Report: Cleveland Browns may lure Saban back to NFL
Alabama’s Nick Saban could become the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns, the Boston Globe is reporting.
It’s far from a done deal, and a number of pieces would have to fall into place, but the Globe said on Monday that if the Browns hire Michael Lombardi as general manager as rumored, the door could be open to bringing in Saban as head coach. Saban and Lombardi, who is currently an analyst for the NFL Network, worked together for the Cleveland Browns in the early ’90s, where Saban was defensive coordinator and Lombardi was player personnel director.
According to the Globe, “Saban has let it be known that if he returns to the NFL — where he flopped, going 15-17 with the Dolphins from 2005-06 — it would likely be with Lombardi playing Scott Pioli to his Bill Belichick.” Pioli and Belichick are the GM-coach tandem who created a New England Patriots dynasty.
The Browns are suffering through another woeful season at 5-8 and have had only two winning seasons since 1999.
Owner Jimmy Haslam might have more than one reason for luring Saban to the NFL: He’s a prominent University of Tennessee booster, and the Vols are 0-6 against Saban’s Alabama teams.
For his part, Saban has already won two national championships at Alabama (and one at LSU) and will be going for another one on Jan. 7 against Notre Dame. With no mountains left to climb in the college game, could Saban be looking for another shot at the NFL?
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420 comments Add your comment
Dawg Whisperer
December 11th, 2012
9:39 am
You can always tell when Bammy fans start getting nervous. They accuse AJC writers (this originated as a national article) for stirring up trouble and denigrate UGA fans because we’re the largest fan base in Georgia. Well, don’t let your collective heads explode but the day will come when Saban will depart and the Tide will roll back (just like Wal-Mart prices). You will again will be reduced to fueding with Auburn as the state’s best. Color Saban Brown!
G-Dawg
December 11th, 2012
9:41 am
This is why Kirby hasnt gone anywhere…will probably end up taking over the program.
texn11
December 11th, 2012
9:42 am
Useless Bums, thats pretyy funny.
Tell us, what Fortune 500 company are you CEO of?
AppleCEO
December 11th, 2012
9:45 am
The question should be, does GA have a dept. of education? Alabama kids have higher test scores and graduation rates. My home state of Ga is an embarrassment!
RS Dawg
December 11th, 2012
9:45 am
Thanks, Dawg Whisperer, I was wondering what the writer of this article had to do with GEORGIA. Absolutely Nothing!
Wilson Pickett
December 11th, 2012
9:47 am
Enter your comments here
Tide Rising
December 11th, 2012
9:50 am
We’ve been hearing this crap for 6 years. The funny thing is the article starts off with an “if” Lombardi is hired then “if” he could bring Saban. Lot of “if”s in that statement. Just more wishfull thinking that Saban would leave.
Wilson Pickett
December 11th, 2012
9:51 am
LOL….UGA fans talking smack with one trophy! Some of you Georgieeee insiders go over to the dome and tell Rambo he can comeout now that Eddie Lacey and Amari Cooper are back in T-town.
You Georgiee fans talk at one level and play at another no doubt. Wait…your record says one trophy. Hell even GT has a trophy since the red and black. Send Herschel a thank you card because with him you’re Kentucky in red and black.
RMCD
December 11th, 2012
9:51 am
Media just trying to start something before the National Championship Game. The editor must be a Irish Fan or Graduate. Saban is happy at Alabama and will win another National Title for The SEC and Alabama.
Really???
December 11th, 2012
9:53 am
Wow !!! Cant believe how arogant/ignorant the BAMA fans are. All the trailer parks and big boosters couldnt stop Saban from leaving BAMA to satisfy his ego of winning in the NFL. Saban has coached in the NFL before and he’s going to draft his own players to set the stage to win in Cleveland. He’s God in BAMA and he makes the moves that he wants to make. The Bama’s don’t control him he controls them! Wow!! BAMA back on knees again! LMAO!!! BAMA’s !!!
Keep wishing...
December 11th, 2012
9:55 am
Bama has already had 3 AU coachs, 3 UT coaches and 2 Gator coaches. Also several hot-seat years for Richt. He’s on the verge of greatness and can make whatever he wants at Bama. He will likely have 5 or 6 NCs before he handsoff to Kirby. But keep wishing. LOL
Oh yeah I live in Philly and no difference perception of Georgia and Alabama trailer park %s and you Georgia boys look pretty stupid trying to make your sister state look that way.
