Don't like the last paragraph but its a good article. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/12/s...00&en=d281716811a3a2de&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
Those pricks just got my e-mail address, my zip code, my name and last name, and when I pressed "register"...amazingly, there was an "error"... Can someone cut and paste the article...I'd like to read it...
A Perennial Coaching Candidate Warms to L.S.U. By LYNN ZINSER Published: December 12, 2003 While the plane was idling at Teterboro Airport on Tuesday, Nick Saban looked around at the weather he has not missed for a minute in his four Sunbelt seasons as football coach at Louisiana State. He peered out at the aftermath of the weekend's snowstorm, growing more and more impatient as the plane was forced to wait for an available gate. An hour passed. Saban's cellphone died. Advertisement Saban found himself in a rare situation. He was stuck. "I don't miss this at all," Saban said later, grimacing at the snow. He had finally been delivered from his New Jersey airport purgatory to his New York hotel for a college football banquet. It was a short break from preparing L.S.U. to play in the Sugar Bowl, where Saban could deliver his team to its first national championship since 1958. This December whirlwind had unintentionally landed Saban in the middle of one of the many places where his name hangs in the air, bounced about like a helium balloon whenever the topic turns to who will become the next Giants coach, or the next Atlanta Falcons coach, or the next University of Nebraska coach. The list goes on and on. Where his job is concerned, Saban is never stuck. He has fended off suitors every year he has been at L.S.U., as well as during the five years he was the head coach at Michigan State. The Giants came calling with an offer in 1997, before they hired Jim Fassel. Indianapolis wanted him in 1998. There have been other overtures — Jacksonville talked to him briefly last year — that did not progress as far. It has become a kind of holiday tradition for Saban, one he greets with the same disdain as he does a snowdrift. A football coach is fired, just about anywhere, and Saban instantly becomes a candidate for the opening. "I don't know why that is," Saban said. "I certainly don't try to do that." His résumé, though, precedes him. He was a successful assistant in the N.F.L. for six seasons, including four as Bill Belichick's defensive coordinator in Cleveland, and has built an 81-39-1 record as a college head coach. He was named yesterday as coach of the year by The Associated Press in balloting by sportswriters and broadcasters. "A guy that's been a head coach and had N.F.L. experience makes a formula that everybody's interested in," Saban said. "Even if they're not interested, it's a formula the media can pick up on and say, `Well, this guy's a likely candidate, put him on the list.' There's a lot of speculation, but not near as much interest in anybody's part as what people might think. I'm talking about theirs and mine. You can't believe what you read." But no matter how many times Saban says he is perfectly happy at L.S.U., almost no one seems to believe him. He turned the Tigers from a three-victory team in 1999, the year before his arrival, to a national title contender. And fans' anxiety over losing him has become a part of the backdrop of games at Tiger Stadium, along with the legendary tailgating, the purple-and-yellow painted faces and the children named after L.S.U. heroes. "I tell antsy alumni all the time, `Do you really want a coach no one else wants?' " said the L.S.U. chancellor, Mark Emmert. "I tell him all the time, `I want you and I to grow old together.' " That atmosphere is part of what Saban says has kept him at L.S.U. this long, through all the approaches from N.F.L. teams, through all the temptations to leave. His family is happy there. His son, Nicholas, is a junior in high school and spends a few hours each week in the L.S.U. offices, helping to break down film. His 12-year-old daughter, Kristen, gives him a penny before every game for good luck. They go to the games, ride home together afterward. They try to experience as much as possible together. "I think that's important," Saban said. "It's so hard. You're gone so much that even when you're there, it's hard for them to adjust to it. Everybody gets so used to you not being there, so if you happen to be there, everybody is like, `What are you doing here?' "
Saban, who is 52, said he and his wife, Terry, waited to have children until his coaching path became smoother. Before Nicholas was born, they moved five times. They have moved five more times since. He said the last one, from Michigan State to L.S.U., was the hardest of all. His children were old enough to be hurt by the bitterness Michigan State fans expressed on his way out. They changed schools at difficult ages. Advertisement "It's not easy from a family standpoint," Saban said. "I think all coaching jobs are that way. They're all time-consuming. Sometimes you feel bad that you can't be a better parent. It's hard." Saban's family is a big reason the L.S.U. athletic director, Skip Bertman, believes Saban will stay for at least the next few years. Bertman and Emmert announced this week that the university would try to sign Saban to a contract extension and put his salary in the neighborhood of Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, who makes $2.5 million annually and is the highest-paid coach in the country. Saban's current contract, which began Jan. 1, 2002, pays him a base salary of $1.6 million a year. It is a five-year rollover contract, meaning it will remain a five-year deal at the beginning of each new year. Bertman is the one who fields the phone calls every time Saban's name lands on another list of candidates. This week, it was in Atlanta after the Falcons fired Dan Reeves. "No, he hasn't spoken to anyone in Atlanta, and no, he's not interested," Bertman said. "I think one day he will go to the N.F.L. It's the Steve Spurrier syndrome. You lose two games by 2 points and everyone wants to know what's wrong. That's when you know it's time to go." For now, Saban wants to hear nothing of the job rumors. His current L.S.U. team still has a game to play, and a rather important one at that. The Tigers, who are 12-1, will face Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, which is the Bowl Championship Series national title game, on Jan. 4. Saban has lifted the program to this level in just four seasons, three of which have produced Southeastern Conference titles. "Nick Saban is the best football coach and possibly the best coach in any sport that I've seen in 42 years," said Bertman, who was L.S.U.'s baseball coach for 18 years and won five national championships before taking over as athletic director two years ago. "I know coaching. I know sports. I knew Nick was going to be successful." Part of that means Saban flies into snowy cities and into rumors that he will leave L.S.U. behind. It is better than having fans trying to get rid of you, Saban admits, remembering a day in his first season at L.S.U. after a loss at home to Mississippi. With his children in the car, he was flipping radio stations when they heard a talk-radio caller's angry diatribe. "So Kristen, who is probably 9 or 10 at the time, says, `Daddy, are we going to have to move again?' " Saban said. So far, the answer has been no. That does not mean the question will stop coming.
I redid the link if anyone else wants to click directly over to the NY Times without having to register.
That's ok, I gotcha covered! btw great article About time we got something positive from the ny times
I know. I'm pretty happy that we are starting see a few different members of the national media talk about Nick liking LSU and probably staying. 'bout time!
