Fire Mike Shula Now

UPDATE: For the latest diatribe on still more reasons to fire Mike Shula after the Auburn debacle, click here.

Today's Alabama-Arkansas game was a debacle that's hard to put into historical perspective. Maybe the loss to Vandy in 1984 was worse...but I doubt it. To control the clock for 40 minutes, be able to move the ball through the air at will, and yet end up losing in overtime is utterly inexcusable. And while Leigh Tiffin missed FOUR kicks, any of which would have won the game, the blame rests on the coach more than the player.

Cowardly ultra-conservative play calling (on both sides of the ball) late in the game and then in overtime doomed Bama. They completely outplayed Arkansas in every phase of the game except for rushing. So what does Shula do? Keep calling running plays into the middle of the line--the plays that haven't worked all day. And keep trotting Tiffin out, without coaching him at all on foot placement (his plant foot is too close to the ball, which is why he can't get his leg swing right--and even I can see that on TV) when a kicker who won THREE games last year with field goals stands and watches.

The truth is that even Mike DuBose could have won that game, and he was the worst coach Bama had since Ears Whitworth...until now. Alabama's players did not deserve to lose today. And if they had been competently coached, they'd be 4-0. Shula has had three years plus now to prove himself a good football coach. He has done anything but. A famous last name and being an alum simply isn't enough. It's time for him to go.