Mark WiedmerATLANTA – In late January of 2008, Alabama football coach Nick Saban thought he’d handed the opportunity of a lifetime to Jim McElwain.
“He was the offensive coordinator at Fresno State and I was offering him the offensive coordinator’s job at Alabama,” Saban said during the Southeastern Conference championship game coaches’ luncheon Friday afternoon at the Hyatt Regency. “What’s there to think about, right? Well, it took me three days to talk him into it.”
Countered McElwain with a wide grin: “It took me three days to realize it wasn’t a buddy of mine in Montana busting my chops.”
This is the light-hearted side of today’s SEC title game, which will play out for the 23rd consecutive year inside the Georgia Dome and the 25th straight season overall.
And if both men may secretly believe that Friday’s 24-point spread favoring the top-ranked Crimson Tide is about right – “There’s only been a couple times so far that I’ve become violently ill watching (Alabama tape),” McElwain joked earlier in the week – they also both know anything can happen in a single game.