In December 2012, as Nick Saban was preparing Alabama to face Notre Dame in college football’s national championship game, a University of Texas regent named Wallace Hall received a phone call from a friend.
“It was out of the blue,” Hall says. “He is a U.T. alum, a very well-thought-of, very successful guy who really isn’t a huge fan of football.” The man, whom Hall has refused to name, also happened to be a good friend of Saban’s agent, Jimmy Sexton. “My friend told me, ‘I don’t know how to put this any other way: Nick Saban wants to come to Texas,’ ” Hall says.