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Alabama head coach Nick Saban walks the sidelines Saturday, Nov. 30, 2013, during the third quarter of the Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

-- The buildup began in September. The crescendo hit its apex throughout this past week.

A documented report served as the backbone, but the momentum of unfounded rumors and 24-hour speculation ultimately propelled "the story that wouldn't die" before it met its death Friday evening.

Alabama coach

Nick Saban

leaving behind three national championships, the No. 1 recruiting class in the country and an artillery of stockpiled talent to compete in many more for a new opportunity at resource-rich Texas never happened. In what was a symbolic gesture more than anything, Saban and Alabama

that promises to enrich his spot as college football's highest-paid coach in significant fashion.

It's what Saban said he'd do ever since a September report from the Associated Press exposed a January conversation between a Texas regent, a former Texas regent and Saban's agent,

Jimmy Sexton

. It was the first of many times Saban, 62, would say he was "too damn old" to start over at a new program.

It's what Saban's wife, Terry,

during a candid, late November interview that also included a perceived jab at Alabama fans who had been "spoiled by success."

"We're staying. We're not going anywhere," said Terry, who was reportedly house-hunting in Austin, Texas, one month earlier.

And it's ultimately what most high-ranking members at Alabama believed would happen, according to multiple sources who spoke with

throughout the ordeal. The drip-drip-drip of Saban-related reports from media outlets in Texas created an illusion of smoke, but the majority were viewed on Alabama's side as leaks to fuel an agenda centered on expediting the departure of Longhorns coach

Mack Brown

.

The crux of fans' anxiety -- a reported unsigned contract sitting on Saban's desk as he criss-crossed the country recruiting -- was a misnomer. Multiple sources told

there was no such document and no such anxiety caused by Saban's public silence throughout the process. Rather, there were discussions between the school and the coach's camp that would ultimately lead toward what happened Friday -- one of the first days since the Iron Bowl in which Saban wasn't criss-crossing the country for recruiting.

"We wanted him to be highest-paid coach in college football," one source said.

Furthermore, a sense of confidence existed among Alabama's top power players because of Saban's respect for Brown. The two coaches played Jenga against each other for an ESPN commercial, coached against each other in the 2010 BCS National Championship and hold each other in high regard.

Saban, a source said, would not be interested in participating in a "coup" to replace the veteran Longhorns coach.

With an embattled Brown still technically employed as the coach at Texas, there never was a vacancy to fill during this three-month national conversation.

***

A little less than two months after the Associated Press' initial report about a conversation between Sexton and former Texas Regent

Tom Hicks

and current Regent

Wallace Hall

, a follow-up with minor details surfaced in the days leading up to Alabama's showdown with LSU at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The AP obtained a copy of an e-mail Hicks wrote Sept. 24 about the conversation roughly nine months after it occurred.

"Sexton confirmed that UT is the only job Nick would possibly consider leaving Alabama for, and that his success there created special pressure for him," Hicks wrote.

This would serve as the final sourced report linking Saban to Texas and inspired one of the final public responses from the Alabama coach.

"I don't know where y'all get these reports. I don't know where y'all get your information, but I've already commented on all of this stuff," Saban said. "There's nothing new or different that's ever happened. I'm very committed to the University of Alabama. Love being here. Talk about it before, don't need to talk about it again."

The first Internet report declaring Saban's departure to Texas a "done deal" emerged a few days after Alabama's dramatic loss at Auburn. "The Football Brainiacs," a University of Oklahoma football fan website, cited two sources that said Saban would make "big bucks" as Texas' new coach. The initial report was re-Tweeted 258 times.

Around that time, Saban had just returned from a recruiting visit with four-star safety prospect

C.J. Hampton

in which he used a helicopter as transportation from Tuscaloosa to Meridian, Miss. Later that evening, he spoke at an AHSAA Super 6 banquet at Bryant-Denny Stadium before hopping back on a jet for more in-home visits.

This would become a theme throughout the next nine days; Any time a new rumor surfaced about Saban's impending departure, a new picture of him standing next to a smiling recruit hit Twitter.

On SEC Championship Saturday, Saban flew to Indianapolis and served as a guest host on ESPN's College GameDay. With rumors swirling of an impending contract extension at Alabama, Saban was not asked once about his future with the Crimson Tide.

The story truly took off Tuesday when both

Gil Brandt

-- the former vice president of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys -- and ESPN Radio's

Paul Finebaum

reported that Saban was working through an extension offer with Alabama. Later that evening,

Stefan Stevenson

, the TCU beat reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, cited a "source close to Texas executive council of regents" in reporting Saban would be Texas' new head coach. Stevenson's Tweet, which was never followed by a story, was re-Tweeted 1,850 times.

By Wednesday morning, ESPN and other major television and radio networks pounced on the reports of Saban seemingly leaving Alabama in the lurch with an unsigned contract extension on his desk. After a speaking engagement in New York, Alabama athletics director

Bill Battle

no-commented questions about the alleged extension.

"He's working his butt off on recruiting," Battle told a group of reporters. "We're focused on recruiting and playing Oklahoma."

Saban, meanwhile, was in Texas. Along with running backs coach

Burton Burns

, the Alabama coach visited linebacker commitment

Zach Whitley

and five-star cornerback prospect

Tony Brown

. A local TV station snapped a picture of a smiling Saban as he rode shotgun next to Burns.

On multiple ESPN appearances Thursday, Alabama quarterback

AJ McCarron

was asked about Saban's future. After a day of recruiting in Georgia and Florida, Saban was briefly interviewed by

Tom Rinaldi

during the Home Depot College Football Awards Show. His future at Alabama was not discussed.

Friday served as the first day both Saban and Battle were on Alabama's campus at the same time since the Iron Bowl.

***

If this were going to be the end result all along, why the silence?

The easy answer: There was no job opening in which to decline interest.

One source called the scenario Saban and Alabama faced a "difficult position," particularly because of Saban's friendship with Brown. Also, Saban's oft-criticized exit from the Miami Dolphins -- which included the infamous statement, "I'm not going to be the Alabama coach" -- essentially made any sort of premature public statement undesirable.

One of Brown's closest allies at Texas, president

Bill Powers

, held onto his job Thursday after a meeting in which the university's regents held an executive session to discuss his employment. Brown, after meetings with Powers and new athletics director

Steve Patterson

, remained Texas' head coach as of early Saturday.

Powers, just one week earlier, delivered some of the only on-the-record comments about Saban from a high-ranking Texas official throughout the process.

"I've never met

Nick Saban

," Powers

. "I've never talked to

Nick Saban

. We have not hired

Nick Saban

."

Confirmed.