James Franklin Calls For Nick Saban To Become Commissioner Of College Football

Currently, college football does not have a commissioner. But James Franklin has just the guy for the job.

While speaking to reporters at Fiesta Bowl Media Day, the Penn State head coach nominated Nick Saban for the job of overseeing the entire sport. Franklin said the legendary Alabama coach is the “obvious choice” for leading college football in the right direction during this unprecedented era of NIL, conference realignment and the transfer portal.

“I’m one of the people who feel very very strongly that we need a commissioner of college football,” Franklin said. “We need somebody that’s waking up every single morning and going to bed every single night thinking about what’s in the best interest of college football.

“I think Nick Saban would be the obvious choice if we made that decision. Now, Nick will probably call me tonight and say, ‘Don’t do this,’ but I think he’s the obvious choice, right?”

Saban has not been shy about voicing his opinion on the biggest issues facing college football programs in the past couple of years. And Franklin hasn’t either.

READ: Nick Saban, Others Might Be Weary Of Collectives, NIL And Paying Players, But Stop Acting Like Fans Will Leave

On Sunday, Franklin made several suggestions. He proposed eliminating conference championship games to shorten the season and to give the College Football Playoff selection committee a fairer comparison. He also suggested every conference play the same number of league games — eight or nine — and start the season a week earlier to “take some stress off of the academic calendar.”

James Franklin believes Nick Saban is the perfect for the (hypothetical) job of college football commissioner.

(Imagn Images)

Overall, though, the Penn State coach believes that conference commissioners — all competing against each other for their own interests — is bad for the sport.

“Whenever you have people that are making decisions and running college football, they’re going to be biased towards what’s best to their conference, and that’s not in the best interest of college football and the student athletes,” Franklin said. “If every decision we make is based on money, then we’re heading in the wrong direction.”

I hate to break it to you, Coach, but “money” is the motivation for every business in every industry ever. Not sure anyone is going to change that — not even the great Nick Saban.