Nick Saban Went to Capitol Hill and Complained About College Players Getting Paid for Several Hours

How long are we gonna have to do this? Nick Saban, who made more than $150 million in his coaching career, is seemingly intent on going on a nationwide tour to still bemoan the very players who allowed him to amass that fortune now being compensated, as well.

Yes, collegiate athletics are different now. And there are certainly grievances to have with some of the ways things currently work, as long as you can properly identify what is a feature and what is a bug. College kids "only caring about the money" is the former.

I have a newsflash for college coaches who are pretending to not understand the economics everyone else in America seems to have no problem with: they always only cared about the money. The difference between now and five years ago is before, you might get lucky enough to get a little bit of cash under the table, but other than that, you had to play the game and choose a program that gave you the best chance of becoming a professional athlete, where you could make real money. Now, players can make real money before or without turning pro — so they're going to prioritize that. There isn't anything else in America where people pretend to be shocked when employees prioritize maximizing their compensation.

That is how literally every industry works, Nick.

It's perfectly fine for coaches to admit that collegiate athletics are different now than they were a few years ago and they'd prefer retirement or coaching in the pros instead of having to adapt to a new landscape. But to pretend this is the biggest issue plaguing them when UCLA is about to be in the same conference as Penn State is dumb at best and intellectually dishonest at worst.

I just wonder if Saban flew back to his $11 million lake house or $17 million beach house after his testimony today.