Is it Really the Time to Consider Firing CKD???

[bamamc1]

He may not be a selfish primadonna, but so far he’s a bust. Bernard is our best WR by far. Maybe not the most talented, but it doesn’t matter if that talent doesn’t produce.

I don't think Williams is a bust at all. He's still young and has his best football ahead of him.

 

[cdub55]

The sad part of all of this, is that if I'm a coach trying to instill discipline and get through to players, I'd welcome some stuff like this to address. I can't just start yelling at them randomly because I see a look in their eyes or something that concerns me, but if I see someone with a cell phone out or something? I'm going to rip them a new one, it's a chance to get everyone's attention, to focus them, to say hey take this seriously! This coaching staff honestly seems to be loafing themselves, may be their schemes are great and all of that, but if you don't show up focused and dialed in it won't matter and that requires discipline.

I remember hearing other players talk about what it felt like to see Alabama walk onto the field and how they basically already felt defeated. I don't think that's the impression anymore, and I'd think everyone involved with the program would desperately want that back. If what you're doing is working, people are not likely to question it. This isn't working though. At this point I'd darn near have those kids marching out there like they're from a military institute or something. Clearly things are out of hand and they don't get fixed unless you start with the small stuff.

Part of the issue is we are looking for explanations and to understand precisely what is wrong. Scrutinizing player behavior is part of that. It is ultimately a symptom, and I hold the coaches accountable, not necessarily the players. The coaches are the ones that set and maintain the standard, failure to do so is on them.

An old coaching phrase that gets regurgitated ad nauseum is "The little things matter". It is absurdly obvious that we have not seen a team that has embraced this idea over the past season and a game. To your point, that is on the players. The coaches are responsible for the players therefore it is 100% on the coaches. Quit trying to be cool or their friend and be someone they respect and lead them. Quit making excuses for their lack of execution and hold them accountable for their failures. Call me old school but football isn't a game where atta boys and popsicles win games. Man up and play the game how we know it should be played or go somewhere else.

 

[mlh]

Saban's genius was never in what scheme he ran. Clearly, he was married to his preferred defensive scheme as a former DB and defensive position coach. And clearly he was far more willing to change the scheme on offense. But what made Coach Saban a genius was his ability to motivate his players to play hard no matter what, to learn the scheme no matter what it was, and to execute it with precision.

He could have won at the same level with any scheme, because he was so good at getting his team to focus on the mission and execute it no matter what the circumstances were.

"The Process" worked...until it didn't.

I know a lot of guys who played for Coach Bryant in the '70s. They all said the same thing - he was a master motivator. One player told me: "Coach could talk to you for 10 minutes and make you believe you could move Denny Chimes to the other end of the quad. Then, when you tried and failed, he could talk to you for another 10 minutes and make you feel like it was your fault."

 

[cdub55]

And what's more frustrating is Wommack's system was supposed to be "easier" to play in than Saban's which should have resulted in a quicker learning curve rather than still seeing confusion in year two.

Confusion is an excuse that we like to use to describe blown assignments or players being out of position. IMHO, we aren't seeing confusion at all. We are seeing guys not playing with maximum effort, guys choosing to not be physical, and guys making "business decisions" over doing what it takes to make the play. You can't tell me that a DE doesn't know he has contain or an ILB doesn't know to scape to the football downhill. What I see is guys doing it their way instead of the right way and that is because it isn't being demanded of them on a day to day basis. I attended countless practices while Saban was at the helm and tackling, pursuit angles, and hustling to the ball was a non-negotiator.

Saban was notorious, per conversations I have personally had with coordinators and assistant coaches, for watching every single rep from practice from every single day. Assistants sat by and watched each rep while Saban held the remote and scrutinized the things that needed to be fixed while they said "yes sir" and jotted down notes day after day. It was boring and monotonous but things got fixed. One coordinator once told me, "If I'm still alive when that man dies, I'm going to walk up to the casket and see wires coming out of his arms and I'm going to say I told yall his ____ was a robot."

