Posted on 11/26/2006 11:25:54 PM PST by catholicfreeper
Tuscaloosa - A tumultuous week for Mike Shula is over. ABC 33/40 sports has learned Shula will not be retained as the Alabama head football coach.
We first reported the story just after midnight. The Alabama coaches out on the road recruiting have been summoned back to Tuscaloosa.
After a 10-win season last year, this season was full of disappointments. There were second half letdowns against Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee and Auburn, and a brutal loss at home to Mississippi State. His inability to win games against his Western Division rivals was especially disappointing.
Looking at his overall record in the last 4 years, Shula was 26-and-23, 13-and-19 in the SEC, 1-and-3 against Tennessee and Arkansas, 0-and-4 against LSU and most disturbing, 0-and-4 against Auburn.
Where Alabama goes from here isn't clear. There's been a lot of talk about Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban. There is however no reason to believe either guy will come to Tuscaloosa.
Other names mentioned: Rich Rodriguez, Jim Grobe and Paul Johnson.
Jeff Speegle will be in Tuscaloosa later this morning, and we will continue to follow this story throughout the day.
What a small world. LindySports originated (as Lindy's SEC) in the offices I've occupied for 18 years.
Finebaum gets another scalp. Well, that's probably giving him too much credit but his show, while a guilty pleasure, is less about football and more about football-related politics.
Not to preach, but what Alabama fans can't seem to grasp is that they have the history, the name recognition, the fan base, etc. but since Gene Stallings gave them a final shot of oxygen they have been average at best. I'm not a Buckeye/Buckeye fan but Ohio State has finally put Woody Hayes where he belongs (i.e., in their hearts) and let Tressel run the program the way he sees fit - it's produced one national title and a second to come this year in all likelihood. Alabama should consider doing the same with Bear Bryant, as much as people respect and admire him (including me).
There is a destructive game of "you're not good enough for us" that seems to pervade the fan base (at least the vocal fanbase). Patience isn't an easy thing to learn but after a full decade of false dawns and letdowns one would hope that the fans might be willing to throttle back for at least a year or two.
I ask the same question I always ask of rabid college football fans (of which I am one): if every team is to go 10-2 every year, exactly which teams will provide the opposition for the 10 wins? There are only so many teams willing to be a weekly doormat.
Which is exactly what the AD and the trustees wanted - Shula out, fans placated and complete deniability since they can claim Shula fell on his sword.
The game of musical coaching chairs continues. Everyone wants a Messiah for a coach, but almost all just end up with a flawed human being.
Coaches aren't the problem. The college game itself is broken. The NCAA doesn't have the backbone to clean up the game, and make the athletes REAL students.
What a sorry and embarrassing spectacle to watch "grown-ups" act like children over the fortunes of their schools on the gridiron, especially under the guise of "intercollegiate" football.
It's a farm system for the NFL.......nothing more, nothing less.
I know all that. If Shula was fired for failing to discipline Simpson at the beginning of this season, I guess I can see that. I am a UF fan so turmoil at UAL is not a big deal to me. But I am very very much interested in Meyer having success at UF because we have had a bit of turnover from Spurrier to Zook to Meyer. UAL needs to stabilize its coaching situation, but I somewhat glad they are failing to do so according to this report.
Shula might be the best that Shalala and Co. can do down in Miami.
Time for Jackie Sherrill?
I Nick Saban related to the Buffalo Bills' former coach Lou Saban?
Spurrier left UF precisely because it got to the point where the fans expectations every year got to be too high. It would be no different at Bama. At Carolina, the fans are happy just to be where they are, and they will only get better.
I agree, this isn't the WAC, and I hope Meyer has learned that by now. Leak has done pretty good, but this isn't the kind of offense he excels in. Tebow should be more productive with Urban's offensive style.
What Urban needs to do, is to upgrade our offensive line, with FSU and Miami slipping, UF should clean up in recruiting. And oh, getting a kicker would also be nice.
Hmmm...Bama went with Shula over Sylvester Croom years ago. I wonder if they'll reconsider Croom. His record's not that good, 9 and 25 over 3 years, but heck it's Mississippi State.
Can you say Dennis "I'm not leaving" Franchione. Don't give me this crap, about all-in-the-family, they put that to bed in 2001 when they hired man teets francphony, and also Mike "I'm Rollin' Baby" Price IN 2003. Other programs deserve excellence, but so does Alabama, you and others should quit selling the program short. Bill Cury was Ga Tech grad btw, Gene Stallings a Texas A&M grad. So please move onto a subject like who is going to win OSU or USC.
You have put it better than I could ever hope to: Bama fans think they are better than everyone else and their coaching carousel proves it.
The hatred for Franchione is as pathetic as it is overlong. Sure he lied but at the end of the day he jilted UA for another school - it doesn't matter who - and the egos in and around Tuscaloosa can't accept being second choice.
The flurry of coaches taking their names OUT of consideration today is quite amusing. Media types keep couching it in euphemisms but the bottom line is that a coach might want to deal with the university and the players, but really doesn't want to deal with the fans.
Ohio State had a similar problem and got lucky with Jim Tressel. Still, there are some coaching jobs that have way too much baggage due to the hypercritical fans.
Give me a break. The guy franchione, would have walked naked back to college station, he left the team in the middle of the night for goodness sakes.
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