Imagine Bill Polian, Peyton Manning, and Nick Saban all working together. Or at least trying to.
It could have happened, and it would have happened if Polian had his way.
In the excellent new Nick Saban biography, Monte Burke explains that Polian wanted to hire Saban to replace Lindy Infante.
Polian met with Saban, who at the time was coaching Michigan State, and Polian liked what he heard from Saban.
“I was prepared to offer him the job,” Polian told Burke.
The talks broke down, as they did a year earlier with the Giants, because Saban wanted control over personnel and the coaching staff. Which is merely a glimpse of the friction that would have emerged if three guys who like to control everything -- Polian, Saban, and Manning -- had been working together.
If they’d found a way to properly harness that energy, however, there’s a chance Manning would have more than one Super Bowl ring.