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Lawyer in House v. NCAA settlement blasts Nick Saban, Donald Trump over talks of executive order
By Andrew Olson
Published:
The House v. NCAA settlement is set to bring major changes to college sports once Judge Claudia Wilken makes a ruling. One of the lead attorneys for the plaintiffs is speaking out against Nick Saban and President Donald Trump for suggesting action via executive order at the “11th hour.”
It was reported Friday that Trump is considering an executive order aimed at regulating NIL after meeting with Saban. The former Alabama head coach spoke before the President at UA’s commencement in Coleman Coliseum. Saban also met privately with Trump.
On Monday, Steve Berman, managing partner for firm Hagens Berman representing a class of hundreds of thousands of current and former college athletes in a pending $2.78 billion settlement with the NCAA, released a statement criticizing Saban and Trump.
While he was a coach, Saban initially opposed NIL payments to athletes, pushing to add restrictions and red-tape through national legislation to add ‘some sort of control.’ During his time scrutinizing the athlete pay structure, he made tens of millions of dollars and was previously the highest-paid coach in college football,” Berman said.
“Coach Saban and Trump’s eleventh-hour talks of executive orders and other meddling are just more unneeded self-involvement,” Berman said. “College athletes are spearheading historic changes and benefitting massively from NIL deals. They don’t need this unmerited interference from a coach only seeking to protect the system that made him tens of millions.
Berman is the court-appointed co-lead counsel in the litigation.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
