Battle states his case for Grant...
Football, football, and more football? Does basketball even count?
At this level of collegiate athletics there is a very fine line that separates winning and losing. The 2013-14 men's basketball season has been a disappointing one. Many factors shape a season. We made some strategic decisions going into the year, both with scheduling and with players, that didn't work out like we planned.
Our mission is to recruit and develop student athletes to compete at the highest levels in their sport; to educate and prepare those student athletes to compete at the highest levels in life after graduation; and to do both with honor and integrity. Our mens basketball program is doing all of those things, but this season that did not translate into the level of success we all desire on the court.
According to the latest ESPN.com RPI rankings (as of March 11), Alabama's 2013-14 schedule ranks second on the list of the nation's difficult overall schedules. Sometimes a tough non-conference schedule toughens you up and prepares you for conference play; other times it shakes your confidence. Some years it seems you win most of the close games. Other years you can't find a way to get over the hump. After three 20+ win seasons, this year we found ourselves in the latter category.
College basketball is in an interesting place in 2014. The power of the NCAA Tournament appears to have diminished interest in the regular season. The "one and done" rule has had a greater impact on the game than just those players that come and go after one year. The mindset of many players (and their parents and friends) is, "I'll go pro after a year!" When that doesn't happen, the mindset is often, "It can't be my fault. It must be the system." As a result there were some 500 players that transferred last year. These factors make recruiting and coaching college basketball players even more challenging, as it is difficult to build the senior-laden teams that were more prevalent in times past.
Without solid leadership, this year's team could have folded at several points in the season. Coach Grant and his staff stayed the course and did not panic when things were going bad. The team continued to play with effort and competed hard, even after many of the preseason goals were out of reach. I am very proud of our strong finish, with our younger players stepping up their game. I am impressed with the development of our freshmen, Jimmie Taylor and Shannon Hale, encouraged about the leadership potential of our returning veterans, and looking forward to seeing a highly-rated group of signees join our team.
Off the court, Coach Grant's teams have been very successful in the classroom, consistently averaging high NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores. Alabama leads all SEC men's basketball programs in APR percentage and its APR ranks in the top 10 percent of all Division I men's programs. We led all SEC men's basketball programs in 2013 with six players named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll. In addition, every senior that has played for Coach Grant at Alabama has earned his degree.
When considering the overall health and direction of a program, all of the aforementioned factors need to be considered. Simply put, this is a program that is not adrift, and is not devoid of leadership and talent. I believe this is a program that has better days ahead.
The expectations of competing for championships and a high postseason finish remain. There is much that is right about our men's basketball program at this time. Coach Grant has earned the chance to continue building this program into the winner that we all know it should be. He's done it before. He can do it again.
We need your support in making that happen. I encourage you to rally around our team next season, to become a part of our success, and to help our team reach its potential.
Bill Battle
There you have it in black and white from the Athletic Director. I disagree with keeping Grant. I have to admit I've wavered back and forth through out the season about our Coach's future. I have no ill will toward Grant and his staff. I do think that Grant is a miserable failure in talking with alumni and making them feel welcome. There are far to many stories of long time alumni being disrespected and ignored by the Coach. I have reason to believe this is true. I guess that none of that is really important in the long run, unless the long run involves help from your friends. Grant lives in fishbowl as a lot of coaches do. But you have to reach outside the glass to help gain the loyalty and support of fans. I'm not suggesting in any manner that any alumni should have any real power or influence in the coaching. Of course, not because that would be folly. I also think that Grant has done nothing to build a fan base. If the man has a pulse I've yet to sense it. If you can't build relationships with fans or your long time season ticket holders you will have no support when you need it. You can announce attendance at 11000 when 3500 are present all you want. You are only fooling yourself.
