Verne Lundquist believes NIL drove Nick Saban to retire

Four months after Nick Saban surprised the sports world by retiring from Alabama, Verne Lundquist attributes the decision to NIL.

Lundquist largely missed the NIL era in college sports, having stepped away from calling college football games for CBS in 2016. Despite retiring from college football, Lundquist continued as part of the network’s golf coverage until after this year’s Masters, when the sportscaster closed the book on a legendary career.

This week, Lundquist joined an episode of Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take where he was asked to identify the biggest changes in college sports since the start of his career. For Lundquist, the answer was the more recent changes of the transfer portal and NIL, changes he believes drove Saban to retire.

“The two biggest changes, both of which helped drive Nick Saban into retirement, are transfer portal and NIL,” Lundquist told Pardon My Take hosts Big Cat and PFT Commenter. “These kids now [ask], ‘How much are you gonna pay me?’ Or ‘If you don’t pay me or if you don’t guarantee I’m starting and pay me, I’m transferring, I’m going to Central Michigan.’ And I think Nick has now said, ‘Yeah, that drove me nuts.’”

Saban has been openly critical of NIL and the current system in college sports, but the 72-year-old has refuted NIL being the specific reason he’s retiring. And it probably isn’t the sole reason he chose to retire, because if Saban was 50 he would have adjusted to coaching with the transfer portal and NIL. But in his 70s, with an already cemented legacy as an all-time great head coach, it seems reasonable to assume those newer hurdles weighed heavily on his decision to stop coaching.

“I’m pretty good friends with him. You do that many Alabama games over the years and I would say we’re friends. I know we are,” Lundquist continued, noting he was careful to not let their friendship impact his call of an Alabama game.

“You worry about does that impede on any prejudicial comments you might make? I hope not. I think I’m a better broadcaster than that,” Lundquist said of his ability to call games with Saban on the sideline. “But I used to worry about that because I admire him. Nick is one of my favorites…He’d get on the local reporters at those press conferences and just belittle them and I thought, ‘Nick, you’re better than that.’”

Saban may not have been great to every media member throughout his career, berating some reporters and intimidating others . But as he transitions into becoming a college football analyst with ESPN, Lundquist appears to be a believer in the next phase of Saban’s career, saying the former Alabama coach was a “ superstar during the draft. ”

[ Pardon My Take ]

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