Bama adds another

Alabama added another commitment to the list today. Glenn Harbin a 6'6 250lb defensive end out of McGill Toolen (Mobile) commited. Here's what he had to say about Alabama: "I wanted to be part of something special and that's what this class is. I saw a lot of the Mobile guys going there and I've known those guys for a long time. I'm closest with Ivan Matchett and he was always talking about how great it was going to be." Things are definitely looking good for the years to come. We still have a pretty full board of people we want. Most of which will be committing on signing day. But one of our high priorities is Alonzo Lawrence and he is set to announce on Friday. Its between us Ole Miss and Miami. I would say we have the best shot with him considering Saban's history with DB's.

Rivals has an updated ranking list. We are currently number 3 behind Florida and Notre Dame. Florida came into Alabama and stole one of our top players. William Green from Spain Park. He was worried about going to school the day after committing to Florida. This is what he had to say : "I still have to go to school today, I'll probably be cussed and have stuff thrown at me," Green said only half jokingly. When asked if he was serious, he responded, "I'll probably get cussed out a little bit. I have random people calling me sometimes and cussing me out (for leaning to Florida)."

Here is the Rivals List I mentioned.

New OC: Jim McElwain

Jim McElwain from Fresno State has been announced as the new offensive coordinator. Read more from RollTide.com. Jim was the oc and qb coach at Fresno during the 2007 season and was the qb coach in the NFL for the Oakland Raiders.

"McElwain’s offense at Fresno State averaged 419.5 yards per game (38th nationally) and 32.9 points per game (32nd) last season."

Here's some more stats by Fresno State last year.

10 years....

10 years! That's how long it's been since the Volunteers won a game in Tuscaloosa. For the fourth time this season, the Tide basketball team will face a Top 25 ranked team, in fact the third Top 10 team. Alabama (12-8, 1-4), plays host to the No. 8 ranked Tennessee Vols, 17-2, 4-1, tonight at 8PM CST on ESPN.

The Tide won 97-77 over Auburn on Saturday to snap a season-high four-game losing streak and earn their first conference victory. Alabama has lost three of its last five at home, is 0-3 against ranked teams this season, losing to Texas A&M, Georgetown and Clemson.

Hollinger is averaging 6.5 points and 3.1 assists at point guard. Richard Hendrix leads the SEC in rebounding and averages 19.4 points and 10.2 rebounds. Demetrius Jemison is averaging 5.2 points and 5.0 rebounds. Alonzo Gee is averaging 15.9 points and 7.8 rebounds and senior Mykal Riley is averaging 13.3 points and 4.9 rebounds. Gee is 13 points away from scoring his 1,000th Alabama career point.

The Vols Chris Lofton is looking to put that 10 years to rest. Lofton is averaging 14.1 points and 3.1 rebounds while also shooting over 80% from the free throw line. Tonight the Capstone is asking to "White Out" the stands to help put the No. 8 team to bed.

Daaaaaaaannnnnnnngggggggg

January 26, 1983

After a 21-15 victory over Illinois in the 1982 Liberty Bowl, the greatest coach in college football history stepped away from the sidelines.

His plan was to remain at the University of Alabama as athletics director while Ray Perkins became the head coach, but it wasn't going to happen. Little did everyone know that Paul "Bear" Bryant had given it his all. Not just in the game of football, but in the game of life.

Bryant went to the hospital for a checkup on Jan. 25, 1983. He came out fine, but went in again the next day. It was there, on Jan. 26, 1983, where Bryant suffered a massive heart attack and died.

The Bear was gone, but the legend remains.

Read more by Drew Champlin The Crimson White

Funeral coverage from MyFoxAl

TGIF

Well, the Senior Bowl is tomorrow down in Mobile. Kick-off is scheduled for 3 PM. Here's the roster for the game. Fellow Alabama players that will be running around on Ladd-Peebles Stadium will be:

• Simeon Castille
• DJ Hall
• Wallace Gilberry

The basketball team will be hosting the Auburn Tigers and still looking for that first conference win. The sold out game starts at 2 PM CST.

Still no OC. I have heard a lot of rumors. So much I couldn't keep up with them all on here. Once they came up, another one would put it to bed. Let us know if you hear anything with some good sense behind it.

If you are interested in names such as Jessica Biel, Elisha Cuthbert, and Keira Knightley, you need to go check out RollBamaRoll's 2008 Girl Fight.

