Nice Article
Dec. 6th, 2006 10:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxNice Article:
“So, who is the next Alabama football coach?”
This is a query I’ve heard often, as the resident “Alabama guy” locally, since Mike Shula was dismissed as the Crimson Tide’s head coach on Nov. 26. And I don’t mind because anyone who knows me knows how much I like talking football.
I wish I could break the story on who Alabama’s new head coach will be, but unfortunately I have no inside scoop on this one. I know who is rumored to be under consideration, both the big names and the not so big names, and I guess time will tell which one of those rumors pans out.
So instead, I’m going to speak to what I consider to be the incredibly unfair way the national media is covering the Crimson Tide’s coaching search.
If you listen to the talking heads on ESPN, you would think coaching at Alabama is the biggest mistake a quality coach can make, where the pressure from “meddling boosters” and “rabid fans” who still hold tightly to the Bear Bryant days make it impossible for anyone to effectively get the job done.
Nonsense.
In reality, the Alabama job, while some of the luster has admittedly come off, is still easily one of the top coaching jobs in the nation. The new stadium addition and training facilities at Alabama are second to none, and Shula, while not the sharpest tool in the coaching drawer, has not left the cupboard bare. There is plenty of young talent on the team that is going to give the new head coach a solid base to build on.
By contrast, you hardly even hear the national folks talk about the head coaching search at Miami, for example, where a coach who won a national title for the Hurricanes was unceremoniously dismissed and the facilities are considered substandard for a major college football program; where brawls on the field and players being shot off the field were the focus for the Hurricane football team this season rather than the outcome of big games.
And someone would be nuts to take the Crimson Tide job? Alabama sounds like a walk in the park compared to Miami, but you’d never know it if you listened to the national folks.
“So, who is the next Alabama football coach?”
This is a query I’ve heard often, as the resident “Alabama guy” locally, since Mike Shula was dismissed as the Crimson Tide’s head coach on Nov. 26. And I don’t mind because anyone who knows me knows how much I like talking football.
I wish I could break the story on who Alabama’s new head coach will be, but unfortunately I have no inside scoop on this one. I know who is rumored to be under consideration, both the big names and the not so big names, and I guess time will tell which one of those rumors pans out.
So instead, I’m going to speak to what I consider to be the incredibly unfair way the national media is covering the Crimson Tide’s coaching search.
If you listen to the talking heads on ESPN, you would think coaching at Alabama is the biggest mistake a quality coach can make, where the pressure from “meddling boosters” and “rabid fans” who still hold tightly to the Bear Bryant days make it impossible for anyone to effectively get the job done.
Nonsense.
In reality, the Alabama job, while some of the luster has admittedly come off, is still easily one of the top coaching jobs in the nation. The new stadium addition and training facilities at Alabama are second to none, and Shula, while not the sharpest tool in the coaching drawer, has not left the cupboard bare. There is plenty of young talent on the team that is going to give the new head coach a solid base to build on.
By contrast, you hardly even hear the national folks talk about the head coaching search at Miami, for example, where a coach who won a national title for the Hurricanes was unceremoniously dismissed and the facilities are considered substandard for a major college football program; where brawls on the field and players being shot off the field were the focus for the Hurricane football team this season rather than the outcome of big games.
And someone would be nuts to take the Crimson Tide job? Alabama sounds like a walk in the park compared to Miami, but you’d never know it if you listened to the national folks.
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-06 06:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-06 08:12 pm (UTC)Dubose got into a sexual harrassment lawsuit and got us into NCAA sanctions. He had to be fired. There simply was no choice in the matter.
Franchione wasn't fired at all. He chose to leave while Alabama was offering him a raise.
Mike Price never coached a game. He ended up setting a stripper loose with a university credit card and it was splattered all over Sports Illustrated.
Shula is the only one who has been fired solely because of what's been on the field, so ESPN seems to be spouting stereotypes rather than reality.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-06 07:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-06 08:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-07 03:50 am (UTC)Thanks for posting this. I'm going to get my slightly disillusioned Bama-fanatic husband to read it too.