ALABAMA COACHES IN THEIR RESPECTIVE SECOND YEARS

DEWEY’S DIATRIBE
Attempting to remain objective though staring wearily through crimson colored spectacles since 2008

August 4th, 2008

WALLACE WADE
(There were fourteen coaches prior to Wade, but he’s the relevant start of legitimate football at the Capstone)
1924 was Wade’s second season at the helm of the Tide. He led the team to a Southern Conference Championship with a 8-1 record. The brightest note of the season was perhaps a 33-0 shellacking of the Georgia Bulldogs. Prior to that skirmish, the Bulldog Defense had given up a mere 14 points all season. Georgia was the South’s number one team going into that game. Sound familiar?

FRANK THOMAS
(Arguably the best coach in Alabama History)
Thomas’ second season at Alabama in 1932 was just your run of the mill 8-2 record. The year was pretty much uneventful other than it was the last year of what was then the Southern Conference and 1933 was first year of the Southeastern Conference headed up by Sewanee and Tulane.

HAROLD “RED” DREW
(Not many people talk about him, but he preceded Johnny Vaught at Mississippi)
1948, Drew’s second season, marked the renewal of the Alabama/Auburn rivalry. Alabama handled that game 55-0 on its way to a mediocre record of 6-4-1.

JENNINGS B. “EARS” WHITWORTH
(It is little known that Mike Shula modeled his coaching style after Ears)
2-7-1 was Whitworth’s tally for the 1956 Season. Bama started out 0-4 but eventually pulled out some wins and a tie, not a good model.

PAUL “BEAR” BRYANT
Bryant’s second year as coach in 1959 showed great improvement from the previous 6 years. The team went 7-2-2 and finished inside the top ten in the AP rankings. Auburn was one of those seven victories.

RAY PERKINS
In 1984, the Tide amassed a whopping five victories coupled with six losses. Cornelius Bennett was a bright spot when he was selected as an All American that year.

BILL CURRY
(Not a bad coach, but he never beat Auburn)
The team went 9-3 in 1988. The anecdote of that season was the fact the Curry cancelled a game against Texas A & M due to the fact that there might be a hurricane warning. Jackie Sherrill of A & M was upset and mouthed off at Curry. When the game was rescheduled on December 1, 1988 the Tide mouthed off to the tune of 30-10 over the Aggies.

GENE STALLINGS
(Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Stallings family since the death of John Mark)
In 1991, Stallings took, the team to an 11-1 record led by a relentless defense. The lone blemish on the record came at the hands of Steve Spurrier coached Gators. Stallings and Spurrier would meet a few more times before it was all said and done.

MIKE DUBOSE
(Does one have to re-live anything about this idiot’s tenure?)
1998 started a new tradition in Alabama history: the Music City Bowl. The Tide achieved a mark of 7-5. That’s all that needs to be said about Mike Dubose.

DENNIS FRANCHIONE
(A proven winner and snake oil salesman)
This was not too long ago, 2002, and the Tide got to ten wins but managed to fall to Auburn, Georgia, and UCLA. Franchione was given a bad rap for the way he departed after this season but there are two sides to the story and the people at Alabama had avenues to pursue to make things right. However, they did not do the things they needed to do keep Fran.

MIKE PRICE SHULA
After throwing out sugar packets at his first press conference, Price found his sugar not in a bowl, but at Arety’s Angel’s in Pensacola Florida on the University’s tab. Mike Shula took a trip back up I-65 to lose another Music City bowl. This one was to Minnesota...Minnesota. Shula finished with a 6-6 record in 2004. At this point Auburn was up 3 games.

NICK LOU SABAN
2008...
There are not many conclusions one can make in looking back at coaches’ second years in Tuscaloosa. There were no national titles, few conference titles. Really, it’s a mixed bag.

Some information was taken from http://jglennw.tripod.com/id15.html