🏈 A couple of random thoughts regarding "Textbook Gate

[Guest]

I agree. Where is the accountability? Alabama football is a multi-million dollar business. You think a CEO of a multi-million dollar business would have to answer for multiple violations? Heck yeah - but not at Alabama. :?

Insert bailout joke here....

I agree strongly with the accountability or lack thereof. I think it is time for some serious changes in the AD.

For a program that has been progressive as of late like Alabama's football program, you do have to wonder how we have managed as well as we have. Examples: Coach Saban, 2 expansions this decade to Bryant-Denny, improved student athlete facilities, fitness facilities that are second to none, etc. Most of this under some type of probation window.

On the other hand, Alabama should be ashamed at the low rent product that it produces for PPV broadcasts of games. In my opinion, the SID has always done a piss poor job in general promoting Alabama football. The Coach Saban Show is almost an embarrassment.

There are more than compliance issues at Alabama. There is a strong need for someone progressive, aggressive and innovative. If having a strong football coach is seen as a priority so should having a strong AD. It has become paramount. There is a good foundation at Alabama. We should strike while the iron is hot!

Yeah, I guess not good timing on the CEO comment. :wink:

I don't know anything about the Coach Saban show. I don't get it and have never seen it. I have purchased our PPV games many times. I have been subjected to Auburn ones as well. I can't compare our PPV games to anyone but Auburn's, but I will say both are pretty crappy. I thought ours must be the worst until I saw AU vs. ULM. The picture was so dark and any movement was hard to detect. The sound was no better.

We have a lot we need to do with our profits.

 

[alagator]

I agree strongly with the accountability or lack thereof. I think it is time for some serious changes in the AD.

For a program that has been progressive as of late like Alabama's football program, you do have to wonder how we have managed as well as we have. Examples: Coach Saban, 2 expansions this decade to Bryant-Denny, improved student athlete facilities, fitness facilities that are second to none, etc. Most of this under some type of probation window.

On the other hand, Alabama should be ashamed at the low rent product that it produces for PPV broadcasts of games. In my opinion, the SID has always done a piss poor job in general promoting Alabama football. The Coach Saban Show is almost an embarrassment.

There are more than compliance issues at Alabama. There is a strong need for someone progressive, aggressive and innovative. If having a strong football coach is seen as a priority so should having a strong AD. It has become paramount. There is a good foundation at Alabama. We should strike while the iron is hot!

And that is the problem.

The easiest jobs in business is to 1) Promote or compensate an overachieving employee or 2) Fire an underachieving one.

The hardest job is deciding what to do with an average one who is just barely exceeding or just barely not fulfilling his expectations. Do you make keep them thinking maybe they will overachieve or go ahead and cut them lose and spend your time on someone with a little more upside potential?

Moore has done some very good things, many of which you enumerate. But he has also presided over some of the most disappointing and participated in some of the most embarrassing episodes in our entire history.

I think it is pretty clear where I stand on the issue.

My biggest problem is not only does UA not terminate an underperforming employee, it actually PROMOTES him.

And I have long argued that a Moore should not be judged by the buildings erected under his tenure but by the quality of the programs he oversees. A building will not win a championship, but a coach or staff will. Buildings do not produce champions, people do. Moore will have left a lot of impressive brick-and-mortar structures, but to date the collection of our coaches and administrators hired or retained under his care have not been so grand. I remember the day when the Bernie Moore SEC All-Sports Trophy rested in a case in the Lobby of Memorial (Coleman) Coliseum. Now, we are lucky if we finish out of the bottom half and a distant rival to UF and Georgia and Tennessee and LSU.

Moore has been the AD at UA for what, eleven years. That translates into about 160 or so chances to win a conference title. We have won maybe five or six in that time? Less than 10? And NONE in the one sport he is supposed to actually know something about and the type coach needed.

We have had a total of 27 Head Football Coaches in all our history - and only 17 since the 1910 season (or the last 100 years). And five of them have been under Moore's roughly decade long tenure - four his direct hires. Again, thank God Saban was available and Moore brought him in. But should Moore be hailed for batting 0.250 in hires? Joab Thomas was run out of town with a far better percentage of hiring successful football coaches.

Perhaps, instead of asking do we have 'progressive' administrators in place, we need to ask ourselves do we have 'proactive' leadership. Given our current plight, I would argue this falls into the 'easy decision' category. Even Moore's decisions to upgrade the physical plant of the athletic department was reactive and not proactive.

 

[bamafan4ever]

Terry,

I think alagator and I are on the same page after reading his above post.

