re: All joking aside, if Saban does leave this will look terrible in the public eye.

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i think it comes down to two things, 1) his age and 2) why make a lateral move? Every stop in his career made at least some sort of logical sense at the time. But now it's literally moving from one college power to another just to do it. That doesn't make any sense at all.

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the move makes sense in several ways:

1) Texas can offer more money with the LHN ownership included.
2) Texas can offer him the chance to be the first coach to win a national championship at three different major programs.
3) Texas gets him out of the SEC and into a conference where he can win it more than 50% of the time instead of around once every three plus years.
4) The college playoff starting next year will likely give the conference champions from major conferences a bid every year instead of giving at large bids. That reaffirms the importance of reason #3 - it is easier to win national championships at Texas
5) Saban enjoys building a program more than maintaining a program. He's matured as a coach and doesn't shite on every reporter any more but he still tires of hero worship and loves building a foundation of success more than being worshiped on the altar of that success.
6) Recruiting will be easier. He will retain access to Louisiana recruiting inroads and will expand more thoroughly into Texas... probably much to the detriment of OU, A&M, and to a lesser extent LSU and Arkansas.

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i think it comes down to two things, 1) his age and 2) why make a lateral move? Every stop in his career made at least some sort of logical sense at the time. But now it's literally moving from one college power to another just to do it. That doesn't make any sense at all.

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I disagree that it's a lateral move, no flame intended. LSU to Bama (with a detour in Miami) was a lateral move. He literally left, and when the NFL didn't play nice, he went back to his safe zone. While the prestige of the program is on par with Bama, Texas is a gold mine for recruits, and they're willing to give him every co-ed and dollar in Texas to put them back into contention. He'll be in a better situation in an easier conference than he was at Bama, and if the rumors are true about what they're willing to pay, that's a decent chunk of change.

I won't think any more or less of him if he leaves for Texas. It's par the course for this cat.