Saturday, May 07, 2005
To some, listening to Mike DuBose's advice on the current state of Alabama football would be akin to asking Bill Clinton for marriage counseling or Michael Jackson on picking out a family babysitter.
Many blame DuBose for the current malaise in the Alabama program and, perhaps, there is some rationalization.
However, in a recent conversation with DuBose, who is leaving Luverne High School after two very successful years to become defensive coordinator at Millsaps College, a Divi sion III program in Jackson, Miss., the coach fired some sobering warning shots across the bow about the real culprits concerned with the fall of the Alabama program.
The 1999 SEC Coach of the Year, who was fired at Alabama in 2000 after a 3-8 mark, also wanted to clear up some confusion about his own past.
"As far as coaching is concerned, and doing the things I'm supposed to do as far as following the rules and regulations as a football coach, I've never broken a rule or never asked anyone to break a rule," said DuBose, who nearly lost his job at Alabama in 1999 after it was revealed he had an improper relationship with a university secretary.
DuBose has repeatedly apologized for that transgression and has spent years speaking in churches and youth groups -- often with his wife, Polly, at his side -- admitting his mistakes and accepting full responsibility.
As for Alabama, where DuBose starred as a defensive lineman and served as an assistant coach on the 1992 national championship team before becoming head coach, DuBose lit into the culture around the program, indicating it might be difficult for anyone to win until changes are made.
DuBose said he was deeply concerned -- not about current coach Mike Shula, for whom he had praise in spite of a two-year record of 10-15, but about the environment surrounding the program.
"I feel like there are too many people trying to run that program," he said. "There was a point in time when one man was in charge and everybody knew where the buck stopped. Now, there are 10 or 15 people trying to run that program and it won't work.
"Until somebody is in charge there and everybody who works there as far as the athletic department is concerned knows where the bucks stops, the program can't be what it can and should be."
DuBose also said he believes his immensely popular predecessor, Gene Stallings -- who averaged 10 wins a season during a seven-year run, including a national championship and four SEC title game appearances -- was pushed out before he was ready to go.
While it has been widely speculated Stallings was forced out by then president Andrew Sorensen and athletics director Bob Bockrath, the tall Texan has always been tightlipped on the subject, perhaps in part because he received a huge settlement from the school upon retirement.
"This is an opinion, not something coach Stallings ever said to me," DuBose said. "There was a group of people who maybe thought he was about to become too strong, too influential and maybe didn't want to see it happen again. I don't really think Coach was ready to retire. I think he still had a lot of coaching left in him."
DuBose declined to name the specific people but indicated they are still around and
adversely affecting the program: "I feel like there are people who are trying to influence the program who have their own agendas rather than what's best for the athletic program and especially the football program."
DuBose said he believes things are so bad that even the greatest coach in school history would be handcuffed.
"If coach Bryant were still alive today, and was coaching and the same people that were there making the decision now were making the decisions in the early '70s, coach Bryant wouldn't have had the decade of the '70s," DuBose said.
During that dazzling decade, Bryant's teams won eight SEC titles and three national crowns.
"I think there has to be a little more thought put into those key decisions," DuBose added. "Those people making the decisions have to do what's best for the University of Alabama, not what's best for certain individuals."
Laugh if you want. Scoff at DuBose for being bitter with an ax to grind. But in several conversations with DuBose in recent months, I really don't think that's the case. Sadly, DuBose has paid a terrific price and he now admits his chances of ever returning to the SEC -- even as an assistant coach -- are long gone.
"I have talked to most of the Southeastern Conference and most schools in the Southeast at some point in time, but for whatever the reasons, it just didn't work out," DuBose said. "Polly and I have a peace. We've prayed about it. We have a peace that we've done everything we have to do or should do to get back. If it happens, fine. If it doesn't, that's fine, too."
(Paul Finebaum's column appears Tuesdays and Saturdays in the Mobile Register. Contact him at [EMAIL PROTECTED])
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