Don't mean to anger anyone with this but I have a question regarding Saban.

The chancellor at the time, Mark Emmert, was heavily involved in luring Saban. They saw what he was capable of accomplishing despite 4 mediocre seasons then 1 great yr in East Lansing. Pres. Peterson @ MI St. didn't want to try to compete w/ LSU in bidding for Saban's services. MSU endured 7 seasons of ineptitude under 2 bumbling coaches due to that stupid decision.

Joe Dean was AD. After Saban was hired Skip stepped down as BB Coach and became AD,

Skip was baseball coach until 2001

quote:

---

dreamer

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark made it happen. Joe Dean had no input in making the deal.

---

This is a continuing bastardization of the truth perpetrated by folks who delight in casting aspersions upon the great Tiger, Joe Dean.

I will be the first to admit he was a man, with faults. He had the DUI incident. He was a businessman first, and ran the Athletic Dept like a business. That was not always the best way. He was too frugal. As proven with Saban and the improvement of the athletic facilities, sometimes you have to spend money to make money.

But to say he had nothing to do with the hiring of Saban is patently false. He was a man with contacts throughout the sports world. he helped many a coach get placed throughout the country. He was instumental in swaying Carl Maddox, the AD at the time, into hiring an unproven Dale Brown.

He got the initial word about Saban's interest from Sean Touhy who shared an agent, Jimmy Sexton, with Saban. He brought the name to Mark Emmert. Give Mark Emmert credit, Mr. Dean wanted to offer Saban less, but Emmert had his man and wanted him, so he insisted on the million dollar offer.

Give credit to Emmert for making it happen; give credit to Joe Dean for starting the process.

Also give credit to Joe Dean for his years of service to sports, the SEC, college basketball, and especially LSU. Here's a man who was an All-SEC basketball performer before and during the time of Bob Pettit, an NBA star, a very successful businessman who essential invented the "shoe contract" with big-time athletes,when he was peddling a high-top canvas product with an obscure player's name stamped on it. He was the consummate play-by-play man for televised SEC basketball games before ESPN and 24 hours of basketball daily. He helped to make SEC basketball more than just UK and the 11 weak sisters.

He was a man who, at the height of his career as a top executive for Converse and as an announcer, quit those jobs to be the Athletic Director for his Alma Mater, a place he loved, because they needed a steady hand after the craziness of Bob Broadhead.

He was a loving husband, father of three great kids, grandfather to many, and great-grandfather as well. He was a mentor to some, a father figure to others, and to almost everyone he met, a true and loyal friend. He was my Dad's friend, my Mom's friend, and my friend. It pains me to read the smartasses and Johnny-come-latelies on this board denigrate his memory.

Thank you Mr. Dean! May you rest in peace......

I have often wondered what would have happened to Saban if LSU didn't hire him. I am sure he wouldn't be the Bama coach right now.

quote:

---

The call came around 7:30 on the night before Thanksgiving, as Gil Brandt, a former Vice President of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys who had been tapped to help out with the Louisiana State search process, sat in his backyard on a pleasant late fall night.

Nick Saban, the Michigan State coach who was smarting from a Bowl Game that went to Michigan over his Spartans and a slow-to-come bonus but at least according to Brandt not searching for a new gig at the time, almost immediately said he would be interested.

“He said ‘look, I think I’ve done a pretty good job here at Michigan State,” Brandt, who now works for NFL Media, remembered in a conversation with For The Win. “I’ve beaten Ohio State, I’ve beaten Penn State, I’ve beaten Michigan and sometimes it’s time to move on.”

According to Brandt, who said he has known Saban from when he was a graduate assistant at Ohio State, then asked if he’d be interested in the LSU position, which was open after Gerry DiNardo was fired earlier that month.

“He said, ‘yes I’m prepared to say I’m interested in the job’, without asking what it paid,” Brandt said. “Without asking anything about money, about years (on the contract).”

---

quote:

---

Saban and his wife Terry flew down less than two days after Brandt called and together, the duo was impressive. Terry Saban, Brandt said, immediately hit it off with then-LSU president Mark Emmert’s wife as her husband impressed LSU officials and trustees. “Whenever you talk to Nick you can’t be anything but impressed,” Brandt said. “He’s very smart — he can talk about politics and banking and the Louisiana Purchase and everything. He’s just a guy that he’s never unprepared I would imagine that in a matter of 24 hours he probably did a thorough search as you could do (on LSU).”

By the time Saban left to go back to Michigan on Saturday, the deal was all but done.

Meanwhile, back in East Lansing, Mich. reports had been leaking out that Saban had been in talks with LSU. But without Twitter and the 24 hour news cycle, Michigan State officials led by trustee Joel Ferguson, according to the Wall Street Journal, were surprised to find Nick Saban at home without his wife. Saban, according to that report, denied that he had taken the job and said only that LSU had reached out to him.

---

Read the Rest here

Saban wasn't anything special when we got him. He was tired of the lack of commitment at MSU and wanted out.

Eh, saban was making the jump to the nfl no matter what. It was just a matter of when. It was a step up. Him leaving mich st to lsu was a lateral move.

1999 was my LSU freshman year... many people were upset we didn't hire Hal Mumme