Bama May Not Have the Money “Not at the Vatican” But They Do Have an Agreement with Saban

I have a few friends that are Texas A&M fans and a few that are Missouri fans. I had heard about the Texas Longhorn arrogance from their experience with them during their time spent in the same conference. Most of what they were saying usually went in one ear and right out the other. I thought “I am sure they have some arrogant fans. Who doesn’t?” I had no idea that it was at such a high level and it reached into the media covering them and their athletic boosters. Just as the title reads, that quote appeared in the Dallas News from one of their powerful boosters named Red McCombs.  McCombs said affording a big contract won’t be a problem. “All the money that is not up at the Vatican is at UT,” he added. Then you add in the alleged reports that Saban had the offer from Texas for 10 years, $10 million per year and 1% of their share of the Longhorn Network. If that last part was true, I had the 1% cut at $150,000. Let’s not forget the random blogs and other message boards that were claiming it was a done deal. I mean they had their timeline and everything. One even mentioned Coach Saban making an appearance at the Longhorn Banquet so maybe that Saban and Brown could have had some type of pass the torch ceremony completed and Saban would have picked up his school issued Stetson, pair of cowboy boots and the burnt orange coaches polo. There was also scuttlebutt from a few message boards that prominent boosters had taken care of Coach Saban’s “debts” as an incentive to get him to Austin. I was totally unaware of that and still don’t know because I am not going to dig through other’s financial statements and portfolios. Let’s not forget the house shopping and I believe the “purchased house” by Miss Terry on her trip to Austin with her sheriff provided security details. I have no idea if any of that is true. I am not much of a betting man but I think any of those things would be a safe one to take.

Shannon Terry from BamaOnline has been adamant that there was no interest from Saban in leaving Alabama. Saban has stated recently that he was “just too damn old to start somewhere else”. Miss Terry was quoted in a November article saying that they were going to stay here. Those two love Tuscaloosa. You can not tell me that they do not. I saw that after the tornado in Tuscaloosa and have read the statements from them. They feel apart of the community and give back continuously to the community. Many of it is not publicized but it does not need to be. Shannon Terry also posted late last night that Saban had no interest in the job and his agent, Jimmy Sexton, had little contact with Texas representatives. But what about the house, and the $10 million a year deal, etc? I think I side with Shannon on this one when he says this was just media making up stories and really having no idea what they were thinking about.

Let’s just say for this piece that Coach Saban had at least a passing interest in the possible opening for the Texas job. I can’t help but remember a saying my father would say: Loose lips sink ships. Texas put out the blueprint on how NOT to hire Nick Saban. The nation has had so many rumors and quotes coming from the Texas side since this all started and they really went into overdrive in the past week. A few months ago, you had 2 current Texas Regents and one former Texas regent leaking the details of phone calls and details of emails between them and Sexton. On top of that, we do not even know if any of those calls really took place. Texas boosters and supporters didn’t seem like they had the ability to keep anything out of the press. Let’s not forget Red McCombs and his comment in the past few days. I even used it as the title in this blog. Actual media members and random bloggers were calling Saban to Texas a “done deal” all this week. After all of that talk, they are currently in the same situation that they were in a week ago. Mack Brown is still the coach at Texas and Saban is still located in Tuscaloosa AL.

Word to the wise to Texas media and boosters that have a voice: I am sure you will be making a coaching hire soon and possibly at the end of this season. Report what you actual know, do not speculate what you do not know and most certainly do not put it for the world to see. Keep your eye the prize of hiring a good coach and not trying to out scoop someone or brag about your riches that you have. When Alabama athletic director Bill Battle was asked about the Texas rumors, he basically said “No comment”. Learn those two words the next time your “loose lips” are about to “sink ships”. The two things we can take away from this are: 1) Your arrogance keeps Mack Brown on your pay roll for a little while longer which is a 30-20 head coach with a trip to the Alamo Bowl coming, one prior Alamo Bowl trip and a Holiday Bowl since the end of the 2009 season. 2) Battle’s No Comment and more than likely Saban’s love for Tuscaloosa, Alabama,  plus maybe your handling of this debacle will let us keep Nick Saban with his 46-6 record, 2 BCS Championship titles, 1 SEC Title and another upcoming trip to the BCS Sugar Bowl since the end of the 2009 season. The man wants to be here as it is shown in his statement from last night. “We are very pleased to have this agreement completed,” said Saban. “Terry and our family are very happy in Tuscaloosa. It has become home to us. This agreement allows us to continue to build on the tremendous success that we have enjoyed to this point – successes that have transcended the football field. We are excited about the future and the University of Alabama is where I plan to end my coaching career.” He also added, “We are committed to continuing the work that we have been doing in the community as well as at the University. We are also excited about the opportunity awaiting us on Jan. 2 in the Allstate Sugar Bowl against the University of Oklahoma and hope to send this year’s tremendous senior class out in the proper way.”

No, we certainly don’t have all of the money that is not at the Vatican. It turns out that the rumored $7-7.5 million a year will be just enough. Roll Tide.