Nick Saban “covets” Giants job, says Bruce Arians

Here we go again. Fresh off his fifth college football national championship with Alabama in nine years, and sixth overall, the Nick Saban to the New York Giants rumors are starting again.

This time, you can thank just-retired former Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians.

The 66-year-old Saban has been at Alabama since 2007. There were reports in 2016 that Saban floated the idea of joining the Giants as the replacement for Tom Coughlin. This from actor Tom Arnold:

“They got his deal done with [Ben McAdoo] and they are ready to sign him, and they get a call from Bob Ehrman [an intermediary] who says Nick Saban wants the job,” Arnold told ESPN’s Paul Finebaum. “So they had to stop. This is a Saturday night. They said, ‘You have until Sunday morning at 8 a.m. to say a definite yes. Tell us what he needs for money.’ ‘Well, he needs $10 million to start with and this is the deal. He has to get it approved by his wife right.’ Well, he has to get it approved by his wife right this second because we have a coach on the string here. But if he wants to do it, it has to be right this second. So he had until Sunday morning at 8 a.m. and it didn’t work out. But it was close.”

There have long been those who wondered if Saban pined to try and erase the stain of his 15-17 two-year stint as Miami Dolphins head coach in 2005 and 2006.

The Giants have interviewed Steve Spagnuolo, Steve Wilks, Josh McDaniels, Matt Patricia and Pat Shurmur. They are still scheduled to interview Eric Studesville for the head-coaching job.