A lot of that depends on the pre-season ranking. Had WVU or Louisville run won the conference and had an undefeated record they would have played for the National Championship. Rutgers had too much ground to make up.

As far as the goldmine to the coalmine comment, that is hysterical. The only way Rodriguez gets more of a goldmine than he already has was by staying put.

Once again, I gotta admit Mike you're right on the money. Facilities do matter however. If any program out there wants to see what the prototype facility is, they need to go to NC State. I'm not a Wolfpack fan, but that is hands down the top facility in the nation. I think last year was the first year it was totally complete and I saw in S.I. where the coaches rated it the top place in the country. Now back to the debate, they will get a coach that has potential to be a top notch coach. The problem is they had one and let him go. They have got to realize that a coach can't walk into a place anymore and say I'm the coach at Alabama and is instantly more attractive because of that. They need to give a guy 5 years and leave him alone. If they don't it will never get fixed.

so apparently UC has top facilities but not enough money leftover to pay a coach a decent wage~ well we do! BTW I've been to the UC campus and wasn't sure if I was in a government housing project or the slums of Cincinnati.
Ok they had one with the potential, well he never lived up to the potential and was never going to. Shula simply lacks confidence in his own ability to make the correct play call in crucial moments in the game, he lacks presence and disciplinarian skills, and when asked to make any changes to his staff he simply refused, thus was fired. In fact he would only take advice on a game plan from his father or Ray Perkins, one great one good, but both at least 10 years removed from the game. So once again, I ask, if you don't know what you are talking about with the Alabama situation then don't come here yapping about it, because I'll be here to take you down, all the way to Chinatown, baby!

here's a little taste for those of ya'll who don't know:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:B...opped.jpg#file

The Alabama situation is what it is....A once great program that is now in the bottom tier of it's conference, run by an administration and boosters that aren't willing to invest in a coach or understand that it is going to take a lot of time to rebuild it, (case in point, your comment about asking Shula to make changes) or the realization that they just can't make an offer to someone and expect them to jump ship because they might already be in a situation that is best for them, their long term goals, and their families.

So while you make your comments about me not knowing anything about the Alabama program, spend a little time brushing up on the coaches they have gone after and their current situations and then lets continue this debate. Perhaps you can give me a tour of Chinatown.....

Any major college stadium on any given Saturday in the Fall.

yah, sure it is!

Here's a few for ya

http://und.cstv.com/facilities/nd-stadium.html
http://utsports.cstv.com/genrel/081001aaa.html
http://www.aggieathletics.com/facilities.php?FID=7
http://www.huskers.com/SportSelect.d...D=41&SPSID=181
http://www.gopsusports.com/Facilities/beaverstadium.cfm

There's 5 and I could have put 20 up there.....some seat a few more than Alabama, some seat a few less, I'm not sure what your point was with the Stadium....like I said, every Saturday all over the country and every school.

Maybe there was just no more room in Beverly Hills?
What does the population of Birmingham have to do with the fact that there is ZERO chance that the U of Alabama will hire a black coach? If you think that there is less racism in the "new" south you are kidding yourself. Ask those that reside in the 9th ward in N.O.

all of the mentioned black coaches like Green, Willingham, Romeo are gainfully employeed...the first guy we tried to hire was a minority (hispanic). Don't blame Nawlins on Alabama, unfortunatly racism rears its ugly head everywhere

to put this into perspective, at UNC, where basketball is king, they fired Matt Doherty after only three seasons. Doherty played under the legendary Dean Smith, where he was a 4 year starter for the Tarheels. He was seen as a young coach with a ton of "potential" (as I think Samarta put it). Now when he was fired after 3 seasons, not 4 like Coach Shula, I don't remeber all the media scrutiny/or fan bashing, or racial bashing when the Heels decided to make a change. Also, when Coach Guthridge retired, they could have hired longtime assistant Phil Ford (a black man), but they wanted Matt instead (any similarities there?). Roy led the Tarheels to a title 2 years later with mostly all players recruited by Doherty.

