David J. Phillip/AP
There’s a long, illustrious history of superstar college coaches rebuffing major interest from professional teams but only after using it to squeeze bigger, better contracts out of their universities.
Former Florida football coach Steve Spurrier was a master in this area. Back when he had the Gators rolling in the 1990s, he hemmed and hawed so hilariously effectively when asked by media about the NFL that his alma mater first made him the college game’s only $1 million-a-year man and later made him its first $2 million-a-year man.
Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, Alabama’s Nick Saban and Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly all became well acquainted with this sort of maneuver, too, and there certainly were others.