Nick Saban Offers Sobering Thoughts On State Of College Football

Nick Saban sounds a bit concerned about the future of college football.

Saban stepped away from Alabama and rode off into retirement after this past season. He'll go down as the greatest coach to ever carry a whistle on a sideline.

While he's retired and no longer coaching, the Alabama legend isn't interested in staying silent. In fact, he's raising a warning flag about where the sport he loves is going.

Nick Saban sounds concerned about the future of college football. (Credit: Tuscaloosa News via USA Today Sports Network)

"If my voice can bring about some meaningful change, I want to help any way I can, because I love the players, and I love college football. What we have now is not college football -- not college football as we know it. You hear somebody use the word 'student-athlete.' That doesn't exist," Saban told ESPN Wednesday when talking about the sport that he dominated for decades.

Claiming student-athletes no longer exist is a very sobering assessment of the situation because he's not wrong. The days of student-athletes are long gone when it comes to high level college basketball and football. That's just a fact.

Nick Saban sounds warning siren on state of college football. (Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY Sports)

The seven-time national champion further added, "I'm not really looking for a job, but I do know I'd like to impact college football the best way I can, whether it's being a spokesperson or anything else. Listen, I'm for the players. It's not that I'm not for the players. I want to see the players have a great quality of life and be able to create value for themselves. But we've gone to nobody talking about education, nobody talking about creating value for their future, to talking only about how