Tide fans deeply separated regarding Grant...

Look around the SEC and see what is happening

I know that the question of the future regarding Anthony Grant is very much a hot topic.  I’ve seen myself waiver back and forth several times.  Don’t think that I like our record anymore than anyone.  After watching our team play so many games under Grant it made start to really pay closer attention to the bench coaching.  His bench coaching is fine. It appears his preparation is fine. I started asking all lot of coaches I’ve known for years. All were Division One coaches. 

One coach said that Grant has had some real problems recruiting, and he signed a few great players that proved to be overrated. The real problem was that the nature of basketball changed during the Gottfried era and Bama didn’t adapt. When we talked about coaching changes he laughed. “It’s not the coach. It’s everything around him. He may not be the greatest coach in the nation, but he's really good coach, What do the fans expect?  When you chump change your program every recruit ` can see it with their own eyes.” The decision not to build a new arena may have been good economics, but it is killing recruiting.”  I paid close attention to the correlation between getting good players and facilities. We all should. In the long run the lack of a great place to market is hurting recruiting.

 Let me ask you a question, but you have to assume something. Let’s  say that Alabama put the same team on the floor as they did last night with one change. What would have happened if we had been able to get a truly great inside player? We came close on several. One went to Kentucky. Another went to Arizona. You all know the stories. A new coach isn’t going to have a walk down the garden path to success. That coach might bring in a couple of players who he was recruiting or maybe get a transfer or two. What if a new arena would have gotten a couple of those coveted 5 star recruits.

The bottom line is we can pay a coach five million a year, but it may not help in the long run. What great coach would come to Tuscaloosa and find himself second fiddle to Nick Saban, or his success be measured against Saban? Mark Gottfried got a free ride because of his playing days at the Capstone, and football was in a mess. Grant got no such break. I’m just saying that if we fire Anthony Grant we going down the same road as Auburn did for years. So did Geogia. Florida built a facility and a bright young head coach.  LSU is still doing the same thing and are going up and down on a pogo stick. Vandy is stuck and can be successful now and again. So will all the other programs I’ve mentioned. Is South Carolina any better off with Frank Martin? He is one of the best coaches in the nation. When he went to Columbia he was viewed as the savior of Gamecock basketball. What's his record this season. Has Mississippi State. If we get another coach he will have my support, of course. But will a new coach be the answer to all the problems? I really don’ think so. I think it something we need to give some serious thought before letting him go. He's a class act, and a great person. Let's give him the tools to get the job done.