Nick Saban knows a little something about defending national championships.

He’s done so three times already and this season will be his fourth try at it.  (Though he would say with a brand new team, there’s no “defending” anything.)  After the first two BCS crowns he won (LSU 2003, Alabama 2009) his teams failed to recapture the magic the following season.  His 2011 title-winning squad, however, gave way to another national champion in 2012.

The trick to reaching the top of the mountain again?  Starting from scratch.  Saban knows it and consistently tries to get his players to understand it.  Yesterday, he said the same to a group of Alabama fans at a booster event:

“Michael Jordan’s old statement is: No matter how many game-winning shots you’ve made in the past, the only one that matters is the next one.  Well, that’s all that matters to us…

I think we’re still trying to find ourselves and find an identity as a team, which every team has to go through as you re-invent yourself.  So we’ll see how that goes over the summer.”

If Alabama could win yet another BCS title this season, it would be Saban’s fifth national crown and the Tide’s fourth in five years.  At that point you go from talking about “historically great” to “legendarily great.”

Twitter lit up with photos of shiny, flashy rings yesterday.  Auburn fans, you might want to look away.

The BCS championship rings presented to Alabama’s football players are now on display (you can see other angles here).  You’ll note the traditional Alabama “A” is topped off by three footballs, one for each of Crimson Tide national crown in the last four years.

Alabama’s 13-1 record is featured on the side of the ring as is the final score from the Tide’s 42-14 win over Notre Dame in January’s BCS title game.

SEC Football

1. What did we learn in spring practice about skill position players at Auburn?

2. Former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer on SEC domination and the teams he says that were better than the 1998 national champs:  “We had a national championship and we had three teams that were probably better than that team that didn’t win it — ’95, ’97 and 2001.”

SEC/NFL Draft

3. League source explaining Eddie Lacy’s fall to bottom of second round - injuries and a perceived lack of passion. Lacy “with the right team.”

4. New Kansas City coach Andy Reid on his new running back, former Razorback Knile Davis: “He knows his problem, the label he has out on him now, being a fumbler. He’ll work hard to fix that and we think we can help him with that.”

5. At one point, Texas A&M’s Damontre Moore was projected as the second overall pick of the draft.  He wasn’t even the second player taken from his team.

6. D.J. Swearinger heads to Houston where he’ll now be a teammate to a former rival – Clemson wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. Will also play with his idol – Ed Reed.

7. Florida’s Jon Bostic headed to Chicago - “where middle linebacking is a religion.”

8. Missouri’s Zavier Gooden was the fastest linebacker at the combine - a big reason why he was drafted in the third round by the Titans.  ”You can’t teach speed.”

9. Former Auburn receiver Emory Blake may or may not hear his name called today.  ”I’m not too worried about it.”

10. What to watch for in Day Three of the draft.

SEC Basketball

11. Parents influenced Trevor Lacy’s decision to transfer from Alabama.

12. Alabama will play in the NIT Season Tip-Off.

Extras

13. Two years after terror struck Tuscaloosa, author Lars Anderson discusses “The Storm and the Tide.”

14. Notre Dame and Arizona State will play in Cowboys Stadium in October.

15. ACC may consider playing some football and basketball games in Europe.

16. The Onion: Manti Te’o Informed He’ll Go First Overall To The Nebraska Pioneers.

In light of the Boston terror attack, Alabama and Auburn are evaluating their stadium security plans
Alabama freshman RB Derrick Henry broke his tibia and tore ligaments in his ankle, leaving the Tide with three healthy running backs
Florida has hired Will Choate from UTEP as its new special teams coordinator
Tennessee RB Marlin Lane is still absent from practice in Knoxville due to a “sensitive situation”
Arkansas offensive coordinator Jim Chaney says his quarterbacks are improving in the passing game
Arkansas F Hunter Mickelson is transferring from the Razorback basketball program
Florida C Patric Young has undergone surgery to remove a bone spur in his right ankle
Get all your SEC news every single day from MrSEC.com

Nick Saban is the king of the state of Alabama these days.  He’s the leader of the pack when it comes to football coaches nationwide.  When he acts, others follow.  Saban rules the Southeastern Conference with a program that’s hiring support staff like an NFL franchise.

Yet with all that power, Saban says choosing a replacement for AD Mal Moore — who moved into another role with the school yesterday — isn’t his duty:

“I’m going to tell you that’s not my decision.  We have really, really good people here: Chancellors, presidents, other people in the athletic department, people on the board who I have every faith, trust and confidence will make an outstanding decision as to what’s best for the University of Alabama…

My part of it will be to do everything I can to make it work with whoever that individual is.  Don’t ask me.  That’s all I’m going to say about it because I don’t really know anything about it.  I’m not going to call the chancellor and ask him what call to make on third down.  Or the president.”

In addition, Saban said he wouldn’t “want to try” to take on the AD job while still coaching.  He didn’t, however, close the door on the idea of becoming the Tide athletic director at some point down the road… something that will now be held over the head of whoever Bama hires.

“I don’t think that I would ever be happy if I wasn’t doing something,” the 61-year-old coach said.  “I know Miss Terry would not be happy if I wasn’t doing something because I’d drive her nuts in a week.”