 

[Bamabuzzard]

An old coaching phrase that gets regurgitated ad nauseum is "The little things matter". It is absurdly obvious that we have not seen a team that has embraced this idea over the past season and a game. To your point, that is on the players. The coaches are responsible for the players therefore it is 100% on the coaches. Quit trying to be cool or their friend and be someone they respect and lead them. Quit making excuses for their lack of execution and hold them accountable for their failures. Call me old school but football isn't a game where atta boys and popsicles win games. Man up and play the game how we know it should be played or go somewhere else.

I've got a saying to my players and parents on my baseball team that I think fully applies to football.

"Feelings don't win baseball games"

 

[TideEngineer08]

Confusion is an excuse that we like to use to describe blown assignments or players being out of position. IMHO, we aren't seeing confusion at all. We are seeing guys not playing with maximum effort, guys choosing to not be physical, and guys making "business decisions" over doing what it takes to make the play. You can't tell me that a DE doesn't know he has contain or an ILB doesn't know to scape to the football downhill. What I see is guys doing it their way instead of the right way and that is because it isn't being demanded of them on a day to day basis. I attended countless practices while Saban was at the helm and tackling, pursuit angles, and hustling to the ball was a non-negotiator.

Saban was notorious, per conversations I have personally had with coordinators and assistant coaches, for watching every single rep from practice from every single day. Assistants sat by and watched each rep while Saban held the remote and scrutinized the things that needed to be fixed while they said "yes sir" and jotted down notes day after day. It was boring and monotonous but things got fixed. One coordinator once told me, "If I'm still alive when that man dies, I'm going to walk up to the casket and see wires coming out of his arms and I'm going to say I told yall his ____ was a robot."

I remember my uncle discussing this with me 20 years ago, about Coach Saban, the he "coached his assistants" more than any other guy out there.

His attention to detail is something we simply do not see in normal human beings.

 

[81usaf92]

He may not be a selfish primadonna, but so far he’s a bust. Bernard is our best WR by far. Maybe not the most talented, but it doesn’t matter if that talent doesn’t produce.

bust or not living up to hype and not producing on the field is acceptable criticism. But so far this whole week Alabama fans have gone criticizing him for his dress apparel, his nails, and whatever they perceive is not Alabama. Too many have crossed the line by attacking his personality and linking him as a “me first” guy with very little to go off of.

Be critical of his play all yall want but until he starts opening his mouth or costing us for selfish stuff let’s cut the primaddonna nonsense that all of the sudden is infecting bama message boards and other social media outlets.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I mean, who cares anymore?

NIL and the portal really killed my interest but good grief, these nonchalant players and coaches have hammered the nails in the coffin.

SMH...

First they came for the scholarships.
Then they came for the poll votes.
Then they came for the Legion Field-based Iron Bowl
Then they came for the Third Saturday In October.
Then they came for the OOC series with teams like Penn State.
Then they came for the 11-game regular season.
Then they came for the standard uniforms worn for decades.
Then they came for the BCS.
Then they came for the four-team playoff.
Then they came for the redshirt rule.
Then they came for the bowl games with opt outs.
Then they came for the "one year sitout rule"
Then they came for the "you can't pay players" rule.
Then they came for strength of schedule.

And then those same dumb asses wondered why I wouldn't watch their game anymore.

 

[RollTide_HTTR]

He may not be a selfish primadonna, but so far he’s a bust. Bernard is our best WR by far. Maybe not the most talented, but it doesn’t matter if that talent doesn’t produce.

You might want to watch some of those plays and see why Bernard is open on some of them. Hint: Ryan Williams.

He's young, he's an 18 year old sophomore. He's insanely talented and by far our most explosive player.

 

[81usaf92]

You might want to watch some of those plays and see why Bernard is open on some of them. Hint: Ryan Williams.

He's young, he's an 18 year old sophomore. He's insanely talented and by far our most explosive player.