That being said:

To be fair, if you talk of two expansions of the last decade as things accomplished you should also add changing the PPV games to a better quality product as well. The cameras are being changed to Hi-Def cameras with the latest expansion. It's part of the same deal with the sound system, although I'm not sure if the camera's will be in place this season like the sound system

I can't give credit for something that hasn't occurred. What I do know is I pay for ESPN Gameplan just for the Alabama PPV games but watch other school PPV productions as the season goes along as well. LSU would be an example of a school that does better with its PPV broadcasts. Are they CBS Hi-Def quality? Well, no. They are just like watching an ESPN broadcast back in the 90's. Even the graphics are similar. Alabama's PPV doesn't even match the quality of WTBS broadcasts from the 70's. The picture quality has been abhorrent and the sound typically fades in and out. I am certainly glad that the University is making upgrades but until those upgrades are completed, no one can give a judgment on how much the broadcasts will improve.....only speculation.

I don't know if it's fair to call the Ath. Dept. not progressive in one sentence and then compliment the progress in the other.

Sure it's fair. Saying there haven't been improvements under this AD would be disingenuous but saying there is plenty of room for improvement would be an understatement. The proof is in the pudding with the lack of oversight at the most basic levels that were exposed in 2002 and again with this ridiculous textbook debacle in 2007. Once again, the University admitted it screwed up and exposed itself to this whole ordeal. It should have never happened and that's the brutal truth of the matter. You know I am not a big fan of the NCAA but if you want to stay out of the proverbial principle's office, you do whatever it takes to make sure rules are being followed. Failure to monitor sucks over something this petty.

Now, the Coach Saban show? First of all, I have to say I've only seen it a few times because it isn't carried here locally. And, normally, I don't take the time to watch it online. Heck, that time I'd rather spend watching the replay of the game in its entirety than highlights and comments about that game...but, that's just me.

What I do wonder is this.

You talk about the quality of the show and I wonder what/whose show you are comparing it to? Quite frankly, I can't think of any coach's show that strikes me as a top notch production.

The coach's show is just another good source of commentary from the coach so I catch the replay every week on CSS. Who's show is put together better? Well none of them are going to win a daytime Emmy Award, I can assure you but almost every show has better video quality and sound quality than what's produced now by BAMA.

 

[TerryP]

I'd agree it's going to be a wait and see on the production quality of the games.

Graphics and how they are displayed? I couldn't care less about that aspect of a broadcast.

Sound? Meh...I don't listen to what the broadcasters say 80% of the time as it is. So, that's one of those "six of one, half a dozen of another" categories with me. The only reason I mentioned the sound system is for the experience AT the stadium.

Now, when it comes to the picture quality, that's a different story all together.

The cameras they used last year were on their 9th year. Old, Sony reg-def cameras. If you think about the advancements in technology just over the last five years in picture quality having equipment that's almost two times older than the advent of digital pictures and sound...well, you get the picture.

(I know part of the delay was due to the wiring that has since been replaced.)

I do not disagree that it's time to look to the future.

I do think his hire was the right one for the time. I don't think we would have the progress we've seen around campus with a good majority of those that could have had that job.

You confused me a bit with this one.

The proof is in the pudding with the lack of oversight at the most basic levels that were exposed in 2002 and again with this ridiculous textbook debacle in 2007.

I don't disagree with this re: 2007 and basic level of oversight.

I don't get your reference to 2002 though. Perhaps I'm forgetting something. The way I recall '02 this morning is it was the oversight that caught the booster trying to pay to get a few basketball recruits.

I know a lot of people come down on Moore for those sanctions. I also know that the decision to lay down in front of the NCAA wasn't his, and he was handcuffed by Sorenson, Marsh and Robbins on how to deal with the NCAA.

Personally, I can't lay that one at Moore's feet.

alagator mentions the number of coaches and I can't agree with that. It's easy to paint that picture with a broad brush stroke, but it has to be taken in context with each individual coach as well.

Again, I'm not disagreeing it's time to look forward. But, I'm not one that feels one guy needs to be thrown on the chopping block because of the failings of another department. I know, I know...all under his umbrella. But, I'm more inclined to approach all of this with "where's the individual responsibility?"

 

[planomateo]

someone could have posted this already, sorry if i'm duplicating the thought.

does anyone know if we get some NCAA hits, does that mean our probation period gets reset to 5 years again?

 

[Guest]

And that is the problem.


My biggest problem is not only does UA not terminate an underperforming employee, it actually PROMOTES him.

