Nick Saban thanks President Donald Trump for leadership after signing executive order on college athletics

President Donald Trump vowed to save college sports. Last week, he made good on a promise to sign an executive order to do so.

Nick Saban has since sent a message of thanks to the President of the United States for signing the order. The seven-time national championship-winning head coach, who has been at the forefront of these conversations in Washington, praised Trump for taking the situation head-on.

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“I want to thank the President for showing leadership and a creating a roundtable, which consisted of college presidents, commissioners, athletic directors, coaches, to gather information as to what might help create some regulation that would help us long-term,” Saban said during an interview on Fox News. “(To) be able to manage and fund all sports so that we can continue to create opportunities for young people.”

A fact sheet was released regarding the executive order outlining the main initiatives being to rules on transferring, eligibility and NIL. Some of the main points include: Establishing a five-year participation window, banning improper financial arrangements facilitated by collectives and adopting protections regarding women’s and Olympic sports. It also warns that financial pressures threaten to drain resources from all sports except for football and basketball if action isn’t taken.

The order additionally states that college sports cannot function without “clear, agreed-upon rules” concerning NIL and eligibility and wants to implement rules that “can’t be endlessly challenged in court.” Saban echoed these sentiments during the interview.

“I think ultimately, we need Congress to have some kind of anti-trust legislation that keeps us from having litigation (which) actually rules college sports,” Saban said. “Which is how we got where we are right now.”

Saban is referring to the oodles of lawsuits that have mounted against the NCAA by student-athletes seeking additional eligibility. In some cases, players have been granted sixth and seventh years of eligibility based on their situations. Trump’s EO would cap that at five years of eligibility, which would be enough for players to exercise a redshirt and still play four full years after entering college.

Trump himself stated that he expects the executive order to be challenged in court. For now, the EO is set to go into effect on Aug. 1, shortly before the start of the the college football season.