Nick Saban as a potential college football commissioner is not exactly a hot take.

Still, Penn State’s James Franklin recently floated the idea of the former Alabama coach ruling over the sport.

The hypothetical scenario has been floated for a long time. In a world with a transfer portal, NIL, an expanded CFP and conference re-alignment, the sport is being pulled in all directions.

Count Kirby Smart, who worked under Saban at Alabama, in on the idea of Saban, though. Still, the Georgia coach has questions about such a position in college football.

“I don’t know if it as simple as let’s name a commissioner, and it solved all our problems,” Smart told reporters ahead of the Bulldogs’ College Football Playoff game against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl on Wednesday. “I don’t think that’s that case. We are governed by separate circumstances. Conferences govern us. NCAA governs us. Now we have courts govern us.

“I think a commissioner would be a nice thing in theory, but what can thy effectively get done if everybody can’t agree on something?”

With that said, Smart would back Saban for such a job.

“Nick would be great,” he said. “I know he’s a huge advocate for college football. He wants to make it better. He’s always been a person who believed in leaving it better than you found it. I have a lot of respect for the way he does it.”

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.