When Nick Saban was considering the LSU job in late 1999, he did so without ever having set foot on the campus.

But there was someone’s opinion he wanted to hear. So he called LSU senior associate athletic director Verge Ausberry.

He wanted Bill Arnsparger’s number.

So they talked football, Saban and Arnsparger, two tough-minded, NFL-hardened, defense-oriented coaches. Two kindred souls, born in the rural South (Arnsparger in Kentucky, Saban in West Virginia) who played their college ball in Ohio (Arnsparger at fabled coaching cradle Miami, Saban at Kent State).

There was no nonsense between the two, and you can be sure there was probably even less small talk.

Arnsparger, who spent just three years at LSU before escalating conflicts with then-athletic director Bob Brodhead left him seeking an exit strategy (Arnsparger became athletic director at Florida in 1987), told Saban coaching at LSU was the best job he ever had.

Saban took the job.