Demeco was in the 2002-2005 class. Shula didn't start as our coach until the 2003. Look, Why are you asking questions but then are telling Bama fans what answers not to use? Sounds like to me that you already have your opinion, it's not going to change with anything us Bama fans say outside of what you already think? Mike Shula didn't even know where the defensive side of the ball was located. He literally did NOTHING with the defensive side of the ball. You can choose to believe that or not. Joe Kines was the reason our defensive did as well as it did. He had full reign of the defense. The unit Mike Shula had control over sucked. The reason Joe Kines isn't coaching is because he chose not too. He had a chance to go to Texas but CHOSE to stay at Alabama and pretty much retire from coaching. He's no spring chicken and said his family time had now become more important.
That might be true. This would be a great topic for another thread. I know that you don't mean to hi-jack this thread by turning it into another thread about Nick Saban. I have some honest good positive non-bashing thoughts on this that I have not yet expressed on this board.
On the defensive weakness, the fact is that Ryans and Anderson were lightly regarded when recruited, so they turned out to be pleasant surprises. In Ryan's case, he was drafted way down, so you could say that he also was lightly regarded by the NFL. However, he was a straight "A" student, and just like speed, you can't teach brains. We've only had two other defensive players who've done decently in the pros - Charlie Peprah and Roman Harper, both whom were recruited by Franchione. And why we would have lost much bigger with Shula was that he was stubbornly wedded to the pro set, which wasted much of the WR talent we enjoyed. He also couldn't think on his feet, but wouldn't turn loose of the play-calling reins. So, I remember games where we ran no more than five plays, all of them defaults, because the brain trust on the sidelines couldn't decide and send it in inside of 25 seconds. The players had no respect for him - called him "Sheila" behind his back. Shula could have saved his job. He was given an ultimatum to revamp his staff (particularly fire the one Rich mentioned), but, being the stubborn SOB he is, he came back with cosmetic changes and no firings. After one particularly grueling loss our president visited the locker room and found whistling and levity - acting as if they'd won. Shula, ignored the inappropriate behavior and delivered his canned speech - all in front of the president. After that, the president started spending some time on the sidelines and that clinched it. The rest is history.
I don't like the "Saban Bowl" title myself. In my opinion it takes away from both LSU and Alabama and that is wrong. Leave it up to the media to make a circus out of an event. Joe Kines is still at Alabama. Kines was hired as an officer with Tide Pride, which is responsible for helping to fund scholarships, generating revenue for capital improvements, and supporting the "Million Dollar Band," among other activities. He is also a popular guest speaker on many occasions. Mack Brown at Texas was thought to be ready to hire Kines but it seems like Coach Kines would rather stay at Alabama in his present capacity than go to Texas as their LB coach or DC. I don't know about the 45-9 score. Shula would have moved the ball some and kicked 3 FGs but no TDs. Joe would have kept it interesting but LSU would have scored on his defense. LSU averaged scoring 25 points on us each game Kines was the DC under Shula so maybe the score would have been 25-9
LOOK . . . no need to get snippy. Don't presume to know my opinion, when you can read it here. I revise and re-evaluate my own opinions at all times and constantly. You say that Bama's offense sucked before 2007 . . . because it was Shula's unit? Is that a well-reasoned opinion? Joe Kines isn't coaching because of personal reasons . . . family reasons? He wanted to be coaching for Alabama in 2007 like he was in 2006. I'm not sure that he's out of coaching because for that reason. Good coaches make great money, and, Coach Kines is not independently wealthy . . . he wanted to coach in 2007, because he made that clear when asked about this shortly after Shula was fired. I wonder why nobody but Texas expressed interest in hiring Joe Kines anymore. He's only seven years older than Saban. . . he's not too old to coach, and he intended to coach in 2007. I thought that Kines was a great DC. The whole Bama Nation thought that Joe Kines was a great DC. Were we wrong about that? Could it be that our ability to judge the skills, character and abilities of any particular coach is not as reliable as we might think? Could it be that "The case of Coach Kines" is Exhibit A for the idea that maybe we really don't know that much about judging coaches after all, Sir? PS If Bo Pelini leaves LSU to take a HC job at a major program, I might want LSU to hire Joe Kines as DC. I used to think that he was a great DC, but, what am I to think now?
You've watched a lot more of Bama than me. I've watched parts of other games, but the main thing I have to draw off of is the LSU game. In the LSU game, I didn't notice many missed assignments. It was apparent that the DLine was undersized, which allowed us to run the ball, but also allowed you to beat our RT on multiple occassions. I believe 2 of Flynn's picks came because Stewart (our RT) got beat badly. Shula was not a great coach. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who believes he was. But even before he was fired this year was supposed to be a better year.
Our OLine dominated in run blocking, but not pass protection. And I wouldn't say our skill players played worse than expected. The players that played worse than expected were Stewart & on a few occasions, Flynn. I do have to give credit to Bama's WR corp. They played awesome.
The best way to answer this question is with an analogy, two in fact. First, the text book situation on our campus and secondly the RP situation here. You have fans here that knew a lot about the situation and what was going on outside of 'net forums but chose not to post it. In the first example, considering the number of threads put up on the subject (TigerN.L.A. probably needs some Internet award) you have Bama fans on this forum that knew what was going on with that story as well. BUT, chose not to post any more details about it as well. Bottom line, some things belong on public forums. Other things don't. I can attest for Bayou and myself with the opinions of the '06 season because we were saying the same thing in '05 and '04. It was "touched" on, but not a mantra for lack of a better expression. There was no need for fans that knew what was going on behind the scenes to be posting stories here or on any Bama forum. All that being said, there were a few coaches I had a lot of respect for on that staff. There were just as many, if not more, that I had little to no respect for. A couple of things to point out on Kines. One, where his family lives. Two, the amount of time he has vested in the Alabama retirement system. Three, the fact that he's loved Tuscaloosa and the University for quite some time. He's very happy with his current position in the Athletic Dept. right now.
There are things I am aware of that I don't post on our Alabama forums and even more I will not post on a rival's forum. There are things everyone should know and there are things that shouldn't be shared. No, I do not publish a $1200 private news letter.
