AP

When former Dolphins coach Nick Saban notoriously declared that he’s not going to be the Alabama coach, Saban apparently had failed to run that one past Mrs. Saban.

Earlier on Sunday, we pointed out that former Oilers cornerback Cris Dishman believed while playing for Saban that Dishman’s name was “F–king A–hole.” Saban possibly would have been known by that name in his own house if he hadn’t pounced on the chance to leave the Dolphins.

The introduction to Monte Burke’s Saban: The Making of a Coach tells the story of how the late Mal Moore lured Saban to Tuscaloosa even after Saban had publicly uttered the phrase that will forever linked to his legacy. Hal Habib of the Palm Beach Post has more of the nuts and bolts from the relevant portion of the book; the bottom line is that Saban’s wife, Terry, was ready for her husband to return to college football.

She met directly with the Alabama A.D., who had come to Miami in the hopes of taking home a new head coach, while Mr. Saban was meeting with former Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga about Saban’s future.

“Terry and Moore hit it off right away,” Burke writes, “sensing a mutual interest. She served him lunch while the two talked about her husband. She made it clear to Moore that Saban was miserable in the NFL and dearly missed coaching in college. She also made it clear that she wanted out.

“In the NFL, the coach’s wife had no real role in the community. On a college campus — particularly at a place like Alabama — the coach’s wife was a figure of prominence, a queen bee.”

Moore stayed for dinner with the coach and offered him an eight-year, $32 million deal. Saban remained hesitant, but his wife wasn’t.

“As Moore was leaving, Terry pulled him aside and told him they they had to find a way to get her husband on the plane to Tuscaloosa the next day,” Burke writes.

So Nick Saban didn’t tell a lie that day in December 2006. Instead, he simply made a promise without making sure that his better half would let him honor it.