1)He lied

We all want to walk the line in life I suppose.  Nick's chosen to zigzag.  He's also coaching at Alabama with mad scrilla while you and I worry about those silly things like bills and doing our own taxes.  Harumph.

2)He'll chase at least one quality coach out of the SEC

I don't particularly listen to much sports radio, but a week ago on the way to the airport I tuned in to Colin Cowherd rattling about the implication of Saban's new job.  He said the move now makes the SEC an impossibly great conference that will never permit a team to go undefeated.

Perhaps, but I think Saban's simply going to nudge a few good coaches out the door.  There's a saturation point to all things in life.  Sign three great tailbacks, one is going to leave, that's just how it works.  Bring a handful of elite coaches into a conference and eventually one (or more) is going to leave or get fired.  Between Saban, Meyer, Spurrier, Fullmer, Richt, Tuberville and (I guess?) Nutt/Miles, a few guys will find a new fishing hole.

3)He is a college guy

Perhaps the most shocking news out of all of this.  Heretofore, Saban struck me as a guy who simply didn't enjoy life.  Or at least hated everyone not named Butcher, Baker or Candlestick Maker.  Either way he remains a surly guy which doesn't really fit in with the whole college thing.

Take that personality to the NFL and you get Belichick, Parcells, Schottenheimer or Edwards.  He should have been at home with all those guys, right?  But apparently underneath The Grinch's visage was a heart that grew three times as big once exposed to all the other lumbering meanies.  Welcome back, Nick.

4)The NFL has heart but no soul

What does it say for the NFL when even the surliest of sourpusses such as Saban (yay alliteration) think it's better to hang around with the college kids and crazy boosters?

No Fun League, indeed.

How else to explain .549 annoying cheerful guy in New England Pete Carroll (not far from Bill Cowher's .616, basically one less win a year at a poorly run franchise --- see Grier, Bobby) and .844 annoying cheerful winning guy at USC?

His act works in college because college kids aren't stiff professionals.  They have a little spirit and some school pride wrapped up in what they do.  They don't go into 'operation shutdown' or schedule surgeries on company time.

Now with Saban's arrival at Alabama we're given this gift of realization that even the seemingly cold Nick Saban has tired of the NFL's rigidity.

5)Great save job by Alabama Athletic Director Mal Moore

His name escapes me, but some bigshot Alabama sports commentator was on the radio talking about Saban's hiring and said he knew something was up when things got quiet after the botched hiring of West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez.  He rightly surmised that Moore had "something up his sleeve" that probably mirrored the NFL schedule.  Thus the rather lengthy delay between the various media frenzies.

Enter Nick Saban.

6)Alabama is second in history only to Cleopatra in ability to seduce powerful men and make them do crazy things

Say what you want about the job, but in a time of NCAA sanction, intense SEC competition and boosters run amuck, legitimately good coaches named Franchione, Price, Rodriguez and Saban all wanted to dance with her.  Now certainly some got scared (Franchione) or got the cold feet (Rodriguez), but how many programs have that kind of pull to begin with?  None, really.

7)Alabama is a great job

After the whole Rich Rodriguez thing went down in flames, giddy commentators said Alabama's simply too tough a job whose prestige does not match its output.  They said it's impossible to do what Tide fans want in the current era of scholarship limits etc.

Hogwash.

They said the same thing about USC, a place that was rejected by Dennis Erickson, Mike Belotti and Mike Riley in succession not long ago.  Yet there was Pete Carroll to come in and make that place a monster for the fourth time in school history.

When man meets institution great things can happen.  It's how Alabama became Alabama in the first place.  Bear was Bear at Kentucky and Texas A&M, but he became legend once he settled in at Alabama.

And there's only three places with such power in all of college football, the Holy Trinity if you will - Notre Dame, USC and Alabama.

Howard Jones and John McKay were quality coaches who reached mythical status in joining forces with USC.

Frank Leahy and Ara Parseghian the same thing before Notre Dame came calling.

Perhaps the same will be true of Saban and Alabama.