Finally ...

The only thing longer than my absence from sports blogging was Alabama's head football coaching search.
My hiatus stemmed mostly from a month-long illness, an accumulation of unused vacation time and the feeling that I needed to add "Blog more often'' to my list of New Year's resolutions.
Alabama's 38-day gap between firing Mike Shula and hiring Nick Saban ended early this morning after multiple declarations from Saban that he wasn't interested in the Alabama job, wouldn't be talking about it now or five years from now and wouldn't be coaching anywhere but in Miami next season.
Saban's misdirection play isn't the issue of this blog, however. Coaches lie all the time.
What I find amazing is that Alabama president Robert Witt, athletic director Mal Moore and several trustees laid an eight-year, $32 million deal at Saban's feet.
This after Alabama trustees vetoed an attempt by lil' brother Alabama-Birmingham to hire LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher for its head coaching vacancy.
They balked at paying Fisher $600,000 a year.
Naturally, they won't so much as issue a single squeak about loading up a Brink's truck on Saban's behalf.
All of which begs the question -- How much is too much for a college coach nowadays?
Saban will become the NCAA's highest-paid coach, elbowing his way past $3 million club members Kirk Farentz of Iowa, Pete Carroll of USC and Charlie Weis of Notre Dame. He'll receive almost double the salary of Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville, which means Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs can expect a visit from Tuberville’s agent (coincidentally Jimmy Sexton, who also represents Saban) if the Tigers beat the Crimson Tide for a sixth straight season.
NCAA president Myles Brand has expressed grave concern over the skyrocketing salaries of college football coaches, but this is starting to look like the old Cold War nuclear arms race. The money involved will only escalate from here.
How much is too much?
What do you think?
Are there too many multi-millionaire coaches and should Alabama have paid so much to land Saban?