Much like a pot of water left boiling on the stove, the conversation around college athletics has been simmering for years and now it's finally starting to bubble over. And that boiling point may have been reached by former Auburn Heisman Trophy winner and NFL MVP quarterback Cam Newton as he passionately fired back at legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban during his latest episode on his podcast 4th & 1.
Newton didn't mince words when addressing what he believes to be the elephant in the room, delivering a scathing response to Saban after the College Football Hall of Famer's remarks at the White House during a roundtable meeting with President Donald J. Trump and Congress earlier this month.
Cam Newton gives a fiery response to Nick Saban
"Now Nicholas Saban, I don't always find myself disagreeing with you because of the sheer respect that I have to have played against you, and to see your success, but I will tell you this Nick Saban and members of congress, that's bologna, hogwash, BS to think that the day and the time will ever get back to focusing on students," Newton said. "We at the point of no return."
Newton carried on by building his rebuttal against Saban by using college basketball as his prime case study, due to the sport's famous 'one and done' approach. Bringing up countless NBA players who fit into that mold, like Kyrie Irving, Anthony Edwards, and Zion Williamson, among others, who made the jump to the pros after one season at their respective universities, claiming college athletics was never about getting an education to begin with.
"Do they actually focus on scholastics? It's a major hell no!," Newton passionately said. "So stop acting as if we worry and care about the student aspect of the athlete, because we never cared. We never showed as much importance to scholastics as to trying to score a touchdown, shot or a home run. That's how we even got to this point, if I wasn't a good football player I could've never had opportunities to go to these colleges that offered me a full scholarship. So let's not be naive to why you're there and how you got there."
Newton went on to end his rant with a complimentary solution that he thinks is feasible for the future of college athletics and the athletes and coaches who fall under the umbrella of the transfer portal.
"If you were to ask me what we should be doing, they need to have more of a two to three year contract basis for players, right, and you have to limit how many schools that a said athlete can go to," Newton said. "So, it's not even to have certain mandates but you should have some type of clause to limit or prohibit an excessive transfer. And you have the same rules for them (coaches), cause that Lane Kiffin situation we just had this past year, no, heck no. And we can't just give it to the teams that'll be able to buy them out, you've gotta have unrestricted coaches...
"Let's really start putting a strong hold on these contracts that's being signed, because that's the issue. The issue isn't the NIL, the issue isn't players making money. The issue is the ability for players to transfer to teams to other teams, and another team, but if we do it for the players, we gotta do it for the coaches... All that buyout stuff, nip that in the bud too... so it's not to say that what they're talking about is wrong but hold everybody accountable to that. Because once you fix the transfer portal and you start to hold the players accountable, hold the coaches accountable too. Because ain't nobody talking about that and we need to be talking about that."
Now, to me, regardless of how one feels about Newton's tone, especially in response to Saban's initial point, I do believe his comments ultimately point to a deeper conversation that continues to shape the future of college athletics. That being that his proposal highlights a growing sentiment that the system needs a clearer structure and accountability on both sides, which is something I believe Saban agrees with as well. Whether the NCAA ultimately adopts ideas that focus on educational value and contract-style agreements to limit high transfer activity from occurring, that's yet to be seen. But Newton's rebuttal, along with Saban's intent, sends a similar message from the two: real balance in college athletics will only come when proper rules that apply to all are set in place for the better of the NCAA