Former Auburn Tigers linebacker Chandler Wooten isn't all that interested in former Alabama Crimson Tide and LSU Tigers head coach Nick Saban's push in Congress to curb NIL earnings and revert the system to the old way of doing business, or at least in that direction.
Saban claimed today on Capitol Hill, "It's become an arms race, who spends the most has got the best chance to win ... But I think it's a race to the bottom because if you don't spend to win, you lose your fan base and you don't have any revenue." In response, Wooten claimed that the Indiana Hoosiers' CFP title win in January single-handedly invalidates that.
"He lost me when he started yapping about competitive balance… like we didn’t just witness Indiana win a national championship," Wooten said on X.
Wooten, having played in the pre-COVID-19 era, then having opted out of the COVID-19-stricken 2020 season, and then having returned in the NIL era, had a predictably strong opinion on this. You could check out his extended comments here:
To Wooten's point, spending has changed the game, but it's not the be-all and end-all. If it were, the Texas Tech Red Raiders would've scored a point in the CFP, and the Texas Longhorns would've made the CFP field. Not to mention, the Florida Gators and even Auburn would've been more competitive. Hell, the highest-salaried NFL roster would win every year if that were the case. It's not, though. Good coaching is still the antidote in college football. That's not going to change.
Now, to Saban's point, his statement is true. But it's true because of the teams that he would never have any interest in defending: the Group of Six schools. Saban's complaints are conveniently timed as the Crimson Tide fades into irrelevance by late December and early January under his replacement, Kalen DeBoer. Remember, Saban is on the payroll and still has an office on campus. He's making half a million per year in an advisory role. We know where that money is going now: trips to Washington DC to complain about a system he was doing just fine in, in the grand scheme, before he called it quits.
READ MORE: Chandler Wooten said what everyone was thinking about the CU Buffs roster
Player empowerment has to be first and foremost for college football. They are the product, after all.
Saban needs to accept that this system is the best thing for players. There are pretty real tax ramifications for these deals, but a just state tax code would put that burden on the correct parties to give the players what they've earned.
The market is dictating that players get their fair value now. It's madness that Saban, in retirement, is trying to take that away from players. Quite frankly, it's lame that this is what he's spending his time on.
Perhaps if he were to just take the Alabama head coaching job back and get the Crimson Tide in the winner's circle again, as everyone in Tuscaloosa prays on every night before bed, he could stop being a grump and raining on the parade of players who are no longer volunteering to make older generations rich.
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