The Hlog

Alabama Getaway

Alabama fancies itself one of the elite programs in college football.
That's interesting, since it's had one winning season out of the last four,
and since Dennis Franchione bolted Tuscaloosa four years ago to take the
Texas A&M job after being at 'Bama for just two seasons, and since the Tide
haven't won a national title since 1992.

But they've gotten sick of mediocrity down there, and threw a $32 million package (plus incentives, of course) at Nick Saban, a job-hopper who preaches integrity. Except for
that part about breaking contracts and not fulfilling promises, anyhow. Oh,
and lying. Old Nick lied quite a bit recently.

If anything, Saban's return to college football illustrates that Iowa's
Kirk Ferentz may not make a return to the NFL himself. I used to think (and
write) that it was a matter of time until Ferentz left Iowa behind for the
right NFL spot. Now, I doubt it. Not when Iowa is willing to pay him $2.7
million or whatever incredible amount per year. If you're one game over
.500 in a 2-year span in the NFL, you've got one foot on a banana peel. At
Iowa, you get a built-in raise for taking your team to a bowl game, even if
you came from it with a 6-7 record.

Pete Carroll is king of the world as USC's coach, and seems to realize it.
He had two coaching gigs in the NFL, and neither ended happily. Now he's
the lord and ruler of a college football juggernaut, and life is good.

"It's more about an opportunity to do things the way you want to do it and
to have the freedom to do it,'' Carroll told the Los Angeles Times' T.J.
Simers. "I'm old enough so that's become more important."

"I've been through the (NFL) thing and I had enough of it. I didn't realize
how much fun it was going to be to coach college football. I just fell in
love with this thing; it's a blast here. That's what has changed over the
past few years. It's become a better situation. You look at Nick Saban, and
it's hard on those guys, man. It's a harder world there."

But the college game is getting harder, too. Minnesota fired Glen Mason
because going to Music City and Insight bowls wasn't enough. Oh, and
because Gopher fans were sick of him, too. Michigan State is on its third
coach since Saban left there (three jobs ago) in 1999. Saban, by the way,
only had one season better than 7-5 in his five seasons in East Lansing.

What will Alabama do if Saban can't one-up SEC powers like Florida,
Auburn, Tennessee and LSU, let alone Georgia, Arkansas, and Steve Spurrier's South Carolina? I think it will have no choice to fire Saban, and pay someone else a package of $100 million to lead the Crimson Tide back to
what it so richly deserves, a championship.

I'm liking Boise State more with each passing moment.

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