Obviously, the thing everyone wants to know is "why"… why would CNS consider a move like this after all that's been said and done in the past? Someone mentioned earlier that there are a LOT of factors in play. Some of them I believe we can easily eliminate (like the AD "conflict stuff")… but others are not so easy.
Sometimes, especially for "analyzers (like me) in situations like this, it's very easy to build a case for this or for that. However, this is what everything boils down to. Nick Saban is a very unique man… and what makes sense/doesn't make sense for all of us can't always be applied to him. It's likely very few people in our fan base can actually understand the life he leads… maybe an owner of high profile company or an ex-head coach (i.e. CGS). Suffice it to say, I don't think he's ever "been here" before. In the past, he's "built" programs… always going up the ladder. He's never been in a position to be at the top for a while… looking down at others and having to motivate people to continue to "maintain" a standard.
Obviously, what he's heard from fans over the past few seasons affect him/his family - hence the statement made by his wife a few weeks ago. I imagine he's constantly heard "you think we can win again this year coach?" in his trips to the athletic clubs/recruiting visits this year to the point he's sick of it. It's not been, "we really appreciate the three you've brought us in the past few years." Granted, that's a Saban philosophy - keep on improving, the past doesn't mean anything today for a team. It's a bubble… with a LOT of pressure in it. You may or may not agree with this statement, but the person in Alabama who was most relived after losing the game on the Plains this year was Saban… the pressure had been mounting on him AND on the players all year long. Certainly, you have to wonder "will every year be like this?"
At the end of the day, I think he stays… but I seriously doubt that many of us who post on this board could begin to understand why he'd consider leaving. And, unless we walked in his shoes we probably never would be able to comprehend it. I want him to stay… but if everything came to end today, he has done wonders for our program and we owe him a deep debt of gratitude.