There were many plays in which he had 2 to 3 DBs on him and Benard was wide open. Yes he had some drops but it is what it is.

Offensively I’m more mad at Protcor and Grubb. Proctor for obvious reasons, but Grubb for less obvious. In the scrimmages we didn’t have any long developing plays, we were 5-15 yards dink and dunk. Our two TD drives resemble what we saw in the scrimmages. Why he abandoned that is on par with Kiffin’s game against Washington. It made zero sense.

 

[75thru79]

In the scrimmages we didn’t have any long developing plays, we were 5-15 yards dink and dunk. Our two TD drives resemble what we saw in the scrimmages. Why he abandoned that is on par with Kiffin’s game against Washington. It made zero sense.

I think the issue is our offensive line can't block long enough for those type plays to develop. Ty had about three to four seconds to get rid of the ball or he was going to have to scramble to get a pass off and it doesn't appear he is very good at throwing on the run.

 

[CoolBreeze]

Burns might be right about this being the best thing that could have happened. If nothing else, it sped up the timeline on the inevitable if things continue.

SEC Network host says Alabama’s loss best thing to happen to them | Sporting News

Losses should be an opportunity to learn about your team, at least that's what SEC Network host Peter Burns seems to think. He says how quickly the Tide will learn from this may determine their whole season.

www.sportingnews.com

 

[CrimsonCleanse]

I hope I am wrong. But last Saturday, I had a PTSD flashback to the 2000 opener vs UCLA. We were preseason #3 and picked to have phenomenal year. We went up 7-0 in that game (just like this past Saturday) and next thing we knew,.we were down 21-7 and never really got back in the game. Much like how we got down 17-7 to FSU. Even when we pulled to within a TD, it still didn't feel like we actually had a chance of coming back and winning.

I had an awful feeling in 2000 after that beat down loss to UCLA. I told somebody this kind of had 2000 vibes. They told me "oh no...these aren't THOSE days. Unlike then, we are WAY too talented and have WAY too many weapons to have a season like that". I corrected them and said "actually...we were very talented and had a lot of weapons in 2000....and we went 3-8". I don't see a 3 win year or anything like that...but... something like 6-6 isn't entirely out of the question either. That said, I hope like hell I'm wrong

 

[81usaf92]

I think the issue is our offensive line can't block long enough for those type plays to develop. Ty had about three to four seconds to get rid of the ball or he was going to have to scramble to get a pass off and it doesn't appear he is very good at throwing on the run.

Then it makes zero sense why we kept trying to throw long instead of running our offense

 

[SkullDuckery]

We should have given Steele a one year contract to coach last season. That way we didn’t have to rush this hire. Made it worth his while to stay.

 

[SkullDuckery]

Rush Propts would probably do it for free.

 

[bravo6]

It kind of is. He's representing the University of Alabama and as a fan that matters to me. How he dresses. What he carries. How he interacts with the fans. How he behaves in general matters.

So . . . his mental wellness has to look how you think it should?

 

[bravo6]

A.) I never mentioned it.
B.) If you play below your expectation or your optimal level, the first thing people want to know is WHY.

Ryan obviously is drinking his own Kool-Aid instead of grinding and putting in the work that he needs to put in to be his best. Most would like to see him focused on football and less focused on fashion statements and podcasts. If you can be an All American and great teammate and balance all of it, good for you and more power to you. For most 18 year olds that is impossible...

A. Fair enough. I should've made it clear that was for the OP and everyone else who mentioning it.

 

[mlh]

So . . . his mental wellness has to look how you think it should?

I don't think I ever said anything about mental wellness. I only mentioned how the players represent my university.

 

[some_al_fan]

From Coach DeBoer's point of view, he has no motivation to win games, since if we fire him, he will be paid the remainder of his $100 million contract for doing nothing.
He can retire and enjoy the rest of his life without any stress.

It was a huge mistake to give him that kind of contact.