Nick Saban's Thoughts on Conference Realignment: Prioritize Student-Athletes

Who pays the price in conference realignment? Alabama head coach Nick Saban weighs in.

Joe Gaither | Aug 6, 2023

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Alabama Crimson Tide

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The college athletics landscape has been shifting underneath our feet for the last decade. It started in 2012 with the Southeastern Conference adding Texas A&M and Missouri to its ranks and continued through this past week with this decimation of the Pac-12 as Washington and Oregon joined the Big Ten and Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah joined the Big 12.

The monetary impact on universities for shifting conferences is obviously attractive but who is paying the cost for the school presidents and board members to uproot the traditions that have long been laid.

"Theres's a lot of traditions that we've had for a long time in college football, and I think we're in a time of evolution for whatever reasons," Alabama head coach Nick Saban said Sunday. "Some of those traditions are going to get sort of pushed by the wayside. I think and it's sad. Whether it's good bad or indifferent for college football, I guess you have to define what is good and bad for college football.

"I think one thing I would just hope that we would keep in mind in all the choices and decisions that we make relative to what we do in college athletics is the student-athlete. They're here to get an education, wanna try to help them develop careers on and off the field. And hopefully some of the choices and decisions that we make for college athletics in the future will impact them in a positive way, and I hope that we will keep that a priority in terms of whatever we decide to do in the future of college football and college athletics."

The student-athlete (and its family) bears the brunt of the cross-country travel, has to shoulder the pressure of maintaining academic eligibility and still has to handle the expectations to perform at a high level.

While college football will see more compelling matchups in the future, the question of fairness for the student-athlete still looms large.

My name is Joe Gaither and I graduated from the University of Alabama in 2018. I began my sports media career in radio in 2019, working for three years in Tuscaloosa covering the University of Alabama and other local high school sports. In 2023 I began my career with On SI writing and covering predominantly college athletics with a focus on the University of Alabama, University of Missouri and Vanderbilt.

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