Say What???
December 11th, 2012
9:57 am
First of all, I don’t think money is a major driving force for Coach Saban. However, pride is. A famous quote comes to mind: “When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquere.” What more does he have to prove in the college world? He returned a college football powerhouse back to the top of the mountain and has kept it there for multiple years. This combined with his understandable ego would make me think that he would relish the thought of doing the same thing with an NFL team…
That being said, he is a very intellegent man and he has to know that his brand of football will not work in the NFL. He saw a glimpse of this at Miami, The NFL is all about the players, not the teams or the coaches. In Alabama, he talks about the “program” and it works EXTREMELY well where he has complete control. In the NFL, he will never have complete control and that will keep him from effectivly installing the “program” and enjoying the same success as he has in the College world.
So I guess the question is which is greater: Saban’s intellect or his ego? Only time will tell…
Erin "spike the ball" Murray
December 11th, 2012
9:57 am
Who wouldn’t want to move to beautiful Cleveland ???? If he hated Miami, I’m sure he will love C-town.
The mistake by the lake, can’t blame him if he leaves.
Tide Rising
December 11th, 2012
9:57 am
Dawg whisperer,
Its sad to see dawg fans like yourself reduced to the point of wishfull thinking that if Saban would just leave Alabama. Not just sad but pathetic and the fact that you show it so openly speaks volumes about your inferiority complex relative to the Alabama tradition.
We’ve been hearing this crap for 6 years now and in the meantime Saban has had no interest in pro openings like the Steelers and Cowboys yet all of a sudden he would be interested in the lowly browns? You gotta be kidding. That’s just somebody in New England trying to sell newspapers. Saban will be leaving soon anyway. My prediction is that he leaves in 3-5 years not to go somewhere but simply to retire.
When you’ve won so many national championships it eventually gets boring. Not that you dawg fans would know anything about winning national championships of course.
Dawg1
December 11th, 2012
9:59 am
CNS is a smart guy… Strong just got a $4MM per year deal @ Louisville… He’ll leverage a massive offer from the Browns into an even better deal from Alabama and extend it out to 5 years.
He’s sitting pretty in Tuscaloosa and I think he has learned his lesson about the pro game. Not to mention, you are leaving the South for Cleveland. Not a bad place in the summer – but the winter is awful and that’s being ‘kind’.
Really???
December 11th, 2012
10:00 am
Dang Wilson Pickett !!! Ouch !! You said something that really hit home. WOW!! Kentuck in Red n Black… Guess we will crawl back in our DAWG HOUSE now. Got no come back for that one. How bout a few SEC Rings? Think that puts us above UK… I think.
Fleischman in Chi Towns Bed
December 11th, 2012
10:00 am
Mrs. Terry said on radio last week they love Tuscaloosa and they will retire there.
Guess she is a liar just like Saban…. right dawg fans ?????
Fleischman in Chi Towns Bed
December 11th, 2012
10:01 am
@Dawg Whisperer… wow you are pathetic. sore loser too. take a loss like a man little fella.
Tide Rising
December 11th, 2012
10:02 am
“That being said, he is a very intellegent man and he has to know that his brand of football will not work in the NFL.”
Not quite. Miami was about the worst team or one of the worst teams in pro football when Saban got there. The first year is always a transition year. The 2nd year he had the Dolphins on a 6 game winning streak when the news broke that Alabama was pursuing him. The team then melted down and dropped its last 4 in the wake of the news. He finished just below .500 at 15-17. Considering how bad the Dolphins were when he took over and the slide that took place when that Bama news broke that’s not bad.
D man
December 11th, 2012
10:03 am
Saban wants to replace the Bear as the all time best coach at Bama. He has a long way to go with 4 less NC’s than the Bear had with Bama.
keiso
December 11th, 2012
10:04 am
Browns need to keep Heckert and Shurmur. Saban is a fine DC in the NFL, let him flourish in the college ranks.
Michael Carvell, Chip Towers, Jeff Shultz, Mark Bradley, Tony Barnhardt
December 11th, 2012
10:04 am
this story gave us all boners
Tide Rising
December 11th, 2012
10:05 am
Chi Town,
I think dawg whisperer is probably one of them dawg defenders that Eddie Lacy ran over on his way to the end zone.
