ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit believes college football has reached a crossroads. He thinks there’s only one figure with the credibility and influence to help guide the sport forward.
Appearing on The Dan Patrick Show, Herbstreit delivered a blunt assessment of how college football is currently governed, arguing that the sport is being managed with an outdated mindset that no longer reflects its national, and now global, reality.
“I think right now, we’re still legislating the sport as if it were the 1980s,” Herbstreit said. “Where it was a regional sport. Back then, if you were at Ohio State, all that mattered was the Rose Bowl. If you were down south, it was about the Sugar Bowl. That’s unfortunately in the past now.”
In Herbstreit’s view, the College Football Playoff has fundamentally reshaped the sport. But the leadership structure hasn’t evolved alongside it.
“Now it’s all about the CFP,” he added. “And yet, we’re governing this sport with conference commissioners who are worried about their own regions and their own constituents. No one’s looking at the entire country and saying, ‘What’s best for college football?’”
Herbstreit argued that the sport lacks a centralized authority, a singular voice capable of cutting through conference politics and self-interest: “Nobody’s stepping in and saying, ‘I’m the czar. I’ve taken in all this information, and this is what we need to do,’” Herbstreit explained. “Nobody’s doing that right now.”
That’s where Nick Saban comes in: “My only hope is Nick Saban, truly,” Herbstreit claimed. “People can say he’s got an Alabama twist. But if you really know Nick Saban, he’s got a college football twist. He cares about the players. He cares about the sport.”
Saban, who retired from coaching after a historic run with the Alabama Crimson Tide, has increasingly positioned himself as a national voice on the future of the game. Herbstreit highlighted Saban’s involvement at the highest levels of government as a potential catalyst for meaningful change.
“He’s involved with Congress. He’s involved with the President,” Herbstreit stated. “He’s got a lot of people’s ears, and I really think he has good intentions.”
Despite the turmoil surrounding NIL, the transfer portal and uncertainty regarding the future of the sport, Herbstreit noted that college football’s popularity has never been stronger: “People still go to these games. People still tune in,” he said. “We did a 30 rating for the national championship. People love it.”
That contrast of booming popularity paired with off-field instability is what frustrates Herbstreit most: “It’s just so impossible to predict where we’re headed,” he said. “And that’s the scary part.”
For now, Herbstreit’s hope rests with one of the sport’s most powerful and respected figures. Saban is someone he believes can finally help align college football’s future with its massive reach and influence. Time will tell if that’s truly the case.
