Nick Saban Leading Charge for NCAA Reform Is Nothing New

For all the criticism Nick Saban gets for his interactions with the media—that he is confrontational, controlling or manipulative—no one will ever say he doesn’t speak his mind.

Saban is not the loose-cannon type who will run his mouth and occasionally get himself in trouble for it, like a Steve Spurrier or James Franklin. Everything he says is as calculated as his practices and game plans.

But he’s never been afraid to voice his opinion, especially when it comes to the major issues facing college football.

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

As the coach of the best program in the nation over the last eight years, Saban’s voice carries a certain weight in the college football world, and he’s not afraid to speak as not only Alabama's coach but as an ambassador for the game.

He’s back at it again, weighing in on the major issues of the offseason. And whether fans, pundits or fellow coaches and administrators agree with him, Saban continues to show that his voice will be heard before decisions are made.

This cycle’s hot topic is even rules across the Power Five for satellite camps, cost of attendance and graduate transfers.

Bleacher Report’s Barrett Sallee is in Destin for SEC spring meetings, where Saban took center stage on Monday voicing his concern about the league becoming “a farm system for all of the other leagues” if the SEC doesn’t lift certain restrictions to catch up to what other conferences are doing.

His comments drew criticism, but he made his stance known, and the SEC proposed nationwide legislation to level the playing field in terms of recruiting restrictions.

Last year, Saban couldn’t wax poetic enough about the NFL evaluation process for potential early entries.

Butch Dill/Associated Press

“I think the misinformation that's out there that's being used to entice these guys to go out for the draft is what needs to get fixed,” he said at one of his offseason fundraising stops. “And I think the NFL and the NFL Players Association need to help us in college so that we can all get together and figure out how the system doesn't work.”

They did just that. The NFL restricted the number of juniors per school who could submit a request for an evaluation to five, and the grading scale changed to simply first round, second or stay in school.

The result? The number of juniors who declared early dropped from 98 to 76, according to Josh Katzowitz of Forbes.

A year before that, it was the SEC schedule.

After the league added Missouri and Texas A&M, it had to decide whether to drop a cross-divisional rotational game or add an extra game to the conference schedule to make nine in total, like the Pac-12, Big 10 and Big 12.

Saban wanted the latter. And he made it known, via Andrew Gribble of AL.com:

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“I would really like to see everybody play at least 10 games from the five major conferences," Saban said. "If you talk about trying to create some kind of strength of schedule, that's difficult to do. When we have six teams at the end of the season last year in the top 10 and other teams that are vying to get in the championship game -- and then to think the team that loses our championship game wouldn't have gotten into the final four if we'd have one -- that's not taking strength of schedule into consideration at all. It's taking how many games you lose into consideration.

"If we all played more good opponents, you could lose more games and still have a chance to get recognized as a good team."

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He was the only SEC coach who thought so and didn’t get his wish. The SEC did require that, starting in 2016, its teams must play one Power Five opponent out of conference each year, but it stuck with the eight-game league schedule.

But Saban was very vocal, and still is, about his wishes for the conference schedule, and now no one can criticize him for wanting to pad his schedule.

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

Previously, Saban has been outspoken about a four-team playoff (before it existed), extra benefits to an athlete's scholarship and having a gay athlete on his team.

When he talks, people listen. Four national championships at two different schools give him a certain credibility and influence that other coaches just don’t have. He’s chosen to use that platform to voice his opinions about the state of the game and where it’s heading, whether people agree or not.

He’s certainly in the minority nationally on satellite camps, and it’s unlikely that the legislation will go his way. But that won’t stop him from being vocal about it or anything else down the road.

Nick Saban can be called a lot of things. Just not quiet or without an opinion.

Marc Torrence is the Alabama lead writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes and reporting were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Follow on Twitter @marctorrence.