Broadcasting legend Verne Lundquist shared his opinion on why legendary Alabama football coach Nick Saban decided to leave after the 2023-24 college season.
Everyone was surprised when Saban retired from coaching after leading his team to the College Football Playoff following an SEC Championship victory over Georgia.
Lundquist, who talked about college football for years before stepping away from CBS coverage in 2016, believes the name, image and likeness, better known as NIL, led to Saban's retirement.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
On Wednesday, March 2, 2016, in front of the West Wing of the White House, Alabama Crimson Tide football team coach Nick Saban speaks to reporters. (Cheriss May/NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“The two biggest changes, which helped Nick Saban retire, are the transfer portal and NIL,” Lundquist said during an appearance on Barstool's “Pardon My Take.” “These children now [ask], 'How much are you going to pay me?' Or 'If you don't pay me or if you don't guarantee that I will start and you pay me, I will transfer and go to central Michigan.' And I think Nick has now said, 'Yeah, that drove me crazy.'”
While Saban hasn't definitively said that NIL and the transfer portal kicked him out of the game, he has been an outspoken critic of the way college athletics is being run now.
Saban said in February during an ESPN panel during “College GameDay” that “what we have now is not college football.”
NICK SABAN REVEALS A CONVERSATION WITH HIS WIFE, TERRY, THAT CONTRIBUTED TO RETIREMENT: 'WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?'
“Not college football as we know it,” he continued. “You hear someone use the word 'student-athlete.' That doesn't exist.
Saban said he wants to try to impact college football however he can, and that started with a discussion on Capitol Hill about the future of college athletics in terms of the transfer portal and NIL. He was part of a roundtable, led by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, where he provided his expertise to explain why there needs to be regulations with the transfer portal and NIL.
Verne Lundquist of CBS Sports during the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Photos via Getty Images held at Madison Square Garden on March 24, 2017 in New York City. (Ben Solomon/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
“All the things I've believed in all these years (50 years of coaching) no longer exist in college athletics,” he explained when Cruz asked if the “current chaos” led him to retire. “It was always about building layers, it was always about helping people be more successful in life.”
Saban even mentioned an anecdote about how his wife, Terry, asked him, “Why do we do this?” After breakfast on Sunday, he often makes it for recruits and their parents when they visit Alabama.
“'The only thing they care about is how much you're going to pay them. They don't care how you're going to develop them, which is what we've always done. So why are you doing this?'” Saban recalled his wife telling him earlier. to decide to retire. Saban added that it was a “red flag” to hear his wife say that.
And that's exactly what Lundquist is referring to here, that athletes are now focusing on how much money they can earn during their college years. If that means making a transfer to collect, then the transfer portal can help them do that.
Verne Lundquist visits the SiriusXM studios on October 8, 2018 in New York City. (Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Admittedly, this is what the NCAA currently allows, so they are simply using the available system for their own benefit. But Saban and many others hope the NCAA and college athletics can bounce back a bit, because recruiting isn't about selling an athlete on your program and school to improve them on and off the field.
It's about how many zeros there are on a check.
Follow Fox News Digital sports coverage in Xand subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
