re: ESPN Article: Now We Know Why Saban Retired...

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I dont blame him one bit for it. I would say to Hell with It, too. Especially with all these 5 stars that care nothing about your school
All about showing me the money....

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Don't fool yourself into believing that. Even before NIL, 5-stars at Bama were still about "showing me the money".

There were SO many blue-chippers that were dedicated to/committed to another school - sometimes for years - who suddenly flipped to Bama at the last minute instead of signing with the school they'd committed to. Do you think most of them did that because they "cared about the school" (in this case, Bama over whatever school they were previously committed to)?

Not likely, IMO. The difference between then and now is that most other schools at that time weren't as blatant or egregious about their bagman network as Bama, so the "Pay Me!" attitude wasn't as in your face. Now, anybody can buy a player, so it's a free-market free for all and players aren't shy about driving up the bidding wars.