Some speculation to pass on about the team's "mystery interviews"

[honyock]

I just read this whole thing before posting, and sorry for the length. Those of you who aren’t turned off by the length may be turned off by the content. But hey, it’s a long offseason ahead.

I heard this a few weeks ago, amid the rumors that the team was quietly reaching out beyond the organization for possible new blood in the football side of things, but didn’t pass it on. After hearing Jones’ comments about “Change will come” today, I started thinking about it again, so decided to post this. If you decide to bomb me, at least spell my name right. ☺

So I heard the same thing as others mentioned – that the team was conducting some quiet conversations. I think this was around the time of the Cincinnati game or so. Nothing new there, I just heard it, supposedly coming from inside the organization. Take that with the usual grain of "I have insider info" salt.

BUT, here’s the second part. This part is total speculation, just someone connecting the dots, and in no way was represented as coming from anyone associated with the team. I didn't remember reading this angle here at the time, and it made some sense, so here ya go:

The scenario described was this: They weren’t necessarily “interviewing” for the head coaching spot. And it wasn’t necessarily from the pro ranks. The name that got tossed out (and have I mentioned that this part was totally unconfirmed speculation?) was Nick Saban. The idea was to bring someone in, maybe in a similar role to what Dan Reeves was rumored to be offered awhile back. Not necessarily as GM (I still can’t see Jerry doing that unless he was VERY desperate), but as a mentor to Garrett, to give input about college personnel, and as another football mind to pick. So somewhere between sort-of unofficial GM and advisor/consultant.

This made some sense, from several points of view.
1) There were stories floating around earlier in the season that Saban was burned out and tired of the pressure to keep reaching the ridiculously high bar he had set at Alabama. Saban’s wife was quoted as talking about the extreme pressure, that he wasn’t having fun anymore, etc. He's in his early sixties and has accomplished about everything you can possibly accomplish in college. He quickly squashed that (what else would he do?) But if he’s ready to step down from the pressure cooker, semi-retire but stay in football, this wouldn’t be a bad choice for him.

2) Garrett and Saban are close, and Garrett has credited Saban for helping form his ideas about the whole process thing and his approach to building a team.

3) Jerry is aware that he needs something, partly from a football perspective and partly from a business/marketing/pr perspective, to regain some local fan interest that has shown some signs of weakening, with lower local ratings. He’s got a stadium to fill, ratings to rebuild, public perception to change, a buzz to recreate.

4) Saban would bring the same kind of strengths that Jimmy did, especially a very intimate knowledge of the college personnel coming into the draft for the next 3-4 years. He recruited or coached against the best, like Jimmy did, and his record at Alabama has demonstrated a pretty good eye for talent.


Now, I don’t know if they reached out to him. IF they did, I have no special knowledge what he might have said... it could have been a polite but firm “No Thank You”. But I suspect that there was something to the rumors that they made some contacts, and if I was Jerry and didn’t want to replace Garrett, but wanted both a good football mind and mentor in the organization and wanted a big buzz hire, I’d quietly contact Saban in a heartbeat if I thought there was a snowball’s chance that he’d be interested.

So the idea has intrigued me. If not Saban, then someone else that would either help Garrett, or help in some GM duties, or both. Garrett likes and trusts and respects Saban, so I think that he would represent less of a threat than some others might. Hearing the “change is coming” talk from Jerry, I could see some kind of scenario like this happening. In fact, I’m all but expecting something like this - maybe or probably not Saban, that’d be a dream too good to come true for the organization in my opinion, but some move like this.

I think Garrett will be back for at least another year (and yes, I’m in the camp that he SHOULD be back for another year), and I just can’t see Romo going anywhere (and yes, I’m in the camp that he SHOULDN’T go anywhere). So bringing in a good football mind that Garrett would be on board with is an intriguing idea.

And once again, the Saban thing is speculation, I'm not even pretending to have any inside info. It was just too enticing an idea not to throw it out here.

[17yearsandcounting]

If this is the case, then just get rid of Ginger and give the job to the Nicktator.

[SultanOfSix]

Sounds like a good thing to me, except...

1) There were stories floating around earlier in the season that Saban was burned out and tired of the pressure to keep reaching the ridiculously high bar he had set at Alabama.

