Between 2003 and 2020, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer combined to win 10 college football national championships, countless big games and plenty of individual accolades. Now, the former arch-rivals are being called upon by President Donald Trump to help tackle a set of issues.
According to ESPN, Meyer and Saban are two of 35 people that have been invited to the White House for a March meeting to discuss "the future of college athletics." But it won't just be college football people in attendance.
Here's a partial list of attendees created by ESPN:
- Golfer Tiger Woods
- Former college football coaches Nick Saban, Mack Brown and Urban Meyer
- Former secretary of state and College Football Playoff selection committee member Condoleezza Rice
- New England Patriots president Jonathan Kraft
- NBA commissioner Adam Silver
- Fox Sports president Eric Shanks
- ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro
- Several athletic directors, including Notre Dame's Pete Bevacqua
- Former college athletes, including Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and Florida State basketball and football player Charlie Ward
Granted, this is only a list of invitations, not confirmed attendees. It's also unclear exactly what they intend to discuss or if they'll be able to make much headway since it is expected to be a one-day only event.
"It's people who could be involved in helping shape the future of college athletics and some of the solutions and strategies to structuring the athletic world going forward," a source said, via ESPN's Heather Dinich. "It's so preliminary, it's hard to say anything with any sort of specificity because there hasn't been anything provided to us in writing of that sort yet."
President Trump and many other politicians on both sides of the aisle have been passionate about making widespread changes through legislation for years. But other than a few executive orders signed by Trump, not much headway has been made and there isn't even a bill on the Congressional floor.
What kind of impact can this meeting have on the future of college sports, or American sports in general?