Remember when Alabama was crucified by the media and opposing fans for firing Shula?

I remember all that but I can also remember why all our rivals would want him to stay. I think the weight room was optional for our players and it showed.

There will always be an anti-Alabama bias. This was well before CNS came to Tuscaloosa. I think it will continue for a LONG time.

Oh I remember so well the articles and talking heads going on and on and on about how Alabama is "just a football factory" and all that garbage. To date I have not see a retraction because of how our winning and graduation rates have both gone way up.

I remember similar ridicule from the talking heads of the day when Curry left.


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A few things - most people did not know what was happening in the locker room at Alabama. Shula was playing favorites with his players, etc. But that was not public knowledge at the time (still isn't widely known). Add the name factor - he was a Shula, so most assumed that he would be great if given time. Now add the probation factor - Shula came to Alabama when other coaches were running in the other direction, including Fran actually leaving Alabama for aTm. Put these three things together and you can see why the general feeling was that Shula deserved more time.

You guys know better, but that is because you get to hear about the dirty laundry.

FloridanBlogger said:

I remember opposing fans along with the media labeling us "irrational, entitled, unrealistic and flat out crazy" for firing Shula - a coach who delivered ONE winning season in four years... and that one winning season was underwhelming ESPECIALLY compared to today's standards set by these other programs who are changing coaches like socks.

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My goodness, I remember the media floating the notion that we were under some sort of obligation to hire "a black head coach" simply because Notre Dame hired Ty "Can't Coach Worth A Damn" Willingham. Croom was somehow 'entitled' to the job because we 'need to get with the 20th century now that it's the 21st.'


And if we had and then had to fire him, guess what?

FloridanBlogger said:

One winning season in four years and yet...

...Florida just canned a coach who is coming off back to back SECCG appearances midway through his THIRD season. I know some will argue results wasn't the reason he was terminated but let's be honest: Florida used "death threat gate" as a reason to let him go because they were unsatisfied with his results midway through year three. Their fans have been irate all year long over this season's results.

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A la Chizik 2010, McElwain has been lucky and for much the same reason. While not having a Cam Newton (and that team DID have more than just Cam), he had enough talent in place to survive close calls.

FloridanBlogger said:

...Aubarn fans are calling for the head of a man who's never recorded a losing season there and has also delivered a conference title and NC appearance. Not to mention these are also the same fans who ran off Dye, Bowden, Tuberville and Chizik for ONE losing season.

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They had no choice with Pat Dye, he was involved in severe sanctions.Bowden was allegedly boffing Lowder's relative, they were trying to run off Tuberville as early as 2003, and Chizik was a joke who never should have been hired in the first place. (Auburn also got FAR LESS grief for hiring Chizik and his 5-19 record at Iowa St than we did for hiring Mike Shula).

FloridanBlogger said:

...Tennessee fired Fatty a year after he led them to the conference championship.

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In the case of Fulmer, though, they had not been a good team since 2001. He's bungled along for seven years, and even in 2007 they weren't 'really' the best team in the division.

FloridanBlogger said:

Fired Dooley despite "not giving him enough time (that was the cry directed at us)" and now Butch is toast after posting back to back nine win seasons.

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9 win seasons in 13-game schedules ain't the same as nine wins in ten or 11-game schedules, though.

FloridanBlogger said:

...LSU ran off one of their most successful coaches in history while Georgia fired a coach immediately following a ten win season.

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The funny thing with Miles is that they could have fired him in 2015 and instead signed him to a big contract and then fired him after 3-4 games. I
still think it was more an emotional reaction to losing to Auburn the same way they'd already lost to Ole Miss (2009) and nearly lost to Tennessee (2010).
One would think smart coaches wouldn't make the same mistake.

In Richt's case, well, he'd been there for 15 years and always gotten just close enough to blow it.

FloridanBlogger said:

And yet, no one is calling these fanbases and programs "irrational, unrealistic, delusional and entitled".

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The only school you listed in this analysis who fired their coach in four years or less is Florida. Okay, Dooley at Tennessee, but he was obviously in
over his head.

Most of the examples you cite aren't really parallel.

FloridanBlogger said:

Whether Saban raised the bar or not, that doesn't change the fact that these hypocritical fanbases are guilty of everything they accused Bama of being in 2006.

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Florida and Tennessee, yes. The others, not so much.

FloridanBlogger said:

Put any team now in Bama's position under Shula and there's a great chance he wouldn't have made it to year three.

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That's because Bill O'Brien took over a train wreck at Penn State and went 15-9. Urban Meyer took over a Buckeyes team on probation and won his
first 24 games.

The problem with McElwain wasn't even the record, it's HOW they were achieving their success. They were walking on a rickety plank and barely surviving
teams they should have boat raced.

