Man who makes millions lacks empathy for why some of his players would leave his warm embrace early for a shot (okay, for some, a long shot) at some of that sweet money:
“But people have to be smart about the business decisions they make relative to the NFL because it is all business. And when people make emotional decisions they are going to have to suffer some really difficult consequences for themselves in the future.
“You don’t have to go out for the draft early. You can come back and play.
“We’ve had six or seven guys who had second or third round grades that became top 15 and first round draft picks and made a significant amount of money by doing that. So there are some really good examples of guys who did it that way.
“I’m all for every one of our guys who went out for the draft. I’m going to do everything I can do to try get them drafted as high as they can get drafted, because at the point they say they are leaving, because what benefits our program is that they do great and I want them all to do great.
“Not just our players, but there are a significant amount of players that are not making good business decisions about what they do.
If at heart it’s a business decision, why not advocate policies that would make for smarter ones? You know, like supporting more compensation for student-athletes? Give ’em a business reason to stay.
And before you say the header quote should be all that matters to recruits, get real. Saban also said, “I think we have a lot of people way back in high school that look at college as a conduit to get to the NFL.” Why do you think that is, exactly? You don’t think he’s out there pitching that line to kids he’s recruiting? Of course he is.
They may have a dream, but Saban’s out there enabling it for his own selfish purposes. There’s nothing wrong with that; it’s just that both sides deserve the opportunity to make fair business decisions.
Get The Picture 
You must be logged in to post a comment.