Some of you guys are just mean. He is one of our boys, and was instrumental in some really good wins for us back in the day.
This is true. He was also the quarterback of the first losing season we had since 1957 but to be fair, it wasn't HIS fault. That situation had been brewing for some time.
Not a great HC for us, I agree, but I will always have fond memories of his time as our QB.
He had some great wins against Georgia and Auburn in 1985. His fumble also helped lose the Tennessee game (and thus SEC title) in 1985 and his interception against LSU in 1986 was a major contributor to that loss (everyone forgets it because Bobby Humphrey put on a clinic of "how to fumble away touchdowns without really trying."
I wish the coaching thing had worked out here, but also remember he came here at one of our lowest points when almost nobody else wanted the gig.
The three biggest lies in the world are "the check is in the mail," "I'll respect you in the morning," and "Mike Shula took the Alabama job when nobody wanted it." The fourth is, "Bear Bryant started integrating Alabama football after USC blah blah blah."
I don't have anything really against Shula per se, but there is ONE circumstance where I'd welcome him back to T-Town - if the man who eats Little Debbies while watching The Weather Channel decided that he could bring things full circle and named Shula as one of his coaches (key words coming up) because he THINKS Shula could do a splendid job....that's the ONE circumstance I'd support because CNS has played plenty of three-dimensional backgammon and rolled more double 6s than I care to admit.
Let's be clear: Shula is NOT his old teammate Gene Jelks. He's not Dennis Franchione.
But I'd just as soon he try his coaching somewhere else FAR away from us. I won't wish him ill, he was in over his head. But let's stop with the straw man of "just because he wasn't Saban" and "he took the job when nobody else would take it." In the interest of being nice, however, as far as I can tell we didn't have the off the field activities of Dubious, Price, and Kiffin with Shula, so that IS a positive.