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Applewhite contacted by Saban, Per Houston Chronicle

In 1997, I was living in Baton Rouge and headed over to watch Bama vs Southern Miss PPV game at a local sports bar. I was the only Bama fan in the place, was wearing a Tide jersey and working with the bartender in effort to get the game on TV.

About that time an older guy and a young man came over and asked if I was trying to Bama-USM on TV. They sais they were in town from Hattiesburg and were interested is seeing it too. I remarked that they must be pulling for USM and they said "No, we're really huge Bama fans".

Mr Applewhite then introduced me to his son, who was a freshman QB at Texas. They explained how disappointed (read really mad) they were that Major wasn't offered a scholarship by Mike Dubose. Major Applewhite seemed the epitome of a respectful, intelligent and bright young man...and you could tell he really loved Bama.

I became a Major Applewhite fan that day and rooted for Texas every time I saw them playing on TV. I think it would be great to have him at Bama.
 
Proxigean Tide said:
In 1997, I was living in Baton Rouge and headed over to watch Bama vs Southern Miss PPV game at a local sports bar. I was the only Bama fan in the place, was wearing a Tide jersey and working with the bartender in effort to get the game on TV.

About that time an older guy and a young man came over and asked if I was trying to Bama-USM on TV. They sais they were in town from Hattiesburg and were interested is seeing it too. I remarked that they must be pulling for USM and they said "No, we're really huge Bama fans".

Mr Applewhite then introduced me to his son, who was a freshman QB at Texas. They explained how disappointed (read really mad) they were that Major wasn't offered a scholarship by Mike Dubose. Major Applewhite seemed the epitome of a respectful, intelligent and bright young man...and you could tell he really loved Bama.

I became a Major Applewhite fan that day and rooted for Texas every time I saw them playing on TV. I think it would be great to have him at Bama.
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Cool story. I remember watching his last college game (the Holiday Bowl I believe) he'd just led UT to a come from behind victory and in his post game interview on ESPN he quoted Jay Barker from his post game interview after a UGA game (can't remember the year but it was the first night game at Bryant Denny and him and Eric Zier had just lit the place up). I'd love to see him come to UA in some capacity.
 
TIDE-HSV said:
Great story, PT...
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Forgot to mention one important point (which many probably know), Mr. Applewhite told me his son was born right around the time Bama was winning the national championship with that dominate 1979 team. His favorite player from that squad was Major Ogalvie and his wife gave him the ok to name their son after the Tide runningback.
 
I bet he'd be a QB coach or something rather than OC.
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He will be an OC. At worst, we would be a co-OC. He would not leave his current OC position for a QBs coach position, no matter the school.

I've always been a 'Bama fan and am very excited about this. Major would be great for y'all.
 
It's my understanding that T Alles has now joined the staff from O. S.. It appears the staff is starting to take shape with K Smart added this week end also>:)
 
Personal observation regarding Applewhite: Anyone who saw him play in college will agree that Applewhite's success was based upon about 25% athletic ability and 75% intelligence.

The guy looked like an offensive coordinator on the field while playing for Texas. Only comparable "student of the game" type QB is probably Peyton Manning.

If I recall correctly, after he was cut during a brief visit to NFL, there was talk of him possibly being hired as support staff for a pro team...at age 22. He is definitely someone with a future as a college head coach.
 
This would be an interesting hire. He's young, but I honestly think he could do some great things. I'm a Sooner grad, but Major has always been one of my favorites (odd I know). He's a team player and is a real smart one. He got screwed over at Texas by Chris Simms (some say Phil Simms had something to do with it) and got knocked out of the starting position. I can remember watching him in the 2001 Big 12 Championship against Colorado. Simms wasn't working out so Mack put in Major and he led a furious comeback. I could tell from that night on that this guy had some fire in him (fortunately they still lost though...lol). He'll work hard, that's for sure.
 
Bama323 said:
We may get to see the spread offense at Bama afterall. :biggrin2:
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Interview with Todd Graham of Riceposted Dec 13, 2006 on NBCSports.com

... here's an excerpt of the only part concerning Applewhite and this thread ...

... Q: What's it like having Major Applewhite on your staff?

A: I got a lot of flack for hiring him when he is just 27. He is so young. But we run the offense I want to, not the Texas offense. We wanted to be a spread offense. It comes from Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia. It is innovative and unique. We have to adapt our team. Applewhite is a winner and he's aggressive. I watched him play, and there's no questions he's those things. We came together and I brought everything I knew in 19 years of coaching about defenses and we created our offense around that. He's great. He's so humble. He always wants to be meeting, to be developing something special. I will be able to say one day that I gave him his first coordinator job. That's the kind of coach he's going to be one day....
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... but some might find this little excerpt interesting as well ...

Graham came to Rice from the University of Tulsa where he was the assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and secondary coach. He turned a 1-11 team into an 8-4 team in his first year. Prior to that, at West Virginia under Rich Rodriguez, Graham helped turn the Mountaineers into a 9-3 team from a struggling 3-8 team in 2002.
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