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Nick Saban-Texas Talk Sparks Amid Charlie Strong Rumors
The Nick Saban and Texas Longhorns chatter has sparked back up with Charlie Strong reportedly on the hot seat.
November 19, 2015Raise your hand if you’ve heard this one before: Texas is considering making a run at Alabama head coach Nick Saban.
“There will be another run at Mr. Saban,” Jones said. “They will break the bank. Whatever it takes.”
If — and that’s a big if considering Strong is only in his second year with the program — Texas is looking for a new coach, it’s not far-fetched to believe it would take another run at Saban. If you’re Texas, you always take a run at Nick Saban; it’s essentially in the athletic director’s job description to look at the best coaches in the nation.
Saban would probably have an open invite from every program in the country not named Ohio State.
Another reported piece to the puzzle is Strong’s supposed interest in the University of Miami job. Jones says that there’s possibly been contact between Strong and the Hurricanes, potentially as early as the beginning of Ocotber.
“It’s come to me that someone in his camp may or may not have reached out to Miami prior to the Oklahoma game when Charlie was really feeling it,” Jones said. “Since that ball game, he’s feeling it again: the heat. But there are a number of layers to this one. One, prior to the Oklahoma game once again, someone in his camp may have reached out to Miami to see if there’s an interest. Two, Charlie was undercut by his former athletic director. It’s well reported about Steve Patterson, the things he did. He was nickel-and-diming the program, he wasn’t paying quality assistant coaches what they deserved. So Charlie is still a little perturbed about that.”
Strong also has stronger recruiting ties in Florida than he does in Texas.
“Additionally, Coach Strong and his staff haven’t really endeared themselves to the Texas high school coaches, and it was pretty much a slap in the face when they said a year ago ‘we’re going to go to Florida and do the bulk of our recruiting,’” Jones said.
As of now, what we do know is that the ongoing rumors surrounding Strong and Texas will keep circulating until he either rights the ship in Austin, Texas, or is no longer at the helm.
