University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban will have his contract “amended” and “restated” according to Al.com.  The Tide’s CEO had his contract amended/restated this time a year ago, too.  That rejiggering locked Saban into the Bama gig through 2019 and set his pay at an average of $5.6 million per year.

Saban visited the White House yesterday with his third Alabama national championship squad in four years.

The compensation committee of UA’s board of trustees will also likely dole out pay raises to Saban’s assistant coaches.

Mike Anderson’s Arkansas basketball program has suffered a setback as one of this past season’s top Hogs has decided to stick his nose into the pro basketball money trough.  Hard to blame him.

Forward Marshawn Powell tweeted the following goodbye note yesterday:

Powell was Arkansas’ second-leading scorer, averaging 14.5 points per game to BJ Young’s 15.2.  No other Razorback averaged double-figures.  In terms of measurables, Powell finished #5 on our list of the SEC’s most productive basketball players this season.  The senior-to-be has already been on the Fayetteville campus for four years, taking a redshirt after a knee injury suffered just two games into the 2011-12 season.

The NBA website DraftExpress.com lists Powell as the #64 prospect among juniors which suggests the player’s move is tied more to getting a paycheck — any paycheck — than it is to his high draft status.

Anderson wished his protege well in an UA-released statement that was as much a “check him out, scouts” endorsement as it was a “so long” note:

“I wish Marshawn all the best as he moves on to the next stage of his basketball career.  He had a tremendous junior season after recovering from a knee injury and was a big part of the success that we had this season.  He is a skilled forward who can stretch the defense because of his ability to shoot.  He can also create by putting it on the floor and has a nice post up game.  I feel that his best basketball is in front of him.”

Powell can still return to Arkansas if he does not hire an agent.

Well that didn’t take long.  And you can throw out all those candidate lists.  The University of Alabama has settled on a new athletic director already.  Indeed he’s an ex-Bama player and a former Tennessee employee.  But he’s not Dave Hart, he’s former Bear Bryant pupil and ex-Volunteer head football coach, Bill Battle.

The University of Alabama has put out a release this morning quoting school president Judy Bonner on Battle’s hiring:

“Over the past several weeks, we have had multiple conversations about who should follow Coach (Mal) Moore as AD.  Based on Mal’s strong endorsement as well as Coach Battle’s affiliation with UA as a player, partner and donor, his experience as a coach and his significant business background, I am confident that he is the right person to serve UA in this position.  I am looking forward to working with him as we continue to build on the foundation of excellence that is the hallmark of Coach Moore’s tenure.”

In Battle, Alabama has landed a tremendous businessman who happens to have a strong background in Crimson Tide and SEC athletics.  Battle formed Collegiate Licensing Company in 1981.  That company opened the door for colleges to begin protecting their logos and trademarks, which it turn led to the schools licensing out those marks for profit.  It was a brilliant move and Battle’s company was eventually purchased by sports giant IMG (along with another company Battle founded).

Battle said in the release that his “instinct was to say no” to the job when first approached.  After speaking with various officials at UA, however, he “couldn’t find a way to say no.”

The 71-year-old battle played at Alabama from 1960 through 1962.  He then served as an assistant at Army and Tennessee before being promoted to the Volunteers’ head coaching position in 1970.  At 28, he was the youngest coach of a major program in the country.  He had a career record of 59-22-2 at Tennessee, but the program declined on his watch and he was eventually fired in 1976.  He never coached again, but five years later, he began CLC and the rest… is history.

Given Battle’s age and his lack of experience running an athletic department, it’s expected that he will take over Moore’s duties which focused mainly on raising funds and improving facilities.  Shane Lyons will likely continue to handle the day-to-day operations of the UA athletic department.

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.

Just a week after being hospitalized with heart issues, Alabama athletic director Mal Moore has decided to leave his current post immediately.  The 73-year-old Moore has been the head of the Crimson Tide athletic department since 1999.

In a statement released this afternoon Moore said: “Due to factors related to my health, I am at a point I can no longer fulfill my duties as athletics director.”

Moore will take on the role of “special assistant” to UA president Judy Bonner.  Speculation over who will replace Moore in the athletic director’s chair will now commence.

From 2008 through September of 2011, Alabama grad Dave Hart served as the “executive director of athletics” alongside Moore.  From 2009 through his departure he was actually in charge of day-to-day operations of the UA athletic department while Moore turned his attention to fundraising.  Hart left Alabama to become the AD at Southeastern Conference rival Tennessee in 2011.

UPDATE — We have been contacted by the University of Alabama and asked to change the initial wording of our story.  We wrote that “Mal Moore has decided to resign from his current post immediately.”  Then we wrote that will he take on a new role of “special assistant” to UA’s president (which is unchanged).  Apparently saying he resigned one spot to take another was too much for Bama officials to bear — hey, a pun — so we’ve changed it.  Now we say he’s decided to “leave” his current post immediately.  Either way, health issues have forced Moore to step down from the top of the Alabama athletic department and take on a new advisory role with the school.

