Let me see if I get this straight. Petrino, who told Arthur Blank literally HOURS before he took his next job, right? is now claiming that he loves being exactly where he is? Bad news, Arkansas fans....

Saban's Dolphins going from Super Bowl favorites before the 2006 season to Saban had no clue is kind of funny.

As an Alabama fan-I love that Saban loves the college game more.

Most people don't realize, and fail to seek out, the context of Saban's, "I won't be the coach at Alabama" quote. He clearly should have found another way out of it but it came after a particular reporter kept hounding him with the same yet slightly adapted question over and over to the point that Saban snapped back. It was more of a, "What do I have to say to get you to stop asking?"

He didn't pull a Rafael Palmeiro and announce an outright lie.

#3: I don't see how your re-contextualization changes anything. Saban outright lied. You even admit he could have handled it better.

Your "context" doesn't change a thing in my eyes.

Can we add Steve Spurrier to this list too!

Heck has a college coach worked out since Jimmy Johnson?

I guess it depends on what the definition of college coach means(as in terms of "established" or not)-Tom Coughlin was the head coach at Boston College (3 years) before Jacksonville

While they didn't win championships, and had a great deal of failure in their subsequent jobs, Dennis Green and Steve Marriucci both had pretty successful terms with the Vikings & 49ers, respectively. And while he's doomed, and would probably benefit from some NFL-level assistant coaching time, I've been a lot more impressed with Lane Kiffin than I expected to be.

I'm sure the guy that coaches at the former Northwestern Louisiana appreciates Saban's return to 'bama too.

Oh, please.

I love how that when a coach is fired or a veteran player is waived people say "this is a business", but when a coach (or player) leaves for a better opportunity it's portrayed as a betrayal of Shakesperian proportions.

I love FO and PFP, but I objected to Petrino being so mercilessly buried in this year's book. Instead of potentially suffering the same fate as one-and-done coach Cam Cameron (noting that no one chides the Dolphins for a lack of class or loyalty in their dumping of Cameron), Petrino left for a better opportunity.

Let us not cry for Arkansas, as it's simply not a "destination job". If Petrino does well there, he'll move up the coaching ladder. If not, the University of Arkansas will discard him, just as they did to Houston Nutt (who did an excellent job there), Danny Ford,
Joe Kines, and Jack Crowe before him.

"Heck has a college coach worked out since Jimmy Johnson?"

I am sure Barry Switzer occasionally polishes his Super Bowl XXX ring.

Just curious: if the Dolphins go 10-6 or 11-5 in 2006, does anyone in their right mind think Saban would be coaching in Tuscaloosa right now? Of course not, he would be telling us how much he loves the NFL and South Florida. After getting a raise from Huizenga to stay, of course. Saban knew he had screwed up. He fled because the honeymoon was over, the team was still bad and there was no hope of immediate improvement.

Nick should spend less time ruminating about his time in the NFL, and more time keeping an eye out for players dealing coke at the football complex.

Well, Gary Moeller went 4-3 with the Lions, which is like going 8-3 with a real team.

Okay, on a more serious note, Bobby Ross had a pretty good run with the Chargers after leaving Georgia Tech. (Also, he got the Lions into the playoffs twice.)

oh please.

Yes Saban should trail every player and make sure he knows their every move. Yes instead of ever talking again he should make sure he knows what 80 people are doing at every single second. It sucks, but really blaming anyone but the idiot who decided to deal coke is beyond me. No one knew.

But yes 6-10 signified no hope. The 2006 Dolphins had no offense and a top 10 defense. I don't know how good they would have been in 2007 if Saban was still coaching there, but they would not have been 1-15.

Re 9:

Coaches contracts are guaranteed, so if the team fires the coach, they still have to pay him. The reason Petrino is so villified, I think, is that he wasn't man enough to finish the season with his team.

11- Yes he would. Had the Dolphins matches Bama's offer Saban would still be there.

15- What would have been the point of that?

8: You're thinking of the University of Louisiana-Monroe, which used to be Northeastern LA, not Northwestern. Northwestern is still Northwestern State (the Demons).

9: Petrino showed absolutely no class in his method of departure from the Falcons. Heck, I'm a Saints fan and I felt bad for the Falcons, their management, and their fans for the way that this clown treated them. He quit on them after less than one season. He alienated players. He pretty much flipped the (dirty) bird to Blank and the fans.

Oh, and he lied, multiple times.

Call me crazy but I think Saban can coach in the NFL if he wants to. His dolphin teams weren't that talented and the schedule either 2 or 3 years ago was brutal. I think he did a fair job early on for what he had.

The Fins didn't have very good prospects last year and he left. If my memory serves me correctly he even got more money from Bama.

