Now Hiring: Alabama?

Late night posts on boring nights at work, might be my new favorite.

Coming to a Texas sideline soon?

We are inching closer and closer to potentially one of the biggest coaching carousels we have seen in a long time, I’m writing this late on Thursday night, and all week we’ve been waiting to get the word from Texas and Mack Brown. Word as of now is the Mack Brown plans to step down at the end of this week (even though coach Brown has said multiple times he isn’t leaving). Brown is set to meet with Texas’ Athletic Director and the University’s president tomorrow, which happens to also be the date of the Texas football banquet, which also happens to be the end of the week… Mack Brown has been under fire all season despite Texas’ decent season; it would seem however the Longhorn faithful has grown tired of “decent seasons”. There are multiple questions that arise from the whole situation but none bigger than the possible replacement for Mack Brown. In case you’ve been under a rock all season, or don’t follow college football (if you don’t, why are you here?), the drama surrounding Texas’ next hire has landed in a very unexpected place, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

To say Nick Saban has built a dynasty at Alabama is an understatement. In fact rumor was that if NCAA Football 15 was made by EA Sports they were changing it to Saban mode. But where do you go from the top? Nick Saban left LSU (another SEC powerhouse) for the NFL, didn’t do too hot and landed the most demanding, most powerful job in college football. Alabama’s football coach is just like Kentucky’s basketball coach, the Yankees manager, or whatever it is Ryan Seacrest does now. Nick Saban has taken Alabama to multiple championships (both SEC and National flavored), he’s sent most of the NFL to the NFL, and they’ve already erected a statue in his honor. He still is both alive and working in a job that gave him a statue. If I showed up to my hotel and a bronze statue of me sitting at a desk on twitter was there it’d be hard to quit. However, not impossible. Like I just said, Alabama’s head coach is a stressful job. There fans are crazy…really crazy, like a girl murdered someone for not being upset about losing to Auburn crazy. Texas may be crazy as well (have you seen Friday Night Lights?) but at least it’s in a major city, I can’t think Tuscaloosa is too much fun.

No, not that Friday Night Lights!

You add into the fact that Texas has a huge fan base, its own TV network, and they’re in rebuilding, and you might just find the right equation to pull Nick Saban away. Texas rebuilding would be less pressure you’d feel than from the Roll Tide yelling, empty student section having, murdering fan base who missed out on a SEC and National Championship, which at this point Alabama fans liken to running to Walmart. But there are some other things we aren’t quite considering here. Mack Brown, who has told the media multiple times he isn’t leaving Texas, even said Tuesday, “Why am I in Florida recruiting if I’m not going to be here next year?” Coach makes a good point here, except, he will probably be in Texas next year. Mack Brown’s contract states that IF HE STEPS DOWN, then Texas has to find him another position in the athletic department. So if Mack Brown becomes Director of Football operations, then yes he would have a vested interest in the recruiting process still. Second, Alabama has said they’d pay what they need to keep Nick Saban happy in crimson and white and even offered him a new contract last Friday. But why is it still sitting on Saban’s desk unsigned? Third, Saban’s QB and arguably BFF and favorite person in the world AJ McCarron has said that Coach Saban told him he’s staying in Alabama, which leads me to my favorite part of this article.

 

Seriously…best pals, they need a reality show…

AJ McCarron and Saban have been a great coach and QB duo since AJ has arrived, almost like Tom Brady and Bill Bellicheck…almost…. Nick Saban, who is a competitor in every sense of the word, can’t be happy with what turned out to basically be a failure in the NFL. AJ McCarron will be a QB in the NFL next year, is there a chance we see Saban spurn Alabama and Texas to take another stab at the next level, with his best buddy at QB? Some of you may say that is a crazy idea, but ask Andrew Luck where Pep Hamilton, former Stanford Offensive Coordinator, now works? (Pep Hamilton is the offensive coordinator for the Colts) But Saban, who is a competitor in every sense of the word, may not be happy with leaving Alabama on a bad note. (Or maybe he’ll cut out right before a worse note)

So say Saban leaves for Texas or where ever AJ McCarron lands in the NFL, its panic mode for Alabama right? No, probably not. If an opening becomes available at Alabama I’d almost bet my house the Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart will be handed the reins. Just look at Oregon, their HC leaves for the NFL (which I called) and who do they hire? Former Oregon OC Mark Helfirch and they didn’t miss a beat this season. Say Saban doesn’t leave for Texas, where do the Longhorns go from there? Well that’s a bit trickier with most other big names in coaching already signing. So could Texas lure a newly signed Kevin Sumlin? Or would they go after Louisville’s Charlie Strong? (I hope so) The most intriguing hire I’ve heard rumored is none other the Pittsburgh Steeler coach Mike Tomlin.

