Another bad idea by 'Bama

Price latest victim of Tide's backward football culture

The day Mike Price was hired by Alabama last December, I wrote that the laid-back West Coaster was a bad fit for a school that chews up and spits out its never-ending cycle of coaches. The 'Bama fans who read it were none too pleased.

How dare you say such things about our esteemed university. You couldn't be more wrong. We're not like that anymore. We'll support Coach Price through thick and thin.

Well, congratulations Tiders, you've outdone yourselves this time. Four months -- a new land-speed record, after which I have changed my mind about at least one thing.

Alabama doesn't chew up and spit out coaches. It tortures, mangles, dissects and devours them.

And that's before they coach their first game.

Mike Price is hardly the first football coach to frequent an adult entertainment establishment, or enjoy some alcoholic beverages. (The $1,000 room service tab admittedly might be a first). In nearly any other part of the country, such transgressions would barely become public knowledge, much less become the center of a state-wide obsession and a national media story -- even rising to the level of fireable offense.

"I don't know what kind of a world it would be, or how many people would be in that world, if it were one mistake and you're done," Price said Saturday.

Coach, that world is Alabama. Be glad you're getting out of it.

It's a world that gathers much collective pride over its unmatched passion for college football, any self-respecting native eager to boast how football is a "religion" in their state.

At what point do we start calling it what it really is? A sickness.

Is it when a program lands one step short of the NCAA's death penalty due to the actions of its own boosters?

Or when it's on the verge of its fourth football coach in four years?

Some would argue that this is no different than the Larry Eustachy situation at Iowa State, that the school had no choice but to dismiss Price in order to save its credibility.

There are two big differences.

For one, in Eustachy's case, there was a pattern of questionable, alcohol-related behavior that dated all the way back to his Utah State days, whereas in the week since the Price rumors first surfaced, the only stories dredged up against him have been testimonials to his integrity.

And second, what credibility did Alabama have to begin with?

If there's a more backward program in the country right now, I've yet to find it.

For nearly two decades, a revolving door of good ol' boy athletic directors, trustees and other officials have acted with less regard for what's in their best interest today than what they think would have been in the best interest of a man who died 20 years ago.

Just look at who's the most popular name being mentioned early on as Price's possible replacement: Gene Stallings.

Are you kidding me?

The only difference between Stallings and the reviled Mike DuBose, both of whose tenures were marred by probation, is that DuBose had the nerve not to win a national championship.

DuBose also shares something in common with Price. He too admitted to some questionable off-field conduct, engaging in inappropriate relations with a female employee. His scandal was far worse for the university in that it had to spend $350,000 settling the woman's sexual harassment case.

Unlike Price, though, DuBose wasn't immediately fired, probably because it was a month before the start of the season, but also because, unlike Price, he was one of Bear's boys.

Alabama's woes are not, as many of their fans would have you believe, the doings of Auburn, Tennessee, Roy Kramer or any other conspiracy theory. They are entirely the product of a self-important and self-destructive culture that spun out of control long ago.

There are a few people worth feeling sorry for amidst this mess: Price, his staff and his players.

When I visited with Price in his office during spring practices a month-and-a-half ago, it was exactly as I had envisioned. He was overjoyed by this unexpected opportunity, thrilled by the way he'd been received -- and completely naïve to what he was in store. Asked about the intensified scrutiny in Tuscaloosa, he said he'd been going to restaurants, stores, to the movies and to bars and saw no reason why he'd need to keep a lower profile than in Pullman.

Turned out that's exactly what did him in.

Fact is, Price never should have taken the job. He could have gone on coaching at Washington State until the end of time and been nothing but adored, but the temptation of Alabama proved too much. Hopefully he'll be able to find a new opportunity back in his more natural environment.

As for the players, just stop and think about what it must be like today to be Brodie Croyle.

An Alabama native and second-generation Tide player, the high school All-America quarterback grew up dreaming of nothing more than one day leading 'Bama to gridiron glory. So far, those dreams have consisted of the following: