re: Swinney, along with everybody else, knows Clemson ain’t BAMA

Mal never wanted Rich Rod. Mal made sure Rich Rod was lowballed because, like I said, Saban was always the candidate Mal wanted. Spurrier was never really the option for UA that some think he was.

The Shula firing talk rwally heated up after the State loss in 2006. Back in those days prior to Saban, solid info was much more easily obtained within the Alabama program. About the three hours after the loss to Tennessee, which was two games prior to the State game, I received a text message from someone that I knew would know and trusted that always had info. The text simply read, "Saban is our next coach."
I continued to be reassured throughout the process that it was Saban and only Saban, no matter what the media was saying or being told. Well, sometime later, everything worked out exactly the way I was told it would the week of the Tennessee game. After Saban took over, my source dried up, and the rest is history.