Y'know...honestly, it just looks more and more like the Saban fans are going to be right about this one.
I jumped on the Spurrier bandwagon partly because of all the stuff that I KNEW was happening. Spurrier was going to be the next head coach...what happened after the initial agreement, I have no idea. I've heard Bama fucked with the contract, etc. Either way, they missed out on it. Next in line, from what I understand, was Saban. The BOT got involved with crap again and decided that, because of recruiting, etc, they couldn't wait until January to "talk" with Nick, so they went after Rich Rodriguez. After that flopped, and Mal and Dr. Witt both became irritated with media leaks, they are now waiting for Nick Saban.
So the Dolphins are in the middle of a financial situation. And Mr. Saban is not going to make the playoffs again. Chris Mortensen, from ESPN.com, thinks that Saban is Alabama's top prospect and that Saban is still interested, but won't discuss it until the season's over.
""So, here we go again with Nick Saban as the focal point of Alabama's search," Chris Mortensen said on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, according to an ESPN transcript. "Saban acknowledged the Crimson Tide had been in contact with his agent, Jimmy Sexton, but that he was sticking to his commitment to Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga, who waited for two days on a airport tarmac to coax a reluctant Saban out of his LSU job two years ago. End of story? Saban's public pronouncement came when it appeared [Rich] Rodriguez was taking the job. Saban had always been Alabama's first choice and they initially floated a 10-year offer between $35 and $40 million. If there's no coach in place when the Dolphins' season ends Dec. 31, well, stay tuned.
"Saban was clearly annoyed when asked to respond to the reports during his Monday news conference.
"I've addressed this enough. When does this become a dead story?'' Saban said. "I've already said what I said. I've talked to my team and I don't think I need to continue to address this. I'm about trying to beat Buffalo and focusing on that. I don't see the issue here or any reason to talk about it.''
"I have no intentions of going anywhere,'' Saban said. "They might not want me here after this season. Did you ever think of that?''
Saban's response drew quite a bit of laughs from reporters, who probably won't back off the issue until the Crimson Tide names a successor to Shula."
Sooo...is Nick unhappy in the NFL? He could make almost as much, and he would be left with the task of fixing an incredibly screwed up athletic department.
We haven't had a coach step in and tell the BOT to back off since Stallings. Luckily, Stallings had Hootie Ingram. If Mal can get Saban, resign after the spring, and hand over his duties to Ozzie Newsom, then you'll again have a coach that can take control of the football program and keep everyone else's hands out of it.
There are only a few coaches that can really fix Alabama's situation, and Saban is one of them.
¶ 3:54 PM
