Not to drop a hint, but ...

... or maybe early July.

Either way, watch this space.

NFL.com names Nick Saban college football's best coach

I love indirect book plugs.

Bryan Fisher of NFL.com put together his list of the best college football coaches and not surprisingly it was topped by Nick Saban.

He wrote: "Not much needs to be said about Saban, who rightfully earns the title of the highest-paid coach in college thanks to his 79-15 record over the past seven years with the Crimson Tide. He has four national titles to his name, and although he had a rocky first year in Tuscaloosa and a few questionable losses, he's turned Alabama into an NFL factory that has been to BCS games five of the last six seasons."

His list:
1. Nick Saban, Alabama
2. Chris Petersen, Washington
3. Urban Meyer, Ohio State
4. David Shaw, Stanford
5. Bill Snyder, Kansas State
6. Art Briles, Baylor
7. Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
8. Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
9. Gary Patterson, TCU
10. David Cutcliffe, Duke
11. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
12. Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
13. Jimbo Fisher, Florida State
14. Mike Riley, Oregon State

The final version of the book cover ...

At last, here it is.

The final changes were to add Tony Barnhart's name (huge thanks to him for doing the foreword), and to take Joe Paterno's name off the list of coaches with their names scratched off. I pushed for that because Nick Saban had a ton of respect for him and Paterno's name was right at eye level (see older version to right). Besides, history will have a role to play regarding his legacy.

There were some other things we talked about, like if we changed any names the ones added should be from the south or west, and that's pretty much how Steve Spurrier was added. The back cover has a nice picture of Saban holding a crystal football, and my bio.

Jeff Fedotin, who had the difficult task of editing the book, told me he thinks the cover looks awesome. I couldn't agree more.

We should all start seeing it in stores in about two months.

I don't think I've been the subject of an Associated Press story before ...

Walsh wins top ASWA writing award

TROY, ALA. — Christopher Walsh received the Alabama Sports Writers Association's highest writing award at the association's 43rd annual convention Sunday.

Walsh, who won two awards at this year's convention for his work with 247Sports, won the Herby Kirby Award for his story "Their place in history: A look at Alabama's, Nick Saban's and AJ McCarron's place in college football lore." The story also won Best Enterprise Story.

The award was 247Sports' first overall Herby Kirby Award and the second for Walsh.

The Herby Kirby Award is given in memory of longtime Birmingham Post-Herald sports writer Herby Kirby, who died in the press box after covering Notre Dame's 24-23 national football championship win over Alabama in the 1973 Sugar Bowl.


... Credit John Zenor from the Associated Press for that story. 

First off, I'm honored, humbled and truly thrilled. I want to thank everyone not only in the ASWA, but also BamaOnline and 247Sports. 

In order to be up for the Herby Kirby one has to place first in a category (best football story, investigative piece, etc.). I finished second to Mike Szvetitz of The Opelika-Auburn News in column writing, a category I couldn't enter last year because online was considered a separate division. 

So this was the first time an online submission/site won the HK, and I'm pretty sure I'm the first multiple winner from different news organizations (which is kind of fitting since Saban was the first coach in the modern era to win national championships with two different schools). 

One thing I was sad about at the banquet was when legendary Huntsville Times journalist John Pruett asked for previous winners of the Herby Kirby to be recognized, only two other people in the room stood. So I want to dedicate this to the other former winners and all of my other colleagues over the years who are no longer in the industry. You are missed my friends. 

P.S. A special shout-out to my former associates at the Tuscaloosa News. After cleaning house at the recent Associated Press Sports Editors awards the staff took home a convention-high seven honors to cap an outstanding year. Congrats.