[Chronic Diarrhea]

[quote="Sicilian_Summers":8568b]Shula was 1-11 against LSU, Auburn, and Tennessee. He was the first coach to go 0-4 against Auburn. I don't think the standards at Alabama are too high, I just think Shula was a bad coach. Most people don't realize how Bama fans actually lowered their standards when Shula arrived.[/quote:8568b]

YES. Exactly. In addition, Shula was 0-22 when trailing by the 4th quarter. Yes, that's right, he was unable to stage a comeback victory in his 4 years. Back in the early 90s, Alabama was known to dominate the 4th quarter, especially under Stallings.

The media likes to paint a stigma on Bama, saying that the fans are impossible to please. In reality, nobody questioned Shula until this year, which was actually too long to wait. The fans gave him considerable support, and many think Shula deserved another year (I strongly disagree with that).

The reason why we expect to contend for SEC titles is because of our talent. The talent is there (bringing in a top 10 class last season, and top 20 the other 3 seasons).

Just a few years ago, Michigan fans were calling for Lloyd Carr's head, because he couldn't beat Ohio State. You HAVE to beat your rivals in college football to keep your job. In Alabama's case, this would mean beating LSU, Tennessee, and Auburn . Bama fans don't expect us to sweep these teams every year. We'd like to at least win 50% or more of those though, and I don't think that's unreasonable.

The media also likes to forget that throughout the entire 90s, USC and Oklahoma were both in the shithole. It wasn't until the turn of the century that these two teams got back to the top. Neither team lost it's tradition, prestige, or credibility during those times. Why should it be any different for Alabama? The time frame for our inconsistency has been roughly the same (starting with 1997, the first year without Stallings).

Paul Johnson or Steve Kragthorpe may be excellent coaches. I don't know much about either guy though, but the problem with Kragthorpe in particular is he isn't a "proven winner." Yes, he has done a good job turning around the Tulsa program, but that doesn't mean you can hack it in the SEC. The SEC is a cutthroat conference. Recruiting is tough for any school here. I don't know if Paul Johnson or Kragthorpe would be ready for this kind of job and be successful. Paul Johnson hasn't needed to recruit @ Navy because military academies aren't allowed to recruit.

Either way, both of those guys would be miles better than Shula. Nobody knows about it, but the discipline issues that were going on was one of the key reasons Shula was fired. Some of the things that were going on would be disgusting to any Bama fan.

Does anybody know a lot about Paul Johnson (as he seems to be the lead guy now)? What are his coaching philosophies like? I know he runs the piss out of the ball @ Navy, but that's Navy and that's what they're known for.