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Shadow of the Bear costs Shula

ATLANTA — Two men who once held Mike Shula's pressure-packed post have a message for the man who'll replace him: Coaching Alabama football is not just a job. It's an adventure.

"Until you get there, until you sit in that chair, you just can't imagine everything the job entails," said Mike DuBose, who was fired after going 3-8 in 2000, his fourth year as coach. "It is not like any other position in college athletics at any level."

Shula was fired Monday, nine days after losing to rival Auburn for the fourth time in as many tries. After going 10-2 last season, the Tide slumped to 6-6 and continued to lose to their biggest rivals. Shula finished 26-23 but just 2-14 against Auburn, Arkansas, LSU and Tennessee.

Alabama athletics director Mal Moore said at a news conference Monday that the school will begin an immediate search for its fifth coach since 2000. Defensive coordinator Joe Kines will run the program in the interim.

Whomever gets picked — and speculation has run from Oregon State's Mike Riley to the Miami Dolphins' Nick Saban — Shula's successor will have a monumental task in front of him because of the great expectations still surrounding Bear Bryant's old program.

"What you have to understand is that Coach Bryant set the bar extremely high," said Gene Stallings, who won 70 games in seven seasons as Tide coach, including the 1992 national championship. "Alabama has won 12 national championships, so the people believe that about every eight years, it's their time to be in the hunt for the national title.

"If you don't want to live under those kind of expectations, you probably shouldn't go to Alabama."

The legacy of Bryant, who won six national titles in 25 seasons, has made it tough for those who've followed him. After winning 13 SEC championships under Bryant, Alabama has won only three since. The school's only national title since his death came in 1992 under Stallings.

"With the exception of a dismal period after the Second World War and extending into the late 1950s, Alabama has always had the reputation as a football powerhouse," said novelist and "Forrest Gump" author Winston Groom, an Alabama graduate and Tide fan. "The fans, the students and most of all, the players have come to expect it. Great things were expected of this year's team, and great things were not produced.

"The season was mediocre at best, and I suppose many of the fans believe this can be laid at the coach's door. Obviously, those in authority at the university thought so. Certainly, the SEC is strong, but Alabama dominated it for more than 80 years, and there is no good reason for it not to do so again."

Not only has Alabama struggled on the field, it's had its problems off it, too. Shula inherited a program that was still trying to recover from the loss of 21 scholarships when the NCAA hammer came down on Feb. 1, 2002. Those penalties, however, didn't lower the expectations of Tide fans.

All that baggage, mixed with fans' expectations, might make some established coaches shy away from the job. South Carolina's Steve Spurrier already said "no thanks" Monday.

"Clearly the culture here is obsessed with football," said Paul Finebaum, who spent five hours Monday letting Tide fans vent about the state of their program on the most popular radio show in the state. "But I do think things have changed. When I got here, Coach Bryant was winding down and when Alabama lost, it was end of the world. But now there has been so much turmoil, I think things have changed.

"Alabama used to want to keep up with Southern Cal. Now, they just want to beat Auburn."

Every coach at this level is subject to scrutiny, but few receive the same kind of daily examination as Shula and his predecessors, DuBose said Monday.

"You're the most public figure in the state," said DuBose, now the head coach at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss. "Every decision you make will be analyzed and second-guessed. Every game you play will be reviewed over and over. That is just the way it is."

Added Stallings: "Everything you do and everything you say is examined and re-examined in the newspapers and on the talk shows. But you know that going in, and either you accept that kind of life or you don't."

Moore said Monday that all of the recruits who have given commitments to Alabama would be contacted and encouraged to stick with the Tide. Kines said the remaining staff will continue to recruit and try to keep this class together.

Marist High linebacker Jennings Hester was distraught over Monday's news, but said he has every intention of honoring his commitment to sign with Alabama in February.

"[Shula]was a good guy and I think deserved to have more time," said Hester, who was still waiting to hear from the school when he spoke to the AJC on Monday afternoon. "But my commitment is firm. We're going to get a good coach, and we're going to be fine. I fell in love with Alabama during my recruiting visit. I can't wait to get there."

Tony Barnhart writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Journal-Constitution deputy sports editor Jeff D'Alessio contributed to this article.