Now, if Saban had went 5-11 with last years 1-15 team, would have had got any praise? In reality he would have still got the " he is only a college coach" attacks. I don't blame him at all for leaving. A lot of my thoughs about Saban were reinforced by the writings of Michael Lewis in " the blindside" book.

Petrino on the other hand is not an NFL quality head coach. Not only was he not cut out for the NFL technically, but the inmates ( D.Hall) were running the prison and let things get out of control.

I'm not sure if this is the place to add it, but I do like Gary Kubiak as a young coach. He hasn't had tremendous success but considering the circumstances he has done alright. Nobody talks about him but I think he will be pretty good if the Texans stick with him.

I agree and I think Jim Moran was a bad coach too.

Maybe that baby faced 30 something year old will be able to drop the iron fist on D.Hall????

Saban took less money (at least right away) to coach at Alabama. From what I have read-he was going to get 4.5 million to coach in Miami in 2007, he got around 3.5 million his first year at Alabama(there are some incentives in there, but the contract from what I understand does not pass 4 million a year until 2010).

17: How should Petrino played it out? By taking the Arkansas job and staying for the last three games? By not taking the Arkansas job and staying in a bad situation, biding time until he gets fired?

And why is it OK for the Dolphins to fire Cam Cameron after only one season, but not OK for Petrino to quit after one?

Taken from CFN: Yeah, Petrino didn't exactly leave under the best of circumstances, but the NFL is a heartless, cut-throat business that chews up players and coaches and spits them out; Petrino simply won one for the other side.

And why is it OK for the Dolphins to fire Cam Cameron after only one season, but not OK for Petrino to quit after one?

Aside from the obvious fact that Petrino didn't even finish the one season, he told the team's owner that he was staying. He told a blatant, deliberate lie that hurt the team. If the Dolphins had told Cam Cameron that they weren't going to fire him, that they'd give him at least two years, but then went ahead and fired him anyway, they would be vilified for it.

Same with Saban. It's not just that he left the Dolphins, it's that he repeatedly lied about what he was planning to do. If an NFL team told a player that he wouldn't be cut during the offseason, and then released him anyway, they would be vilified for it, and rightly so.

Lying is bad, especially lying about important matters, like whether the NFL team that employs you as head coach is going to need to find a replacement in a hurry.

Just so I understand...everything would have been fine had Petrino announced he was leaving for Arkansas (ie being honest), but then stayed for Atlanta's final three games?

LOL...the Falcons would have had to tell him to just go, as in, right now. Petrino saved them the trouble of having to do so.

I know in the internet age it's important to find reasons to villify someone, but I see this as a bit of a stretch. I won't deny that Petrino was looking out for himself, and only himself, but he's hardly the first person to do that.

Just so I understand…everything would have been fine had Petrino announced he was leaving for Arkansas (ie being honest), but then stayed for Atlanta’s final three games?

Well, telling the owner to his face that he was going to stay, only to leave the next day, isn't something nice people generally do. He could've just told his owner that he was considering leaving at the end of the season, but he'd finish out the last three games.

However, instead of doing that, and dealing with the admittedly awkward situation that would've resulted, he told a blatant lie. He took the easy way out when a decent person would've made a somewhat difficult decision and seen things through for a few more weeks.

With Saban, it would've been even easier to not be a jerk. He could've just said "no comment" or otherwise refused to answer when the media asked him whether he was leaving for Alabama. Instead, he repeatedly and emphatically denied that he was leaving.

Would it have gotten annoying having to not answer the question after it was repeated many times? Sure, but that doesn't entitle you to lie about it. If you can't be truthful, just shut your mouth.

And if Saban said no comment or whatever, the media would have complained that Saban was dodging the media and he was obviously leaving,leading to more questions.

When Saban said he was not going to Alabama, he very well could have meant that at the time.

Though I guess he could have been a Rich Rodriguez and say you are going to Alabama to get a raise and promises...and then leave the next season.

I agree that coaching in college is a much better deal. Your schedule is set up so you win most of your games, unlike the pro game, where things are set up so you have to fight for 8 and 8. Because of this, in the college game even a so/so coach can become an institution (Al Groh, anyone?), where in the pros good coaches are continually under pressure to win right now.

But that doesn't justify either of these guys. Petrino's leaving his team in the middle of the season (after saying he wouldn't) was a no class act.

And Saban would be a lot easier to forgive for jumping ship at Miami, if he hadn't jumped ship at LSU in order to go to the Finns (after telling people he wouldn't). Then, of course, he did the same thing when he jumped ship from Mich. State to go to LSU (not sure if he told anybody he wasn't going, but he did leave before the bowl game).

