That's gonna leave a mark...

[Boonan 0]

Neal McCready's scathing article on the head coaching position at Alabama from AL.com.

Some Alabama fans are really funny. I mean, Eddie Murphy-at-his-peak hilarious.

In the wake of Mississippi State's win over Alabama, many Crimson Tide fans came out of the woodwork demanding immediate change.

So bring on Nick Saban. Bring on Rich Rodriguez. You can interview Bobby Petrino, too. Maybe Rutgers' Greg Schiano would make a good coordinator, a coach-in-waiting if Jimmy Johnson isn't willing to commit more than, say, five years to bringing Alabama football back to where it belongs. I mean, really, who wouldn't want to come stalk the same sidelines that the Bear once patrolled? Who wouldn't want to coach in the shadow of greatness? After all, if you're going to fantasize, take it the distance.

The problem, however, for the dreaming Tide nation is that when it wakes up to the real world, Mike Shula's still the coach and the hard truth is he just might be the best Alabama can realistically hope for. The line of prospective coaches just dying to come to Tuscaloosa isn't as long as Tide fans think.

Before every home game, there's that voice. I still can't understand what he says, but it's something about "class," and "we got class," or "win with class." Then the elephant roars and another voice says, "This is Alabama football."

No, that was Alabama football. Those days are long gone and until the powers that be at the Capstone recognize that, all the Tide is going to be able to embrace is history. The people who Alabama football is selling to -- the current high school recruits -- were born in 1988 or 1989. They were 3 years old when Gene Stallings led Alabama to an upset over Miami in the Sugar Bowl and the national championship. Their experience with Alabama football mostly has been controversy, scandal, NCAA sanctions, losing seasons and mediocrity. The ardent Alabama fans among that group remember Shaun Alexander and Chris Samuel leading Alabama to the 1999 SEC title, but they were 11 or 12 then. Since that national championship night in New Orleans, a lot of water has flowed under the proverbial bridge.

Here's reality: Alabama has been passed. Ask the kids. They're the only ones who really matter. They'll tell you Florida is cool. So is LSU. Ask them about winning tradition and they'll tell you about Auburn, Tennessee and maybe Georgia. South Carolina has Steve Spurrier. Arkansas kids are staying home. Ole Miss has built a great indoor practice facility. Kentucky has fabulous facilities. Mississippi State probably isn't far behind. Jimmy Johns would probably never admit it even if someone could extricate his foot from his mouth, but had the Brookhaven, Miss., native stayed home and gone to Mississippi State or Ole Miss, he'd be a hero in his home state and a starter on the field. Oh yeah, he would have won a football game Saturday. Instead, he went to Alabama, where he's now a highly publicized backup playing behind an underachieving senior.

So why would Saban leave sunny Miami for Alabama? Petrino might be preparing for the national championship game in early January. Why would he give that up to take on a rebuilding project that goes well beyond the football field? Rodriguez might leave his native West Virginia one day, but Alabama's a lateral move at best.

But if Alabama is intent on making that sort of splash, here's two pieces of advice: Ante up and get your eyes out of the rear-view mirror because the men the delusional Tide fans talk about are forward thinkers with healthy egos. In other words, if you expect them to come to Tuscaloosa and walk in a shadow, you'd better hope for nothing but sunny days because guys like Saban, Petrino, Rodriguez and the others aren't going to walk in a shadow that isn't their own.

[TigerOne 1,152]

true, this has been what people outside the crapstone have been saying for decades now it is finally being

printed. The truth is no one gives a rat's #%& about uat's ancient past. Keep living in the past keep inbreeding

your program with ex players , people who saw a picture of bear and the rest of the country will continue

to see this pathetic program in their rear view mirror getting smaller and smaller.

Now when does the next book come out about the bear? Can't have too many ya know.

[WarTim 3,457]

OUCH! Those state sports writers are treading in dangerous waters. The unwashed masses are not gonna' like the TRUTH being spewed out these days.

[jw 4 au 526]

Rodriguez might leave his native West Virginia one day, but Alabama's a lateral move at best.

Ouch is right! That one especially hurts, made me fall out of my chair laughing.

[AU! 0]

Rodriguez might leave his native West Virginia one day, but Alabama's a lateral move at best.

Ouch is right! That one especially hurts, made me fall out of my chair laughing.

After reading this, I'm thinking their best bet is to go for an undiscovered coordinator or something for the HC job.

[Lurking Tiger 62]

Neal is going to need a security detail.

[AU alum 2]

I do hate to say it, but even Notre Dame went with a high school coach for head coach. Course, that didn't work out too well, but no worse than Shula.

[CircleDrill 178]

You know, this article is right on the money (pardon the pun). I don't know who came up with the saying "Alabama = Ole Miss," but that one phrase sums up this entire article to a tee.

[DKW 86 7,439]

But if Alabama is intent on making that sort of splash, here's two pieces of advice: Ante up and get your eyes out of the rear-view mirror because the men the delusional Tide fans talk about are forward thinkers with healthy egos. In other words, if you expect them to come to Tuscaloosa and walk in a shadow, you'd better hope for nothing but sunny days because guys like Saban, Petrino, Rodriguez and the others aren't going to walk in a shadow that isn't their own.

Wish I had written that. That was near perfect.

