What a college football commissioner would do and why Nick Saban says it’s time

The current state of college football is defined not only by the action on the field, but by the chaotic machinery operating behind it. With the regular season concluding and the transfer portal window flinging open, the sport resembles a high-stakes marketplace operating with little regulation or oversight.

The recent saga involving Lane Kiffin’s abrupt departure from Ole Miss to LSU, amid the Rebels’ playoff push, has become the latest flashpoint, illustrating a systemic failure that goes beyond individual coaching decisions. It highlights an ecosystem where scheduling, roster management, and coaching tenure collide with zero governing guardrails.

This chaotic environment has renewed the desperate plea for a centralized authority. For years, the sport has operated as a confederation of conferences, each acting in its own self-interest, often at the expense of the collective product. The result is a fragmented calendar in which coaches are recruited during playoff runs, and players are forced to make life-altering transfer decisions in a matter of days or hours.

The outcry is no longer just coming from frustrated fans; it is echoing from the highest levels of the sport’s coaching ranks, where the demand for a commissioner has shifted from a theoretical debate to an operational necessity.

Defining the Role of a College Football Commissioner

The job description for this hypothetical commissioner is complex, yet the expectations from those inside the sport are remarkably simple: stability and singular focus. The current model, reliant on the NCAA and conference commissioners like the SEC's Greg Sankey and the Big Ten's Tony Petitti, divides loyalty between specific member institutions rather than the sport's health.

Coaches are clamoring for an independent figure empowered to make unilateral decisions for the greater good. Someone who isn't beholden to television networks or specific university presidents.

James Franklin, former Penn State head coach and current head coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies, articulated this need with striking clarity in December 2024, in the lead-up to the Nittany Lions' appearance in that year's Fiesta Bowl. His vision for the role strips away the bureaucracy and focuses on stewardship.

“I think one of the most important things we can do is get a commissioner of college football that is waking up every single morning and going to bed every single night making decisions that are in the best interest of college football,” Franklin said.

Several college football coaches, including James Franklin, Mike Gundy, and others, believe it's time for the sport to adopt a commissioner. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

This sentiment is shared across the Power Four conferences. Former Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy has been equally vocal, warning that the window to fix the sport’s structural integrity is closing rapidly. Gundy’s urgency stems from the rapid acceleration of revenue sharing and roster instability.

“We need a commissioner,” Gundy said. “And we need to get it and get it as fast as we can before we start to lose it and try to get it back.”

The consensus is that this role requires someone with the gravitas to command respect from warring factions: coaches, athletic directors, and broadcast partners. The ideal candidate must understand the granular details of recruiting and the macroeconomics of media rights.

Naturally, the eyes of the college football world have turned to one man who fits this profile perfectly, even as he sits on a television set rather than in a corporate office.

Nick Saban Often the Reluctant Voice of Reason on GameDay

While coaches sound the alarm from the sidelines, the most authoritative diagnosis of the sport’s ailments has come from its retired titan, Nick Saban. Now analyzing the game from the College GameDay desk, Saban has used his platform to dismantle the illusion that the sport is healthy simply because viewership is high. In a breakdown from Saturday's episode, he argued that the popularity of the expanded postseason is masking a dangerous lack of foundational rules.

“There is no question about the fact that I think we need to have a commissioner who is over all the conferences, as well as a competition committee who defines the rules of how we're going to play the game, because that's what we don't have right now,” Saban said.

Former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach and current ESPN College GameDay host Nick Saban is often cited as a hypothetical candidate to serve as college football's commissioner. | Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images

Saban’s critique cuts to the core of the "employer-employee" dynamic that currently exists in a gray area. He longs for a return to structured agreements that protect both the athlete's education and the institution's investment, elements he argues that have been discarded in the rush toward unrestricted player movement.

“You know, we used to have contracts for coaches and for players that defined what your academic responsibilities were,” Saban explained. “When can you transfer? What is your obligation to the school? We don't have that now. And if you really don't support that, you're kind of supporting a little bit of anarchy, which is what we have right now, whether it's coaches or players.”

Nick Saban wants to see a commissioner for college football ✍️ pic.twitter.com/WtHgBcdHca
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) December 6, 2025

Saban’s most poignant observation is that the excitement surrounding the 12-team playoff distracts from these fundamental issues. The "anarchy" he describes, in which roster management is a daily bidding war, threatens the competitive balance the playoffs are supposed to celebrate.

“So I think having a national commissioner and a governing body certainly would enhance the sport,” Saban concluded. “I do think that the College Football Playoff has camouflaged some of these issues because there's so much interest in college football because of the playoff. But the underlying problem in terms of the level of competition for everybody is probably something that needs to be addressed quickly.”

Defining the Role of a College Football Commissioner

Nick Saban Often the Reluctant Voice of Reason on GameDay

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