Look up Crossfire 12/4/2013. "Friend of Bevo" emphatically tells McPhaul NO WAY on Jimbo Fisher being a plan B if Saban falls thru. I posted this earlier but I would like to know why/how a 180° turnaround such as this on Fisher's candidacy as a plan B is possible?
Mcphaul, is "Friend of Bevo" a different source than this one? If so, how could "Friend of Bevo " be so far off on the perception of Fisher just 21 days ago or less? If he was, how reliable is his info he's telling you on the Saban stuff?
Once again, I'm not doubting that you are passing along what you hear and I appreciate what your trying to do. It just really strikes me as very odd that a high end source could be so far off base on Fisher only 20 days or so ago, assuming what you posted today is accurate.?.? I'd appreciate you clearing up the picture for if you can. Maybe I missed something along the way, idk.....
And for the record, I'd take Saban or Fisher in a heartbeat!
I'm not McPhaul, but I can give some insight on this.
Fisher was a no way back then because there was ONE candidate and only ONE candidate that we were talking seriously with. At the time, Saban not coming wasn't a thought. A Plan was put in place and one person did not do what they were supposed to do and it fell apart. That person was a key piece as there is no opening without him out of the way.
He's out of the way.
Patterson comes on board right before the plan fell apart. At that point, he was given the keys. He makes phone calls to a short list of coaches. This is the first serious contact with Fisher. Fisher falls out of his chair and by the time the phone hangs up, he's got bags packed. The guy wanted/wants to come.
The fact that he called around to some coaches to answer some "what if" questions is no big deal and pretty standard. I would imagine those calls were also made by other people we talked to. But Fisher could have been more aggressive on that because he was so robust in his enthusiasm.
The talks with Saban, you could conceivably say there was just a delay in communication because things picked back up with Patterson and Patterson had Saban back on their playing field in short time (talking to us). Everything that was there that Saban liked before Black Friday was still there. I've heard the deal was sweetened, not with cash, but with assurances on certain things. He agreed.
I have no way of knowing whether or not Saban put his John Hancock on a piece of paper for us. That's a pretty intimate detail that only those close to the deal would know and that fact might well be kept on the down low until the announcement.
I realize all of you, including myself to be honest, want to know some sort of certainty is in place and I've shared my reason for having that certainty. But beyond that I can't provide anything more that would be concrete, unless I hear something told to me that would suggest that. Right now, I'm telling you I feel it's 100% and the reason I say that is the certainty with which it was told to me. It sounded to me like we had his signature on something. Just ask my wife, who has no clue what I'm doing anyway, poor lady, each time I hung up the phone I shouted at her "If I didn't know better, I'd say we had his signature on something!" She's like WTH?