College football’s greatest "what if" reveals how close the legendary coach came to swapping Alabama for Austin before a media leak derailed the landscape-altering deal.
Following coach Mack Brown's resignation in 2013, Texas cycled through Charlie Strong and Tom Herman before ultimately finding stability under Steve Sarkisian.
Ironically, Sarkisian arrived in Austin after spending two seasons rehabilitating his career as Nick Saban's offensive coordinator at Alabama.
According to FOX Sports' Joel Klatt, however, there was a world in which Saban himself became the Longhorns' next head coach.
“There was a moment back in, I believe it was 2013, Nick Saban had won three national championships at Alabama, and he had won one at LSU, so he had four national titles under his belt," said Klatt on The Joel Klatt Show.
"And guys, I’m telling you, that deal of him taking the Texas head job post Mack Brown was, I mean, all but signed, sealed, and delivered. It was right there."
The timing only adds to the intrigue surrounding the hypothetical.
In the first season following Texas' pursuit of Saban, Alabama went 12-2, captured the SEC Championship and earned the No. 1 seed in the inaugural College Football Playoff.
Meanwhile, Texas stumbled to a 6-7 record during Charlie Strong's debut campaign and began the winding journey that eventually led to Sarkisian.
“They were looking for real estate, actively, in Austin, Texas. Like it was happening. The problem was that everybody at Texas got so excited, and then the news started to leak, and it became overwhelming to the point where Saban had to go out there and be like, ‘You know what? Nope, I’m not going. I’m staying right here at Alabama,’" Klatt continued.
"Now, Bama fans will probably push back on this, but that is the story. That is absolutely the case. It was that close.”
That's where the hypothetical becomes fascinating and introduces many head-scratching questions.
Does Texas avoid the lost decade that included three coaching changes and just one conference championship appearance?
It's safe to assume the answer is yes.
Does Alabama still win national titles in 2015, 2017 and 2020 without the greatest coach in college football history patrolling the sideline?
Perhaps Alabama turns to Jim Harbaugh before he ever returns to Michigan in 2015.
More importantly for Longhorn fans, does Texas return to national prominence years earlier than it ultimately did under Sarkisian?
Given that Saban won three national championships over the following seven seasons, it's difficult to imagine Texas not returning to prominence much sooner under the legendary coach.
Imagine Derrick Henry, Amari Cooper, Jalen Hurts, Tua Tagovailoa or Minkah Fitzpatrick in ... burnt orange. Boy, does that feel strange.
But it's precisely what makes the near-marriage between Texas and Saban one of college football's great "what ifs."
Instead, Alabama added three more national championships to its trophy case while the Longhorns spent the better part of a decade searching for the stability they eventually found in Sarkisian.
History ultimately worked out for both programs ... but it's difficult not to wonder how different the college football landscape might look had Saban ultimately ended up succeeding Brown.
