Buyout clauses are made to avoid just such an unsavory situation. If he loses to LSU an dAuburn next year, the heat will be on.
I believe you are totally wrong here. The people who do the hiring and firing at Alabama are totally committed to Coach Shula. What some here are forgetting is even as bad as we looked sometimes last season, Bama still won 10 games including the Cotton Bowl. Yes, we lost to Auburn again and we lost to LSU in overtime. Most people didn't give Alabama a chance to win more than 6-7 games last season. All those people really look smart now don't they? Alabama is still recovering from sanctions and lost scholarships. We are recovering faster than most people wish. Let Coach Shula fail a couple of years when he has a full roster of SEC quality recruits then talk about a hot seat. We finished the season ranked #8 in the nation in both the AP and Coache's Poll. Coach Shula just signed the #11 recruting class according to Rivals.com. In this recruited class is what some rank as the #1 or 2 OL in the nation, an area we need vast improvement in. We kind of feel things aren't so bad at the Capstone and that's a feeling we haven't had in a while.
Your season did go better than expected, but almost everyone had you guys winning 7-8 games last year, you beat 2 of the teams everyone expected you to lose to in UF and UT. The bowl game I do not think most people even condired in ealry predictions. Anyway, I'd bet a lot of money that if Shula does lose to Auburn the next couple of years that he will be on a very, very hot seat.
Bill Curry wasn't fired by Alabama. Bill Curry left Alabama mainly because he couldn't meet the high expectations of Alabama and took the less demanding job at Kentucky. The fact that Bill Curry was hired over some other more desireable coaches along with the fact that Bill Curry had no ties to Alabama is why so many Bama fans disliked him. Also the brick through the office window story is a lie. Anyone who could throw a brick that far would out throw superman.
If Shula loses to Auburn the next two seasons he probably will be sitting on a powderkeg, but I would bet money he will be around through the 2008 season. If Les Miles loses to Auburn the next two years don't you think his seat will be getting hot also? What if Tubberville loses to Bama the next two years? Do you think Lowder will still keep him around? If, if if.
I never said he was or wasn't... but seeing how you brought it up, don't you love the way there's always parentheses around "resigned" when the subject of Curry leaving Bama comes up!!
When you reply to my post quoting this "The people who do the hiring and firing at Alabama are totally committed to Coach Shula." it makes me wonder what you were aiming at. I think I hit it right and you are just backpeddling. Curry left with a contract sitting on the table at Alabama. There is a lot of misinformation out there about Bill, he has even spread some of it himself but it's a fact that he could have returned for the next season. :wink:
I won't argue with you. Being the Bama fan you are, I'm sure you've had to become a master at the art of backpeddling, given the recent history of your program.