For about the entire calendar year during the 2012-2013 offseason, there was plenty of smoke surrounding the idea of Alabama head coach Nick Saban taking over at Texas for former Longhorn head coach Mack Brown. It turns out there was a little bit of fire too.
Well, maybe a spark.
That spark, according to Monte Burke, author of the unauthorized book Saban: The Making of a Coach (via: New York Times), was generated by Saban himself.
According to Burke's article, which was adapted from the book, a friend of Saban's agent Jimmy Sexton reached out to University of Texas regent Wallace Hall prior to the Crimson Tide's BCS National Championship Game victory over Notre Dame.