While I have beat this to death in the past. It was stupid to hire Shula. We were on probation and not going anywhere or doing anything. Having said that, I would go through it all again to get Saban and the 17 years of greatness we got.
The smart thing to have done after canning Price was to promote Joe Kines as interim for that year. Would have been continuity of staff and I don't think the season would have been worse than the 5-7 debacle that ensued in 2003. After that season, Butch Davis and Steve Spurrier left the NFL. At the time, I think any one of us would have happy to have had one of them leading Bama. Spurrier had tried to hire Brother Oliver several times while he was at UF. I bet Oliver would have been willing to come to Bama and work with the Ol' Ball Coach one last go around had that happened.