Al Groh is far from an institution at UVA.

I honestly think the whole deal is this: the majority of posters on this site have a strong preference for the NFL over the college game. They don't "get" how a coach could make that jump, so they react angrily.

As far as the "OMG, HE LIED!!" thing, of course lying is bad, but there are times in life you just say what's going on in your head. That's just reality. It's not as if every NFL head coach is honest when he's asked if he's thinking about switching quarterbacks. They simply can't be. It's no different when a coach is thinking about taking another job.

I honestly think the whole deal is this: the majority of posters on this site have a strong preference for the NFL over the college game. They don’t “get” how a coach could make that jump, so they react angrily.

Not really. Does anyone hate Pete Carroll for coaching at USC, after leaving the NFL?

Personally, I have no problem with a coach deciding that the NFL isn't his cup of tea, and going back to coach in college. But there are good ways of leaving a team, and there are bad ways. A good way might be something like this:

You finish the season, even if it goes really badly, and after the season's over, you let the team know that you'll be looking for opportunities in the college game, so they might have to find another coach. Then, when you find a new job, you tell the team, send in your resignation, and move on with your life.

As for the inevitable media questions while you look for a job, there's a bunch of ways to deal with that. The simplest is to just "no comment" any questions about it. Or, you could remind people that you're still currently the coach of NFL team X, not college team Y (which would still be true at that point), and dodge the question entirely. I mean, it's not like reporters can put a gun to your head and force you to answer a question.

Will it get really annoying having to answer the same question 50 times a day? Sure. But that comes with the territory. If you're going to be paid millions of dollars to do a very high profile job, you're going to have to deal with the questions that come along with that job.

Lying is not an acceptable alternative just because it's the only easy way out. If you want a job that pays that much money, you'd better be willing to deal with some difficult situations. Otherwise, people will hate your guts, and you'll have nobody to blame but yourself.

Not really. Does anyone hate Pete Carroll for coaching at USC, after leaving the NFL?

No, because it wasn't Carroll's decision, which pretty much illustrates my point.

Personally, I have no problem with a coach deciding that the NFL isn’t his cup of tea, and going back to coach in college. But there are good ways of leaving a team, and there are bad ways. A good way might be something like this:

You finish the season, even if it goes really badly, and after the season’s over, you let the team know that you’ll be looking for opportunities in the college game, so they might have to find another coach. Then, when you find a new job, you tell the team, send in your resignation, and move on with your life.

Something like that could never work in the real world. The coach would be crucufied for his "lack of loyalty and commitment".

In fact, Petrino did something exactly like that when he was at Louisville (he considered the Auburn job), and it's listed in this year's PFP Falcons section, cited as further evidence that Bobby Petrino is a really, really bad person.

It really was a no-win situation.

And that is what Saban did. He was still coaching the Dolphins. He did not have a secret contract with Alabama while he was still the head coach (I am sure him or his agent had some sort of contact with the school at some time). When the season was over, he talked to Wayne Huizenga, who had no problem with the way Saban left and it gave the Dolphins plenty of time to find a head coach, that they promptly dumped when Parcells became available.

The best is after Saban left old Wayne asked for "suggestions" on what to do.

And that is what Saban did.

Except that he said, "I guess I have to say it. I'm not going to be the coach at Alabama." That was a blatant lie. And, according to this article at least, he had been telling Dolphins players and Wayne Huizenga that he wasn't interested in coaching at Alabama, which was also a blatant lie.

Still, you rightly point out that he did at least give the Dolphins ample time to find another head coach. And, to his credit, Saban at least finished the season before he left. So, sure, what he did wasn't nearly as bad as what Petrino did. But Saban still lied, and that's still wrong. Being in a very awkward situation does not excuse lying.

Alex, if you've never, ever, under any circumstances told a lie, you are certainly the moral superior of Nick Saban and Bob Petrino.

I'm going to guess that isn't the case.

"That was a blatant lie."

Or, he changed his mind. Sometimes these things happen.

Alex, if you’ve never, ever, under any circumstances told a lie, you are certainly the moral superior of Nick Saban and Bob Petrino.

I never claimed to be the moral superior of anyone. But people have been saying that what Saban and Petrino did was not wrong, and I disagree with that. Now, maybe they're still good people overall, and they just made an uncharacteristic mistake. I couldn't say. But what they did was wrong, and that's why people criticize them for it.

“That was a blatant lie.”

Or, he changed his mind. Sometimes these things happen.

Except he said that he wasn't going to be the coach at Alabama. Not that he wasn't thinking about being the coach at Alabama. When you tell someone you're not going to do something, and then do it anyway, you can't just say, "Oh, I changed my mind".