Latest 'Bama Rumors: Spurrier? Gruden?

Speculation continues to run rampant across the 'Bama Nation and, if you believe everything you read on the internet, Alabama will have no fewer than three head coaches next year. That said, since the head coaching search tends to be about as closed-off and tight-lipped as imaginable, about the only thing left for a die-hard fan is trolling message boards and blogs, searching for the best rumors.

It's tough to tell the difference between a rumor from a reliable source and one that someone just made up in the hopes of achieving "insider status" on their favorite message board if their blind guess turns out to be correct. And accuracy doesn't really help that much. Well-connected, reliable sources can be wrong and blind guesses can be right (especially when every conceivable guess has been proffered). Things change.

Nevertheless, some rumors tend to look a little better than others. What follows are the two best rumors that I've heard to date, but they are still rumors and should be treated as such.

Spurrier has a "deal inked"
If you didn't really believe Mal Moore at the press conference when he implied that no coaching search had started yet, you should be skeptical about Spurrier's "denial" of interest in the Alabama job, for a few reasons. The first of those is that, despite what you might have read at various blogs and news-sources... Spurrier has not yet told anyone (except recruits) that he has no interest in the Alabama job. What he said was that he had "no intention" of leaving. The average guy has "no intention" of scoring with a hot Hollywood actress... but if one asked if he was "interested", would he say no?

A poster on the Alabama Rivals.com forum claims to know a "connected" source -- a guy who played at South Carolina in the 70s -- who says that not only has Alabama made Spurrier an offer, but he has accepted it. They're allegedly delaying the announcement for the appearance of propriety and to not shoot down SC's bowl chances. The rumored deal is 7 years, $30 million and unlimited funding to pay assistants.

The story, if you believe it, is that Alabama has been in talks with Spurrier for a while, but the Ol' Ball Coach put a line in the sand, that he wasn't going to do any more talking until there was an official vacancy. That message allegedly came Sunday night, providing one possible reason for the bungled firing (as though Moore's incompetence wasn't reason enough).

The longer this strings out without a more definitive word from Spurrier, the more skeptical I become of the info coming out of recruits -- of course he's telling them that he's staying at South Carolina, and the rumors have not died down like he predicted they would. It might be time for an outright denial.


Alabama has a "shocking" coach lined up
Jimmy Sexton, agent to the coaching stars, said in an interview earlier this week that the Tide has made a deal and the man coming to the Capstone next year will be a shock to 'Bama faithful. Depending on who you ask, that could mean different things, but the most common interpretation of Sexton's comments point to a big-name NFL coach. A guy that most people don't think is a candidate. A guy like Jon Gruden.

This rumor has a lot less substance to it, and you could pick a thousand guys that would be "shocking" -- but the list narrows significantly when you keep in mind that the coaching search is just days old. If a deal has already been made, Alabama didn't have to go very deep on its wish list. Personally, I'm not sure what would be more shocking than bringing Pat Dye to campus.


...take it all with a grain of salt, but these are the two things I've seen so far today that don't look like someone trying to become Internet Famous using made up connections. But, like with most rumors, they're more likely false than true.