7-16 in last 23 SEC play

Gottfried is giving the same tune and Finebaum is calling him out. Are people looking for a coaching change? Could we even make one if we wanted to? Isn't all the money going to Saban right now? Let's hope we get some direction quick. It's starting to look like football season all over again...searching for identity. It is what it is.

Tide Starts 0-4 in SEC Play

The 66-56 loss earlier today to Mississippi State sends the Tide to 0-4 in conference play. Flat out we are not a well coached basketball team. Turnovers, poor shot selection, no hustle, the list goes on and on. We allowed State to knock down 12-26 from beyond the arc compared to our 2-14. State had a pretty good following that made the short drive over from Starkville. They shut our student section up pretty quick when we were chanting State Sucks, they fired back with 17-12. There is a good chance we will start conference play 0-6, with the next two games coming against an improved Auburn team and a National Title contender, the Tennessee Vols. Something must be done about Gottfried. He has gotten a stay of execution thanks to the Applewhite news but with that dying down, look for the heat turn up on Gottfried's seat. Anyone got any thoughts on Gottfried, fire'em up in the comments. ROLL TIDE.

OC Update

Several sites have listed an article from the Huntsville Times that Michigan's former quarterbacks coach might be the front runner for the OC. Scot Loeffler has been seen at the Capstone this week.

MemphisTider lists some names that have been thrown out:

• Jeff Brohm (OC at Louisville)
• Norm Chow (fired OC at Tennessee Titans)
• Tom Clements (QB coach at Green Bay)
• Gary Crowton (OC at LSU)
• Adam Case (QB coach at Detroit Lions)
• Bryan Harsin (OC at Boise State)
• Chris Hatcher (HC at Georgia Southern)
• Chip Kelly (OC at Oregon)
• Freddie Kitchens (TE coach at Arizona Cardinals)
• Gus Malzahn (QB/OC at Tulsa)
• Joe Pendry (currently on staff)
• Jeff Rutledge (QB coach at Arizona Cards)
• Steve Sarkisian (QB coach at USC)
• Dabo Swinney (WR coach at Clemson)
• Scot Loeffler (QB coach at Michigan)
  

RollBamaRoll has some good commentary about the Applewhite issue. Also, a good quote from Bear that I had to post, "But it's still a coach's game. Make no mistake. You start at the top. If you don't have a good one at the top, you don't have a cut dog's chance. If you do, the rest falls into place. You have to have good assistants, and a lot of things, but first you have to have the chairman of the board."

It would be nice to name a new OC before national high school signing day. I know our recruit openings are filling up fast. We need to make sure we save that one for Julio.

UPDATE - BamaOnline is reporting that Scot Loeffler former QB coach at Michigan arrived in Tuscaloosa late Thursday night. He is expected to interview for a position. It is unclear exactly what that position is. He has coached such quarterbacks as Chad Henne and John Navarre. As a graduate assistant at UM he assisted in the development of a guy named Tom Brady, you may of heard of him.

The Tide hosts the Bulldogs of Miss State tomorrow at 2:00 PM CST. Even if you can't watch the game, wish'em well. We can't start out 0-4!

Sad News from T-Town.......

It's official. The Houndstooth as we know it no longer remains. Today was the demolition day and a sad day in the hearts of many Alabama fans and alumni. Good news is that it will be reopening in about 6-8 months. But we all know it won't be the same.

Mid-week Miscellaneous

As you all have heard, Applewhite is looking to be heading to Texas. TideSports has the latest, saying we should hear something within the next couple of days because of the job posting rule at Texas.

Have you been in any arguments about whether or not there should be a college football playoff? BestoftheSEC has a good post about the pros and cons.

ESPN.com did a mock draft for the seniors heading out this year.

The baseball team is back for the semester and starting up drills. The first day of practice is February 1st with the first game coming on the 22nd against Cal Poly.

Here is the latest SEC conference basketball standings.

The tide will head to Athens tonight to play the Bulldogs. Tip off is at 6:30 PM CST. Both teams are looking for their first conference win. Alabama will return from Athens to prepare to host Mississippi State in Tuscaloosa on Saturday at 2:00 PM CST.

Good News Monday....

