alabama-centric

edit: this post, less than 12 hours removed from it being published, is now irrelevant. all except the bottom part about mark gottfried sucking. i stick to that until i am swayed otherwise.

there is no telling how many hundreds upon thousands of bloggers, journalists, what-have-you will comment on this today, but i haven't said much about alabama football all season (not that i've had much reason to), so i'll weigh in with my two cents. i will admit to feeling a little conflicted about the hiring of rich rodriguez. i am sure most rational bama fans may share this feeling with me. now, don't get me wrong. from the word go, once the initial list of names was published, i have been on record rooting for coach rich to be the guy. his offense at west virginia is fun to watch. he has taken that program from mediocrity to bcs-worthy in a very short period of time. he is passionate. he reaks of the "discipline" that oh-so-many alabama fans have been yipping and yelling that mike shula was incapable of doling out. long story short, there isn't one thing to be unhappy with regarding the thought of rich rodriguez being a perfect remedy for what ails ALABAMA FOOTBALL (cue elephant whinny)....

except for the whole, "i am not not leaving west virginia" schtick that he has been playing the last couple of weeks. it doesn't take me or any joe bama fan long to remember the franchione debacle. good to great coach turning bama around bolts for what we know now was his dream job. franchione leaves without telling his players good-bye. sayonara. good riddance. enter mike price. exit mike price. enter mike shula. gag me with a spoon. it sucked. the whole thing sucked. and i can imagine that the way joe bama fan felt back then is exactly what joe west virginia fan is thinking today. "how could he do this?" "he said he was staying." "this is his home." "traitor." "son of a bitch." "wtf." the list goes on and on. and therein lies the reason for my confliction. yes, it is great that bama got a good to great coach. but at what cost? the players he leaves behind may forgive him, but they will not forget this betrayal. they will not forget him being in their living rooms, gushing over his recently signed contract extension, promising his recruits that he will be at west virginia until his grandkids graduate mountaineers.

thankfully, west virginia is a long way away from tuscaloosa. the ill feelings that people have for him up north shouldn't affect the image of the shiny new 2 million dollar coach walking into the homes of high school seniors down in dixie.

i do hate it for the people of wvu. i know what you are thinking this morning. it's not hard to understand how the incredible pay raise, the lure of the sec, the chance to be the next bear could lure your native son away. it's just hard, period. sorry. and thanks for the coach.

etc...if alabama basketball has top five talent (and they do), and their coach cannot defend the three, what do you have? a four or five seed that will have to pull a major upset (think last year and ucla) just to get out of the first weekend of the ncaa tourney. if alabama has two first round picks (and they do), and their coach is going to allow the taller one to audition for the nba by taking jumpers and three point shots instead of playing to his strengths, what do you have? see above. if alabama has a chance pull off a special season (and they do), they need to decide before january what kind of team they are. last night was waaaaaaaaayyyyy too familiar, and i already can't stand mark gottfried as a bench coach. a coach that is constantly outcoached. we got beat by a bunch of white boys shooting threes....again. just like last year.

roll tide?