HOOVER, Ala. — As Donald Trump flew to the University of Alabama on May 1 to speak at the school’s commencement activities, he spent much of the flight time pondering how to fix college athletics.
Accompanied by Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, a former college football coach at schools like Auburn and Ole Miss, President Trump wanted to know what was plaguing college football ahead of a meeting with retired Alabama football coach Nick Saban. Trump told the senior U.S. senator that he wanted to get involved in fixing college athletics. It started with assembling a group that intricately knew the ins and outs of a remarkable period of change for the sport.
“He said, ‘Let’s put a group of people together and give me your best shot,'” Tuberville told CBS Sports this week of his Air Force One conversation with President Trump. “And, then after that, see what we can do.”
That solution starts with Saban and Texas Tech chairman Cody Campbell, who are expected to co-lead a presidential commission on college athletics. The pairing of a seven-time national championship-winning football coach with a billionaire former college football player naturally generated major headlines.
Nick Saban expected to serve as co-chair for Trump administration’s commission on college football
Will Backus
In his first public comments about the commission on Wednesday, Saban didn’t want to go into any primary specifics about the commission’s intentions when discussing with a small group of reporters at the Regions Tradition Pro-Am.
“To be honest…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/inside-donald-trumps-push-to-fix-college-sports-how-it-began-and-what-we-know-going-forward/
Author : John Talty
Publish date : 2025-05-16 14:46:00
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