| FTBL New poster here. Username says it all

[ExiledTidefan]

Hello all. I come in peace as a Bama fan and UA Alum. I was once registered here before, but I've forgotten the username and password, and it's been a couple years since I logged in anyway. I am coming over from another Bama forum for fans, where I just felt that it was over-moderated.

Why do I say this? Well, pretty straight up, I love the Tide. I love my alma mater. I want to see us successful in every endeavor. I've never been as excited about a coaching hire as I was about CNS' hire at The Capstone.

But, that being said, I know that UA is not without fault. I also know that CNS is not without fault. The events of last weekend and the past couple of weeks have enlightened me more than ever as to the work that needs to be done. Our program is in a state of flux, and that's very frustrating because it feels like we've been in that position since Gene Stallings retired. Honestly, it does. We've had some momentous occasions during that long 11 years, including an SEC title and some pretty sound beatings of some of our rivals. This season has been more up and down than any of those past 11 though. Only 2005 can compare in terms of positive performances combined with mind-boggling ineptness.

For my comments regarding our (IMHO)premature firing of Mike Shula, and his 6-6 record last year, to this years' probably 6-6 record, I've had some detractors and some who shared my opinions.

Anyway, expect me to be blunt, positive when it's time to be, and unforgiving when necessary. I'm looking forward to making this my new innerwebs home to discuss Bama football, b-ball, and how much UT sucks.
Thanks to those involved for the great forum here, and all your hard work keeping it up.
ROLL TIDE AND BEAT THE WAR CHICKENS.

 

[Tideboy]

Welcome to the site.

 

[Kirk Van de Graaff]

Welcome to the site.

 

[imported_porkchop]

Welcome aboard new kid.

 

[Rolling Tide]

Welcome

 

[Guest]

Welcome

 

[crimsonoldtimer]

Welcome!

 

[Guest]

Welcome aboard. I live in Pelham as well.

 

[Guest]

Man, I was digging this guy til the Shula part :lol:

 

[Bryant34]

Man, I was digging this guy til the Shula part :lol:

I thought the same thing. How obvious does it have to become before everyone understands that the tough decision that had to be made last year was the RIGHT decision? It wasn't the "6-6" that necessarily got Shula fired, it was the total lack of discipline that permeated the locker room... one that continues today.

 

[Guest]

Welcome to RTB ....or CT :lol:

 

[ExiledTidefan]

Thanks to all for the welcome. I don't want to get into a deep philosophical discussion about why I thought Shula needed one more year (with his likely dismissal at the end of this year), but I'll stand by my opinion of him. After all, it is just an opinion.

On some other message boards, an opinion can get you "disciplined". :lol:

But anyway, I'm as excited about this coach as I've been about one in recent history, but I think we all see just how much work is ahead. I think the most difficult part for all of us is how well this team can perform at times, and how utterly pitiful they look at others. Oh well....

So again, thanks for the welcome. Glad to be in Pelham, for the poster who lives here as well. It is the former home of Tyler Watts and Lane Bearden, two pretty tough cookies, if I do say so. I'm originally from Muscle Shoals, home of current tough cookie, Leigh Tiffin (or at least where he graduated from!)

 

[RollllTide!]

welcom

Welcome aboard.

Your opinion matters here. In my opinion CMS was doing what he had the ability and long history of accomplishing. He is a great BAMA supporter and came here when others would not touch us. We had our very own Forrest Gump for a while.

He just didn't have Lieutenant Dan with him.

 

[Guest]

Glad to have you, all opinions are respected...unless they're dumb.

 

[Guest]

Thanks to all for the welcome. I don't want to get into a deep philosophical discussion about why I thought Shula needed one more year (with his likely dismissal at the end of this year), but I'll stand by my opinion of him. After all, it is just an opinion.

You lost me there...Why would you wait a year to fire someone if firing him is the likely course of action in another year? The reality is, Shula should never have been fired...because he should never have been hired.

I could go into a laundry list of things that were going on in and around the program that amounted to a running us into the ground of DuBosian proportions, but I will refrain. I do want to touch on a few things though. Suffice it to say that we are better off losing to La. Monroe in the middle of a process that will make us champions, than beating La. Monroe in the middle of a process that would have had us in the bottom 25% of the SEC year in and year out.

Shula's anemic offense required a great defense to win, unfortunately the CDF recruits all graduated and we had no quality defenders in the pipeline.

Look at the 2006 recruiting class...Mike's best class - following the 2005 10 win season.

We signed 23 players and only a handful have gotten meaningful snaps. A few are major contributors. That would not be unusual on a team that has been playing with a full allotment of scholarships, but we have been probation strapped...those players should be contributing, especially given that it was considered to have been the #1 or #2 OL recruiting class in the nation. Where are the OL?

The reality is, our S&C program was so poor prior to Saban's arrival that some of them actually regressed in the weight room. One of the incoming freshmen OL told his personal trainer (who helped him in the off season prior to his arrival on campus) that he was stronger than most of the OL that were already on campus...that is not good!

We will get there with Saban, but he is reaping what someone else sowed right now. He is planting his own seeds, but it will take another season or so before the field is white unto harvest.

The fact that we signed 18 DB's from 2004-2006 and Kareem Jackson is a true Frosh starting in the secondary should tell you something about our recruiting under the Shula regime. I have read some comments that we have so much talent on our roster that a grad assistant could have coached our third string to a win, but think about this...Our top tackler versus La. Monroe was a one star transfer from MTSU. We have walk-ons starting. The top player on our defense is Wallace Gilberry, who was going Juco (because nobody else wanted him) before we offered him.

