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Better the Devil You Know

Where would we rather compete with Nick Saban? In the SEC for one game a year, or in the trenches of Texas recruiting?

By TelcoAg

I know. The question of whether or not we want Nick Saban to leave Alabama is a little ridiculous. No one actually thinks Saban would ever leave Alabama to join in the media-centric world that engulfs the Longhorn nation. But cuppycup asked a damned good question on Twitter last night:

My initial reaction was the same as Catorano's:

This just feels right to me. If you read Bruce Feldman's article, you'll remember how impressive the size of the talent was on the Alabama roster. Jeff Banks remarked about how big some of their players are at 252 lbs., and how that compares to our biggest LB, Steven Jenkins, who measures in at 209. Regardless how you feel about the talent we have, Alabama defensive play makers like Adrian Hubbard have the size we want.

Nick Saban is a very, very good recruiter of talent. From 2002 - 2007, Alabama recruited a total of three five-star players, and broke into the Rivals top 10 recruiting classes in only 2007 (Saban's first year). How many have there been since Saban started to get his recruits in 2008? Between 2008-2013, Alabama picked up 18 five-star recruits, and was not the top ranked Rivals team only once in that 6-year window.

To me, having a guy like Saban recruiting against us in the SEC is already bad enough. Having him recruiting  against us in Texas for the most critical head-to-heads would be absolutely soul crushing. Hell, we just had one of our best recruiting classes of all time, pulling in 15 four-star commits. Saban hasn't had fewer than 13 four-stars commit to Alabama since his first recruiting class. The guy is phenomenal.

Not everyone agrees with me though:

Saban recruits well in the SEC, and pretty much stays out of Texas right now. Just looking back the last three years, it appears that Saban has only picked up four ranked players from Texas. A majority of his recruits come out of Georgia, Florida, etc. If anything, a move to Texas would probably help the SEC East teams build up their programs and shift the choke-hold the West currently has on them in SEC Championship wins.

Also, did you see how well we played against his vaunted Alabama defense and what his answer was? Do you really think he wants to move to the Big XII and get that from Texas Tech, Baylor and a handful of others every year? I doubt it.

When asked about a potential move to Texas, Saban had the following to say:

"We [Nick and Terry Saban] really feel like a part of the community here [in Tuscaloosa], and we have a lot of good friends here," said Saban, 61. "And, quite frankly, I'm just too damn old to start over somewhere else."

Unless Texas offers an absolutely obscene amount of money, somewhere in the $15 million range, there is no way they get Nick Saban to cross the state line. Most big money Longhorn donors who are pushing for a new coach are also incredibly smart businessmen. They might want a new coach, but they won't knee-jerk and overpay for anyone.

I firmly believe the last move Saban ever made was from the NFL back to the college ranks. He had his fun, learned that he didn't like the pros, and is settled in for the remainder of his time at Alabama. His wife is also a huge factor here. If the Sabans are happy in Tuscaloosa, there's no reason to expect a move anytime soon.

Some Horn fans think there is still some hope for Saban to replace the Happy Clapper, and for some reason, think we are truly worried about this ridiculous situation:

I don't normally agree with Paul Finebaum, but he nailed the highlight of this entire ordeal:

At the end of the day I don't think it matters where Nick Saban coaches. He still hasn't found an answer for our offense, and that is good enough for me.

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