The playing careers of four University of Alabama football players arrested and charged with robbery and/or fraudulent use of a credit card earlier this month have ended in Tuscaloosa.  Nick Saban announced today that all four freshmen – Brent Calloway, Tyler Hayes, DJ Pettway, and Eddie Williams — are “no longer associated with the (Alabama) football team.

A statement from the University of Alabama said: “UA’s judicial review has been completed.  The four students involved in the robberies on campus are no longer enrolled in UA.”

Saban said:

“Based on all the information we’ve received and gone through and tried to determine the future of the four guys that got in trouble, those guys are no longer associated with the football program.  Their actions do not reflect the spirit and character that we want our organization to reflect.  It’s obviously very disappointing and unacceptable what happened…

I also think that I’ve been really proud of over the last five years that our team has done a very good job and shown personal responsibility and how they represent the university, what they’ve done in the community, in the classroom, off the field.  And they’re going to continue to do as much as we can in personal development, character development in our program with education to try to help guys have a chance to be more successful in life…

Some people learn by words, some people learn by consequences, some people can’t learn.”

It was only a matter of time before Saban and/or the University of Alabama dismissed at least the three players directly involved in the robberies.  We felt that Calloway might survive as he had only used a stolen credit card.

In the end, it is a privilege to represent one’s university as an athlete, not a right.  A violent criminal act should end that privilege posthaste.  Especially if one has already admitted to committing said act.

Here’s hoping the young men turn things around and make the most of any second chances that are afforded them in life.  But that second chance should not have come on the same campus where the two students they knocked unconscious continue to matriculate.

On a separate note, Saban also revealed today that receiver Danny Woodson Jr. has been suspended for a violation of team rules.

Update: With the suspension, Woodson, Jr. is not participating in the team’s offseason workout program and he’s not the only one.  Receiver Marvin Shinn has decided not to participate and will likely transfer, according to Nick Saban.  Both players redshirted in 2011 and were reserves in 2012.

The University of Alabama has released a new statement — this one from head coach Nick Saban — that fails to deliver the justice at least two of the four players arrested yesterday deserve.

For those who haven’t been keeping up, Alabama freshman footballers Tyler Hayes, DJ Pettway, and Eddie Williams have been charged with second degree robbery of two fellow UA students.  Both students were assaulted and beaten.  The arrest reports show that Hayes and Williams admitted their involvement to police.  If true, they should be booted immediately.

But they will not be:

“The young men charged are indefinitely suspended as we continue to gather information and talk to the appropriate people.  The University and football program have strict guidelines regarding issues of this magnitude.  This behavior is unacceptable for any student-athlete at the University of Alabama and not representative of our football program.”

Unfortunately, yes, it is representative of Alabama’s football program so long as those players — especially the two who reportedly confessed to police — are members of the Crimson Tide football program.  There’s really no other way to put it.  If two players admit to beating and robbing two UA students yet they are allowed to remain on the football team as representatives of the school, their deeds are indeed representative of the team.

If Saban, AD Mal Moore, and the Alabama administration don’t want these people representing their football team or the school, the rather simple solution is to show them the exit.

These are serious issues.  This isn’t some underage kid drinking a beer in front of campus police.  This isn’t a player with a blunt in his glove compartment.  This isn’t a freshman driving with a suspended license.  These were violent crimes that left at least one student unconscious.  Nothing more needs to be said.

If Hayes and Williams confessed, they should be gone.  If it’s proven Pettway took part in this, he should be dismissed just as coolly.

The fourth player involved in all of this — freshman Brent Calloway — has been charged with using a credit card stolen from one of his teammates’ two victims.  He claimed via Twitter that “it wasn’t a credit card” and that he “wasn’t even awake during the robbery.”  If there’s a player who might deserve a second chance on Saban’s team it’s Calloway.  But Calloway was himself arrested on possession of marijuana charges in 2011.  Whether two strikes constitute an out at Alabama is yet to be determined.

What we do know is that several strikes from players’ fists and feet to their fellow students’ heads and bodies do not.

SIDENOTE – Perhaps Alabama’s decision not to dismiss the players — at least not yet — will put to rest the batty notion that Saban somehow knew these robberies were going to be committed and was counting on them to allow him to do some roster-purging.  Hell, the CIA couldn’t pull off such a conspiracy.  That’s “Zero Dark Nutty.”

New details have emerged concerning the arrests of four Alabama football players in Tuscaloosa yesterday.  According to the arrest warrants — which you can get to via Al.com — freshman Tyler Hayes, redshirt freshman DJ Pettway, and freshman Eddie Williams attacked and robbed a pair of University of Alabama students named Samuel Jurgens and Caleb Paul.  Freshman Brent Calloway then used a credit card stolen during the robbery.

According to Andrew Gribble’s report from Al.com:

“The trio is accused of physically attacking Jurgens with ‘punches to the head and face’ and kicks to the ribs and back and stealing his backpack, which contained an Apple MacBook Pro.  Jurgens was knocked unconscious and was treated for several cuts, a mild concussion and severe swelling.

Both Hayes and Williams confessed to committing the crime, according to the arrest warrant.

