Miami booster sounds off on Nick Saban: ‘It felt like a little teenager whining’
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Miami boosters have been handing out deals to Hurricanes athletes ever since NIL laws went into effect.
But, recently, the Hurricanes were called out by Alabama coach Nick Saban in a rant about how NIL is being used to entice players to come to certain schools.
Miami booster John Ruiz wasn’t going to let Saban’s comments go without a response. He spoke to the Miami Herald recently and fired back:
“Shocked, shocked that somebody in the business for such a long time and on top of his game was totally clueless of what all of this means,” Ruiz said Friday in a phone conversation with the Miami Herald. “He basically said, ‘I’m losing my market dominance because of everything that is going on and then starts… throwing everyone under the bus.”
Ruiz was just getting started. He also called Saban a whiny teenager for getting upset when things didn’t go his way:
“This was a very, very poor display of judgment and character,” Ruiz said of Saban’s rant at a speaking event in Birmingham, Alabama. “It felt like a little teenager whining about why previously they had free reign and all of a sudden when you level the playing field [it changes for Saban]. It was very ugly of him.
“It’s totally inappropriate the way he conducted himself and handled everything. More egregious is the very statements he made contained multiple NCAA violations of how he is involved in the process of the collectives and speaking to the kids about it and getting the kids involved.
“He was asking for collectives to be formed and provide payments to players because they would be at a disadvantage competitively [otherwise]. That is not what the NIL laws are designed to accomplish.”
Saban certainly opened up Pandora’s box with his recent comments. The fallout continues.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
