- 1. Those that want to tear him down for being a liar or a money hungry bastard or both.
-- Saban lies when his lips move - Pat Forde
-- You can't Trust Anyone - Peter King (SI.com)
2. Those that think Bama struck gold, but he's just a short timer.
-- Saban is a Short Timer - Yahoo.com
-- Bama Gets its Man - At a High Cost - Stewart Mandel
3. Those that think Bama spent too much, and that's somehow bad for football.
-- Bama bought a coach - Ivan Maisel
Personally, I didn't think Bama had any shot at Nick Saban. Not because Bama isn't relevant anymore, but I felt that way because Miami would pay more. And, that Saban wouldn't leave until he turned the 'Fins around. And more importantly, I felt that Mal Moore and company lacked the professional competency to land a coach of Saban's caliber.
In the end, Saban is taking a short term pay cut to come to Bama ($4.5 million at Miami vs. $4 million in Tuscaloosa); although, it's a more lucrative deal in the long run. All the credit in the world goes to Mal Moore for landing Saban. (Note: Union money only came to Tuscaloosa a few years ago. Hopefully his agent, Jimmy Sexton, asked for the right kind of dollars)
As to the comments that he won't stay long at Bama...who cares?
1. Bama can't fire him. It's a $30-32 million guaranteed contract. It ain't like they can eat it. He has a contract large enough to finally say "blow it out your ass" to Bryant Jr., Lee Roy Jordan, and anyone else that tries to meddle.
2. He burned bridges in the NFL with his departure from Miami. Especially with his endless denials about taking the Bama job. He can still go back, but not for several years.
3. For him to go elsewhere he has to win huge at Bama. He has to make people so excited about him that they will overlook his professional wandering eye.
If he wins big enough at Bama that other organizations pursue him, then he's winning. Isn't that what they want?
When was the last time Bama had a coach that other top programs wanted to hire away?
So what if leaves in 4 or 5 years. Bama will be left with a full cupboard of recruits, and it's much easier and less expensive to go "coach shopping" when you're winning than when you're on probation, 3-8 or dealing with stripper scandals.
At the end of the day, Bama made the best hire that they could make to put them back on track. And as a Georgia fan, I'm eager to see Tennessee and Auburn pick up more losses each year. Especially to a program that we only play 2 out of every 5 years.
PWD
BTW -- There are some other takes on this that are a bit out of the above three main buckets. They're all excellent.
-- NFL isn't the end all be all now - Len Pasquarelli
-- The NFL was a bad fit for Saban - SI.com's NFL writer
