WIMP WAS ONE HECKAVA COACH
ONE OF A KIND IN PLAID...
I readily admit to liking Anthony Grant. That doesn't mean that I don't miss Wimp. No coach has ever taken Alabama to the heights of glory as Sanderson. CM got the ball rolling but Wimp had the Coliseum rocking and rolling. Someone asked me the other day what it was that made me like Sanderson so much. That one was easy. Wimp was one of us except he got paid to coach. One look on the Wimp's face could tell the story of how the game was going for Alabama. If his demeanor had reached the scowl mode it meant things weren't going well and he thought the officials were to blame.
One more thing I'll admit to believing. I still believe that Grant can get Alabama to the level that they enjoyed under Sanderson. When I started to appear on all those radio shows stating my belief in Grant, it was my hope that Anthony could us back in the WimpZone. He only coached 12 years as Bama's head man. In nine of those years he took the Tide to the SEC Conference Championship game. Six times he brought home the trophy. If Sanderson had not been fired I have no doubt we would have been to a few final fours and maybe even have won at least once.
How was he so sucessful? First, he was a great coach. Second, he had great players. Not good players, but great players. Third, you wouldn't recognize our offense once the Tournament started. There were no major changes, but the moves he made to the offense were always new to the other team. I miss all those discussions with my hoops buddies about what would Wimp do. It might be a simple stack. It might be having a double low post on key possessions. Whatever he did worked.
It's almost like we have toy players compared with those Wimp could put on the floor. I think Trevor Releford would be the only player on the Tide roster who might start for Wimp's better teams. Lacey could help out. Randlolph might be put in to ice down a shooter. Today's players seem like children as opposed to grownups of those days. That might be because today's are almost all sophomores and are so young. I couldn't help but thinking that Reginald King would have scored 50 points against Auburn, Georgia, LSU, and almost any team in the SEC. It isn't that today's players aren't good. They are good. CM and Wimp had great players. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd say that todays players are about a 6 or 7. I don't mean to say anything bad about our players. They play hard. They play in a different era,and contrary to what most younger fans believe new isn't always better. In fact, new isn't even close.
How much would Derrick McKey help today's team? What about Roy Rogers? I could name two dozen more. Basketball has changed a lot since 91-92. I think that Wimp might win 30 games a year with his coaching talent and on the floor players. We'll be back there one day. Mark almost got us there and then seemed to lose focus. Grant has had some tough luck, and some of it is his own fault, but he'll get us there. Just have a little patience and faith. I remember CM's record his first three or four years. In today's climate he would have been fired. Back then there was this man named Paul Bryant who had a little patience and a lot of faith.
ONE OF A KIND IN PLAID...
One more thing I'll admit to believing. I still believe that Grant can get Alabama to the level that they enjoyed under Sanderson. When I started to appear on all those radio shows stating my belief in Grant, it was my hope that Anthony could us back in the WimpZone. He only coached 12 years as Bama's head man. In nine of those years he took the Tide to the SEC Conference Championship game. Six times he brought home the trophy. If Sanderson had not been fired I have no doubt we would have been to a few final fours and maybe even have won at least once.
It's almost like we have toy players compared with those Wimp could put on the floor. I think Trevor Releford would be the only player on the Tide roster who might start for Wimp's better teams. Lacey could help out. Randlolph might be put in to ice down a shooter. Today's players seem like children as opposed to grownups of those days. That might be because today's are almost all sophomores and are so young. I couldn't help but thinking that Reginald King would have scored 50 points against Auburn, Georgia, LSU, and almost any team in the SEC. It isn't that today's players aren't good. They are good. CM and Wimp had great players. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd say that todays players are about a 6 or 7. I don't mean to say anything bad about our players. They play hard. They play in a different era,and contrary to what most younger fans believe new isn't always better. In fact, new isn't even close.How much would Derrick McKey help today's team? What about Roy Rogers? I could name two dozen more. Basketball has changed a lot since 91-92. I think that Wimp might win 30 games a year with his coaching talent and on the floor players. We'll be back there one day. Mark almost got us there and then seemed to lose focus. Grant has had some tough luck, and some of it is his own fault, but he'll get us there. Just have a little patience and faith. I remember CM's record his first three or four years. In today's climate he would have been fired. Back then there was this man named Paul Bryant who had a little patience and a lot of faith.
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