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Dabo Hires Tater Tot as a Graduate Assistant

BamaNation

BamaNation

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I don't really hate tater. Kinda always looked at him and said, "look at that cute rotund elf!"

CA is right. Any former D1 coach had something that got him hired - even if it was a lucky season or half-season. Bowden obviously knows football. What's laughable is that he's getting a grad degree in Ath. Leaadership at age 63 and is not paid. At some point, just take it the beach house and enjoy life.
 
T

TRU

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When I first heard about this, I just thought it was bizarre. But I have come around to looking at this sort of like a sabbatical in academia, where I work. In academia, a senior faculty member can take a year off to go work in another colleague's institution to get new ideas and re-charge his batteries. Maybe Tater is taking a sabbatical. That said, I am one year older than Tater. And I have a countdown timer running on my computer counting down the days until I retire. I'm not planning a sabbatical.
 
TideEngineer08

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I always enjoyed Tater Tot on the ABC halftime and pregame shows, talking about how Daddy was going to whup up on someone else.

I should add: I always envisioned Terry and Bobby's relationship to be somewhat like that of Sherriff Buford T. Justice and his son on Smokey and the Bandit.
 
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T

TRU

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Correction. It was always "ma Diddy".
TideEngineer08 said:
I always enjoyed Tater Tot on the ABC halftime and pregame shows, talking about how Daddy was going to whup up on someone else.

I should add: I always envisioned Terry and Bobby's relationship to be somewhat like that of Sherriff Buford T. Justice and his son on Smokey and the Bandit.
Click to expand...
 
Padreruf

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As a Samford grad myself I had a good relationship with the oldest brother, Steve -- he and I went to undergrad and seminary together. Back in B'ham in 1985-90 we often played racquet ball together. Terry is a good, not perfect, person who knows football much better than people give him credit. In a conversation with another coach, after they were fired at AU, I asked him if they were not supposed to win, but supposed to be the "sacrificial lambs" -- and when they won AU did not know what to do with them. He basically agreed...saying that Terry and the AU powers did not mesh at all. I think this is a real "win" for Dabo...
 
Bamabuzzard

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TideEngineer08 said:
I always enjoyed Tater Tot on the ABC halftime and pregame shows, talking about how Daddy was going to whup up on someone else.

I should add: I always envisioned Terry and Bobby's relationship to be somewhat like that of Sherriff Buford T. Justice and his son on Smokey and the Bandit.
Click to expand...
I think more like



Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 
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deliveryman35

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Didn’t Tommy Bowden hire Dabo and bring him to Clemson when nobody wanted him? As I recall even Fran declined to retain Dabo. I’m guessing this was just him repaying a favor to the Bowden family and that Terry doesn’t hang around very long.
 
ecraj

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Maybe Tater should have stayed a UNA, at least he could win 10 games a year there. Although most of his players were transfers thrown off D1 teams and Tater swooped in and picked em up.
 
bamamc1

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ecraj said:
Maybe Tater should have stayed a UNA, at least he could win 10 games a year there. Although most of his players were transfers thrown off D1 teams and Tater swooped in and picked em up.
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I never understood how his players there could run with those ankle tracking devices on. lol
 
TraskiTideFan

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ecraj said:
Maybe Tater should have stayed a UNA, at least he could win 10 games a year there. Although most of his players were transfers thrown off D1 teams and Tater swooped in and picked em up.
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To be honest, I know some players who carried over from Hudspeth's tenure and they were starters. TB had no relationship with that team outside of the D1 disasters he convinced to come there for a do-over while he planned his exit strategy. Nobody really misses him. He is sort of the Franchione of the Lions.
 
81usaf92

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deliveryman35 said:
Good. Thank God for Mal Moore.
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Well according to Dabo, Saban tried to hire him for his first staff here but Dabo turned him down because he was comfortable at Clemson at the time. If true it seems Mal only said no in 01 because he was trying to show the NCAA we were actively trying to fix the problem ( little good that did), but was willing to let Saban get whoever he wanted.

Of course both these stories have come public because of Dabo, but Fran has pretty much said he was wanting to keep Dabo as well.
 
B

BamaInBham

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deliveryman35 said:
Good. Thank God for Mal Moore.
Click to expand...
Coach Saban wanted Dabo pretty badly. Below is a transcript of a NC Q&A (I think the most recent one) about CNS trying to hire him. It's not a Dabo concoction. They are personal friends.

A former Alabama player (1989-1992) and assistant (1993-2000), Swinney had the opportunity to return to Alabama as part of Nick Saban’s staff. During Monday’s media availability, Saban revisited trying to hire Swinney.

Q. Obviously you were talking about what a great job Dabo has done at Clemson. He tells the story about when Tommy Bowden was fired and he was coming into coach, he kind of regretted that he hadn’t taken the job with you that you had offered him. Then he talks about after his second year where he thought he was going to be fired but then he wasn’t and said it was going to be the best decade in Clemson football. Can you tell me what you saw in him as a young coach, obviously, other than being an Alabama alumnus, and just the job that he has done and coming through with their problems and having the best decade in Clemson football?

NICK SABAN: Right. Well, I think everybody here at Alabama, because Dabo was a player here and a coach here, has a tremendous amount of respect for him. He’s really a personal friend that I personally have a tremendous amount of respect for, as a coach, as well. They’ve done just as good a job as anybody in the country when it comes to what they’ve been able to accomplish over the last decade in terms of consistency and performance each and every year. They do a great job in recruiting. They do a great job of developing players. It’s just a really, really good program.

We have a lot of respect for him, and that’s why we tried to hire him years ago, but things worked out extremely well for him, and we’re happy for him and his family.
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(Didn't you want to hire Rick Pitino this year? :smile:)
 
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