I have been a fan of Coach Mike Shula...

[BAMAFAN61]

since the day he was hired to bring our program back to respectability. I always felt that he would make a good coach one day because of his leadership ability. I also felt that way because a good friend of mine from Florida played at BAMA while Shula was our quarterback. My friend had nothing but good things to say about Shula as a player and was very supportive of him after he was hired.

I did not go back and re-read all of my TideFans posts but to my knowledge, I have not been publicly critical of things he has done as a coach. However, I do believe that he did not have our team ready yesterday - especially from an emotional point of view. It was obvious from the first play of the game that the barn wanted the game more than we wanted it. The players were not into the game and the coaching staff looked equally out of it.

In my humble opinion. Shula should have gathered the O-line after the first two series (and 5 sacks later) and challenged them. I promise you that if Coach Bryant had seen a performance like that out of an O-line he coached, they would have run the barn stadium until they puked. I know that each coach has his own style but there is no excuse for not being ready for your rival. In all of my years as a BAMA fan, I do not ever remember a time that we were unprepared for the barn game. But that is exactly what I saw yesterday. I hope I never see us that unprepared again.

Regardless, I will still support the Tide and I will continue to purchase my Tide Pride tickets. I just hope we can end this string against the barn sooner rather than later.

 

[rolltid]

I could not agree more.

I have been a Bama fan for 50 years and don't remember a team as unprepared and the worst play calling ever. How can we be down 18 points and run the same running play three times in a roll.

 

[NOSty]

I promise you that if Coach Bryant had seen a performance like that out of an O-line he coached, they would have run the barn stadium until they puked.

I promise you that in this time and day, it will not happen EVER.

I also promise you that Coach Bryant is gone. It's time for us to move on and catch up with the current atmosphere of College football and all the legalities involved...

 

[Redwood Forrest]

quote: "However, I do believe that he did not have our team ready yesterday - especially from an emotional point of view."

For God's sake this is AUBURN. You know, the in-state BIG RIVAL. Why would a HC have to GET A TEAM READY for this game?

Did Coach Shula have to make statements in the paper and on TV to get YOU ready for the Auburn game?

 

[RamJam]

Redwood, you are on the same page as me - every time...

 

[Bama-94-00]

For God's sake this is AUBURN. You know, the in-state BIG RIVAL. Why would a HC have to GET A TEAM READY for this game?

Emotionally sure, but physically I'm not so sure. The no pads practicing might not have been such a good idea for a young team. 1-2 practices in pads may have helped.

 

[crimson mo]

Dude?

since the day he was hired

In my humble opinion. Shula should have gathered the O-line after the first two series (and 5 sacks later) and challenged them. I promise you that if Coach Bryant had seen a performance like that out of an O-line he coached, they would have run the barn stadium until they puked. I know that each coach has his own style but there is no excuse for not being ready for your rival. In all of my years as a BAMA fan, I do not ever remember a time that we were unprepared for the barn game. But that is exactly what I saw yesterday. I hope I never see us that unprepared again.

Regardless, I will still support the Tide and I will continue to purchase my Tide Pride tickets. I just hope we can end this string against the barn sooner rather than later.

Dude what do you want coach Shula to do?
You saw first hand what the results of the NCAA sanctions have done.
We lost key players on the line this year and did not have the depth to replace them with “sec” quality players.
What do you want Coach Shula to do when the center gets whipped every play what do you want him to do when the Offensive tackle can’t block his man?
Our second and third team is not as good as our first team in some areas.
What do you want Coach Shula to do when he sends in a punter who can’t kick over 25 yards?
We had our best players out there and they could not get the job done.
Coach Shula calls for a pass and it gets dropped, yep that’s Shula’s fault.
HE calls for a run and the line cant block, yep that’s his fault.
The de-fence gives up 3 touch downs because auburn started around the 40yard line or shorter because of our inability to block or kick.
Yep that is Coach Shula’s fault.
You know I was at the game yesterday and I will admit that some of the plays called I disagreed with but for the most part I was right with coach shula up till the bitter end.
I saw to many dropped passes, to many busted running plays and to many sacks to lay this on coach Shula.
When the same plays have worked all year, it comes down to executing them.
When a pass play results in a drop after it hits a receivers hand you can’t blame shula.
When the quarterback is sacked in 3 seconds after the snap because the line can’t block you can’t blame Shula.
When the running back gains all of his yards on his own because the o-line can’t block, you can’t blame shula.
Our offence has worked all year till we lost key players. Their backups are not up to the task! Why? Because of NCAA sanctions.
Why do you think they hand down those penalties? Do you think that not being able to sign 88 players a year does not hurt a team?
Well it does, at this point our second and third teams are not as good as LSU or Georgia’s but we are getting there.
You can’t take kids that should be playing for UAB or West Alabama and snap your fingers and make them “SEC” players.

 

[warrior]

Good post Mo. and I like the lil southpark man too!

 

[pcolatide]

Crimson Mo

I won't repeat your long guote in this thread but i agree exactly with your points.
Some have mentioned motivation of our players - I don't think it was a lack of motivation. There are times in life when all the motivation in the world can't will you to whip a faster, stronger, more skilled adevesary. All you can do is learn from it and try to get better.

 

[HelenaTider]

I have been a Bama fan for 50 years and don't remember a team as unprepared and the worst play calling ever. How can we be down 18 points and run the same running play three times in a roll.

Actually, even though we were behind, running plays were exactly what we needed to keep doing. With 3 quarters left, there was plenty of time to make up 21 points (actually 14 points since we did use running plays early in the 2nd quarter and scored a touchdown on that drive). And in case no one noticed, running plays were the only plays that gained any yards.

