This is how the world turns with Nick Saban.

On Tuesday, a longtime source was insistent that rumors about Saban leaving Alabama to return to the NFL are off-base.

“That’s not happening,” the source said, emphatically.

As I posted on Twitter, take the adamant denial for what it’s worth, particularly when another source I spoke with on Thursday claimed that Saban has already begun interviewing potential assistants he would take to the Cleveland Browns with him. The source laid out the timing of how current Browns coach Pat Shurmur will be fired after the season, one or two candidates will be interviewed (complete with the name of a minority candidate) and that Saban will be hired on Jan. 8, the day after Alabama’s BCS title game tilt vs. Notre Dame.

That bit of information advances an earlier report by Boston Globe ace NFL writer Greg Bedard about Saban wanting to return to the NFL and that Saban would work with current NFL Network analyst Michael Lombardi. Lombardi is a former personnel man with several teams, including Cleveland, Oakland and Denver.

So exactly what should anyone believe about Saban?

Sadly, everything and nothing.

Anyone who knows the 61-year-old Saban understands his anxious side. He is not a man who puts down roots. He’s a man who pulls them up and then heads for the next job. He has told his own players (as he did at Michigan State) that he was staying one day, then left for LSU the next.

Until he got to Alabama, he had not been at a place longer than five years. He’s in his sixth season with Alabama, and as much as you’d think he could coach the Crimson Tide for the remainder of his career, that’s not his style.

Saban likes challenges. He has succeeded in turning around programs, winning national titles at LSU and Alabama.

Another telling trait is that Saban likes to live in denial just as he’s about to go from one place to another. There was the move from Michigan State to LSU. When he left the Miami Dolphins for Alabama, he lied time after time about how he wouldn’t be the Crimson Tide’s next coach.

Then there was Saban’s interview with Miami radio host Dan Le Batard on Monday in which Saban talked about leaving the Dolphins. Saban, not surprisingly, downplayed the idea of leaving Alabama.

“I really enjoy what I'm doing here right now,” said Saban, who went 15-17 in two seasons with the Dolphins. “I'm getting old now. I don't think we've got too many moves left in us. You develop a lot of relationships and loyalties to the players you recruit and the players you have on the team and the people you have in the organization. I don't think it's really fair to leave. I regretted when I left LSU, because I left a lot of relationships there. Hopefully I'll be able to stay here for a long, long time."

OK. But when Saban was asked later on about the regrettable decision to trade for Daunte Culpepper rather than sign Drew Brees in 2006, Saban was misleading.

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“We think Drew Brees was an outstanding player. That's the guy we made the first offer to,” said Saban, who’s trying to win his third national title in four seasons. “Quite frankly, he didn't pass the physical with our organization so we had to go in a different direction, and there was really nothing any of us could do about that.”

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