Tired of the Bama Bashers

Tuscaloosa News sports columnist Cecil Hurt recently wrote a column about hope returning to the University of Alabama football program. I couldn't agree more. It's been a rough decade to be a fervent Tide fan. Coach Gene Stallings led the Crimson Tide to a National Championship in 1992 as part of a 28-game winning streak that lasted for part of 1991, all of 1992, and part of 1993.

Then came a run-in with the NCAA and a punishment that disallowed the Crimson Tide an appearance in a bowl game in 1995. The Tide bounced back in 1996 with a 10-3 record and a win over Michigan in the Outback Bowl.

But Coach Stallings retired after the Outback Bowl, and troubled times soon set in. Coach Mike DuBose proved to be a bad hire, UA was hit with NCAA sanctions again and suffered arguably the most unfair penalties in NCAA history, Coach Dennis Franchione came and went, which was followed by the Mike Price debacle, and finally a coaching stint by Mike Shula, who barely had a winning record in four years at UA.

The national media excoriated Alabama for firing Shula, despite the fact that his record was weak and his leadership questionable. Serious questions hung around the football complex regarding discipline, strength and conditioning, the competence of some of the coaches, and the general direction of the program.

The press and Bama rivals seemed to rejoice when West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez turned down an offer from UA to become the next Bama head man, but Alabama Athletic Director Mal Moore and President Dr. Robert Witt still had hope that their No. 1 choice would still be a possibility. And after the NFL regular season was over, Miami Dolphins Coach Nick Saban was announced as the new Alabama head coach.

Again, the media torched Saban and Alabama. Saban lied, the media decried, when he said he was not interested in the Alabama job only to take it a few weeks later. Hey media pinheads, I'm not saying Saban handled the questions about his coaching future well, but it happens all the time. Tommy Tuberville said he'd only leave Mississippi in a pine box just a couple days before bolting for Auburn. Dennis Franchione said he wasn't looking at any other jobs just before he stepped on a plane to College Station, Texas, never to return to Alabama. Even recently Louisville's Bobby Petrino said he would honor his 10-year contract with the Cardinals just before taking a job as the Atlanta Falcons head coach. And what about the owners or college athletic directors who give a coach their "vote of confidence" and then fire the guys two weeks later? Geez, enough of the hypocrisy.

Was Saban less than honest? Yes. But it happens all the time in sports and the media rarely questions it and never as vehemently as it has done in the case of Saban and Alabama. Just last night on ESPN in the "Sunday Conversation" on SportsCenter, the camera zoomed tight on Saban's face while Chris Mortensen, two weeks after Bama hired Saban, continued to ask about Saban's "less than truthful" departure from the Dolphins. Part two of that conversation comes tonight, and it is supposed to focus more on what Saban wants to do at Alabama and be less about Saban defending himself to the media—again.

With Saban comes a guy known as a leader—a guy with whom you do things his way or you hit the highway. He doesn't generally schmooze with the press and is known to be a difficult guy to work with, but his take-charge attitude is exactly what Alabama needs right now. It's what Alabama had from 1958 to 1982 with legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant running the Tide football program. Ray Perkins and then Bill Curry failed to fill the shoes of Coach Bryant. Stallings had a similar demeaner to Bryant and his leadership brought Bama back to where it was under Bryant, and then the wheels fell off.

I feel confident that Saban will put Alabama in a position to where it was in years such as 1961 or 1978 or 1992. I think with some rebuilding on Alabama's defensive front and in the linebacking corps that Alabama will be contending for SEC championships, and perhaps national championships, within a few years. Alabama fans have been like whipped dogs, hanging their heads, afraid to be bold and aggressive. But with the hiring of Nick Saban, Bama fans are once again proud. They are buying Tide Pride tickets and Bama gear. They are showing their colors. For the first time in a long time the Bama Nation is united. The championship mindset has returned, now let the on-the-field championships follow.

And to the media that keeps bashing Bama, give it a rest. Columnist Cecil Hurt points out the hypocrisy again in his column today. Great comments by Cecil: "What Alabama fans want, in the long term, is to field a team that is competitive, year in and year out, in the SEC. It’s the same thing that Florida wanted when it replaced Ron Zook. It’s the same thing that LSU and Auburn and all the other teams in the league’s upper echelon expect, and the rest of the teams aspire to. And it is by no means unreasonable."

Roll Tide!!!!!!!!!