FloridanBlogger said:

I haven't forgotten about all the hate slung our way in 2006 and to these programs who are firing coaches left and right who have posted records Bama would have killed to have under the previous administration: you're all a bunch of entitled, irrational lowlifes with highly unrealistic expectations.

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I'm sorry, but this won't fly save in the cases of LSU and perhaps Florida.


The problem is that nobody wants to remember context. Shula was, in large part, an extension of TWO other coaches, Franchione and Price (technically three, since his tenure was largely held hostage by sanctions DuBose brought). If Franchione doesn't leave when he did, he hangs around for 3-4 more years and gets canned. Tennessee had no way of knowing Kiffin was going to fly the coop, either. Dooley looked pretty good at La Tech, he just didn't work out.


The McElwain case, I agree, stinks quite a bit. There's something we're not being told. But Les Miles had over a decade and Mark Richt had even longer. Both failed some pretty basic requirements to keep their jobs. The issue where LSU is concerned is this.......can anyone with a straight face SERIOUSLY argue that Ed Orgeron is a BETTER head coach than Les Miles? Did anyone think that at the time?

Five years is plenty enough time for a guy to recruit HIS players and invoke HIS system. The thing with Tennessee is that they literally have NO offense at all. One doesn't have to have delusional expectations to fire a fifth-year head coach who has a horrid offense.

Snuffy Smith said:

I remember similar ridicule from the talking heads of the day when Curry left.


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Yeah, but that's because we threw a brick through his window....

(That's another story that has grown with the telling - it was a rock in the first version).

selmaborntidefan said:

Yeah, but that's because we threw a brick through his window....

(That's another story that has grown with the telling - it was a rock in the first version).

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Eventually the story will have his home fire bombed and him tarred and feathered.

B1GTide said:

A few things - most people did not know what was happening in the locker room at Alabama. Shula was playing favorites with his players, etc. But that was not public knowledge at the time (still isn't widely known). Add the name factor - he was a Shula, so most assumed that he would be great if given time. Now add the probation factor - Shula came to Alabama when other coaches were running in the other direction, including Fran actually leaving Alabama for aTm. Put these three things together and you can see why the general feeling was that Shula deserved more time.

You guys know better, but that is because you get to hear about the dirty laundry.

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It gets better than that (and ironic to me)........when we fired Mike Price, the entire wrath of cfb came down on Alabama for "unrealistic expectations" (amazing - it's unrealistic expectation to not think the football coach is off screwing women young enough to be his daughters.....amazing to me). Stewart Mandel, in particular, blasted us for living in the past of Bear Bryant. (He has never responded when I've sent him multiple emails after each scandal like Penn State or Petrino's Cupcake at Arky and asked if he wanted to rescind his criticism).



Price was hired under the idea that he had shown he could "do more with less." I also know his trip to the strip club was NOT his first offense, it was just the first one that made news. Keep in mind (and the outsiders never got this) that DuBose was involved in a sexual harassment settlement, so Price's behavior was under FAR GREATER scrutiny than if that had not happened.

While I realize "boys will be boys," once it broke in the paper, we didn't have a lot of choice in the matter.

B1GTide said:

Eventually the story will have his home fire bombed and him tarred and feathered.

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You've been here awhile I see.....

selmaborntidefan said:

Yeah, but that's because we threw a brick through his window....

(That's another story that has grown with the telling - it was a rock in the first version).

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It must have been one of those boomerang bricks, with all that glass from the window on the ground outside!

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selmaborntidefan said:

It gets better than that (and ironic to me)........when we fired Mike Price, the entire wrath of cfb came down on Alabama for "unrealistic expectations" (amazing - it's unrealistic expectation to not think the football coach is off screwing women young enough to be his daughters.....amazing to me). Stewart Mandel, in particular, blasted us for living in the past of Bear Bryant. (He has never responded when I've sent him multiple emails after each scandal like Penn State or Petrino's Cupcake at Arky and asked if he wanted to rescind his criticism).



Price was hired under the idea that he had shown he could "do more with less." I also know his trip to the strip club was NOT his first offense, it was just the first one that made news. Keep in mind (and the outsiders never got this) that DuBose was involved in a sexual harassment settlement, so Price's behavior was under FAR GREATER scrutiny than if that had not happened.

While I realize "boys will be boys," once it broke in the paper, we didn't have a lot of choice in the matter.

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Price had to be fired because he used the "company" credit card at a strip club. That gets you fired almost anywhere. I remember reading a ton of articles ridiculing Price for his stupidity - very few ripping Alabama for its decision to fire him. But in either case, it had nothing to do with the Shula thing. This came years later, and the media doesn't care about what happened last week.

I haven't turned on ESPN or the SEC network since Saturday but are the media giving FLA a pass?? I kind of expect them to get blasted today.

