Here is Nick Saban, talking Wednesday evening about many things, among them the axe that fell on Tommy Tuberville earlier in the day (hang around: he brings it up early and again later on):

There seem to be two perspectives coming from the Auburn side of things, though there's really only one from the national perspective, briefly summed up in the instant reaction here: Tuberville was 85-40 over 10 years, had the 11th-highest win percentage in the country and third-best in the SEC in the eight years between his first season (1999) and his last, went undefeated in 2004, had a winning record against top-10 and top-25 teams and beat Alabama six straight times.

That's a near-impeccable resumé in the big picture, and the reason a large segment of Tiger fans are hurt, sickened, angry and ashamed while hugely successful, respected coaches like Saban are left to think, "I guess I'm 5-7 away from the same thing."

You'll find the other side at The Joe Cribbs Car Wash, who is appreciative of Tubs' overall body of work, but can see his next two weeks of posts unfolding before him:

I'm going to end up a broken record on this over the next several weeks (or months, or years), but: this was NOT a case of Auburn having "one bad year." Statistically, the 2006 team was in no way an 11-2 team and represented a substantial step down from the 2005 quality team. 2007 was another dramatic step down, this time with the losses to accompany it. And the 2008 record is not a fluke: Auburn is tied for 107th in the country in offensive yards-per-play and was a missed Miss. St. field goal and a botched Tennessee handoff from going winless in the SEC.

This is the lament of someone who's watched the games and had a sinking feeling in his stomach long before it showed up on the record. I know what it's like to have a vastly different opinion than the media looking from the outside in about the direction of a beloved program under a largely successful coach; in Jerry's case at TJCCW, as he pointed out two weeks ago and again Wednesday, that malaise that showed finally showed up in the record has been present in the declining level of Auburn's average play over the last five years:

Jerry is patient enough to emphasize that he would have preferred to have Tuberville back for an 11th season. But when you consider watching that decline in person, you can understand his forgiving attitude toward the administration -- if, in fact, it actually was the administration's decision rather than Tuberville's, which isn't certain at this point.

So Tuberville and Fulmer, long-tenured, championship-winning coaches with career winning percentages above 60 percent, one of them at his alma mater, have been shown the door. Such is life when Urban Meyer, Nick Saban and Mark Richt are glowering from the opposite sideline, making a mint and turning bricks into gold in two or three years. And when the new kingpins get slightly complacent and briefly lose ground to the next round of mercenaries, Saban is right: He'll be next. If you're going cutthroat, shelling out $4 million a year for championship games, mega-payouts from bowls and huge gates, you can't afford luxuries like patience and rebuilding.

That brings us to Notre Dame, where, in contrast to Fulmer and Tuberville, there isn't much of a debate about the Irish's decision to bring back Charlie Weis: the Chicago Tribune thinks it's a bad idea, the Sun-Times' Neil Hayes says four years is long enough to evaluate anyone, the South Bend Tribune says Weis' return proves an ugly double standard, Rakes of Mallow makes the case for firing Weis and the Blue-Gray Sky just assumes the school is keeping the seat warm for Weis' successor. No one publicly evaluating Notre Dame's thinks Weis has any long-term prospects except Jack Swarbrick, who's opinion happens to be the only one that matters.

That is loyalty, patience and commitment to a man who has led ND to its worst two-year run in program history. And it is universally expected to fail miserably.