1:53). “And just being ready for the next chapter of your life—thank God I got to close it out the right way, and we all did that as a team.

“The journey that I went on through UConn—I wouldn’t trade it for the world, just because it shaped me to be who I am,” she continued. “It changed a lot of my perspective on things and helped me grow as a person, a leader, a basketball player on and off the court.”

Bueckers, who had an NIL valuation of $1.5 million (via On3), also spoke about her mindset entering her fifth and final year of her college basketball career.

“I kind of just made that decision before the season even started—that I was going to give everything that I had to this season,” Bueckers said. “Just give everything I had to it and be ready for the next chapter. I think having that decision made before I even started sort of is a weight lifted off your shoulders. It’s something you don’t have to worry about.”

While Bueckers still had eligibility remaining due to her injury redshirt, she naturally felt it was a perfect time to move on.

“It was really just—I don’t know—when you feel like something is over,” she added. “Obviously, you had one more season to play out, but you just feel like that was the last chapter to it.”

Paige Bueckers’ Role in Leading UConn to NCAA Title

Entering the 2024-25 season, Paige Bueckers was coming off multiple major injuries (missing her entire junior year due to an ACL tear) and saw UConn come up short in three previous Final Fours.

Bueckers’ role was important in ending UConn’s nine-year national championship drought. She led the team from the front during the NCAA Tournament. She tallied 34 points vs. South Dakota State, 40 vs. Oklahoma and 31 vs. USC to become the first UConn player with three straight 30-point NCAA tournament games.

In the national championship game, Bueckers scored 17 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished three assists. The Huskies crushed the Gamecocks 82-59 to win their 12th overall national title.

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