Saban to 'Bama...

If Saban is smart he tells Bama heck no, I still believe he can win in Miami, but if he decideds to come back to college not to Bama

this brings up a few questions, IMO

1) All I hear from the media is that Saban has some insatiable urge to work in the College game, because he loves it too much...

2) Everyone I talk to down here in Louisiana swear that Saban ABHORS the college game because of recruiting.



Now, what makes Saban worth $5M a season? I'm not saying he isn't worth it, I like the guy, but how do you quantify those numbers? Based on what?


Lastly, if MONEY WASN'T AN ISSUE..........What would be your Ideal Job? What would be your ultimate dream gig?

I hear that if Saban declines, they are purusing Petrino from Louisville who is in Miami for the bowl game.

Don't think that's a possibility. Cut may have gone to Bama, but the Tennessee ties are way too strong for him to ever be accepted there.

Love him or hate him, it's official he's Bama bound.

I posted this earlier in another thread (regarding erickson leaving). It is an article from Sports Illustrated online. Whether right or wrong, it offers a good perspective ....

---

Money talks, coaches walk
But don't blame them for seeking a better deal

I don't feel at all bad for Idaho Athletic Director Rob Spear, and neither should anyone.

Did he honestly believe Dennis Erickson was going to stick around and fulfill his contract? Did the players? Did the fans?

Arizona State will be Erickson's ninth head-coaching job in 21 years. His leaving Idaho, which he led to a 4-8 mark this year (not overly impressive until you remember that's the most games the Vandals have won since going 5-6 in 2000), should shock no one.

Thing is, this really isn't even just about Erickson. It's about college football. It's about coaches who are bigger than schools. It's about players who either foolishly believe their coaches care or simply can't face reality. No one can rationally get mad at Erickson or any other coach who leaves abruptly for a better job offer. That's how the system works.

West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez just leveraged Alabama's six-year, $12 million offer into the Mountaineers' nearly doubling his 2006 salary of close to $1.1 million.

Look around your office -- or wherever it is you work -- and imagine that a better and significantly more nationally recognized company just called you and offered two or three times your current salary and a lush benefits package. Not only that, you know that if you do well in this new job you could soon land an even sweeter gig. More money. More prestige. Who wouldn't do that? It's not like football coaches are the only positions in America with huge, six- and seven-figure buyouts. Look at how corporations are run. This isn't a new concept.

And on the flip side of it, coaches can be fired on a whim, unceremoniously dumped after boosters get tired of them, or if a new A.D. wants to bring in a new coach, or if they have a bad couple of seasons, or for a litany of other reasons. Why shouldn't these guys earn as much money as they can while they still can? Why shouldn't they move to bigger schools that have shots at conference and possibly national titles?

Don't hate the coach. Hate the game.

---

complete story by Justin Doom of Sports Illustrated

sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2718798





"Liar" is in.

They're not going to tell the truth to us, but we can tell the truth about them. It's this: They'll say anything to get recruits on campus, and they'll say anything to get media members off their backs when angling for a different job. And the panting attempts by school administrators, fans, other coaches and many media members to portray them as men of superior moral fiber needs to stop.

They're coaches, that's all. That makes them part of a pack of lying liars who only lie when their lips are moving -- and Saban's lips have moved most recently.

The Miami Dolphins coach denied being interested in or a candidate for the job at Alabama so many times we all lost count. But we weren't naïve enough to believe him -- and Wednesday proved why. He's fundamentally unbelievable.

So it's time to rename the American Football Coaches Association the Liar's Club. I understand that I'm tarring a lot of good men -- and even a few honest ones -- with a broad brush, but that's Saban's gift to his profession.

Of course, he's simply following a proud tradition of dissembling coaches.

Butch Davis wasn't leaving the Miami Hurricanes for the Cleveland Browns -- until he did.

Tommy Tuberville told Mississippi fans the only way he'd leave the school was "in a pine box" -- before leaving for Auburn days later.

Louisville's Bobby Petrino denied a meeting with Auburn that had indeed taken place. The next year he signed a contract extension and said, "This is the place I want to be." He interviewed with LSU within a week of that statement.

Dennis Franchione convinced his players to stay at Alabama after enduring NCAA sanctions -- then fled himself for Texas A&M after two years on the job.

Saban is the latest and perhaps greatest example, if only because he took such umbrage at being asked about the Alabama job that he wasn't interested in (until he was). It required an impressive reservoir of gall to refute angrily questions designed to learn the truth, as if they were unfair attacks on the coach's piety.

Last week Saban said, "I'm not going to be the Alabama coach."

This week, when the topic didn't go away -- because, clearly, it shouldn't have -- he got snippy.

"I'm not talking about any of that stuff," he said. "And I'd appreciate the courtesy of it not being asked."

If you could put a subtitle on that it would read: "My gosh, people, I'm trying to avoid the subject. How dare you not play along with me? Just because I've been lying my eyeballs out, I won't let you paint me into a corner. So it's time to make you all look like jerks for badgering me. Bad manners, all of you!"

The thing is, we've seen it so often that we've become almost immune to this bizarre mating dance of obfuscation and denial. Colleges won't say which coaches they're after, and coaches won't admit to being interested. Universities like using the Latin word "veritas" in mottos and such, but they aren't wedded to the word when it comes to pursuing athletic coaches.

Obviously, telling the truth potentially can create some sticky situations. But this would be my suggested sample comment for a coach being sought for a job other than the one he now has:

"Although I love the position I currently hold, I am a candidate for job X. I will not discuss it further until there is something tangible, be it an interview or an offer, to discuss. Goodbye."

It beats rampant, jaded dishonesty. Especially from college coaches who love to talk about all the valuable life lessons they're imparting to America's impressionable young rush ends, blindside tackles and cover corners.

The real job description at most places isn't terribly heavy on life lessons. It goes roughly like this: Must win, must win some more, must beat archrival, must recruit like a maniac, must put fannies in seats. The secondary clause: Must not get caught committing NCAA violations, must try to avoid a complete and obvious subversion of the university's academic principles.

Winning games is why Alabama wanted Nick Saban, and winning games is why Nick Saban wanted to go back to college coaching. That's as far as the "great fit" goes. You'll probably hear a lot about how Saban loves college towns and college life and coaching young guys, but this is why he wanted to go back to campus: His record at LSU was 48-16, and his record at Miami was 15-17.

Don't look a single step beyond that. Because if you do, you'll see Alabama's contribution to the higher education mission: a reported $32 million contract for a football coach who spent the last month-plus lying like a rug about having any interest in coming to their school.

Yet they won't be able to introduce Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa simply as the best winner money can buy. The hyperbole will go far beyond that, until he is inevitably hailed as a "man of great character."

I'll simply hail him as the richest member of the Liar's Club

sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2718798

I wonder if ESPN was that columnist's first job.

1) What did Saban do, honestly, to piss so many reporters off?

2) What determines his market value? (not saying Nick isn't worth it...but what's to say another coach isn't worth that much)

3) What would be the advantages of the College / Pro

4) Is it better to be at the mercy of an AD, Boosters, Parents, Fans, Sports Writers, or a General Manager? Pick your poison

Bama offered me $2.50 - I told them that was too much.