The coaching search at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa has just crossed the line into pure embarrassment.  Contrary to reports late last evening, West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez will not be leaving Morgantown.

This should serve as a rude awakening to Tide fans.  You can no longer ignore the fact that coaching at Alabama is far from an attractive job.  The head job in T-town was just turned down by a Big East coach - who, by the way, was UAT’s third choice.

The administration should immediately reevaluate Mal Moore and decide if he is even the right man to continue the search.  His history of personnel decisions has been far from stellar and his handling of this search has been laughable to say the least.  He has squandered both time and goodwill.  Moore had no credible chance at luring Spurrier or Saban to Alabama; he should have gone after Rodriguez immediately, although it may not have made a difference.  The next coach Moore approaches will know that he is UAT’s fourth choice - not terribly flattering.

Even the promise of mountains of green stuff hasn’t whetted anyone’s appetite enough to take the Bama job.  Why?  Because the fans and the administration will measure the next coach up against Bear Bryant.  Bama fans, I have news for you: Bryant would be lucky to win more than one title in the modern era of college football.  Even he wouldn’t measure up to his legacy.  There is too much parity.  Period.  Get realistic, get a good, up and coming coach, and give him a chance.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Saturday, December 9th, 2006 at 12:03 am and is filed under College Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.