Tell me this list of winners who were willing to crawl on their hands and knees on broken glass to coach Bama at that point.
But see that's DIFFERENT than the original question. There's a WIDE difference between the insane notion Shula did us some sort of favor (I mean, let's turn that around and ask who exactly was knocking down HIS door?) and the equally insane notion that Bob Stoops, Jim Tressel, or Larry Coker (probably the three hottest names in coaching back then in December 2002/May 2003) were going to chuck it and move to Alabama.
There's a wide variance of acceptability between those two poles.
Mike Riley turned us down, and he was a Bama guy. A few years later, he gladly takes the Nebraska job.
1) Riley turned us down in the FIRST search in December 2002, NOT the "oh hell, Mike Price lost his damned mind" search five months later.
2)
But WHY did Riley turn us down?
Well.....he wanted time to think about it, and Mal Moore said, "Never mind."
3) Riley got hired at Nebraska TWELVE years later.....that's an entire school life for a kid. It ain't like he went there in 2003 when Nebraska canned Solich.
Jim Levitt turned us down, and if the story is true, even framed our offer.
1) AGAIN, you're talking about a DIFFERENT search.....
2) Leavitt interviewed on Tuesday and got a raise on Thursday
3) Leavitt got fired for striking a player during halftime, which is the only time you'll EVER hear his name mentioned in the same breath with Woody Hayes.
So let's look back at the
FIRST search post-Franchione, the one that got us Mike Price.
Riley said no. Leavitt said no. OTHER NAMES in the search at that time?
Washington State's Mike Price, Oklahoma State's Les Miles, Oklahoma assistant Mike Stoops and West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez.
Moore's comment?
"There's been a lot of interest in this job -- I mean, a lot of interest -- from all over the country. It just takes time."
Other Names?
Walt Harris (Pitt)
Frank Beamer (Va Tech)
Now look at this NYT article from May 4, 2003.....and TELL me that Shula's name was the only one there....
1) Carl Torbush (blah!)
2) Tom Coughlin (yeah, the guy who would later win TWO Super Bowls - THAT guy)
3) Gene Stallings - note that while this article did say he would not return, there WAS mention at the time for Stallings to return with
Shula as a coordinator and meld him into the head coaching job
Now by the time the going got good, Mal Moore decided to turn inward
as ESPN noted on May 6, 2003:
The big names here were Shula, Croom, and Richard Williamson. But go read THESE words carefully:
Former Jacksonville Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin, who has expressed interest in the Alabama job through intermediaries, likely will not be considered. Moore and some other prominent officials in the Alabama hierarchy agree that Coughlin, fired by the Jaguars after last season, possesses the respect, discipline and image that want in their next coach.
And also on May 4, 2003, there's this:
Besides Stallings -- who Witt denied was a candidate --
some possible candidates include former Tide players and NFL assistants Sylvester Croom and Mike Shula.
Other names thrown in to the mix were former defensive coordinator Carl Torbush and former Jacksonville Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin.
Two of Price's assistants, Joe Kines and Sparky Woods, have head coaching experience.
According to a report in Sunday's Tuscaloosa News, there are names among the college ranks that might be tossed into the mix: Missouri coach Gary Pinkel, Oklahoma State's Les Miles, Georgia Tech's Chan Gailey, Purdue's Joe Tiller, Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops or Texas Tech's Mike Leach.
That was on May 4. By May 6, Moore had decided to go with an Alabama man, in large part because he felt that "outsiders" such as Franchione and Price really didn't get it.
The Athens News Courier (AL) for May 6, 2003 (page 24) lists the following candidates to replace Price:
Shula, Croom, Williamson, Coughlin, and Miles (whose name was in the 2002 search but said in this article he was never contacted)
And those are just the ones I recall off the top of my head. But this was not a program people were lining up to coach at the time.
You remember being in high school and wanting to date the really hawt girl? And you remember that time you sorta tried to work something out so maybe y'all would win up together and you could sorta see if maybe you had a chance and she was interested? You did it that way to that if she rejected your overtures NOBODY would know.
This goes in coaching all the time. There's a difference between "nobody would take it" and "knocking down the door to come here." Those are extremes. I can say very clearly that - even without appeals to the "connected" folks here - that the news media at the time was saying there were other candidates. Miles saying he was never contacted? That does NOT mean he didn't privately contact Mal and say "I''m interested" or "I'm still interested." Tom Coughlin - who I think would have been a GOOD hire because he DID have college experience at Boston College - expressed interest as well, that's documented.
You want to know who else was interested in December 2002 when Fran left? It's a BIG name at the time:
Bill Parcells.
The Birmingham News reported Monday that Alabama athletic director Mal Moore declined a chance to pursue Parcells for the vacancy after a series of phone calls made last week.
A representative of Parcells, 61, called an Alabama alumnus Thursday with word the former New York Giants coach was interested in the Alabama job, the paper reported. No sources were cited.
Parcells was the Cowboys coach by the time that Price met his Destiny
I remember Croom being interested, but that's it. What has he done since? A few of you guys are poo-pooing the statement of Shula being there when nobody wanted this. Tell me who else we could have gotten. I am genuinely curious.
I have genuinely answered your question, too.
