Nick Saban doesn’t have to be in a hurry all the time anymore. The former Alabama football coach has been retired for over four months now, and has been able to relax a bit, away from the daily grind of his old job.

But he’s not done working quite yet. Along with an advisory gig with UA and his TV duties at ESPN, Saban has been pushing for changes to the system of college athletics. He spoke at length about the state of college football, during an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show, taped after his round at the Regions Tradition Pro-Am on Wednesday.

“I’m just all for the game of college football and the fans who watch it and support it,” Saban said. “And I think there’s more and more concerns about it and where we’re headed and what we’re doing and I want to try to do whatever I can to help solve that problem.”

Saban jokingly started the show segment by taking over the interview, asking Finebaum what the host’s solution for college sports issues would be. The former coach then pointed out a myriad of problems.

“There’s lawsuits that have to be solved,” Saban said. “Until we get all that in order, we’re not gonna be able to have some kind of protocol of rules and who governs those rules, so we don’t have litigation problems and we don’t have Title IX issues moving forward.”

Saban spoke to members of congress in March, discussing player compensation and NIL. He said at that time that he favored a system that didn’t make players employees, but did split revenue with them.

During the interview with Finebaum, he spoke more about his thoughts on compensation.

“I’m for the players getting paid,” Saban said. “I just want it to be a system where everybody has a competitive balance so we don’t lose the spirit of college football.”

College football has never been a game filled with parity. The last time a team that hadn’t previously won a national championship did so was Florida in 1996.

However, it has become harder for the have-nots in the sport to continue to compete. Saban pointed to the NFL as a model of parity.

“You gotta take the fans into consideration,” Saban said. “Fans want to see a good game, and we do have some outstanding leagues out there so there is gonna be more competition, better games in the league, but to keep a balance of all those teams, so that everybody has an equal opportunity to have a chance to have a good team.”

Saban continued to call for federal legislation in college sports. That’s an issue that leaders in the industry have pushed congress for, unsuccessfully so far.

The former Alabama coach said that federal help would be crucial to helping prevent lawsuits, and preserving non-revenue sports going forward. He also said he felt Washington was creeping closer to taking action.

“I’ve been three times, and every time there’s a greater awareness and more people are paying attention to try to come up with solutions to the problems,” Saban said. “And I think we have a lot of really good people doing that. I think (SEC) commissioner (Greg) Sankey has done a really good job. I think the commissioner of the Big Ten has done a good job. I think the combination of the two of them have done a really good job of educating people in Washington on how we might be able to come to some solution, but everybody’s gonna have to give a little bit to get it done.”