Bill Curry and his move to Bama

bobongo

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I pretty much believe that the "on topic" comments about coaches/players.recruits/schedules/opponents are just recycled comments from previous years and that I am more likely to discover a fresh take or perspective in the topics that haven't beaten beaten to death before.
So true. As an example, I'd like to recycle a fun fact about Curry that I've mentioned before. Of the 6 Alabama HCs between Bryant and Saban, from 1983 to 2007, the guy they ran out of town had the best winning percentage at .722:

 

Oakland

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Heisman's Ghost

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Curry had a history of recruiting well when he first arrived at a school and then the recruiting would start to fall off. "Bama" folks recognized this or for other reasons decided to let him go and many of the Curry recruits ended up with a NC under the ex TxA&M coach, can't recall his name. I'm guessing Dodd saw that Curry was not recruiting well as the years started to accumulate under him. I've always thought that had as much to do with Curry leaving to go to "Bama" as anything. I've heard coaches say coaches don't leave when they have players returning, I happen to believe there is something to what they say. "Bama" faithful could not stand BC.
You are speaking of Gene Stallings who was one of Bryant's boys. He was one of the infamous "Junction Boys" that were part of Bear Bryant's first team at Texas A&M
 

Heisman's Ghost

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Funny, there were times when TFG was coaching I yearned for the days of Chan Gailey.
On that list were two coaches that coached Alabama back to back. Wallace Wade and Frank Thomas during the 1930s and 1940s both of whom finished with exact same winning percentage .812. Wallace Wade was Bear Bryant's coach when he played end on Alabama's Rose Bowl championship team. Many years later that team held a reunion with everyone including Bear smoking a cigarette. When Coach Wade walked into the room every man hastily put out his smoke knowing that Wade hated cigarettes. Bear admitted in his autobiography that the one man that intimidated him was Wallace Wade.
 

Heisman's Ghost

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So true. As an example, I'd like to recycle a fun fact about Curry that I've mentioned before. Of the 6 Alabama HCs between Bryant and Saban, from 1983 to 2007, the guy they ran out of town had the best winning percentage at .722:

Poor Ray Perkins. He was the sacrificial lamb chosen to follow Bear Bryant. Even though he was an All American end for Bryant, a former NFL player and coach, an intense man who gave it everything he had, he ran into the follow the legend trap. What do Ray Perkins, Doug Barfield, Ron Zook, and Bud Carson have in common? All of them had the misfortune of following legendary coaches and were abject failures.
 

4shotB

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Poor Ray Perkins. He was the sacrificial lamb chosen to follow Bear Bryant. Even though he was an All American end for Bryant, a former NFL player and coach, an intense man who gave it everything he had, he ran into the follow the legend trap. What do Ray Perkins, Doug Barfield, Ron Zook, and Bud Carson have in common? All of them had the misfortune of following legendary coaches and were abject failures.

Sooner rather than later, someone is going to be taking over for Saban over there. I don't see that going very well for the guy (except financially of course).
 

Northeast Stinger

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So true. As an example, I'd like to recycle a fun fact about Curry that I've mentioned before. Of the 6 Alabama HCs between Bryant and Saban, from 1983 to 2007, the guy they ran out of town had the best winning percentage at .722:

Another fun fact is that Curry recruited the foundation of players that Gene Stallings won a national championship with. If my totally biased memory serves me.
 

slugboy

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So true. As an example, I'd like to recycle a fun fact about Curry that I've mentioned before. Of the 6 Alabama HCs between Bryant and Saban, from 1983 to 2007, the guy they ran out of town had the best winning percentage at .722:


Curry had Bama as a solid top 25 team, and they played disciplined football. They also lost to a top 10 Auburn two years in a row. Between not being one of Bear’s players and losing to your in state rival repeatedly, and having them look like a title contender when you’re not, Curry was done for.

They hated him because he quit before they could fire him. They wanted him humiliated and unemployable.



