Get to know me!! - Mike Shula
I'll be honest with you. I don't really know much about or have that great of an opinion on Mike Shula. He seems to be kind of like the mystery man of the SEC West to me. He came out of nowhere seemingly to take the Alabama job and I'm not positive he isn't some kind of CIA agent posing as a head coach in order to more closely study Auburn and bring them down in the culmination of Operation Not An Accredited Institution...ladies and gentleman, let's get to know Mike Shula.
Mike Shula...moments before a tragic donut sharing accidentMike Shula seemingly fell into the Bama job in the summer of '03 after Mike Price was fired for AH-LEDGE-ED-LY hanging out with strippers and getting mad drunk. While these seem like the proper qualities for a coach in the SEC to me, Bama disagreed and Price was dismissed before coaching a game and bringing his godforsaken Pac-10 offense to the land of Ala-bam. Shula was chosen over the far more African-American candidate, current Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom. Among Shula's first acts was renaming an award named for Croom given to Alabama players. This was smartly reconsidered. But still, not the way to begin one's career. Shula's Tide struggled to a 4-9 record in 2003, including an overtime thriller against my Hogs that remains among my favorite games to have ever nearly had a stroke watching. 2004 started off a little better, then Brodie Croyle had his yearly season ending injury against Western Carolina (thats not even a real state!).
Brodie Croyle....moments before blowing out his ACL leaving the podiumLast year, Shula was given demi-god "BAMA IS BACK!" status as the Tide surged to a 10-2 record. They also beat the ever living crap out of Florida, for which they would surely regret at a future date if the OBC was still in charge in Gainesville. If Bama is truly back is still to be determined - for now, I put it in with the other "we are back!" statements of Notre Dame, Penn State, and other teams that had a resurgent season that is, in the big picture, still just one great record over the past three or four seasons. However, Bama is Bama and I won't discount them just yet. Additionally, much like Urban Meyer, Mike Shula also appears to have a fairly attractive, if Stepford wife. And like 400 kids as well. And these kids have Don Shula as their grampa, so they are already cooler than we are.
posted by Lord Jorts @ 5:46 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I'm afraid I cannot comment on das wunderkid. I am unable to muster even the smallest shred of objectivity. You see, not only is Mikey-Boy the head man for my beloved Tide, but I have a bit of history with him.
Let us turn back the clock to an unseasonably cool late summer's eve at Legion Field in Birmingham, AL on September 14, 1985. The Aggies of Texas A&M were in town to play Alabama. I was 8 years old and it was my first Alabama game. I noticed one thing very quickly about the Crimson Tide's QB that evening. He, like myself, was blessed/cursed with being left-handed. And thus my first favorite athlete. Of course, that QB was Mike Shula. (Alabama won that night by the way, 23-10.)
With that said, I basically agree with you. As unbelievable as it may sound, after three years the jury is still out on Don's boy. We're not used to this kind of patience at Alabama. And while we like to believe that this patience is a sign of growth and maturity, our enemies (namely Auburn & UT) take it as a sign of weakness.
Well, it took a fortuitous bounce or two to vanquish Fat Phil last year, but the job was done. But honestly, Shula may want to seriously consider making Tubby stick that "thumb" up his ass. I'm just saying. Just so all is right with the world again.
I want to like Shula - he seems like a good guy, has the personal history with the program, but I just can't quite get behind him yet either.
While I'm not a Bama fan, I like to see Bama winning ballgames. I like to see every SEC team winning ballgames (except against Ark), especially our traditional powers. Alabama - like Tennessee, Florida, and Georgia have no reason not to be a potential ten win team every year. LSU may be approaching this status too, just depends on how Miles holds it together - I don't trust him yet either. Having two underwhelming teams and only one really good team dosen't impress me yet. This should be the year of truth, the players should be mostly his, his system is firmly in place, etc. I'll delve into it more once I start with team previews. Bama's offense worries me however.
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