With all of this looming all eyes will be on Texas tomorrow. No one knows what will come from that meeting with Mack Brown tomorrow. Brown may play out his contract, which ends next year, but if he has another start like he had this year, he wouldn’t make it out of the season. Texas may put all their chips in for Saban, in turn, Saban may leave Alabama. It all starts tomorrow.

Going Out With A …

At least we have a cooler logo…

After an exciting night of conference championships on Saturday, the final BCS bowls were announced on Sunday. Most of the sports world waited with baited breath to find out how the BCS saga would close, would it go out like Walter White and Breaking Bad or would we be left confused, and spurned like the Sopranos finale?

College football the last couple of weeks has been outstanding: you had the highlighter Civil War of Oregon-Oregon State, a Michigan-Ohio State matchup that was one two point conversion from greatness, and of course The Iron Bowl. Not only could I write an article about that game,  I could probably co-author a book with just about anyone who watches ESPN, and I didn’t even watch the game, that’s how great it was!  (I was sitting in a freezing Commonwealth Stadium watching Tennessee start a new streak on my Wildcats) With all these fantastic games of late, including the conference championships, you would expect the final BCS Bowl Games to be awesome, a proper sendoff to an era of sports and yet…

 “But Josh” You say, “We already knew the BCS Championship after Saturday, how much could they really differ?” Calm down friend, I’ll explain. Yes, thanks to the Spartans of Michigan State everyone here in SEC country let out a sigh/cheer after they eliminated Ohio State’s championship hopes. We knew that Auburn would carry on the SEC streak of consecutive championship appearances, we knew they’d face Jameis Winston and the Seminoles in Pasadena, we even knew Michigan State would face Stanford in the Rose Bowl, and yet there were so many possibilities, so many opportunities left in the land of What If that actually only stabilized the argument of getting rid of the BCS.

Potential matchups were there, I know I know, “Josh UCF HAD to go to a BCS Bowl they had an AQ from the almighty American!” (You’re being very critical of me today; also thank goodness that joke of a conference won’t have an AQ anymore.) The main matchup we missed out on though, the one I’m most distraught about, is the potential Ohio State-Alabama battle. This game would have been the next best thing to Alabama playing in the National Championship. Alabama will steam roll Oklahoma; mark it down, by at least two touchdowns. Ohio State taking on Clemson looks good on paper, but really both teams in my book are way overrated and lost the only games they were challenged in. Bama vs the Buckeyes would have given everyone a chance at something they all want. Ohio State, who went undefeated last season but was held out of post-season play thanks to some tattoos, would finally get their shot at the mighty Alabama. Urban Meyer would get a chance to prove his “SEC of the North” idea could work. And Alabama and SEC fans, they get everything, a chance to quiet SEC bashers, Florida by extension gets a shot at revenge for Urban Meyer’s post-“retirement” gig, and Alabama and Nick Saban reminds everyone who’s the boss.

Speaking of Alabama, let’s play a game. The game is called Why Couldn’t the Playoffs Start This Year. For the most part college football fans have been patient with this “lame duck” year of the BCS. The end was in sight and that was good enough…until we got to the end. Until the last 3 weeks, when college football got awesome again. Teams we’re dropping like flies, hard fought battles were a regular occurrence. THE IRON BOWL! That’s when we could no longer be patient. There are many people out there who believe Alabama is still the best team in college football this year (most of them live in Alabama but I digress).  Imagine, if you will, a world where the College Football Playoff starts this year. Now we take the top 4 teams in the country, Florida State, Auburn, Alabama, and Ohio State, and we put them against each other! Tell me that’s not ending the season on a high note! You let Florida State run Urban and the Buckeyes out of the stadium (Ohio State is awful) but not only that (don’t get ahead of me) we get THE IRON BOWL REMATCH!

That’s right we take what someone is undoubtedly calling the greatest college football game ever on ESPN as we speak, and we play it again. Now we have Iron Bowl II of the season but it’s not just any Iron Bowl, no this is the Iron Bowl to decide who plays for a National Championship! Nick Saban on a sunny day surrounded by puppies and children jumping rope is a scary dude, but think of Saban playing a revenge game, against his team’s biggest rival, who also happened to knock him out of an SEC Championship. (I just wet myself a little) Alabama gets a chance to prove that the improbable return of a field goal for a touchdown was a fluke and Auburn gets to show it wasn’t. Not to take away from the amazing turn around Auburn has pulled off because it was outstanding, but Alabama also gets a shot to prove they are the best team in America. So much on the line, so much to prove, against your greatest rival, on a neutral field, in a rematch of one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen highlights of on SportsCenter (remember, freezing, lost, fun night!) you can’t write that kind of post-season drama.

And yet, instead, we’re left with Alabama-Oklahoma, Ohio State-Clemson, and once again as every year in the world of BCS we’re left wonder what could have been.  And sure bowl season is a new beast and I could be entirely wrong…but then again…