Nick Saban Warns of SEC Becoming a "Farm System" If Rules Aren't Changed
DESTIN, Fla. — "You can't create a system that really can almost promote fraud."
Alabama head coach Nick Saban issued a warning today that this is the road that college football could be heading down in the age of autonomy if the Power Five conferences—the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC—don't get on the same page regarding key legislative issues that will define the future of major college football.
Speaking at the SEC spring meetings at the Sandestin Hilton, Saban stood strong on several key issues, including the different numbers generated by each school regarding the full-cost-of-attendance stipend, satellite camps that are allowed in the Big Ten, Pac-12 and Big 12 and graduate transfer rules that prohibit players who have been disciplined by their previous institutions from coming to the SEC unless they receive a waiver.
"We need to have the same rules in the big five in all leagues," Saban said. "If we're going to compete for the championship and everybody is going to play in the playoff system, then we need to get our rules in alignment so that we are all on a level playing field.
"These things need to be global; otherwise we are going to become a farm system for all of the other leagues."
SEC coaches are understandably upset that coaches from outside the region are allowed to invade the fertile recruiting grounds of the SEC to try to poach players. Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh recently held a camp at Prattville high school in Alabama—one of the most powerful high school programs in the state—and landed a commitment from 3-star running back Kingston Davis, according to the Montgomery Advertiser's Ethan Bernal.
"We have a lot of crazy rules," Saban said. "Head coaches aren't allowed to go out during an evaluation period in the spring, but you can go have a satellite camp anywhere in the country and bring your staff in and bring players to it? Does that make any sense to anybody?
"I think we should have recruiting periods and evaluation periods, and the only time you should be able to have a camp is on your campus."
It isn't just a recruiting issue, though.
As it stands right now, financial aid offices at each individual school determine the true full-cost-of-attendance figure for each school. According to Brad Wolverton and Sandhya Kambhampati of the Chronicle of Higher Education, the number ranges from Kentucky at $2,284, on the low end of the SEC, to Tennessee at $5,666 at the high end.
"Even in the NFL, they have a salary cap," Saban said. "When we don't have a cap that makes it equal for everybody, it really goes against everything we've tried to do in the NCAA that we've tried to do for parity."
Doesn't that sound a bit extreme?
Well, maybe a little bit, but SEC spring meetings is the right place to take a hard line in order to come to a consensus as a conference.
Saban is spot-on.
This is the time and place to make a stand against these types of issues, and hopefully the SEC will conclude spring meetings on Friday with a specific topic to take to the NCAA: uniformity.
There's no reason for conferences to have different rules in this day and age of autonomy among the Power Five conferences. The push for autonomy—a separate governance structure for major college football—essentially created a need for the Power Five conferences to get on the same page for all major legislative issues.
Yet here we are, in late May 2015, with conferences playing by different rulebooks.
That has to change.
Some of those issues—like the full cost of attendance—are direct results of issues created by that autonomy, but that doesn't mean they should linger. The new NCAA football oversight committee was specifically created to address these concerns and is as close to a "commissioner of college football" that exists. These should be the first issues that it addresses.
These aren't the dark ages, where conferences look out for their own best interests. Rising revenue figures first from the BCS and now in the age of the College Football Playoff are a clear indication that a rising tide floats all boats. We are in an age of simplicity, and having uniformity across the board regarding key issues addressing college football is a necessity.
Could it be paranoia driving Saban to suggest that the SEC—a conference that won seven straight national titles from 2006-2012—could become a "farm system" to other conferences?
Maybe a little bit.
But if other conferences have recruiting advantages and, conceivably, more money to throw around via full-cost-of-attendance stipends, he has every right to be paranoid.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on Sirius 93, XM 208.
Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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