Whew... it took a while, but my sources panned out. Nick Saban is the new Bama coach.
Mal Moore DID know who he wanted well before Shula was let go and he DID know that Saban was interested in the job. The BOT almost screwed the deal up by forcing him to go after Rodriguez, which wouldn't have been a bad hire, but it wouldn't have fulfilled the goals of the search as laid out by Mal Moore. Fortunately, the BOT also screwed up that deal too by scaring RR off.
The Bama haters are coming out of the woodwork today, but it's our time to gloat. "What happens when a BIG college job comes open?" HELLO? There may be a layer of grime on us, maybe our image is tarnished a bit, but underneath, we are still what we have always been. In the 1950's, a coach came to Tuscaloosa to resurrect a once proud football program. We had enjoyed success under coaches Wallace Wade and Frank Thomas, long before anyone named Bryant came along. We are a BIG program. Just like Oklahoma and USC arose anew from the ashes, there is reason for optimism in Tuscaloosa. After a string of risky coaching hires, went for a proven winner.
ESPN and some of it's talking heads can shut up now. They made fun of us for not getting any of the coaches on our A-list. Our top choice is on his way to the Capstone. Welcome to Tuscaloosa, Coach Saban.