Just from what's happened so far this whole ordeal has looked a hot mess from all parties involved. Though I will say at least Mac faced the music head on.....

Shula wouldn't answer his phone and basically hid from CMM... like that would prevent the pink slip....lol.

B1GTide said:

A few things - most people did not know what was happening in the locker room at Alabama. Shula was playing favorites with his players, etc. But that was not public knowledge at the time (still isn't widely known). Add the name factor - he was a Shula, so most assumed that he would be great if given time. Now add the probation factor - Shula came to Alabama when other coaches were running in the other direction, including Fran actually leaving Alabama for aTm. Put these three things together and you can see why the general feeling was that Shula deserved more time.

You guys know better, but that is because you get to hear about the dirty laundry.

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Sorry - it's the media's job to know. They could have easily discovered this - just UF alum Andy Staples reported in that very objective piece he put out last night.


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CrimsonProf said:

Sorry - it's the media's job to know. They could have easily discovered this - just UF alum Andy Staples reported in that very objective piece he put out last night.

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I'm not giving the media a pass, but some of the stuff that is talked about here isn't even known by most Alabama fans. If Alabama fans, inundated by Alabama news and rumors 24/7, didn't know, how was a national media outlet supposed to know? I have not read a single reliable media outlet report that Shula played favorites with his players or that he refused to enforce weight room discipline. I have heard him criticized for his unwillingness to fire assistants, but that was spun both ways (both as loyalty and as foolishness).

The dirt generally stayed within the program, and that is good. It might have shielded Shula from the storm, but it is far better for Alabama in the long term. Look at what is happening in FL right now as all of their dirty laundry is aired. You really don't want that? Let the media throw stones while you search for the right guy - Saban.

tusks_n_raider said:

I haven't turned on ESPN or the SEC network since Saturday but are the media giving FLA a pass?? I kind of expect them to get blasted today.

Just from what's happened so far this whole ordeal has looked a hot mess from all parties involved. Though I will say at least Mac faced the music head on.....

Shula wouldn't answer his phone and basically hid from CMM... like that would prevent the pink slip....lol.

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I did not know that(CMS avoiding CMM). I thought CMM was dragging his feet due to former players and alumni saying to him they had to give CMS more time. CMS should have fired the morning after the Auburn game. That being the hammer to the final nail in the coffin. That nail being Miss St game.

B1GTide said:

I'm not giving the media a pass, but some of the stuff that is talked about here isn't even known by most Alabama fans. If Alabama fans, inundated by Alabama news and rumors 24/7, didn't know, how was a national media outlet supposed to know? I have not read a single reliable media outlet report that Shula played favorites with his players or that he refused to enforce weight room discipline. I have heard him criticized for his unwillingness to fire assistants, but that was spun both ways (both as loyalty and as foolishness).

The dirt generally stayed within the program, and that is good. It might have shielded Shula from the storm, but it is far better for Alabama in the long term. Look at what is happening in FL right now as all of their dirty laundry is aired. You really don't want that? Let the media throw stones while you search for the right guy - Saban.

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I learned all that _big: on TideFans.com. Better sources and more trustworthy.

B1GTide said:

I'm not giving the media a pass, but some of the stuff that is talked about here isn't even known by most Alabama fans. If Alabama fans, inundated by Alabama news and rumors 24/7, didn't know, how was a national media outlet supposed to know? I have not read a single reliable media outlet report that Shula played favorites with his players or that he refused to enforce weight room discipline. I have heard him criticized for his unwillingness to fire assistants, but that was spun both ways (both as loyalty and as foolishness).

The dirt generally stayed within the program, and that is good. It might have shielded Shula from the storm, but it is far better for Alabama in the long term. Look at what is happening in FL right now as all of their dirty laundry is aired. You really don't want that? Let the media throw stones while you search for the right guy - Saban.

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We still have fans on this site that will take up for him from time to time, as he was "the only coach willing to come back to Alabama in such a time of distress." Which is another tall tale.

CoachThomas said:

I did not know that(CMS avoiding CMM). I thought CMM was dragging his feet due to former players and alumni saying to him they had to give CMS more time. CMS should have fired the morning after the Auburn game. That being the hammer to the final nail in the coffin. That nail being Miss St game.

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I've brought that game up several times here. That's the worst performance by an Alabama team I've ever seen in person and my Dad who was sitting there with me agreed. They were 'lolly-gagging' around in pre-game 'warm-ups' something awful.

It was embarrassing to witness live just how little the team even cared to be there and play the game. We stayed to the very end (I always do, but that day was tough) and just sat there in disbelief at the overall lack of effort.

That's the moment we both started agreeing that Shula wasn't ever going to get things going in the right direction. What we didn't know was that CMM and TPTB had made the same decision from the Skybox. There was no point in doing anything until after the Auburn game but he was GONE after that Miss St showing.