<p>I’ve been following internet gossip and innuendo this evening, so accept this disclaimer. I don’t know what is going on, but I admire the people who are trying to find out.</p>
<p>One of the amazing things I have discovered the last few years is that there are a few college football fans out there who have nothing better to do than to sit in front of their computer screens all day and track airplanes. The tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists have been watching several private jets moving in some kind of coordinated fashion between Tuscaloosa, Austin, Memphis (where Saban’s agent Jimmy Sexton lives) and Opa Locka, Florida (of all places). </p>
<p>The last update is the most intriguing: A plane was dispatched from Austin to Rogers, Arkansas (where Saban was reported to be on a recruiting trip). It landed in Rogers, parked for a couple of hours, and then returned to Austin. It landed at 10:01 p.m.</p>
<p>Paul Bryant Jr’s plane, N323P, departs Tuscaloosa 8:20AM CST, lands in Austin at 10:08AM CST. </p>
<p>At 11:36AM CST Execjet flight EJA947 left Memphis, Sexton’s home, and landed in Louisville at 1:18PM CST. Louisville is the closest major town to Elizabethtown, where Saban is rumored to be recruiting today. At 3:27PM EST, that the same plane left Louisville for Austin where it landed at 4:48PM CST. </p>
<p>Also this afternoon, Flexjet flight LXJ625 departed Tuscaloosa at 12:45PM CST and landed at 3:18PM EST in Opa Locka, FL. At 1:56PM EST XOJET flight XOJ792 left Teterboro, where the UT AD big wigs were, and landed at Opa Locka at4:23PM EST. Flexjet flight LXJ625, the flight that left Tuscaloosa earlier in the afternoon, is scheduled to depart Opa Locka at9:10PM EST and reutrn to Tuscaloosa at 9:41PM CST. Possibly UT people meeting with UA people about Saban’s buyout, if he has one. </p>
<p>At 4:49PM CST N455QS left Austin for Rogers municipal in NW Arkansas where Saban was known to be on a recruiting visit. It landed at 5:38PM CST. It then departed Rogers at 8:38PM CST and landed in Austin at 10:01PM CST. </p>
<p>Shortly after N455QS landed in Austin Flexjet flight LXJ625 departed Opa Locka to return to Tuscaloosa where it landed at 11:29PM CST.</p>
<p>Y’all can keep deflecting if you like. I’m just a neutral observer who is fascinated by the Internet sleuthing. But the series of coincidences is remarkable.<br>
I think it probably goes public today. Show me evidence that he is in Tuscaloosa and I will shut up.</p>
<p>Well, it could be more recruiting going on. It is football playoffs in Texas. Games last night and tonight. Due to ice storm the games from Thursday, Friday and Saturday last week were delayed till this week.</p>
<p>As someone who has also been closely following this (second generation t-sip!) and stirring the pot…I will remind ya’ll that there’s still no confirmation that Mack is leaving.</p>
<p>*Show me evidence that he is in Tuscaloosa *</p>
<p>Why would we want such evidence? I hope he’s out and about recruiting for Bama. I don’t want him in his office right now. for the past two years he’s complained that the BCS title game distracted him from recruiting because it goes into the second week of January. </p>
<p>If he goes somewhere else it would be against all that he’s repeatedly said, what Miss Terry has said, and what the UT president has said. I do not believe that a coach “has to say” that he’s not leaving even when he plans on doing so. There are ways to diplomatically answer that question or a person can take the position of never addressing that question no matter what their plans are. No reporter is “owed” an answer to every nosy question. </p>
<p>Saban was annoyed as heck when he first arrived at Bama because, as a new coach, he’s stuck with players that someone else recruited. He doesn’t like being stuck with players who never agreed to “the Saban Way”. Some of the mostly highly-touted Shula recruits fell-apart because they had not “signed up for this (hard-ass) guy.” lol </p>
<p>Saban was SO ANNOYED his first year that he came thisclose to leaving Bama after one year. Shula, like many coaches, had easier standards so too many Bama team members just outright rebelled at Saban’s authority and rules. It’s not that Shula was some flake, it’s just that Saban’s ways are just far beyond what other coaches do. </p>
<p>At his age, according to him, he doesn’t want to start over.</p>
<p>Rumors are that he’s thisclose to inking his new deal with Bama.</p>
<p>Anyway…I hope Saban is racking of the frequent flyer miles on the university jet and helicopter recruiting for Bama. </p>
<p>Looks like the smoke screen worked. Nick’s actually sipping coffee with me on my lanai, discussing the UH job. He says that the ultimate challenge left for him is to prove his recruiting chops from the middle of the Pacific and win the national championship from a mid-major conference. “It’s not about money,” he said. “I have more than enough. It’s about legacy.”</p>
<p>We’ll be looking at ocean front homes along the Gold Coast this afternoon and see if we can seal the deal by nightfall. </p>
<p>Most of this info is available at FAA.gov. You’ll have to dig for it, but it’s there. Look for aircraft N numbers - the unique number the FAA gives to each aircraft. It’s not a very searchable database, but they are listed by owner’s home state. Of course, it could be a leased plane, owned by somebody in another state.</p>
<p>After the dust-up over people tracking the university’s and Bryant’s planes when Saban himself was being recruited, there was talk of privatizing flight plans. Guess that didn’t actually happen.</p>
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