Cecil Hurt
TideSports.com Columnist
Another big game on the horizon, another flurry of rumors about Nick Saban possibly, maybe, perhaps considering the nonvacant coaching position at the University of Texas.
This particular version of the rumor is stuck in a bit of a time warp, being based on the same phone call to Saban agent Jimmy Sexton - from last January - that Saban dismissed in September.
The basis of the story, such as it is, is that a Texas regent named Tom Hicks, who has a history of wanting Saban in and Mack Brown out in Austin, sent an email to another regent not long after the Longhorns were blown out by Ole Miss. In the email, Hicks says that Saban's agent told him eight months earlier that Texas was the only place he would "possibly consider" leaving Alabama for and that Saban was under "special pressure" at Alabama.
That is what we have.
Here is what we don't have: any direct quote from Saban. Any direct quote from Sexton, although you would hardly know that from all the breathless social media reporting citing what Sexton "said" rather than the more accurate "reportedly said."
We also lack a definition of what "possibly consider" might mean for an agent, if Sexton actually did say it. The same thing goes for "special pressure." I don't need any email to tell me that Alabama is a high-pressure job. I have seen it for 32 years. I have seen coaches buckle under it and pack up for the state of Texas. Guess what? There is pressure there, too.
Maybe Hicks did report an eight-month old phone conversation with verbatim accuracy. Maybe he embellished things a bit, given his obvious vested interest. There is no way to know, given the hearsay nature of the account. And, even if he is absolutely accurate in his recollection, is there really anything there that can't be interpreted as an agent doing what an agent is supposed to do in terms of positioning his client to make the best deal possible, even if that deal involves staying right where he is?
Saban has two media availability sessions today, including an SEC teleconference. He will be asked about the latest story by reporters doing their job. He will almost certainly give the same answer that he gave when asked in September about the very same phone call, although he may be a little more exasperated this time around.
But whether he shrugs it off or dismisses it out of hand, there is nothing Saban can do to keep it from happening again.
Perhaps this is the ultimate college football paradox: The only thing more powerful than Nick Saban is a rumor about Nick Saban.
He will have to live with it, in part because so many people outside Alabama want it to be true and in part because of the way in which he departed from the Miami Dolphins. Rest assured, it was no accident that Saban apologized for that, yet again, on the "60 Minutes" piece that aired last Sunday. Still, he will have to carry that episode around like an albatross until he finally retires.
In the meantime, we have what someone said about what someone else said about what Saban might or might not do. That is all, and it isn't very much.
http://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1571209
TideSports.com Columnist
Another big game on the horizon, another flurry of rumors about Nick Saban possibly, maybe, perhaps considering the nonvacant coaching position at the University of Texas.
This particular version of the rumor is stuck in a bit of a time warp, being based on the same phone call to Saban agent Jimmy Sexton - from last January - that Saban dismissed in September.
The basis of the story, such as it is, is that a Texas regent named Tom Hicks, who has a history of wanting Saban in and Mack Brown out in Austin, sent an email to another regent not long after the Longhorns were blown out by Ole Miss. In the email, Hicks says that Saban's agent told him eight months earlier that Texas was the only place he would "possibly consider" leaving Alabama for and that Saban was under "special pressure" at Alabama.
That is what we have.
Here is what we don't have: any direct quote from Saban. Any direct quote from Sexton, although you would hardly know that from all the breathless social media reporting citing what Sexton "said" rather than the more accurate "reportedly said."
We also lack a definition of what "possibly consider" might mean for an agent, if Sexton actually did say it. The same thing goes for "special pressure." I don't need any email to tell me that Alabama is a high-pressure job. I have seen it for 32 years. I have seen coaches buckle under it and pack up for the state of Texas. Guess what? There is pressure there, too.
Maybe Hicks did report an eight-month old phone conversation with verbatim accuracy. Maybe he embellished things a bit, given his obvious vested interest. There is no way to know, given the hearsay nature of the account. And, even if he is absolutely accurate in his recollection, is there really anything there that can't be interpreted as an agent doing what an agent is supposed to do in terms of positioning his client to make the best deal possible, even if that deal involves staying right where he is?
Saban has two media availability sessions today, including an SEC teleconference. He will be asked about the latest story by reporters doing their job. He will almost certainly give the same answer that he gave when asked in September about the very same phone call, although he may be a little more exasperated this time around.
But whether he shrugs it off or dismisses it out of hand, there is nothing Saban can do to keep it from happening again.
Perhaps this is the ultimate college football paradox: The only thing more powerful than Nick Saban is a rumor about Nick Saban.
He will have to live with it, in part because so many people outside Alabama want it to be true and in part because of the way in which he departed from the Miami Dolphins. Rest assured, it was no accident that Saban apologized for that, yet again, on the "60 Minutes" piece that aired last Sunday. Still, he will have to carry that episode around like an albatross until he finally retires.
In the meantime, we have what someone said about what someone else said about what Saban might or might not do. That is all, and it isn't very much.
http://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1571209