Time to turn the tables here. Now you are talking about something you know nothing about. The North Carolina situation is nothing like it....Roy Williams was the guy from day 1. He turned down the offer originally, stayed at Kansas, but the UNC offer remained open at any time he wanted to talk. UNC didn't go after him the 2nd time, he went after them. He is from Chapel Hill, he is loved there, and he was ready to come home. Doherty was basically an interim and he knew that. Phil Ford never expressed any interest in the job nor did he have the credentials that Doherty had.

FALSE! Williams was never the guy, he spurned them after Dean retired to stay at Kansas, Matt was NEVER an "interim" otherwise he'd have laughed at them and stayed at Notre Dame. Do you think he wanted to have his reputation shot, sit out a year, then go to FIU, and now at SMU just to be an interim until Roy decides to come over???...that is utterly ridiculos!
with that post you just destroyed the little credibility you had

I can see I need to explain a little bit more...UNC didn't offer Doherty the job on an interim basis, but the job was Williams' whenever he decided he was ready to take it. So when he decided he was ready he took it. He struggled with the decision the first time, called the press conference, had 10,000 people at the football stadium expecting him to say he was going to UNC and he said he was staying at Kansas. It was at that point that they were in dire straights and Doherty had had a good year at ND and they went after him.

The most comical thing about this whole thread is your self appointed position of credibility captain. Oh I didn't ask today....How's that search going?

that's just inaccurate information, Samarta
the search is going fine
I'm not the credibility captain
if you want to buy into wrong information, that's fine
what I was trying to do was to provide correct information
on the UA job search, which the Miami Herald, ESPN, and other media outlets
have NOT been doing, and interested fans have been taking it as gossip truth
the reason I'm upset is 1) we have been protrayed unfairly in the national media 2) I had no idea there are so many anti-Bama people out there, it's fine to support your own school, but I refuse to sit by and have people sabtoge my own to a harmful extent of the program 3) and again we hear the tired old "racist state" slurs thrown our way, when the state has done a lot more than many in improving race relations
so my point, to you all, basically is:
those who live in glass houses should not throw stones!

As far as my information goes on the UNC program that is absolute fact. I'm not going to debate that one anymore, because I have waaaay more credibility on that subject than you realize.

As far as the Alabama situation goes, no one is anti-anything. Hell I admire how loyal their fans are. With that said, I think that loyality minimizes the ability to be objective in a lot of situations. It doesn't matter if it's Alabama or any other school. I have lived all over the country and I have never seen anymore loyal fans than Alabama fans. By the same token, I have never seen anymore delusional fans either. The fact is it's not that attractive of a situation. Period. Had it been, it would have been filled.

As far as playing the race card, I never even threw it out there or commented when it was.

As far as the media portraying UA unfairly, who knows. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinions without ridicule. But I gotta believe that ESPN and all the other outlets aren't totally misinformed.

then tell me why the Miami Herald would use an unnamed source
this ain't the National Enquirer, what a farce!
as far as UNC goes, you know nothing! (Hogan's Heroes)
at UA we are not delusional, we just want to win

Looks like the Crimson Tide might be opening the checkbook wide
open.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2715745

Saw that link...almost 2x what he's making at Miami....can't see how he doesn't take the job!

Saban is going to live like King at Bama if he
takes the coaching job

true story!

saban said last week no way--can bama offer this to make a show for a potential coach candidate, or is this for real?
i guess we'll all know in a few days.

I think this is only for Saban....anybody else will get regular money!

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2716394

link to the latest update. tide supposed to make a formal offer later today to saban, who said yesterday that he is committed to the dolphins. gotta wonder at this point--what is alabama thinking? supposedly they have five they are interested in, with saban high above the others on the list. can't say i blame them for wanting nick, but how many times does he have to say 'no'?

He was under contract during the regular season with the Dolphins. He had to say what he said or face breaching his contract.

Now the ball is in his court and he would be a fool to turn Bama down and stay with the aging Dolphins.

i'd just hate to see him go right back to college--after all, he was king of the hill with lsu, and left to go pro--why go right back? unless of course the pros isn't what he thought it would be.

Well it's cutthroat in the NFL and he would have a tough time getting them to the playoffs next year with the talent they have, not to mention the salary cap issues they have. Staying would more than likely result in him being terminated and his ego wouldn't take kindly to that.

