Senator & Former SEC Coach Singles out Texas in NIL Discussion

Financial power is more prominent than ever in college athletics, and college football experts are concerned about the future.

Mar 13, 2025; Washington, DC, USA; Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) during a business meeting of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in Washington, DC, March 13, 2025.. Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY | Jack Gruber, Jack Gruber / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Founded on the notion that college athletes should be compensated for their contributions to their teams and the revenue they generate for their schools, NIL reshaped the world of college sports when it first took effect in July of 2021.

Controversy has defined NIL, and it continues to evolve as experts learn more about its consequences and effects. 

One concern revolves around the fact that schools with the most money to buy players and pay them will be the only ones with a chance at succeeding in this new world.

May 1, 2025; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Legendary Alabama football coach Nick Saban introduces President Donald Trump. Trump delivered a special commencement address to University of Alabama graduates at Coleman Coliseum. Graduation occurs over the weekend. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-Tuscaloosa News | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Alabama senator and former SEC football coach Tommy Tuberville spoke on the matter, singling out the Texas Longhorns to drive his point home.

“You’re going to eliminate 90 percent of schools because they don’t have the money,” Tuberville recently told CBS Sports. “Look at Texas. Nobody’s ever going to beat them again if we allow them to keep going the way they’re going. Again, I’ve got nothing against Texas; they’re going by the rules, but we’ve got to hopefully make it work out.”

Texas isn’t the only program with ample NIL money to extend to its athletes, but it’s definitely a program that hasn’t been afraid of utilizing its resources to become a powerhouse in this new landscape of college athletics. Other examples of schools with similar capacity include Alabama, Georgia, Michigan and Ohio State.

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban has voiced his opinion on the matter, testifying at a Senate hearing in 2024 that NIL wasn’t in the “spirit of college athletics” for “whoever wants to pay the most money, raise the most money, buy the most players is going to have the best opportunity to win.”

However, another argument can be made that many of these same schools were already the ones dominating in terms of recruiting because of their exposure and their reputations of success.

However, it’s hard to say that reports of the Buckeyes spending $20 million on their roster alone last offseason doesn’t give them an additional edge in recruiting and maintaining the kind of talent that helped them earn last year’s national championship title. 

President Donald Trump is pushing to “fix” college athletics, with the help of prominent figures like Saban and Texas Tech chair Cody Campbell. However, it remains unclear what a “fix” will look like and at what cost it might arrive at this time.