The Peter Principle is still being used!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle

It holds that in a hierarchy, members are promoted so long as they work competently. Sooner or later they are promoted to a position at which they are no longer competent (their "level of incompetence"), and there they remain. Peter's Corollary states that "in time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out his duties" and adds that "work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence".

 

[TerryP]

someone could have posted this already, sorry if i'm duplicating the thought.

does anyone know if we get some NCAA hits, does that mean our probation period gets reset to 5 years again?

It's all just guesses, on anyone's part, what happens with the NCAA on this matter.

 

[ElephantStomp]

My thought is in line with most here. We wouldn't have to worry about the NCAA investigatiing us or "unfairly" picking on Bama if the people running the show would grab their ears and tuck a bit.

I don't know about Moore or y'all, but I'm sick and tired of doing things where the NCAA has to even look in our direction. How about we clean house and keep things in order that way the NCAA has no reason to look at us?

It's not the NCAA picking on Bama it's Bama not doing the right thing and giving the NCAA a reason to pick on us.

Cory

 

[rnash]

I believe the accountability lies with those who do not regulate and depend on delegation(con you say Enron?). besides that I do believe that the NCAA is problematic. Can anyone explain why Reggie Bush made money hand over fist at USC and the NCAA chose to ignore this little problem?

 

[TidePride50]

It's not the NCAA picking on Bama it's Bama not doing the right thing and giving the NCAA a reason to pick on us.

I totally agree and also think Moore's time has come and gone...a long timg coming if you ask me.

 

[Roll Tide Rev]

Hey alagator your post are famous on at least one BARN forum. You are what they call finding a dinosaur in the woods. Hell freezing over is what they say your post is like. Everybody else is delusional.

 

[TerryP]

Hey alagator your post are famous on at least one BARN forum. You are what they call finding a dinosaur in the woods. Hell freezing over is what they say your post is like. Everybody else is delusional.

link?

 

[alagator]

Hey alagator your post are famous on at least one BARN forum. You are what they call finding a dinosaur in the woods. Hell freezing over is what they say your post is like. Everybody else is delusional.

link?

Yeah, what Terry said.

I would like to see it firsthand.

And if they think I am a breath of fresh air and a voice of reason, they would ban me in three seconds if I let loose on them in that same forum with the facts I know about their little cesspool and the players in it.

 

[Argo]

http://www.aunation.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=56965

I would have never guessed that Terry was a queen.

 

[Guest]

Hey alagator your post are famous on at least one BARN forum. You are what they call finding a dinosaur in the woods. Hell freezing over is what they say your post is like. Everybody else is delusional.

link?

Yeah, what Terry said.

I would like to see it firsthand.

And if they think I am a breath of fresh air and a voice of reason, they would ban me in three seconds if I let loose on them in that same forum with the facts I know about their little cesspool and the players in it.

Dang, Alagator. Who'd a thunk you were a barner?

 

[alagator]

Dang, Alagator. Who'd a thunk you were a barner?

Durn, them dun blowed my cover! (Isn't that how a true Barner would say and spell it?)

Guess my gig here is up?

cool8)

 

[TerryP]

http://www.aunation.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=56965

I would have never guessed that Terry was a queen.

I've actually communicated with PT for a few years now. Outside of his definition of happiness...

...he is a nice guy...I'd buy him a beer.

I'm going to kick back for a minute and wait on 'chop.

 

[TerryP]

FWIW Jason/Rev, I'm registered over there...it'll be interesting to watch the tone of the rivals forum with the ownership change.

Never posted...but that's a different matter all together.

 

[Millie]

Yeah, I go to that board sometimes too. It is a decent place to get University of Alabama information. They are so worried about what is going on in Tuscaloosa, it is actually sad.

What is even more embarrassing is the venom that comes out in their posts. I would assume that a good 95% of them are grown men, however, their actions indicate otherwise. It is just embarrassing.

 

[bamafan4ever]

You go have that beer with Proud Tiger, Terry. The guy is an older version of Dr. Seuss with some of the yarns he spins. Go back and read the first two pages of this thread and tell me how he interprets our conversation into this?:

There was a lot of the usual posts you would expect from bam mers......the usual "they are picking on us, Auburn turned us in, , everybody is afraid of jealous of us, Saban is a saint and wouldn't cheat, yada, yada, yada."

Really, Proud tiger? That's what we were saying? I guess reading comprehension isn't important for the government to keep employees around for 30+ years, huh? We knew that already didn't we PT? :roll: You are a pitiful joke that pulls for a pitiful excuse of a program. How about worrying about the Barn and we will concern ourselves with our program.