Mack Brown may be digging in and Nick Saban is making Alabama officials "uncomfortable"

So, greedy, hungry masses of Texas Longhorns fans ready for some breaking news regarding a resignation announcement from head coach Mack Brown's here's what's going down at the moment.

How does Mack Brown want this to go? The next major step here is to figure out the mechanics of how exactly Brown steps down. He's out on the road recruiting again on Wednesday, but has to be back in Austin for a 10 a.m. press conference on Thursday morning to talk about the Alamo Bowl against Oregon, sitting in the same room with his buddy Chip Brown, who set all this whole firestorm with his Tuesday report that Brown will resign.

The press conference could certainly get contentious because none of the reporters present are going to be particularly interested in talking about a match up against the Ducks that could go worse for the Horns than any of the previous games this season, including Baylor and BYU -- it's not going to be a pleasant experience for Brown.

But the sense as of Wednesday morning is that there may not be an announcement at that time. In fact, it could be Thursday afternoon or Friday morning because the word from SI's Pete Thamel on Wednesday morning is that there won't be a decision until after the Board of Regents meet on Thursday.

The word from ESPN is that Brown wants to tell his players first. Obviously, the reports are already out there. Is there any chance that an announcement doesn't happen before Friday's banquet? Since he's going to be back in Austin Thursday morning, that leaves him with a whole day to meet with the team and inform them of a decision.

Until then, there's plenty of time for Brown to try to fight to keep his job, which may be exactly what's happening. Needless to say, this is probably the second-worst scenario that could come to pass after Brown actually keeping his job.

It's becoming obvious, but source told me that Mack Brown "isn't going to make it easy. He's told people he's not going to resign."

— Travis Haney (@TravHaneyESPN) December 11, 2013

Source made reference to Brown's desire to chase Royal's all-time wins mark at UT. He's 9 behind. Says Brown would feel validated by that.

— Travis Haney (@TravHaneyESPN) December 11, 2013

Brown will not get his wish, the source said. Everyone - except Brown, evidently - expects him to step down by week's end. He's digging in.

— Travis Haney (@TravHaneyESPN) December 11, 2013

On Royal/wins. Source: "He'd be able to say, 'It doesn't matter what anyone thinks. I won more games than anyone at the Univ of Texas.'"

— Travis Haney (@TravHaneyESPN) December 11, 2013

My response to all that from the sources was: If Mack Brown "wins" this war, does he really win? How could he function in that toxicity?

— Travis Haney (@TravHaneyESPN) December 11, 2013

Last thing. Another source said he'd never seen Brown look as worn down as he did here in NYC on Monday. "He looked bad. Bad."

— Travis Haney (@TravHaneyESPN) December 11, 2013

The answer to the final question from Haney, to the extent that it's not actually rhetorical, is obviously that it would be extremely difficult for Brown to operate next season under those conditions and if something happens like co-offensive coordinator and play caller Major Applewhite leaving the program -- like, say, for Florida, for instance -- it's going to be extremely difficult to find a quality assistant to add to the staff with Brown having virtually no job security heading into a 2014 season.

And with the quarterback situation unsettled with no guarantees that David Ash can return from his concussion-related issues, a significant number of departures on both sides of the ball, and the availability and health of Jordan Hicks and Johnathan Gray both in jeopardy because of their respective Achilles issues, getting those final nine wins may be not be possible next season:

if mack really wants to get 9 wins to pass royal, he's gonna need to ask for more than just 1 more year

— Allen Kenney (@BlatantHomerism) December 11, 2013

How ugly would that be? Brown returning for a final season and falling short of Royal's career win mark?

Too ugly to even seriously consider at this point.

Nick Saban hasn't signed his contract extension. Late last week Saban agreed in principle to a contract extension thought to be worth in the neighborhood of $7 million per season until 2020, coincidentally enough the same year that Mack Brown's contract expires.

The "agreed in principle" aspect of the preceding paragraph is an important one, too -- Paul Finebaum is reporting that Saban hasn't signed the contract extension yet. In fact, according to the report, it's been sitting on his desk since Friday.

Can anyone think of a reason why Saban wouldn't sign his lucrative contract extension, the second one of 2013? Anyone? Bueller? Maybe he just hasn't gotten around to it since he's busy recruiting and all.

In any case, the noted SEC homer/troll says that Alabama officials are becoming "uncomfortable" with that state of affairs. Probably so.

Best GIF ever? Best GIF ever. This needs little introduction, but could induce a trance-like state.

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But, of course, it's not happening. So says Kirk Hebstreit, at least, who isn't exactly a nobody when it comes to these things. A Gameday icon and perhaps the best college football color guy for the Worldwide Leader, Hebstreit says that he knows Saban as well as anyone and that the current Alabama head coach will be in television sitting with him on the ESPN set before he coaches at Texas.

"Just scratch Nick Saban from the list. Immediately scratch that, and then go from there."

Sounds like the type of authoritative brushing-off that would come from Finebaum, not someone known for having much more national credibility.

The bottom line. And when asked about whether or not Brown should still have a job at Texas, Herbstreit said it depended on whether Brown still has "the fire" and the eagerness and the energy to continue doing his job.

For the vast majority of Longhorns fans, it's already well past that point -- at the start of fall camp, Brown said, "Now we've gotta shut up and do it."

There were no excuses. He failed. Now he needs to heed his own words. Apparently there's still some confusion about that.