And now a quote from g0lftime

Post in thread 'ATH - Kylan Fox (@Kylan_Fox6)'
https://gtswarm.com/threads/ath-kylan-fox-kylan_fox6.25461/post-950442

The Ole Miss crowd will be sooooo down when Kiffin jumps ship on them for a higher profile offer. It's a pattern with him. The Tennessee fans still hate him.

Speaking of quitting before you can be fired, Kiffin is a recent example. @g0lftime , UT wanted to fire and humiliate Kiffin, but he traded up to USC. They hate him because they felt humiliated, instead of humiliating him. It’s not that he dumped them for USC, it’s that they were dreaming of publicly humiliating him and they never got the chance
 
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4shotB

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When the TFG was coaching, I yearned for the days of anyone even B*** L**** (at least the pain was of shorter duration).
I know the pain of the TFG is still fresh and raw, but Lewis wrecked a program shortly removed from a NC and set us back a decade. IMO, that's a greater sin than what Collins did. I think, due to recency bias, we tend to blur out what our program had been in the 3-4 years prior to his arrival. I know this debate is like choosing between Hitler and Stalin but I don't think it will take as long to recover from the Lewis debacle. Heck, Key restored us back to our historical .500 level in just 8 games. For the record, this IS NOT to be construed in any ways as a voice of support for TFG. I am as glad as the next guy that he is no longer here.
 

slugboy

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I know the pain of the TFG is still fresh and raw, but Lewis wrecked a program shortly removed from a NC and set us back a decade. IMO, that's a greater sin than what Collins did. I think, due to recency bias, we tend to blur out what our program had been in the 3-4 years prior to his arrival. I know this debate is like choosing between Hitler and Stalin but I don't think it will take as long to recover from the Lewis debacle. Heck, Key restored us back to our historical .500 level in just 8 games. For the record, this IS NOT to be construed in any ways as a voice of support for TFG. I am as glad as the next guy that he is no longer here.
Collins set us back pretty far. What he did to the attendance was brutal

It’s like ingesting polonium vs plutonium — it’s bad either way
 

Northeast Stinger

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Curry had Bama as a solid top 25 team, and they played disciplined football. They also lost to a top 10 Auburn two years in a row. Between not being one of Bear’s players and losing to your in state rival repeatedly, and having them look like a title contender when you’re not, Curry was done for.

They hated him because he quit before they could fire him. They wanted him humiliated and unemployable.



And now a quote from g0lftime

Post in thread 'ATH - Kylan Fox (@Kylan_Fox6)'
https://gtswarm.com/threads/ath-kylan-fox-kylan_fox6.25461/post-950442



Speaking of quitting before you can be fired, Kiffin is a recent example. @g0lftime , UT wanted to fire and humiliate Kiffin, but he traded up to USC. They hate him because they felt humiliated, instead of humiliating him. It’s not that he dumped them for USC, it’s that they were dreaming of publicly humiliating him and they never got the chance
I can’t imagine football fans being so petty. 😏
 

Northeast Stinger

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Collins set us back pretty far. What he did to the attendance was brutal

It’s like ingesting polonium vs plutonium — it’s bad either way
Yeah, that’s another metric that sticks out for me. I’ve never seen fan support this low. Even after Lewis there were fans who couldn’t wait to get back to the stadium after he was gone. Now we have large swaths of fans who have decided football is no longer worth it compared to life’s other pleasures.

This is totally anecdotal on my part but it is the impression I get.
 

iopjacket

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I know the pain of the TFG is still fresh and raw, but Lewis wrecked a program shortly removed from a NC and set us back a decade. IMO, that's a greater sin than what Collins did. I think, due to recency bias, we tend to blur out what our program had been in the 3-4 years prior to his arrival. I know this debate is like choosing between Hitler and Stalin but I don't think it will take as long to recover from the Lewis debacle. Heck, Key restored us back to our historical .500 level in just 8 games. For the record, this IS NOT to be construed in any ways as a voice of support for TFG. I am as glad as the next guy that he is no longer here.

I know everyone has a opinion, but I thought George O'Leary turned things around pretty quickly. I agree that the wounds are still raw and I may have a different view of things in a few years.
 