I don't think the bar is any lower here when it comes to winning SBs so I don't know if there would be any less pressure or burn out.

[MonsterD]

Originally Posted by 17yearsandcounting

If this is the case, then just get rid of Ginger and give the job to the Nicktator.

Saban was a terrible head coach, he could not coach the older guys, only kids.

[honyock]

Originally Posted by SultanOfSix

Sounds like a good thing to me, except...



I don't think the bar is any lower here when it comes to winning SBs.

I agree the bar is very high here and you could argue that he'd be going straight from the frying pan into the fire. But depending on the job, he might be required to spend less time than that required as head coach at a high profile major college program, and wouldn't necessarily be in an official position. The whole "spend more time with my family but stay in football" thing.

Like I said, IF there was contact, he very well could have said absolutely no. If this scenario happened, I'd sure hope like heck he didn't say no immediately.

[Bizwah]

Holmgren in that role?

[maxdallasfan]

Any HC at the pro level won't go for this. It will only cause things to get ugly.

[rags747]

Would make Jason look like a jerk, no? Unless Sabin was given the title like Head of Football Operations or something and Jerry would still have the ultimate decision making authority of GM. Interesting things are a commin...

[honyock]

Originally Posted by rags747

Would make Jason look like a jerk, no? Unless Sabin was given the title like Head of Football Operations or something and Jerry would still have the ultimate decision making authority of GM. Interesting things are a commin...

I would agree that it might be seen as a slap at Garrett, but I think less so if it was Saban, and especially if it turns out that Garrett was on board with the idea to begin with. Especially if like you say that it is framed as a GM-powers-like hire.

With the right person, Garrett might even be a little relieved to have someone with experience and football cred to bounce ideas off of, get support from, and have as a sounding board. It would sure have to be the right person or it could play out like you're saying.

[CATCH17]

Originally Posted by MonsterD

Saban was a terrible head coach, he could not coach the older guys, only kids.

Disagree. He can't coach a bad team with no quarterback.

[CowboysYanksLakers]

Nick Saban has already come out and said he doesn't want to be a head coach in the NFL.

[Bizwah]

Originally Posted by honyock

I would agree that it might be seen as a slap at Garrett, but I think less so if it was Saban, and especially if it turns out that Garrett was on board with the idea to begin with. Especially if like you say that it is framed as a GM-powers-like hire.

With the right person, Garrett might even be a little relieved to have someone with experience and football cred to bounce ideas off of, get support from, and have as a sounding board. It would sure have to be the right person or it could play out like you're saying.

Garrett would have to swallow his pride, but in the long run, it may be the best thing for him.

I think this is the reason why there's still speculation that Garrett will be fired...especially if he balks at the possibility of having to have a "consultant".

[Picksix]

Originally Posted by CowboysYanksLakers

Nick Saban has already come out and said he doesn't want to be a head coach in the NFL.

He's not talking about him being a coach. More of a front-office/consultant/mentor type.

[sbark]

Saben would have the same big advantage that Jimmy Johnson did coming out of Miami Fl.

.....for the next 4 yrs Saben would know the nfl caliber kids coming out of college cause' he likely recruited or at minimum watched them back into highschool.....

JJohnson said several times, that is what allowed him to hit on so many draft choices early in Dallas, something he had lost by the time he went to the Dolphins.

[TwoDeep3]

Originally Posted by sbark

Saben would have the same big advantage that Jimmy Johnson did coming out of Miami Fl.

.....for the next 4 yrs Saben would know the nfl caliber kids coming out of college cause' he likely recruited or at minimum watched them back into highschool.....

JJohnson said several times, that is what allowed him to hit on so many draft choices early in Dallas, something he had lost by the time he went to the Dolphins.

And here is someone who understands the Jimmy thing and why Miami wasn't the next Dallas.

It is so simple really, yet so many people use the Jimmy/Miami thing to support their agendas about Jerry.

Jimmy and staff had an advantage and with the Walker Trade they could do as they liked.

By the time Jimbo got to Miami all the recruits he had either recruited or scouted were in the NFL, so his competitive advantage was lost.

And this more than anything else indicates Jerry had no clue about talent then, and knows hardly anymore now.