re: Long Saban Article

I see a lot of people replying to this article in other spots saying Saban was mad players got paid or some other such bullshite.

The issue is that college football is transactional in a way it wasn't before. As a coach that has to suck. There is no school where it doesn't suck. It sucks for a guy like Saban who is the best ever at the top program and it sure as hell sucks a lower tier school where you can develop a guy for years only for him to leave to play with a bunch of strangers just because they'll pay him more.

I don't know about you guys, but when I did sports (and now that I coach) the relationships between the coaches and athletes isn't supposed to be transactional. You're not supposed to look at the other person as a means to an end. There are certainly situations in life in which you should do that. I don't need a relationship with the guy that changes my oil. Hell, I'm aware that if I died today that my boss's main concern would be finding a replacement and afterwards he wouldn't spend a single second worried about me or my family. That's fine. Probably the best way to look at it for a job. But sports? Sports shouldn't be that, not at every level. Pro sports? Sure. But even then you hear coaches talk about missing the locker room and players when they retire. I completely understand Saban saying, "frick it, I'm out!" after what happened after the playoffs. He knows it isn't going to get better, so why stick around?

A significant amount of people will be selfish assholes if you let them via incentives, which is what the NCAA has done with NIL and the transfer portal. Some kids will stay because they value relationships over cash, but as time has shown a LOT of kids value money over almost anything.