Two decades ago, Bobby Bowden’s dream job was Alabama. Today, the job has all the appeal of oil rig repair in the North Sea – except that at Alabama, the life expectancy is shorter.
This is why Alabama athletic director Mal Moore is banking his professional reputation and future on persuading Nick Saban to leave the Miami Dolphins to return to the college game he once dominated. If Saban says no, Moore and Alabama will look more foolish than the Crimson Tide has against Auburn the past five years, which is why it is in this position in the first place.
No doubt about it, Alabama is going after Saban. There are reasons why he would leave the NFL. In a production meeting Sunday with ESPN, Saban said he is not interested in leaving but missed teaching and influencing lives. He also is finding the NFL a lot harder than college football. Three years after he led Louisiana State to the BCS championship, he finds himself 15-16 in Miami and owner of arguably the most boneheaded personnel move of the offseason, choosing quarterback Daunte Culpepper over Drew Brees on the free-agent market.
Then there are the family considerations. Saban’s wife, Terry, a small-town girl from West Virginia, apparently misses the atmosphere of a college town which, compared to Miami, is similar to another planet.
Long list, right? It is dwarfed by the reasons he would stay. First, Saban, 55, is not a quitter. Maniacally focused and ambitious, Saban said becoming an NFL head coach was his dream. To leave after two years would admit failure.
Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga is his biggest fan and gave him total control of the football operation, something few NFL coaches have and what Saban would never get again if he left. Huizenga is paying him $4.5 million a year, a sum Alabama could possibly match but in no way dwarf.
But the biggest reason Saban wouldn’t leave is the same reason West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez and South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier wouldn’t: Alabama just isn’t a very good job.
It’s not just the trigger-happy administration that axed Mike Shula one year after going 10-2. It’s not a fan base that has lost all grip on reality. It’s not the shadow of Bear Bryant.
Alabama’s biggest problem is no one knows who is in charge. The boosters are fractured like lobbyists in a banana republic. The same group that fought over whether to hire Sylvester Croom or Shula in 2003 fought with Moore over whether to go for the quick kill or put all their eggs in Moore’s basket with Shula.
Moore relented. He went after Rodriguez and Spurrier and is now back on his original course.
The rejections should tell Alabama something about itself. Rodriguez didn’t just use Alabama’s flirtations to get a raise, although West Virginia jacked up his salary from $1.1 million to $1.75 million through 2013. Rodriguez talked to Texas A&M’s Dennis Franchione and Bowden about the job and said no.
Franchione skipped town after going 10-3 in 2002 muttering about getting his life back while getting hit by NCAA probation from the previous administration. Alabama wanted Bowden to go through an absurd interview process in 1986 and chose Bill Curry instead. It’s doubtful Franchione and Bowden told Rodriguez about Tuscaloosa’s swell public school system.
It is a lot for Moore, a former Alabama player, to overcome. He must. The Alabama coaching carousel has become a national joke. Since Gene Stallings won a national title there in 1992, Mike DuBose was fired after going 3-8 in 2000, Franchione left after righting the ship, Mike Price was hired then quickly fired for a night with a stripper that never really happened and now Shula has come and gone.
This will be Moore’s fourth coaching hire in six years. If Saban says no, Moore must revert to Plan B, which could be the NFL scrapheap. How would Tom Coughlin’s East Coast edge ooze into Alabama? How about Jim Mora Jr.’s collegiate look? Ex-Packers coach Mike Sherman?
All will be well, however, if Saban says yes. The most important sales pitch of Moore’s career begins next week. And the Bear is watching.
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
