Dec 11, 2013 10:12 AM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Mack Brown is once again fighting off rumors of his own departure from the University of Texas (UT) as the Longhorns head football coach.

Orangebloods.com first reported that Brown, the Longhorns' coach of 16 years, will announce his resignation by the end of the week. ESPN later backed that report up by citing an unnamed source who said the same.

Brown responded to the Orangebloods.com report as he has with previous rumors of his departure, he denied it was even happening.

"I haven't seen [the] article. I'm in Florida recruiting. If I had decided to step down, I sure wouldn't be killing myself down here. I have not decided to step down," he reportedly texted to Horns247.com later Tuesday.

ESPN's source said his pending resignation is exactly why Brown reacted the way he did to the report.

"I know Mack, he's a friend, this is his decision, but he wants to tell his players and staff and not read it on the Internet," the source said. "That's why he reacted strongly to the report."

Still, the source said Brown has been talking with UT president Bill Powers and agent Joe Jamail.

"The talks were very friendly, and the conclusion was Mack would step down in the next couple of days," the source told ESPN. "I'd be real surprised if it hasn't happened by Friday night with the [Texas] football banquet. I think it will be taken care of. It wouldn't drag on much longer."

In the meantime, Nick Saban has been mulling a contract extension from the University of Alabama to remain the Crimson Tide head football coach through 2020, ESPN reported. The extension also gives the nation's highest paid coach a pay raise. His annual salary now is $5.62 million, the raise would bring that to $7 million per year.

Saban has maintained throughout the rumors of Brown's departure that he wants to stay in Tuscaloosa and end his career with the Crimson Tide. His wife has even backed up this claim. The extension has reportedly been "on his desk" since Friday and the silence from Saban may be making Alabama officials nervous.

According to the Dallas Morning News, ESPN's college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit joined Ian Fitzsimmons on KESN 103.3 Tuesday to talk about the situation. Herbstreit says he is close with Saban and believes it is far more likely the Tide's coach will be on TV in an analyst's chair before leaving his current job.

"There's no chance," Herbstreit said of the chances Saban would leave Alabama for Texas. "No chance of that happening. Nick Saban will work TV sitting next to us on our set before he'll be the head coach at Texas... He'll be at Alabama for another five years, and then he'll be working TV after that... I know Nick Saban better than anybody. It's not going to happen."

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