Saban: Texas speculation unfair
A day after agreeing to a new long-term contract extension to remain Alabama's coach, Nick Saban told ESPN.com Saturday that he did not think about leaving for Texas.
Saban said he has been fully committed to Alabama, and the speculation that could replace Mack Brown as the Longhorns' coach was not fair.
"The way this sort of got spun, it was a little bit more like, 'OK, he got a new contract at Alabama, so he's going to stay at Alabama instead of going to Texas,' " Saban said. "I never considered going to Texas. That wasn't even a conversation.
"I knew that if Mack stepped down, there would probably be an opportunity, but it wasn't something I was interested in doing, not at this stage in my career."
Saban's agent, Jimmy Sexton, had been talking with Alabama about extending the contract. The new deal reportedly is worth nearly $7 million per year. Saban had signed an extension in March that runs through the 2020 season.
"We've been trying to do this thing with Alabama all the way back into the season," Saban said. "It really wasn't about the contract. It was about staying at Alabama, wanting to be at Alabama, wanting to continue to do good things for Alabama and our commitment to the players here, the university and the community."
Brown's future at Texas is not clear, but Saban said he was bothered by having his named linked to the school.
"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mack Brown," Saban said. "Mack Brown is the coach at Texas. He deserves the right based on his body of work to be able to leave the program the way he wants to leave the program. It wasn't fair to him or to me to be speculating about this job, which I haven't talked to anybody there about.
"Really, the whole thing from my perspective stunk, but there wasn't a hell of a lot I could do about it."
Saban, 62, is 74-14 in seven years as Alabama coach and has guided his teams to three of the last four national championships. The Crimson Tide, 11-1 this season, play Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2.
"I don't want to go someplace else," Saban said. "I don't know how many times I can say that. Maybe this will be what the Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay thing was to the NFL the last couple of years. That kind of ended the pro speculation. Maybe this will end the college speculation. This is where I'm going to finish my coaching career."
