Rich Rodriguez was visiting an Alabama college football spring practice a couple of years ago and chatting on the sideline with one of the Crimson Tide's big supporters.
Gazing around at Alabama's grandiose football digs, Rodriguez couldn't help himself and quipped, "Where's my statue?"
The Alabama booster looked at him curiously and said, "What do you mean?"
With a sheepish smile, Rodriguez deadpanned, "I'm partly responsible for those five national championships because if I had said yes, you wouldn't have had the greatest coach of all time, Nick Saban, winning all those championships."
All these years later, one of the most fascinating coaching what-ifs in college football history still reverberates from the hills of West Virginia, to Denny Chimes Tower at Alabama, to The Big House at Michigan.