In a separate incident, Williams physically attacked Paul with ‘punches to the head and face’ while Hayes and Pettway waited in a car ‘with knowledge of Williams’ intent.’  Williams came away with Paul’s wallet, which contained cash, a UA student action card and various credit and debit cards.

Williams later used Paul’s UA card and debit card to purchase snacks from a vending machine on the first floor of Bryant Hall.

With knowledge that it was stolen, Calloway, who was not involved in the robberies, admitted to using Paul’s UA card for numerous purchases.”

We’re big believers in second chances around here, but getting a second chance in life has nothing to do with getting a second chance to represent a university as a member of its football team.  If Hayes and Williams admitted to the beatings, they should be dismissed from Alabama’s football team immediately.  Period.  End of story.  (That’s not to say Pettway and Calloway shouldn’t get the heave-ho, too — they should — but violence is a more pressing issue than theft in this writer’s eyes.  And if Hayes and Williams admitted to their roles in those beatings, they should be booted ASAP.)

Alabama AD Mal Moore said via statement:

“This is a very serious matter and we are very disappointed in the actions that have resulted in the charges against these student-athletes.  In this type of situation, the Athletics Department works in conjunction with the University.  We will have more to say at the appropriate time.”

We expect the word “dismissed” to be included when UA officials decide it is the appropriate time to talk.

Yesterday, the website SportsByBrooks.com — a site that floats lots of stories and occasionally nails a whopper — tweeted that they had heard Arkansas was making a run at LSU’s Les Miles.  We scoffed.  Openly.  In this day and age, there’s not a single rumor that we don’t treat with cynicism/skepticism and this one seemed like total hogwash (pun intended).  Why in the world would Miles leave a gold mine for a bit tougher job?

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette quickly tracked down Miles’ agent who said “There’s nothing like that going on.”

But then a source told The New Orleans Times-Picayune that an offer of $27.5 million over five years was indeed put before Miles by Arkansas AD Jeff Long:

“They made a serious offer.  (LSU AD) Joe (Alleva) is meeting with (Miles’) agent and the discussion is ongoing.”

Les Miles would not provide a comment according to LSU’s sports information department.  “We’ve seen the tweet by SportsByBrooks ans we’re not going to comment on rumors or bits of information,” Michael Bonnette said.  “It has been brought to Les’ attention and he didn’t have anything to say.”  Miles is scheduled to meet with the media today at 3pm ET regarding the Tigers’ 10-2 season.

The Baton Rouge Advocate could not get a comment from Alleva or Miles’ agent George Bass.

Last night, we worked the phones regarding all three ongoing coaching searches in the SEC and here’s what we learned after speaking to two sources close to the Arkansas search and one industry source:

1.  Arkansas did make a run at Miles.  We could not confirm the numbers being kicked around, but it is believed UA has made LSU’s coach an offer in excess of $5 million per season.

2.  Miles has ties to both Arkansas’ AD and Arkansas’ biggest booster — Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.  Long and Miles served at Michigan together from 1987 through 1994.  Miles was on Michigan’s coaching staff, long in the athletic department.  Miles then served as an assistant coach with the Cowboys from 1998 through 2000.

Read the rest of this entry »

With four jobs now open — Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky, and Tennessee — here’s the latest news and gossip concerning each SEC coaching search:

Arkansas

Razorbacks AD Jeff Long reportedly met with the Arkansas team yesterday and told them that his timetable for hiring a new coach is 10-14 days.  The fact that Long had an eight-month head start on all other schools but didn’t have a hire ready to announce as soon as the season ended isn’t sitting well with many Hog fans.  So long as Arkansas finds the right guy, all will be fine in the long run.  But in this day and age, fans aren’t going to be patient.

Reports have already tied Arkansas to TCU’s Gary Patterson.  We believe UA representatives spoke with Patterson’s reps before a breakdown in discussions a couple of weeks back.  This communication could kick up again, but at the moment it appears Patterson will stay put in Fort Worth.

Jon Gruden was reportedly offered the Razorbacks job and turned it down last week.  It’s also been reported that Arkansas officials reached out to representatives for Vanderbilt’s James Franklin (though VU athletic director David Williams has said he’ll do whatever it takes to keep his coach in Nashville).  A new name has been added to big-spending Arkansas’ wish list — that of Boise State’s Chris Petersen — but it’s unlikely he’ll move.  He’s turned down just about every premier job in the country at this point and it’s quite possible that he saw what happened to Dan Hawkins when he left Boise for Colorado.  Perhaps Petersen would rather be a big fish in a small pond than vice versa.

The fact that UA has been tied to so many coaches suggests that Long really didn’t do a whole lotta agent-contacting before season’s end.  Fair or not, many in the UA fanbase believe the AD failed to do enough legwork during the season.

And anyone hoping Arkansas would rush back and rehire Bobby Petrino can likely forget that one.  Long made a point of saying this weekend that UA will look for a coach with “discipline, honesty and integrity.”  You can bet Long doesn’t feel Petrino fits those criteria.

Read the rest of this entry »