Someone tell Jarvis Jones he can get up off his ass now. Its safe now. The Alabama offensive line has left the building.
Cleveland..city of lights...city of magic
December 11th, 2012
10:07 am
Who can resist?
You idiot hillbilly dawwwwg fans ever been there? It makes Athens look like heaven.
Ugly women, rude people, lousy weather, lousy sports teams.
Go back to planning your trip to Orlando on January 1, 2013.
Doc
December 11th, 2012
10:08 am
yah.. because he doesnt want to double his money right? why would he take the job? thing is… cleveland doesnt want some college coach that already proved he cant hack it with the big boys
gabuckhawk
December 11th, 2012
10:09 am
Just an FYI, Saban’s lake home in Georgia has been up for sale for at least a few months per a big article published ahwile back in the Wall Street Journal. Article had numerous photos and focused a lot on various coaches and what they’ve gone through in buying/selling homes when changing coaching positions, etc.
Hilly
December 11th, 2012
10:10 am
gabuckhawk – he selling that house and building another in the same neighborhood.
pikedawg
December 11th, 2012
10:12 am
two things…first I like the way Alabama counts up National Titles…by BAMA’s counting method UGA has 6 Ntional Titles so I’ll take it.
second…”Nick Saban will NEVER leave LSU to go to Miami…he has it made at LSU why would he ever want to leave”…and…”Read my lips, I am NOT leaving Miami to be the next coach at Alabama”…Nick Saban Dec. 2006.
No Saban has no track record of ever leaving one great job for another does he?
BAMA cracks me up…they think because they have nothing else to do except fish in their state that the BAMA football job must be the greatest thing ever. Got news for you campus is still in Tuscaloosa…have you been to Tuscaloosa?? Its College Park with a campus.
Dirty Dawg
December 11th, 2012
10:13 am
Look, like Spurrier and Petrino, Saban has tried his ’style’ of coaching in the NFL and found that grown men, particularly those making a gazillion dollars a year, with an ego, at least as large as theirs, and with a union, as well as no fear of losing their scholarship, just don’t respond the same way as 18 and 19 year-olds to fear and intimidation. Now I know that a few more National Championships might have fogged his memory, and, with enough money, one can live well in Cleveland just as they do in Alabama, but they won’t have folks falling all over themselves to kiss their butts just to show em how much they’re loved. He’ll stay put.
Ken Charbat
December 11th, 2012
10:14 am
The Nick Saban’s of our world, aka competitors (especially those who are extremely successful) are not comfortable with ’safe,’ ’sure things’ and being ‘king’ of some hill. They instictively resist these places because they know ’safe’ is a no-growth mode. It exemplifies lack of ambition. Afterall, climbing the mountain is what makes the view from the top so exhilerating!! Go Browns!!
Hilly
December 11th, 2012
10:16 am
pikedawg – did u crack up last week when ALABAMA beat your favorite team ??? that was hilarious wasn’t it! we all know he will leave, we are not delusional fools like the bulldawg nation.
Hilly
December 11th, 2012
10:18 am
and our team has one 3 NATIONAL championships since 1980 or whenever the hell it was
Harvey!
December 11th, 2012
10:19 am
Harvey updyke’s not happy with all this browns talk—if they hire away saban, harvey may be heading up to cleveland to start poisoning more trees!
St Simons - we're on Island time
December 11th, 2012
10:25 am
No way. Saban would have a salary cap in the NFL
Joey
December 11th, 2012
10:29 am
Bet the Dolphins yelled, “Saban ain’t goin anywhere!” too.
Let some smart NFL owner give Saban total control, with his own token GM, and stock in the franchise – worth hundreds of millions, and he’s gonna say “no thank you?”
Keep dreaming Bama fans, he won’t leave for another college program, but he will for an NFL offer like that.
JAA
December 11th, 2012
10:29 am
Just what the Browns need, another untested, or rather tested and failed, pro coach. We need a proven professional level coach, not a beginner. Been there done that – didn’t work.
ZAD
December 11th, 2012
10:31 am
Its an easy deal for Mr Pilot. 10 years/100m.
