College football has reached a crossroads. With athletes demanding compensation and universities struggling to maintain competitive balance, legendary coach Nick Saban sees President Trump’s latest executive order as more than policy. It’s a lifeline for the sport he spent five decades building.
How Does Donald Trump’s Executive Order Address College Sports’ Employment Crisis?
Former Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban praised President Donald Trump’s July 24, 2025, executive order as a “huge step” toward preserving college sports’ educational model, offering a clear alternative to professionalization.
Speaking on “Fox & Friends,” Saban became an ambassador of the order’s aim to clarify athletes’ employment status, curb pay-for-play, and protect non-revenue sports. The order directly confronts the chaos surrounding athlete compensation that has plagued college athletics since NIL deals began.
Saban praised the executive order, stating, “The executive order provides a huge step in providing the educational model that has always been what we’ve sort of tried to promote to create opportunities for players, male and female alike, revenue and non-revenue, so that they can have development as people, students and develop careers and develop professionally if that’s what they choose to do.”
The order from Trump asserts clear boundaries, stating, “It is common sense that college sports are not, and should not be, professional sports.” This mandate requires the U.S. Secretary of Labor and National Labor Relations Board to devise a plan within 30 days to prevent athletes from being classified as professionals.
What Alternative Does Saban Propose for College Athletics?
Based on the executive order, Saban presented an alternative approach saying, “I think we sort of need to make a decision here relative to do we want to have an education-based model… or do we want to have universities sponsor professional teams? And I think most people would choose the former.”
Saban sounds off: “Do we want to have universities sponsor professional teams?” pic.twitter.com/HNYanh9BPB
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) July 25, 2025
This alternative model emphasizes maintaining college sports’ educational foundation while creating legitimate opportunities for student-athletes. Saban’s approach focuses on development rather than pure compensation, preserving what made college athletics unique.
The executive order reinforces this vision by warning against the consequences of professionalization. Trump’s directive emphasizes protecting the educational mission that has defined college sports for generations.
Protecting Non-Revenue Sports
Trump’s order warns of dire consequences for smaller programs, stating, “A balanced use of resources across collegiate athletic programs that preserves their educational and developmental benefits, many college sports will soon cease to exist.”
The order emphasizes comprehensive protection, noting, “Any revenue-sharing permitted between universities and collegiate athletes should be implemented in a manner that protects women’s and non-revenue sports.”
Saban shared these concerns about non-revenue sports, explaining his perspective: “I’m for keeping all the sports that we have as many as we can have, but there are financial concerns relative to how many sports can you promote that don’t create revenue.”
This protection becomes crucial as universities face mounting pressure to fund revenue-sharing with football and basketball players. Without proper safeguards, smaller programs could disappear entirely, eliminating opportunities for thousands of student-athletes.
Reforming NIL and Collectives
Saban addressed the NIL landscape directly, advocating for a clearinghouse system to authenticate legitimate deals. He explained the concept: “I think the clearinghouse is there to authenticate name, image and likeness. In other words, is your marketing value relative to what you’re getting paid to do a marketing opportunity? When you cross that line, that’s when it becomes pay for play.”
The veteran coach criticized current collective operations, stating, “So you have collectives that raise money that pay players, and they really don’t do a relative marketing job to earn that money, and that’s where this whole thing has kind of gotten sideways. I think this whole clearinghouse is there to sort of protect the collective, affecting competitive balance in college sports.”
Trump’s order supports this approach by prohibiting third-party pay-for-play arrangements, reinforcing Saban’s push for regulated NIL to prevent competitive imbalances. The clearinghouse system would distinguish between legitimate marketing opportunities and disguised recruiting payments.
This reform addresses one of college sports’ biggest problems: wealthy boosters using collectives to essentially purchase players for their favorite teams. By requiring authentic marketing value, the system would restore some competitive balance while preserving legitimate NIL opportunities.
The executive order acknowledges the implementation of the House settlement on July 1, 2025, which introduced revenue-sharing between universities and athletes. However, Saban’s support, rooted in his 50-year coaching career, frames the order as a critical first step toward maintaining college sports’ educational mission.
As college sports navigate unprecedented legal and financial turbulence, Saban’s vision, amplified by Trump’s executive order, seeks to preserve opportunities for all athletes while restoring the competitive balance that made college athletics compelling. The question remains whether this approach can satisfy all stakeholders in an increasingly complex landscape.