[Tigerguy 1]

IF the unwashed masses / koolaid drinkers that pull for uat had one operational brian cell, they would know that bama is about the number 3 program in the state. Troy is on a better level of play. No wonder uat won't play uab or Troy. No need to get "upset". I've heard some uat fans say playing those schools would help them. It isn't the playing them that would help, it would be them winning and getting cred with in state recruits

[GalensGhost 0]

You know, this article is right on the money (pardon the pun). I don't know who came up with the saying "Alabama = Ole Miss," but that one phrase sums up this entire article to a tee.

I am the originator of the Alabama = Ole Miss analogy. It is my legacy. Fifteen years from now, I expect to be hailed as a prophet and be the subject of a series of specials and profiles on ESPN48.

[quietfan 233]

You know, this article is right on the money (pardon the pun). I don't know who came up with the saying "Alabama = Ole Miss," but that one phrase sums up this entire article to a tee.

I am the originator of the Alabama = Ole Miss analogy. It is my legacy. Fifteen years from now, I expect to be hailed as a prophet and be the subject of a series of specials and profiles on ESPN48.

I've been thinking lately: What are some other schools like Ole Miss (and hopefully Bama) that had glorious pasts put have now apparently permanently slipped into the ranks of the "also rans"? [ivy League schools, i.e., Yale and Harvard, don't really count because their "glorious past" is almost pre-history.]

Nebraska may be down at the moment, but I wouldn't call them out yet--I expect them to have more glory days in the future with the right coach. Oklahoma has been up and down over the last couple of decades but would still rank among the elite.

Other teams that apparently really have fallen and can't get up?

[mcgufcm 4,107]

ole miss was never there. not on the level that alabama was. not even close. i think the actual schools are similar, but the traditions are not. alabama is the rough equivalent to the oklahoma of the post-switzer and the pre-stoops 80s and 90s. seriously, i grew up in the 80s. i remember oklahoma being great when i was little, but that's it. they were somewhere between above average and crap most of my life then BAM they get a coach and it's all "oklahoma is back! one of the best programs ever has returned to prominence!" i had to go look up the program's success for myself b/c i didn't remember any of it.

if alabama ever finds a stoops (and it should be pointed out that ou had to eat it and hire a hot coordinator b/c they too couldn't woo away a prominent head coach... they were just smart enough to see that), they'll find a way to use all that tradition in the right way... they'll be cool again. it'd be foolish to think that young guys can embrace white irish catholic tradition (notre dame), 1970s and 80s "badass" tradition (oklahoma), or 60s and 70s celebrity tradition (usc), but they could never embrace deep south championship tradition at bama. i can't stand the place, but they have a bank of history that could make them dangerous in the future.

it'll never happen as long as shula is there (please, please, please keep him), but that doesn't mean the right guy that understands what he's got couldn't use that past. you can't use it as a foundation, but you can certainly use it as a tool. it's our job to keep kicking them to the point where kids just don't remember that past at all and coaches don't want to step into an unwinnable situation.

[quietfan 233]

ole miss was never there. not on the level that alabama was. not even close.

If you grew up in the '80's, then Coach John Vaught was before your time. Truth is, even though I was born in 1954, I'm a little young to remember his best days myself. But in his heyday he definitely had Ole Miss at the top:

http://www.olemisssports.com/ViewArticle.d...p;ATCLID=622354

During his first tenure as head coach at Ole Miss, Vaught won six Southeastern Conference Championships from 1947-70, and only one other coach in the league had claimed that many titles at that time. He was selected SEC Coach of the Year six times by the Associated Press, twice by United Press International, twice by the Nashville Banner and twice by the SEC Coaches. In 1993, he was chosen by Ole Miss fans as the “Coach of the Century” (1893-1993) when the University of Mississippi celebrated the school’s first 100 years of football.

He elevated Ole Miss football from ninth in the Southeastern Conference in 1947 to third in all-time SEC standing at the time of his second retirement in 1973. Three of his teams (1959, 1960, and 1962) were recognized by at least one rating system as National Champions. Also in 1962, he recorded a perfect season, going 10-0. That feat has not been accomplished by the Rebels since, and Vaught is the only coach in Ole Miss history to record four 10-win seasons while at the helm. Not bad for a guy that didn't even want the job at first.

“I wasn’t even going to take the job and they asked why,” Vaught said in an interview with the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. “I said you can’t recruit here. We only had one player that was the caliber we needed. That was Kayo Dottley, and I went after him myself.”

In his first season at the helm in 1947, the Rebels posted a 9-2 record, including a 13-9 victory over TCU in the Delta Bowl, and won the first of six SEC crowns. That 1947 season also saw Ole Miss great Charlie Conerly become the first Rebel to be a contender for the Heisman Trophy, placing fourth in the voting for the prestigious honor. Vaught’s first year proved to be a sign of things to come. His winning percentage (.722) during his 25 years as the Rebel coach produced a record that ranks among the most productive at any institution across the nation in any era.

Vaught’s 1959 machine emerged with SEC Team of the Decade (1950-59) accolades. That squad was also selected by the Sagarin Ratings as the third-highest rated college football team from 1956 to 1995. He developed 18 first team All-American players and countless players who gained All-Southeastern and All-South recognition.

Vaught left a legacy of 14 consecutive bowl games, a national record at that time, and 18 of his teams participated in post-season classics in New Orleans, Dallas, Jacksonville, Houston, Memphis and El Paso.

At one point, his Rebels held two Sugar Bowl records -- most appearances with eight and most victories with five. Including the 1971 Gator Bowl loss (28-35) to Auburn, with Vaught watching on TV from his home and quarterback Archie Manning handicapped by the brace protecting his broken arm, the Ole Miss bowl record under Vaught was 10-8.