Cowboys star Micah Parsons pins blame on NIL for Nick Saban's shocking retirementÂ
Nick Saban's shocking retirement has elicited a lot of reactions from around the football world but Micah Parsons believes NIL is the reason why the Alabama coach is stepping down. Irrespective of when he walked away Nick Saban's legacy in college football is secure.
He won one national champipnship while at LSU and added half a dozen with the Crimson Tide. He has been in Alabama since 2007 and it was almost taken as granted that he would still be there when the next season rolled around.
But now it seem that the National Championship Semi Finals against Michigan was his last involvement with the college game. The 27-20 loss to Jim Harbaugh's team in the Rose Bowl will probably be his last involvement from the sidelines.
Nick Saban has achieved everything there is to achieve in college football and is 72 years old. So, in a way it is not surprising that he is stepping away. But Micah Parsons believes that it comes to NIL money.
With the proliferation of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) money in college football, the power coaches had in recruiting the best students to elite schools has diluted. College athletes are most likely to often select places that give them maximum exposure.
Micah Parsons said,
"Nil played a part in this I bet!"
Micah Parsons' NIL theory could be possible but Nick Saban might be choosing to retire on a high
While we do not know what went on behind Nick Saban's thinking, there is plausibility to Micah Parson's NIL theory. But there could be simpler sporting reasons as well.
SInce he last won the National Championship in 2020, Georgia have taken two titles and now Michigan has won one. He has seen the likes of Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll in the NFL, for example, being given no leeway despite their legendary standing with the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, respectively.
He at least knows that this year he managed to knock Georgia in the SEC and win the championship. Therefore, as Nick Saban leaves now, he does so on a winning note at the conference level, if not the national level.
This is more likely to keep his reputation intact with masses than if he had carried on past his prime. He leaves with his legacy secure as one of the greatest college coaches of all time who built powerhouse programs wherever he went.