Lie me a river
We are taught, from an early age, to distrust politicians. The same goes for infomercial pitchmen, lawyers, and used car salesmen.

Of course, not all politicians, pitchmen, lawyers, and salesmen are deceitful. It's a stereotype, to be sure. But somewhere along the way, I wish my mother had pulled me aside in my youth and told me: "Son, beware of football coaches."

Football coaches lie. They say they aren't going anywhere, and then jet off.

When I was in college at Bowling Green in 2002, Urban Meyer, then the school's football coach, publicly said he wouldn't leave after two short, successful years.

Weeks after, he was flying to Utah to coach.

This is not to single out Meyer. Butch Davis denied he was going from the University of Miami — which he had rebuilt into a title contender — to the Cleveland Browns in 2001. He even signed a contact extension with the Hurricanes. But soon, he was standing at a podium in Cleveland, sentencing himself to the Browns head coaching position.

Four years after Davis, Miami has been jilted again. Only this time, it wasn't the college.

The Dolphins had to know they were getting an interesting character when they hired Nick Saban away from the LSU. After all, it was Saban who told the media he wasn't leaving LSU. Then he bolted to the NFL.

A look at his coaching career shows two things: he's pretty good at what he does, and he doesn't stay anywhere too long. He was at Toledo one year, Michigan State, and LSU five years each, and was with the Miami Dolphins two years.

When his named surfaced for the Alabama gig, the coach denied he was leaving south Florida, even appearing to scold reporters for even asking the question.

I'm not really offended by any of this. What I do wonder though, is if potential Alabama players, when meeting with Saban in the near future, will ask him a question. After being talked to about the dedication and loyalty in the program at Alabama, a player should stop the coach and ask him if he can promise he'll be there when the player leaves.

But it probably doesn't matter. No answer from Saban, or most coaches, can be taken at face value.