 

[Crimsongator]

Redwood, you are on the same page as me - every time...

Hey RamJam, for ole RW being just another stick in the mud - he be pretty smart -huh?

 

[BAMAFAN61]

I appreciate all of the replies to my post...

and I agree with almost everything everyone has said. I really hesitated to post anything at all because I really do support what our coaching staff has done because in spite of a probation-ravaged roster. I also feel that overall I believe that our coaches have done a fine job this year because in spite of a few key injuries, the team this year has exceeded the expectations of most of us on this board.

Also know that I do not blame poor execution or a lack of talent on the coaches. A coach cannot catch a pass or make a block and he sure cannot magically make a SEC-quality backup appear when a star player gets injured.

I only posted it because I feel that we were still hung over from the lswho loss. CBS' Todd Blackledge even acknowledged as such. Is the hangover the fault of the players or the coaches? I tend to think that motivation falls into the lap of the coaching staff, especially in a rivalry game. The camera views of coach Shula made it appear that he was as out of it as the players on the field. Were my observations correct? I guess we will never know. We can only go by the things we see since we cannot look into a person's innermost being. Just my two cents worth.

Regardless of the outcome of the game yesterday, this team will hold a special place in this BAMA fan's heart. These guys did not have to come to play for BAMA. In fact they had the opportunity to leave and ravage our team even more. But they chose to stick it out (in spite of that coward that left at the end of the '02 season) and helped restore our team to its place in college football. Because of the foundation they have laid, I have total confidence in our program once again. Due to graduation we may falter a little next year but I can rest well again, knowing that the Tide is on the rise. Before long we will look at our rivals like the barn and the viles as pesky flies whose only purpose in life will be to annoy, not annihilate.

So I hope that our rivals have enjoyed their day in the sun because it is almost over. Before long wingnut and phat phil and their classless teams will return to mediocre and losing records. When that happens the college football world will return to being right side up, not upside down.

 

[RollTideWCS]

Shula givin time

The game at Auburn turned out exactly the way I expected except for the final score.If there is anyone out there who did not expect this outcome you obviously didn't catch the LSU game.Sack's killed us with LSU and we all know Auburn thrive's on sacking Bama's QB.With the weakness across the OL no one could possibly expect less from AU.That's where we lost both times this year. We have our weaknesses and must address these before thinking about SEC or National championship's.
Shula need's a break from all the poor mouthing fan's.Think about what he came into with all the probation's and scandles hitting Bama over the last few year's.It takes a new coach no less then 3-4 year's to get his team/roster the way he want's it.Over the last few decade's the main problem I've noticed with Bama is the fact that they are scared to lose a few game,bite the bullet and give a coach time to build his program up to a winning program.
All NCAA fan's think that to lose to Auburn mean's to lose your job as HC at Bama. Bama has lost 4 in a row to AU now and it's not Shula's doing either. I for one am willing to give Shula time and Auburn will return to their underling selves.Shula recieved a pay raise didn't he?Probably well deserved in my opinion.The offensive coordinator's job security? This is questionable.
But this is just my opinion.Take it for what it's worth.

Love the outcome of GT @ Miami... :biggrin:

 

[Probius]

I understand probation has put us in a vulnerable position and I am not saying we should have beat the barn. But I agree that we were not prepared out of the gates saturday. Even with the O-Line playing as poorly as it was we still played the barn even after the first quarter. You can't expect players to spend an entire week without contact to then be ready to come out ready to play early in the game. The barn was ready to get after us and hit somebody from the opening kick and we were not. I believe Coach Shula will get us back to where we are supposed to be and that he is a very good coach, but this was a mistake. We may have still lost with contact practices the week before the Iron Bowl, I don't know. But at least we would have at least not gotten embarrased in the first quarter and might have had a chance to win that game late. Instead the game was over after the first quarter. I wouldn't expect Coach Shula to make that mistake again.

 

[RollTideWCS]

I just pray that the saying comes true.."What goes around,comes around!"...Bama's revenge is coming and soon.

 

[Crimson Speed]

Crimson Mo, you did a great job explaining the situation with the Crimson Tide. I have been saying the same thing for some time now, but some of the posters just do not understand that we are playing with less than a full deck of cards.
We will get there, a little at a time, but it does take time. My guess is about two more years and we can stand toe to toe with any team in the country. In the meantime, get use to the fact that Shula is doing the very best he can with limited talent.

 

[RamaJamaDog]

I agree with the above posts too...

I think we all pretty much agree. CMS and staff have done a good job this year. I see every top tier team we played had seniors or juniors only on their offense line and there is a reason for that. After Closner left we had all Freshmen and Softmores. This was the key reason our OL struggled against the good teams. A year on weights and coaching will do wonders.

I watched the Falcons play tonight and their OL struggled with the TB end pass rush. They had a Mobile quarterback and still struggled. The size and speed of these Definsive ends today is amazing. This is an area of growth for Bama and I am convinced they will get there.

 

[CHATTBRIT]

Thank you for splaining it to those who don't understand the real situation. It is not just the reduced scholarships, it is the walk ons given scholarships who ordinarily would not have earned them, it is many top players going to SEC rivals who would have come to Tuscaloosa, etc. It's not whining over the last two losses, just an explanation of what contributed to them. Our starters can go head to head with anyone on the D and in the O skill positions. The OL is really inexperienced. However, for a successful program, back ups need significant playing time and to be able to be inserted into any position with little drop off.

 

[Bamaro]

I have to agree that if any players were not ready for this game, there is nothing that CMS or any other coach could have done.

 

[7Tech]

I promise you that if Coach Bryant had seen a performance like that out of an O-line he coached, they would have run the barn stadium until they puked. .

then have them tow the bus back to T-town.