Nick Saban, coach of the defending national football champions at the University of Alabama, is under
"special pressure" and would only leave the school for a job at Texas, according to an email obtained by The Associated Press.
The Sept. 24 email came from former University of Texas System regent Tom Hicks to his brother, current Texas regent Steve Hicks. The email, wrote Tom Hicks, described a 45-minute phone call between Saban's agent Jimmy Sexton, himself, and Wallace Hall, who is also a current Texas regent.
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The Associated Press first reported about the phone call in September, where Hall insisted he was part of the call that took place in January.
Hicks is the former owner of the Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers, the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League, and the English professional soccer club Liverpool. He was on the UT System's board of regents in 1997 when Texas lured current coach Mack Brown from North Carolina.
In the email, Hicks wrote that Sexton told him Saban's success in Alabama had brought "special pressure" on the coach but did not describe that pressure further, wrote the AP. Sexton told Hicks and Hall, according to the email, that he believed Saban would be interested in moving to Austin.
"Sexton confirmed that UT is the only job Nick would possibly consider leaving Alabama for, and that his success there created special pressure for him," Hicks wrote, according to The Associated Press.
Brown is under contract at Texas until 2020 and will be paid $5.4 million this year, wrote the AP. The Texas football team, though, has experienced three sub-par seasons and opened this year with two losses, increasing speculation about his future.
Brown won a national championship in 2005 and lost to Saban's Alabama team in the 2010 national championship game.
Saban is the hottest coaching property in the country, posting a 73-13 record in his seventh season at Alabama, with three national championships — including the last two in a row. His current team has an 8-0 record and is ranked No. 1 in the country.
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