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Mike Raines

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bamaman64

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Oct 31, 2004
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I understand he made some comments about the situation at Alabama on Paul Finebaum's show. Would someone elaborate on what he had to say.
 
His son was one of 200 players invited to a camp at Alabama. While he and his son were there, the staff evidently didn't pay a lot of attn. to his son...didn't know his name, etc.

Raines, evidently, had his feelings hurt and decided to voice his frustration on the Finebaum show. His comparison was to a visit they took to Ga. Tech where there were about 25 kids attending that recruiting get together.

I understand he went as far as mentioning there were several former players who weren't exactly happy about things going on with Shula right now.

While I'll agree that members of the A-club should receive their dues/special attn. they also should take up their complaints with Shula, not Finebaum. I don't imagine he'll have that opportunity now though.

Personally, I find his complaint hilarious. He's upset because the staff didn't know his kids name and didn't pay special attention to him? Hell, there are members of the staff that don't know what is going on in some of the players lives....and they are on the team now.
 
Fwiw...

Chance, his son, is 6-2, 260 and plays OL. He'll be senior this fall. With the OL class we pulled in last year I feel very comfortable stating the OL we go after in our next recruiting class will be the top OL in the nation. In fact, I'd bet we don't recruit more than a couple of them...say, 3 at most?
 
I don't know the whole situation that was discusses on Finebaum, but I don't get how he can compare a group of 200 to 25 at GT. I'm sure there were a few guys out of the 200 that were overlooked. I have heard that a few former players don't like the way Shula runs things. Some feel they should get preferential treatment. I'm sure he believes his son is a very good prosepect, and he may be. However, not all former players' sons get the opportunity to play at UA too. Shula is doing what is best for the University and the football program. He's not here to appease all comers. I guess running a "tight ship" doesn't sit well with some.
 
He was a very good DT for Bama and played for Bear. I do not know much abouit his son,but I have a boy and can understand his feelings. However,I heard the tail end of the conversation on Finebust show and I took it that he was more upset that the Staff did not know who "he" was more than how his son was treated.
drjamesm
 
Maybe Raines son isn't in the caliber of players that are considered elite prospects but would it kill the coaching staff to know the kids name? His dad did a lot for the university and he could get a Bryant scholarship so why not pursue him some what? I take serious issue with the way the complaint was lodged in public but I'm not too sure it shouldn't be a wake-up call to Shula. If this guy was an elite prospect who gave the tide the cold shoulder in choosing to go to another university I'll bet some people on this forum would get online and talk about him not being "loyal" to the university. Shouldn't we at least recognize his father's contribution by taking the roughly five seconds it takes to remember his kid's name?
 
I doubt...

very seriously that it was a case of not "remembering" the kid's name. It was probably that the connection of neither father nor son was known to the staff. IOW, an AD breakdown. Had the staff known that MR was a former player, I'd be very surprised if they went out of their way to snub Mike and his son. There's obviously a lot of the background here that we don't know - and which the dad, in his anger, is not going to tell us. OTOH, this is the manure that feeds toadstools like Finebaum...
 
TIDE-HSV said:
very seriously that it was a case of not "remembering" the kid's name. It was probably that the connection of neither father nor son was known to the staff. IOW, an AD breakdown. Had the staff known that MR was a former player, I'd be very surprised if they went out of their way to snub Mike and his son. There's obviously a lot of the background here that we don't know - and which the dad, in his anger, is not going to tell us. OTOH, this is the manure that feeds toadstools like Finebaum...
Click to expand...

I've been thinking about that...

If the breakdown was on our end, Ross or Bowen, it didn't start with them.

For a parent to enroll their child in the clinic's, they have to contact the Ath. Dept. and fill out all the necessary forms, etc. Why, would we expect the individual answering the phone to know who Mike Raines was if he didn't make a point of mentioning that he actually was a member of the team at one point?

Like you said, there are so many things that we don't know the answer to right now...it's an excercise in futility trying to "get to the bottom of it." The first thing I wonder if how involved Raines has been with the A-club. If he has been...he would have been someone the staff would have recognized. If he had mentioned on the front end who he was, I'm sure it would have been notated somewhere along the line.

Assuming, he just wanted to fly under the radar and just be another one of the father/son duo's on campus...that's exactly how he was treated.

The comparison between the 25 at Ga. Tech and the 200 at Alabama still makes this whole story laughable...and, as you mentioned, more fodder for Finebaum to wallow in.
 
cowardly

by all outward appearances this really looks like a cowardly act on the dad's part. even if everything that he is saying could be conceived as true, why go whine on a radio show. if you want the situation resolved, go see shula and get your questions or greivances settled face to face. i'm in law school and am clerking for a domestic judge right now and the idiotic things adults do when they let emotion take over their life amaze me.
 
nivekstan said:
by all outward appearances this really looks like a cowardly act on the dad's part. even if everything that he is saying could be conceived as true, why go whine on a radio show. if you want the situation resolved, go see shula and get your questions or greivances settled face to face. i'm in law school and am clerking for a domestic judge right now and the idiotic things adults do when they let emotion take over their life amaze me.
Click to expand...

I agreek 100 percent with what you and Jack Bourbon said. Im twenty years old and dont consider myself a real man yet. But there some things men should do and going on a radio to blast another man is not one of them. Why couldnt he just go and introduce he and his son to Coach Shula thats not hard.
 
Come on, Mike

You lettered 2 yrs in '72 and '73 and were not a household name on the either of those teams (see John Croyle, Terry Davis, Wilbur Jackson, etc) and look very different than you did then. So, you introduce yourself as earlier pointed out. If there is more to this, then Mike is just full of horse sqeezin's and needs to find other ways to vent his anger. :rolleyes:
 
Like I said before, I can't defend the way he lodged his complaint but on the same note before we start the whole, he's not a household name or he should have introduced himself or let it be known he was going to be there arguments, I believe the coaching staff should have known who he was. It seems like there should be some sort of unwritten rule about stuff like this (like many military gestures of respect) and everyone in the athletic department should share responsibility to make sure they aren't broken. When we start making arguments like, "he on lettered two years," or, "he wasn't a household name." It seems to neglect the fact that he has as many national championship rings at UA as the entire coaching staff combined. While we can't get caught living in the past as many would claim we've often done, we should be able to acknowledge the people who have done so much to create our tradition.
 
For perspective...

There are many hundreds of former players, a good many of them with FB-playing sons at any given time. Also, many of them have names common in the population. Exactly how much research time should the AD spend to see that this doesn't happen? Or should the parent share part of the burden to give the AD the heads-up that a former player has a son wishing to attend?
 
I agree that the parents should share some of the burden in giving the athletic department a heads up on visits and interest. As far as which former players the coaching staff should be aware of, I feel they could start by knowing the former all americans, all sec players and guys who went on to the NFL. I'm sure they throw around the impressive numbers the program has produced to any recruit who will listen. If you check the names on these lists you'll see Mike Raines appears on all of them.
 
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