One name that’s bound to be kicked around is that of a man who worked with Saban up until the start of the 2011 season.  On the job as Tennessee’s athletic director for a year-and-a-half at this point, former Tide basketball player Dave Hart served as UA’s “executive director of athletics” and ran Bama’s day-to-day operations while Moore focused more on fundraising and facilities.

Asked about the situation on Knoxville’s WNML-AM/FM yesterday, Hart provided the boilerplate non-denial denial that coaches (and ADs) give when a job comes open elsewhere:

“My focus is purely here.  We’re making a lot of progress.  I’m excited about the progress we’re making here and my total focus is on continuing to be privileged to serve as vice chancellor and director of athletics at Tennessee.”

For now at least.

But Hart’s name is still the first mentioned by al.com on its list of potential candidates for the job.  The list also includes the man who replaced Hart in running the daily operations of UA athletics, Shane Lyons.  Former Tide footballer and current Baltimore Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome is listed as a possibility as well, though The Baltimore Sun newspaper called a potential departure by Newsome “a major long shot.”

Finally, former NFL assistant, current Senior Bowl executive director, and current UA radio analyst Phil Savage is also on al.com’s list.

Wednesday’s SEC basketball:
South Carolina 63, Ole Miss 62…Alabama 64, Mississippi State 56…
Texas A&M 65, Auburn 56…Kentucky 74, Vanderbilt 70
Florida F Damontre Harris has been arrested for failing to appear in court after being cited for driving without a license earlier this year
Eight of the SEC’s 14 basketball teams are averaging fewer than 70 points per game
New LSU offensive coordinator Cam Cameron will receive a three-year contract that will top out at $1.5 million by 2015
Follow the SEC all year long on MrSEC.com and twitter.com/mrsec

Alabama — winners of three of the last four BCS championships — in on the verge of hiring its second ex-head coach in a week to serve on Nick Saban’s staff.  CBSSports.com’s Jeremy Fowler reports that ex-Florida International coach Mario Cristobal will be taking over the Tide’s offensive line:

Cristobal served as the head coach at Florida International from 2007 through 2012.  This past season he was on Al Golden’s Miami staff as tight ends coach and assistant head coach.

Cristobal will replace Jeff Stoutland who departed Alabama to join Chip Kelly’s new staff with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles.

Just last week, Alabama added former Baylor head coach Kevin Steele to its staff as the director of player personnel.  Steele will head up Saban’s recruiting efforts, but he will not have an on-field coaching role in Tuscaloosa.

What is it with robberies and football players in the state of Alabama?  In March of 2011, four Auburn footballers were arrested, charged with armed robbery, and booted from the Tiger team.

This morning, Clare Huddleston of WBRC-TV in Birmingham reports that at least one Alabama football player has been arrested for robbery.  That much has been confirmed by police.  According to Huddleston, there are reports that up to four Tide football players were arrested.

Stay tuned…

There isn’t a whole heckuva lot to say about this one.  The Alabama Crimson Tide — long ago known as the Red Elephants — won the BCS Championship Game on January 7th over Notre Dame.  It was Bama’s second title in a row and third in four years.

Yesterday, the Ringling Bros Barnum and Bailey Circus arrived in Birmingham for four days of performances.  Eight of the circus’ elephants were decked out in Alabama gear — including a massive houndstooth hat on one — and marched through the city’s streets as a salute to Tide football (and as one great big commercial for the circus).

When Nick Saban was the coach of the Miami Dolphins, he did what all coaches do when they’re asked if they’re mulling a job offer from elsewhere — he lied.  Saban was trying to keep his team from quitting on him so he kiboshed rumors that he would be heading to the University of Alabama.  Peppered with questions about the Tide’s job again and again, Saban made the mistake of finally giving a definitive answer.  “I’m not going to be the Alabama coach,” he famously said.

And then he took the Bama job when the Dolphins’ season ended and he’s been branded as untrustworthy ever since.  (Our view: Alert us if a coach ever  says, “Why, yes, I am looking to get out of here.”)

That “lie” is why Saban is having such a hard time closing the door on rumors that he might leave Tuscaloosa to go back to the National Football League this year.  He tried to shut that door in his post-BCS championship presser earlier this week.  But on ESPN radio this morning, Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic asked him once more about the NFL buzz.  Saban tried to slam the door shut once and for all with this reply:

“I don’t know how many times I have to say it.  You guys don’t believe it.  Every time I do an interview, I have to say the same thing and you all don’t believe so why do I have to keep saying it.  I closed the door.  Now it’s two days later and you’re asking me to close the door again.  The damn hinges are wore out…

It depends on really what you want.  A part of coaching to me is you try to help players develop personally.  You want to help them develop them to be all they can be.  You want them to be more successful in your life because they were part of your program.

In the NFL, it’s not really that way.  It’s all about people having success in their careers as football players.  It’s a business.  It just depends on what do you enjoy the most.  I kind of like seeing these guys grow and develop.”

Sounds good.  This writer believes him.

But that won’t stop the NFL rumors from swirling now and in the future.

Just as Kentucky fans have to put up with rumors every spring that John Calipari will jump to the NBA, every January Alabama fans will have to worry about chatter that Saban is eyeballing a return to the pro game.

As long as Saban is at Alabama — and Calipari is at Kentucky, for that matter — rumors will always fly that they’re looking to test themselves on the biggest stage once more.  In both cases, we’ll believe it when we see it.