We got two very good pieces of information today. BamaOnline is reporting that Antoine Caldwell has decided to stay at the Capstone for his senior season. He said his decision was based heavily on some unfinished business. This decision means we will only be losing one offensive linemen from this years starting squad,Justin Britt. So hopefully we can finally get some consistency along the front. The other piece of news is Burton Scott our 5 star commit from Mobile is back from a visit to Auburn and is still solid on Bama. He plans to make a few other visits to Miami, Florida, and Ole Miss. He said he is firmly committed to the tide. He wants to enjoy the process of being a highly sought after recruit and just taking the visit for fun. Either way I don't like it. 18 year olds can change their minds pretty quick.

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On another note we no longer have to deal with the two headed monster of Jones and McFadden at Arkansas. They have both decided to forgo their senior season and go to the NFL. Espn Reported Friday that Mcfadden was leaving and it came out today that Jones was leaving also. I know that there are a few defensive coordinators that will sleep a little better tonight and one coach that won't, Bobby Petrino. Ha sucks for you Bobby.

Congrats to Wallace Gilberry

Congratulations to Wallace Gilberry for making the ESPN.com's 2007 All-Bowl Team.

Mid-week Miscellaneous

The Alabama Rapsheet gives us a heads up on an article that will be ran in the Birmingham News tomorrow about Kevin Steele's interview with South Alabama.

Some rumors are flying over at Burnt Orange Nation about Applewhite might interested in the OC at Austin.

Kicker Corey Smith and receiver Chris Jackson will be joining the Capstone this Spring to hopefully get an edge before next season.

Here's the latest Men's SEC conference standings.

Problems on the Plains? Auburn better get some internal things settled soon.

200Saban, the year in review.

Who was the least penalized team in the SEC and fourth least penalty yards per game in the nation? "No amount of number-shifting changes the only number that matters — the 7-6 record — but it is interesting to see how the various numbers added up for Alabama this season."

Conference Play

Tonight 8:00PM CST, the Crimson Tide(11-4) hosts the Florida Gators(13-2) at Coleman Coliseum to begin conference play this season for the basketball team. The objective of the Tide this conference play should be feed Richard Hendrix in the post. So far this season he has had 152 rebounds averaging 10.1 per game with 286 points averaging 19.1 per game.

• Below are the current SEC standings by division:
  

• Below is the schedule for the rest of regular season:

2 loss national champion?

Our friends over at RollBamaRoll have a real good write up about the upcoming BCS National Championship. If you have some time, try and read the lengthy post.

Some key points:

• "LSU is the first team with two regular season losses to ever play for a national championship in the history of college football. And when I say history of college football, I don't mean just since the BCS came into being, or even since the AP Poll came about. I mean literally the entire history of college football, dating back to the first college football game ever played between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869."
• "After all, this was the exact same team that was annihilated by Florida in the 2006 national championship game, sans several stars, such as Troy Smith, Ted Ginn, Antonio Pittman, and others. Why should anyone have legitimately thought they were any better in 2007 without all of those players? The answer was simple, no one did, and it was and is a valid point."

2008 Schedule Released......

Yea so I know its a little late but here it is.....

Date	Opponent	Location
Aug. 30	vs. Clemson	Atlanta, Ga.
Sept. 6	Tulane	Tuscaloosa
Sept. 13	Western Kentucky	Tuscaloosa
Sept. 20	at Arkansas*	Fayetteville, Ark.
Sept. 27	at Georgia*	Athens, Ga.
Oct. 4	Kentucky*	Tuscaloosa
Oct. 18	Ole Miss*	Tuscaloosa
Oct. 25	at Tennessee*	Knoxville, Tenn.
Nov. 1	Arkansas State	Tuscaloosa
Nov. 8	at LSU*	Baton Rouge, La.
Nov. 15	Mississippi State*	Tuscaloosa
Nov. 29	Auburn*	Tuscaloosa

*Denotes SEC games

Back for the New Year

Well, we are back from taking some time off for the new year. We came out with a win. It was an impressive first half then a slow second. All in all, it felt good to get that bowl game win, even though it was at Shreveport. We all know that 7-6 feels a whole lot better than 6-7.

If you haven't heard, Ron Middleton, the Tide's Special Teams/TEs coach, is heading to Duke where he will be contributing with the same roll.

Who's in favor of playing Clemson?

seniors Wallace Gilberry, Simeon Castille, and DJ Hall will be playing in the Senior Bowl January 26th.

So, as we conclude the 2007 football season, we will begin looking more into recruiting. Followed by basketball conference play and probably look into some baseball as well.