enough already. Saban will be @ LSU until we wins 5 National Championships. That should only take him 10 more years. He can then retire and we'll all be happy.
A multi year deal in the NFL dosen't mean the same thing as a multi year deal in baseball or basketball. NFL contracts are not guaranteed like they are in other sports. They probably have buy out clauses in case a player is cut before his contract is up but basically any NFL team is free to release any player from his contract at any time they decide he is not performing or they want to go in another direction. Bite my tounge for saying this if it were to happen but if Saban were to become coach of the Bears the fact that he is already close friends with GM Jerry Angelo would give him a lot of say in personell aquisitions. He would be free to trade Stewart, cut him and/or sign another free agent QB to fill in if and when Grossman is ready. At the college level it takes several years to turn around a mismanaged program. At the pro level quick turnarounds are the norm rather than the exception. The Rams and Ravens were both bad teams the year before they won the Superbowl. New England was a very mediocre team the year before they won it. Seattle and Carolina were both bad teams last year and now with 1/4th of the season gone both are undefeated. Some teams have bad and tight fisted ownership and bad management. The Saints, Bengals and Arizona Cardinals come to mind. The Bears are owned and managed by the Halas family and are capable of rising the the level of management that once existed when they won the Superbowl in the 80s. Especially if they were able to hare a coach like Nick Saban and give him a large measure of control. The Chicago job is not nearly the bad situation that most Tiger fans think it is according to the opinions expressed here. I would love to believe that Nick wants to finish what he has set in motion here and I believe that he does and is happy in Baton Rouge for the present. Having said that I really don't know what his plans are. I don't know the man personally. If he continues to build the LSU program to the level of perenial national contenders there will always be an NFL opportunity for him at whichever time he may choose to take it. If the Tigers were to somehow run the table and win it all this year Nick may feel like his job here is complete. Despite the national championship speculation here (and I am as guilty as anybody about that) the odds are against it even though taken individually there is no team on the Tigers remaining schedule that LSU isn't capable of beating. If that happens and Nick leaves I will wish him the best. The fact that he has insisted upon certain things like the Academic Center that has become a reality and the football facilities that now it looks like the money is going to become available for I believe that Saban has a commitment to LSU as long as LSU continues a Commitment to Excellence (an Al Davis phase) If his ultimate goal is to be an NFL head coach he is 51 years old now. I don't think he would want to wait until he is 57 or older to take his first NFL head coaching job. Lets all hope he is here for at least that long.
I can't believe this issue is discussed at this length....people in the media are responsible for these rumours, not Nick Saban. The people in the media are some of the least reliable individuals on the planet. Their game is to wait until an event happens and tell you why it happened, then the viewing public is satisfied (I hate to admit it but in this country the masses are truly asses...). This is the game they are good at and it is the only game they are good at!! If you look at their ability to predict future events it is beyond ridiculous how bad they are......if you ask me the fact that they keep saying this crap is a good sign that it won't happen. Saban seems like a genuine human being unlike Fran at Bama, etc. and I think he truly wants to stay put for the sake of his family, kids, etc. The NFL can wait, he will be able to go there just as well after a couple of National Championships at LSU. Some recent examples of the reliability of their crytal ball: -in no particular order... 1) Florida called for Gore by the major networks....oops..really not applicable to this topic but I couldn't resist.... 2) Arizona to upset LSU 3) Japan to overhaul banking system 4) Auburn to win national championship 5) Texas to beat Arkansas 6) Iraqis to greet US soldiers as liberators.... 7) Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone....not a prediction but still b.s.
Flabengal you are right about the media being pimps and Ho's pandering on the gullibility of the viewing public. I would hate it as much as you or anybody else if Nick left LSU after this year or the next or the next. I am just trying to be realistic. Nick Saban is on a fast track to as much success at whatever he wants it wherever he may choose to go. He has a cushy deal here at LSU and while I don't know him and am not privy to his private thoughts and ambitions I have a feeling that he is happy here at LSU. As I stated before I think there are things he wants to achieve here before he moves on. A great coach is by nature an ambitious man and Saban's ambitions and work ethic have taken him to a high level job here at LSU where he is in the fishbowl of national media speculation and rumors. The fact that he has prior NFL experience and has contacts in the NFL both help him in recruiting and make him a desireable prospect for any NFL head coaching job that opens up. You don't hear rumors about Bob Stoops or Jim Tressel being the next coach at whatever NFL city where the coach is on the hotseat even though both have won the NC. That is because they don't have the prior experience at the professional level or the contacts that Saban has. Even though the Redskins hired Spurrier straight out of the collegiate ranks and made him the highest paid coach in the NFL with no prior NFL experience (other than as a backup quarterback for the 49ers and the then awful Tampa Bay Bucs) most NFL teams prefer to hire coaches with a proven professional track record. Saban has a proven track record at that level as a defensive coordinator. It is that plus his success as a college head coach that make him attractive to NFL teams looking for a coach. Its just that a pro team that really wants him is capable of making him an offer he might not be able to refuse. Look at it like this. Lets say you are happy at your job and where you live. Your kids are in school and you wouldn't want to uproot them. You make say $100,000 a year. Then another company offers you $1 million a year and complete control of the operations but you have to quit your present job and move your family. What would you do?
I'm at work so don't have time to reply to this in length but there is a point at which I think for driven people like Saban the money begins to not matter as much. Saban is well paid and is treated with the highest respect from the University. I think for him a contract in the NFL for five times what he earns now doesn't reach that "tipping point" (my favorite new phrase this year)where he says he has to abandon his previous commitments and jump ship. I really think for Saban his joy is to be able to create something special at LSU. Maybe this question helps: -How much land does a man need? Answer: six feet, from head to toe.....
I will take a guess here and say that if Saban was going to the Bears next season, Brian Cox would learn about it at the same time we do--when Saban is at a press conference in Chicago. No one keeps track of how many times these national sports "experts" are right or wrong. They just keep moving on to the next story and making new predictions so they can appear interesting so they won't be replaced with the next guy in line. I would assume that is a very long line.
Bryan Cox?...Bryan Cox?.?.......................Bryan Cox said this? C'mon guys!! Bryan Cox??? !SHEESH! What A Joke He Is!! That's all I had to hear was that Bryan Cox said it...he may be correct in the end, but all of you and me could guess and it could come out true in the end!!:dis:
