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

Let's be real here: he backed into more than one of those trophies.

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Any program would take him , he is a guarantee crystal ball machine.

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Also, his reputation as a money-grubbing liar isn't based simply on his job switching. College football coaches switch jobs All The fricking Time. And they say general coach-speak stuff All The fricking Time (ie, we're happy here in bumfrickistan, my kids love it here, don't worry recruit #4156B I'll be coaching here next year).

No one really blamed him for leaving LSU (though some LSU fans were upset in the manner that he did so). Everyone knew that LSU was a steppingstone to the NFL, which was supposedly his dream.

The mistake Saban made (the one that tarnished him as being a liar among liars) was 1) giving his 'dream' a measly 2 years and 2) the infamous, "I will not be the head coach at Alabama."

The combination of his cutting and running from the NFL so quickly while dripping with Clintonesque "I did not have sex with that woman" statements is what put a huge dent in Saban's rep. It wasn't *just* that he changed jobs.

If he'd have bolted from Bama after a few years for more $$$, his rep might be just as tarnished. But he's been there for seven years and has won three national titles...and if he moves to another job and says he's seeking a new challenge, it's not going to hurt him nearly as much as his move from Miami to Bama did.