As I have said before...the Shula recruiting method went like this:

(1) Offer top recruits scholarship.
(2) Wait and let them string you along while you lose out on good home grown talent.
(3) Get shunned by top talent for other schools.
(4) Go into damage control mode and offer scholarship to players that are still available.

We took a QB away from Texas Tech...ok. It was either us, Tx Tech, or Colorado. hmmm....no Texas? No Oklahoma?

We signed Kirshman to get Tebow...worked out well...er...didn't it?

I will forever refer to Shula's recruiting methodology as the "Tebow method."

Shula had players calling him Sheila behind his back. President Whit and Mal Moore went to the locker room after the MSU loss last year and the team was partying and singing. Juwan Simpson thought that an arrest for marijuana and a stolen firearm merited an ice cream cone. The defacto team leader for this season was arrested during the summer. Taken individually, any of these things could be viewed as minor and incidental...but taken as a whole, you begin to see a pattern emerging.

When Coach Moore gave Coach Shula 3 days to formulate a game plan for turning things around, and the best he could do was to offer to turn play calling over to Dave Rader, and reassign Dave Ungerer to help with the OL (where he had never coached before), what choice did Mal have? Mal did not issue an ultimatum ala "Fire coach (x)." He gave Mike the opportunity to offer what he felt was the best possible moves. That was all he came up with. To top it off, Mike KNEW that Mal was going to be calling him on Sunday night to discuss whatever plan he had devised. Mike was not home when Mal called...he even turned off his cell phone. Instead, he went to the AD and called a team meeting at which he informed his players that he would not be fired! By all appearances, he was trying to strong arm Mal and President Whit into not firing him.

Hopefully that enlightens you a bit. I was and am a huge Mike Shula fan. When CMS was our QB, I was a junior high kid and idolized him. What happened was not entirely his fault...I blame Fran for a lot of it. Fran was a very good coach and could have weathered the sanctions. His recruiting was adequate and with the allure of Alabama he could have recruited very well...I mean, look at who he did sign! A ton of the guys Fran signed are in the NFL right now. His failure at TAMU was a biproduct of the way he left Bama...I believe that he never had the confidence of his players at TAMU because of the way he left here, and by the time he got new players, he had lost confidence in himself. He is not the coach he once was. Price would have made a great OC but was a terrible recruiter. His class in 2003 hurt us...he signed a couple of guys who were never going anywhere but Bama, and then found a couple of diamonds in the rough...but the class was bad overall.

Of course, you can ultimately trace the troubles back to DuBose. 57% of xCMD's recruits never played a snap and the NCAA mess speaks for itself.

The ship will be righted...it is well on its way...but it will take time. Given another year, Shula would have only made it worse.

 

[Guest]

I always get a chuckle out of posts like the above one. Don't worry dude! No one's gonna rehire Shula. The guy was just expressing an opinion.

 

[AlaphaMale]

I always get a chuckle out of posts like the above one. Don't worry dude! No one's gonna rehire Shula. The guy was just expressing an opinion.

Update

 

[Guest]

I always get a chuckle out of posts like the above one. Don't worry dude! No one's gonna rehire Shula. The guy was just expressing an opinion.

And I get a chuckle that people with no information on the reality of the situation still defend Shula like the man did nothing wrong while coaching here. I have had jobs that I did poorly and I will be the first to admit it.

There are many of us who feel that the University protected Mike in the way they fired him and how little information was actually released. That was why we were so furious over Don's rantings...and we continue to question people who defend him.

The poster said that he felt Mike should have been given another year, but that he would probably have been fired in another year anyway. If that is the case, what purpose would keeping him have served? All it would have done was damaged our recruiting and prolonged the agony...on both sides.

Ultimately, the only person Mike and Don can blame is Mike. I felt at the time, and still feel that Mike wanted to go. His "plan" that he presented to Mal was a joke and the "strong-arm" move he made would likely have provoked the response that it did in any industry...your boss is your boss. It is a bad idea to take action that could be seen in the light that his actions were seen in.

Mal terminated him and publicly thanked him for his wonderful years of service to the University and for seeing us through such a difficult time...Mal handled the situation with class and Don's tirades were extremely frustrating in light of that. Mal could have said things like "falling behind the rest of the SEC" and "lost control of the program." At least one party involved took the high road. Don is his own man, but his public attacks on The University were calculated. I doubt that they were made without Mike's consent.

My reason for pressing the issue goes back to what Saban said very early on...the fan base needs to be united behind him. There is a small (but vocal) group of Shula supporters who continue to question the move. That needs to stop and the only way it will is if some of thing things I mentioned in my post continually come to light. The MSU and ULM losses have given fuel to the Shula-ites and provided fodder for anti-Saban discussion...that needs to go away.

I like Mike...I would love to see him take the reigns of a D1 program in a smaller conference...North Texas or MTSU...even a WAC or Mountain West team. With a few philosophical adjustments, he could be very successful there. The issue would be whether or not he would be willing to change even a little bit. He tends to be very stubborn and there are other factors that I will not go into that would hurt him...unless those things changed, he would be best off staying in the NFL as an assistant.

Anyway...enough of that. If people do not want anti-Shula commentary, they don't need to bring up pro-Shula commentary. I am through until someone ELSE says that Shula should have been kept.

And I was just expressing an opinion as well. I did not personally attack him.