HurricaneJacket

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Curry had Bama as a solid top 25 team, and they played disciplined football. They also lost to a top 10 Auburn two years in a row. Between not being one of Bear’s players and losing to your in state rival repeatedly, and having them look like a title contender when you’re not, Curry was done for.

They hated him because he quit before they could fire him. They wanted him humiliated and unemployable.



And now a quote from g0lftime

Post in thread 'ATH - Kylan Fox (@Kylan_Fox6)'
https://gtswarm.com/threads/ath-kylan-fox-kylan_fox6.25461/post-950442



Speaking of quitting before you can be fired, Kiffin is a recent example. @g0lftime , UT wanted to fire and humiliate Kiffin, but he traded up to USC. They hate him because they felt humiliated, instead of humiliating him. It’s not that he dumped them for USC, it’s that they were dreaming of publicly humiliating him and they never got the chance
UT didn't want him gone after 1 year. They wanted him to build something and he dashed away to the west coast.
 

g0lftime

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Curry had Bama as a solid top 25 team, and they played disciplined football. They also lost to a top 10 Auburn two years in a row. Between not being one of Bear’s players and losing to your in state rival repeatedly, and having them look like a title contender when you’re not, Curry was done for.

They hated him because he quit before they could fire him. They wanted him humiliated and unemployable.



And now a quote from g0lftime

Post in thread 'ATH - Kylan Fox (@Kylan_Fox6)'
https://gtswarm.com/threads/ath-kylan-fox-kylan_fox6.25461/post-950442



Speaking of quitting before you can be fired, Kiffin is a recent example. @g0lftime , UT wanted to fire and humiliate Kiffin, but he traded up to USC. They hate him because they felt humiliated, instead of humiliating him. It’s not that he dumped them for USC, it’s that they were dreaming of publicly humiliating him and they never got the chance
Kiffin only coached at UT for one year. They hated him for leaving after his first year. He was 7-6 that year. There were some marital issues buried in there about that time. I think he saw USC as a better job and not as tough to compete as the SEC. His job has gotten tougher at Ole Miss with Tx and OU coming in. I am no fan of his and don't like the fact he seems to be targeting some of our better players as transfers. Maybe he has his eye on the Bama job when Saban retires.
 

slugboy

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Kiffin only coached at UT for one year. They hated him for leaving after his first year. He was 7-6 that year. There were some marital issues buried in there about that time. I think he saw USC as a better job and not as tough to compete as the SEC. His job has gotten tougher at Ole Miss with Tx and OU coming in. I am no fan of his and don't like the fact he seems to be targeting some of our better players as transfers. Maybe he has his eye on the Bama job when Saban retires.
I have lots of UT family, and they wanted him fired halfway through the year. His wins were against Western Kentucky, Ohio, an unranked UGA, South Carolina, Memphis, Vandy, and a bad Kentucky team.
It was not a good season.
 

Vespidae

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I have lots of UT family, and they wanted him fired halfway through the year. His wins were against Western Kentucky, Ohio, an unranked UGA, South Carolina, Memphis, Vandy, and a bad Kentucky team.
It was not a good season.
A little more complicated than that. Fulmer went 5-7 in his last year and an internal revolt forced him out. Kiffin came in a most everyone I know there, including letterman, David he brought an exciting brand of football back to UT. They were hopeful. Yes, he went 7-6 but … more exciting than Fulmer.

The problem with Kiffin was he was screwing any woman with two legs. AKA Joey Freshwater, he showed no hesitation to bed down. It got him in hot water under Saban as well as he was screwing a prominent boosters wife.

USC was his dream job. Layer, he admitted it was a mistake to leave UT. He would have taken the job again if offered but … he burned too many bridges.
 

TooTall

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I have lots of UT family, and they wanted him fired halfway through the year. His wins were against Western Kentucky, Ohio, an unranked UGA, South Carolina, Memphis, Vandy, and a bad Kentucky team.
It was not a good season.
Folks forget he had Bama (at home) on the ropes. A blocked field goal, with a sec or 2 left on the clock that the refs took off so T Cody wouldn't have a penalty for removing his helmet during a live ball, was the difference.
 
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