BAMANEWSBOT
Staff
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Mal Moore skirted it two months ago.
Nick Saban danced around it last week.
The more Alabama coaches keep leaving town and returning to campus with national championship trophies, the more the subject won't go away.
It's been asked before, and it has to be asked again.
Isn't it time for Alabama to answer the statue question?
There's no time like the present because Alabama's long and storied past has never seen anything like this.
Until this year, Alabama had never seen a sport other than football and gymnastics win a national title. Women's golf and softball joined the fun in the very same year that football and gymnastics both did it again.
This debate isn't about hiring the right coaches that sign and develop the best athletes, turning them into a team good enough to be the best in the country.
It's about finding the appropriate way to recognize those coaches after they've achieved the ultimate team goal.
It's a pesky but healthy debate.
Think about it. Would you rather be arguing about whether to bronze your coach or fit him with cement overshoes?
For the record, there are now eight coaches in University of Alabama history that have won national championships. There are university-approved statues on campus of five of them.
Do the math, and it doesn't add up.
Bear Bryant, who won six national titles in football, has a statue. Sarah Patterson, who's won six national titles in gymnastics and may not stop there, does not.
Gene Stallings won a single national championship in football, and he has a statue. Mic Potter just delivered the school its first national championship in women's golf, and Pat Murphy did the same in softball.
Will they get statues?
Don't hold your breath waiting for an answer.
Why is this even a question?
Winning a national title isn't easy. Once you do, you deserve some kind of special recognition. When Alabama expanded the north end zone of Bryant-Denny Stadium and fashioned the impressive Walk of Champions, it found a special way to honor its football coaches that finished at the top.
It put them on pedestals, and a precedent was born.
At the time, only one other Alabama coach in one other sport had won it all so it was easy to avoid the question and ignore the imbalance.
Since Patterson has added more titles to tie Bryant's school record and Potter and Murphy have joined her in an exclusive but growing club, that imbalance gets easier to see and harder to explain.
Because Alabama's not just a football factory anymore.
Or is it?
What does it say about the university, about the principles and values of the organization, to borrow a phrase from Saban, when some championships seem more important to the school than others?
It's obvious that Alabama values football more than it does its other sports. It's just as obvious that Alabama is no different in that regard from Auburn or pretty much any other major college athletics department that's enjoyed success in a big way on the football field.
In a very real sense, the kind that produces cash in the bank, football is more valuable than any other sport at Alabama and beyond. But is a university supposed to be all about the golden rule? He who makes the gold gets the bronze?
Saban agreed last week that Alabama's national championship coaches in other sports deserve recognition, but he stopped short of supporting any specific type of recognition.
"I really think coaching is the best profession in the world because of the relationships that you make and the lives that you affect," he said. "That's your true legacy as a coach. The rest of it probably doesn't matter."
True, but easy for him to say. He has a statue.
After the gymnastics title in April, as the Statue for Sarah movement grew thanks to social media, Moore addressed the question of honoring Patterson.
"We have plans of how we're going to do this, so that's coming," Moore said. "Keep in touch."
What's coming? The AD hasn't filled in the blanks.
Until he does, the statue question won't go away.
Nick Saban danced around it last week.
The more Alabama coaches keep leaving town and returning to campus with national championship trophies, the more the subject won't go away.
It's been asked before, and it has to be asked again.
Isn't it time for Alabama to answer the statue question?
There's no time like the present because Alabama's long and storied past has never seen anything like this.
Until this year, Alabama had never seen a sport other than football and gymnastics win a national title. Women's golf and softball joined the fun in the very same year that football and gymnastics both did it again.
This debate isn't about hiring the right coaches that sign and develop the best athletes, turning them into a team good enough to be the best in the country.
It's about finding the appropriate way to recognize those coaches after they've achieved the ultimate team goal.
It's a pesky but healthy debate.
Think about it. Would you rather be arguing about whether to bronze your coach or fit him with cement overshoes?
For the record, there are now eight coaches in University of Alabama history that have won national championships. There are university-approved statues on campus of five of them.
Do the math, and it doesn't add up.
Bear Bryant, who won six national titles in football, has a statue. Sarah Patterson, who's won six national titles in gymnastics and may not stop there, does not.
Gene Stallings won a single national championship in football, and he has a statue. Mic Potter just delivered the school its first national championship in women's golf, and Pat Murphy did the same in softball.
Will they get statues?
Don't hold your breath waiting for an answer.
Why is this even a question?
Winning a national title isn't easy. Once you do, you deserve some kind of special recognition. When Alabama expanded the north end zone of Bryant-Denny Stadium and fashioned the impressive Walk of Champions, it found a special way to honor its football coaches that finished at the top.
It put them on pedestals, and a precedent was born.
At the time, only one other Alabama coach in one other sport had won it all so it was easy to avoid the question and ignore the imbalance.
Since Patterson has added more titles to tie Bryant's school record and Potter and Murphy have joined her in an exclusive but growing club, that imbalance gets easier to see and harder to explain.
Because Alabama's not just a football factory anymore.
Or is it?
What does it say about the university, about the principles and values of the organization, to borrow a phrase from Saban, when some championships seem more important to the school than others?
It's obvious that Alabama values football more than it does its other sports. It's just as obvious that Alabama is no different in that regard from Auburn or pretty much any other major college athletics department that's enjoyed success in a big way on the football field.
In a very real sense, the kind that produces cash in the bank, football is more valuable than any other sport at Alabama and beyond. But is a university supposed to be all about the golden rule? He who makes the gold gets the bronze?
Saban agreed last week that Alabama's national championship coaches in other sports deserve recognition, but he stopped short of supporting any specific type of recognition.
"I really think coaching is the best profession in the world because of the relationships that you make and the lives that you affect," he said. "That's your true legacy as a coach. The rest of it probably doesn't matter."
True, but easy for him to say. He has a statue.
After the gymnastics title in April, as the Statue for Sarah movement grew thanks to social media, Moore addressed the question of honoring Patterson.
"We have plans of how we're going to do this, so that's coming," Moore said. "Keep in touch."
What's coming? The AD hasn't filled in the blanks.
Until he does, the statue question won't go away.