Spurrier gave the NFL a shot and didn't like it. Now he's King of South Carolina. Saban could have the same situation, if not better, at Bama.

Oh and congrats on the Penn State win. They outplayed the Vols.

well, wherever he goes, or stays, i wish him the best of luck. always liked saban, just wish that if college was where he was meant to be, he'd have stayed at lsu....if he goes to 'bama, he'll turn that program around and have it back to its glory days.

yeah, glad to see psu win it. i have tons of respect and admiration for that place, the people, the whole program. good to see them win.

latest update:http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2716394

official offer made, yes or no expected w/in 24 hours. i think saban stays, i think he'll get a raise from the phins, but he reiterated yesterday after the game that he is committed to staying w/ miami.

He should take the offer. Can't imagine he won't.

Saban's not a great coach, especially not a very good "game coach." Add to that he's not well-liked by players and his assistants are not allowed to speak to reporters. He's had a free run making all the personnel decisions and he's totally flopped. Last year he started AJ Feeley at QB. He's now 3rd string somewhere. Off season he went for Culpepper over Brees, even when the team Docs advised him against it. He's left now with an aging defense and no QB. They were 6-6 after beating New England and got beat 21-0 by Buffalo. Biggest game of their year and they didn't show up.

Time for Saban to declare victory, withdraw and take the extra $2-3 Mil per year with many, many years tacked on. I think between the annual salary and the length of the contract, it's an extra $20 - $25 million.

What would you tell him to do?

what would i tell him to do? rewind a couple years and stay at lsu, rather than accept miamis offer!!!
but that is impossible so....what to do? if he really is unhappy, if he feels he's had enough with pros and he feels this is a step forward, then he should go to 'bama. if he wants to finish what he started, and prove that he IS committed to the dolphins as he claimed yesterday, then he should stay where he is.
don't forget, a year before he left the tigers, a lot of people expected him to leave and he stayed. he still felt he had things to do at lsu, and he did them.

lol. I'd tell him to stay at LSU also!

I just think it's going to be hard for him not to go. The Dolphins imo are just a mess and talk here is Culpepper may not be ready for training camp after his latest surgery a few weeks ago. He got paid just $2 million this year but he's due $5.5 next. That and a 2nd round pick for a guy who will have thrown 7 TD passes in the past 30 months when next season starts.

I like Saban as a person, he just is in a tough spot right now with the Dolphins.

His press conference today wasn't quite as positive as his postgame comments were yesterday. He just declined to take any questions on the Alabama offer.

My guess is he's going back to school. We shall see....

or his no comments would go back to the other day, when he said he wouldn't answer any more questions about 'bama, as no one wanted to take his no for an answer.
i also think he may want to really make a go of it in the pro's--if he goes to bama, he would pretty much guarantee never going pro again.

The bama forum sites are on the verge of a meltdown and so am I. Should know soon.

AMEN to that, Deb! I'm still ticked off that he left LSU to begin with.

If Saban goes to Bama, I will be sick. :p

And furthermore, he will become TIGER BAIT (and GATOR BAIT!) :D

i interviewd for the position but i am not interested. i have too good of a thing going on in the nfl. saban will go, longer contract and less pressure to win. college kids only care about getting drunk, no cares on the wins and losses.

Saban to make decision by 10am EST tomorrow.

i'm not mad. i would be disappointed tho if he left lsu to only try pros for two years... i'll wish him the best regardless. but i agree with huizenga, i think he'll stay at miami.
guy at work said hey, maybe he'd end up in arkansas. i wonder what my face looked like....i told him no way i'd pull for the piglets even if he did go there. like that would ever happen.

i'd imagine nick won't get much sleep tonite. joe pa looks smarter all the time, never answering the siren call to go pro.

I'm really not sure WHAT Saban will do...Huizenga asked for a committment when he brought Saban onboard and gave him control.....but the pros' arent as fun as college kids,and if Saban doesn't take that dream offer from Bama....tough choice...wifey will put in her nickel! Guess we'll know tomorrow.