Scorecard

Turning the Tide?

By hiring dashing young coach Mike Shula, Alabama meant to calm the storm swirling around its football program. Instead, it created a new controversy

By Kelley King

The University of Alabama's decision to hire Mike Price last December was bold, unexpected and more than a little controversial. Price, then 56, was an offensive guru coming off great success as the head coach at Washington State, but he had no ties to Tuscaloosa, much less a working knowledge of the SEC. And so, when Alabama fired Price after the coach's recent strip-club adventure -- Alabama President Robert Witt said Price did not meet the responsibility of "conducting [his] life in accord with appropriate standards" (SI, May 12) -- it was not surprising that the university wanted a replacement who would raise as few eyebrows as possible. In 37-year-old Mike Shula, the brand-named and boyishly earnest former Tide quarterback, officials got Price's opposite -- for better and for worse.

Supporters of Shula -- who spent the previous three years as the Miami Dolphins' quarterbacks coach -- say the proof is in the pedigree. Alabama athletic director Mal Moore, announcing the hire on May 8, suggested that Shula's experience as the son of football legend Don, as well as his tenure as an all-SEC quarterback at Alabama in the mid-1980s, would help him deal with the scrutiny that comes with representing the Crimson Tide. Ray Perkins, who coached Mike in college and played for Don in the NFL, sees similarities between the Shulas. "He's got an excellent football mind," Perkins told the Tuscaloosa News of his former pupil. "He's very organized, and he's a tireless worker. Of course you know he's a great human being."

But take away the bloodlines and the Alabama background, and the Tide's youngest head coach in 72 years is less obviously the man for the job. In 15 seasons as an NFL offensive assistant, Shula has served just one stint as a coordinator -- with Tampa Bay, which hired him in 1996 and let him go in '99 after the Bucs finished 28th or lower in total yards three of four years. He has never held a head-coaching position at any level and has never been on the staff of a college team.

These shortcomings are fueling just the sort of controversy that Alabama had hoped to avoid. Moore confirmed late last week that well-regarded coach Sylvester Croom, an African-American, interviewed for the job on May 5, the day after Shula was screened. Croom, 48, an All-America center under Bear Bryant who has 10 years of college experience (as a linebackers coach at Alabama) and 16 years of NFL assistant coaching on his résumé, seemed to be equally or more qualified than Shula. Although Moore pointed out that Baltimore Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, who is black, "supported Mike" when Moore consulted Newsome during the hiring process, critics say that Croom didn't stand a chance in the SEC, which has never had a black head coach in football. "It's a sad day for Alabama," State Senator Charles Steele said after the selection. Jesse Jackson, meanwhile, announced plans to protest the university's failure to give due consideration to minority candidates.

In the shadow of this criticism -- which coincided with the emergence of additional accounts of Price's fateful trip to Pensacola, Fla. -- Shula gave a press conference on Friday. His voice often quavered. And he described a talk he had with his new team. "I told the seniors that I don't want to hear about a three-year or four-year plan," said Shula. "I want to win next year." The statement might be idealistic, especially given that due to NCAA infractions, Alabama has been stripped of 21 scholarships between 2002 and '04. But it also suggests that Shula grasps this certainty about coaching the Crimson Tide: The leash he is on is a short one.

Issue date: May 19, 2003

For more Scorecard see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, May 14. Click here to subscribe to SI.

 

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