Battle raises several good points about leadership, hard play, and graduation rates are involved. I have no doubt all of those observations are true. Let me ask you this - Mike Shula did the same. Do you honestly think any of those virtues were taken into consideration at the end of his less than illustrious career at the Capstone? Of course not. I'm not saying that none of those examples are without merit. But they are not of prime importance. Graduation rates are basically for losers. That's sad, but its also true. Would you rather go to the NCAA every season or once a half decade and graduate your players. My friend, Wimp Sanderson, said it best when asked about how many of his players graduated. "All that want too," is how he replied. We all know that graduation is based primarily on two things in the modern era in most cases. First, can you pay your tuition, and Second, just show up enough to make it look like you care. College players have become the whores of the NCAA system - Use them, abuse them, and then lose them in the shuffle. I appreciate Grant's effort to have his players finish school. Please don't think I feel otherwise. The bottom line is that you can finish school and have winning teams. The two are not mutually exclusive. When someone asked Knute Rockne what he was going to say after a bad season he said he'd just tell the press "he was building character." Now we say we are graduating players.
I have no doubt that Grant is a fine leader. But coaches are supposed to be fine leaders. Nick Saban isn't going to win any popularity contests, but who doubts he isn't a fine leader? Coach Battle can espouse all the pabulum and baby formula we wants to justify Grants season. Where's the part about he reaps what he sowed? The season was a result of both the strong and weak points of Grant and his program. I didn't do that. You didn't do any of that. I am sure that Grant is of the highest moral character. I'm sure he is a fine father and husband. None of that means anything if you can't get the job done. You think it is easy to sit here and write all this for a man you supported and who you wanted to be fired. I feel almost guilty, even though I know it's not my fault.
Grant makes essentially $5000.00 dollars a day. We paid him a little less than $300,000 per win. That really bothers me in a day and time where so many of our children go to school in temporary mobile homes and don't have proper funding. If our educators are going to hold their own accountable who will? What should we do?
1. Let's make up our mind if we really care about basketball. A serious conversation needs to be started. I know that most people will say,"sure" but do we really? Or is just football, football, and more football. I reject that idea as sound. A great AD makes each sport count. Perhaps that is what Battle truly believes he is doing.
2. Let's build a proper basketball facility. We don't need some glorified Quonset hut that sells over priced food. I had this talk with Mal Moore for years. The re-do is a lot like plastic surgery. It looks a little nicer. It's pretty around the edges and stinks from the foundation up. At least lower the floor, put a few thousand people closer to the floor (students) and steepen the seating to create a real death zone. Alabama fans give the Tide a good home court advantage. Let's give them the best home court advantage in the SEC. Cut the seat numbers down to 11 or 12 thousand. Let's build a pit.
3. Give Grant his time. I frankly don't care anymore. The decision has been made and we need to support our players, but let Battle know that you've reached your limit with any coach in any sport that allows his team to reach such ridiculous levels of play. Historically Alabama has won more games than any other team in the SEC than Kentucky. We can elevate the program if a real commitment from Battle is truly made. Today we saw a surrender. Today we heard from a great guy that he really doesn't care that much about basketball. Today we saw the buck being passed on for another year. If Battle wants to keep Grant then give him some stated goals to reach. Example: we expect to go to the NCAA X number of times a decade. We do not want losing seasons or expect them and they will not be tolerated. Never again.
4. Tie in the AD's job with the success of the sports program. I personally wish we had a very active basketball AD who would answer to Battle but would take personal responsibility for failures. I'm not talking final fours. I'm talking the respect and not be laughed at zones though. What happened this year was not embarrassing. It was unnerving. A school like Alabama doesn't have to settle for such nonsense. We stand at the abyss of long term failure. Battle better be correct about this decision or our program is doomed to a decade of failure.
5. Let's pay a coach 5 million dollars a year. Let's try to sign the equivalent of Nick Saban in basketball. Who says we can't hire a Rick Pitino? People said we couldn't hire a Nick Saban, but Mal didn't believe that to be true. We might not be able to do, but how will we know until we try? We have to hire a coach whose name is bigger than our program. To be great we have to think big things. I seriously doubt that our school cares that much. I want Battle to let us know that he won't let this non-sense go on with no end in sight. He's made a tough call, and a highly unpopular one at that. My money is important. Tickets are expensive. Donations are sky high. Why shouldn't our AD show us the same in return.
I'm not saying that Grants future is an easy call. I hope the decision has some real basis and wasn't just a money decision. But as an Alabama fan I'll do what our AD says. I'll support Grant for another year. That's what good Alabama fans will do. My love for Alabama is boundless. My love for Anthony Grant is merely conditional.
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