Erin "spike the ball" Murray
December 11th, 2012
10:33 am
i hope he teaches Brandon Weeden how to run a 2 minute drill !
go dogs
JacketFromBama
December 11th, 2012
10:33 am
I’ve always said that retirement would be the only thing to lure Saban away from Alabama, but if he is going to take another shot at the NFL it seems like this would be the time to do it, especially if Bama crushes Notre Dame in a few weeks. His wife hated the media and the atmosphere at his last NFL job and said she much preferred the college vibe, but apparently she has made comments recently about the weight of expectations that come with each game now.
Also, continue to make snide comments about education and infrastructure in Alabama if you wish. I’ve lived in Georgia for 6 years now, and I’ve noticed that you all seem to have this misplaced sense of superiority when it comes to your standing among Southern states. News flash: you’re not so great. Nothing wrong with the state, but if you’re going to rag on your neighbors like that then I feel the need to inform you of your own shortcomings.
Also, please stop sounding foolish by questioning Saban’s character. The talking heads hate him because he doesn’t answer their questions in a way that they consider satisfactory and because he had the audacity to actually LEAVE the NFL for a college job. (gasp!) In reality, Saban has never been connected to any major scandal. The textbook thing at Bama was the closest thing, and that started under Shula. Once Saban found out about it, he immediately alerted their compliance officer, and because the school was forthright about the whole situation, the NCAA was lenient (a lesson many schools seem to have trouble grasping). Prior to Miami, nobody had any problems with the way he left any of his jobs. Yes, he left the Dolphins before his contract was up, but in this day and age who actually waits for their contract to expire? That’s why buyouts are written in. At least he had the courtesy to finish out the season unlike Petrino. Yes, he said he wasn’t taking the Alabama job with a few games left, but the media was hounding him and he just wanted them to drop it until they had finished the season. If anything, he was trying to keep his team from being distracted.
Dawginlex
December 11th, 2012
10:34 am
i eat poo
Dontavius Supremo
December 11th, 2012
10:34 am
Shame how these Alabama folks are scared to death. HAHAHA!
Hilly
December 11th, 2012
10:39 am
I’m scared of Aaron Murray! Man does he step up in big games!! What a hard a$$
Our Lady of Victory
December 11th, 2012
10:41 am
January 8, 2012. When the dust settles and Saban realizes he has just been handed the most embarassing defeat of his career at the hands of the almighty crusaders he will pick up the phone and make the call.
Then everyone in Alabama can go back to making out with their relatives and waiting for the rapture as Texas A&M dominates the SEC West for the next 10 years.
kerryb
December 11th, 2012
10:41 am
If you Bama fans think he is going to stay there forever you’re crazy. This will be his 4th BCS title at 2 different schools and Bama has already built a statue of him. What else does he need to accomplish in college? As far as I know there is only 2 coaches with a college national championship and a Lombardi trophy and that’s Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer. I think Saban wants to be the 3rd and with his ego he is not going to let his only try in the NFL be a flop like it was in Miami. I think he goes.
Eddie Lacy/TJ Yeldon
December 11th, 2012
10:41 am
Can we stop running now?
Our Lady of Victory
December 11th, 2012
10:41 am
2013
Saban to Browns rumors - Page 5 - VolNation
December 11th, 2012
10:44 am
[...] Posted by UGADawg4Life Report: Cleveland Browns may lure Saban back to NFL | AJC Sports News Now Yet another article quoting the same Boston Globe article that is nothing more than unsourced [...]
Georgia fans are sore losers
December 11th, 2012
10:44 am
They have 31 experience. Haterz gonna hate.
Joey
December 11th, 2012
10:44 am
Tide Rising, I honestly don’t care if Saban stays or goes, and you know I am a fan of your coach.
He couldn’t work for Jerry Jones, ever. Cowboy Sadium ain’t even big enough for those two egos. And why would the Steelers want him – they already lead the NFL in Super Bowls.
But a franchise that has never even been to the SB, might be iterested enough to offer him partial ownership, and total control.
I mean if Bama wins this BCS Title – that’s a record 3 in 4 years, 4 total. The only other record to break would be Bear Bryant’s 6 (?) Titles.
That may be his ultimate goal, but even so, he would have to listen to a deal that could make him 5-times richer with just the stroke of a pen.
Don’t you think?
kerryb
December 11th, 2012
10:47 am
Just one mention of Saban leaving and Bama fans wet their pants and begin thinking back to the days of Mike Shula.