BATTLE AND JOHNSON SET THE TONE FOR NEW EXPECTATIONS IN BASKETBALL AT THE CAPSTONE...

     Alabama hoop fans can rest a little more assured of the success of Avery Johnson. Doug Gottlieb and Steven A. Smith of CBS and ESPN have taken a very critical view of Alabama hiring Avery Johnson. They miss more predictions than any two sports figures I know. You know that old saying about close only counts in horse shoes and atomic bombs? Those two are not even that close. Smith, even tried the race card in his comments. He laments that going to a backwater school like Alabama shows the dire straights that African-American coaches face. What? Dire Straights? I seem to remember that the Tide's last coach was a black man and a great man. This is the State of Alabama. It's not a liberal state like California. I don't think I can remember any negative comments about the race of the last and future head basketball coaches made by anyone.

    There is only one relevant color at the University of Alabama. That is the color of winning. If Ted Cruz had graduated from the University of Alabama he'd be happy we hired Avery Johnson. Mr. Smith, you don't know me. I'm a liberal in a red state. That doesn't always make me popular in political circles, but I've never seen a single Alabama graduate ever connect race in hiring a  coach. If the world found out that Nick Saban was Hispanic, the only thing we'd hear was "mucho gusto" y Roll Tide Roll. So please take that racist diatribe someplace else. I wish I could be a sportscaster like you. The only single characteristic I see from you and Doug is the common ability to disagree with everything. Neither of you can say anything positive about the SEC, Alabama, and the South in general. So, get that trash out of the news. The real news is that Alabama hired Avery Johnson because Bill Battles believes in him. He doesn't believe in Johnson the black man or Johnson the white man. He believes in Johnson the coach.

    Johnson has the ability to do so much for the Tide. But before he does; we all need to acknowledge Bill Battle for showing the rest of the NCAA nation that in making a stunning offer to Gregg Marshall we are serious about basketball. It's like Mo Williams said, "a return to the glory years". Without making that offer to Marshall I doubt Johnson would have given Alabama a serious thought. We can thank Bill Battle for putting the "little general" on our bench. I also am thankful that we had a coach like Anthony Grant. He didn't win as many games as he hoped. But he put the program back on the course of hard work, fairness and character . I bet when Johnson called Grant to inquire about how he was treated at Alabama he got an earful about how much Bama wants to win, and how fairly he was treated. So in the end, without the work of Battle and Grant none of this may have ever happened. If you read about AJ, as he has become known, he isn't afraid to step down from a challenge. Now, let's have that press conference and go recruit some players. The road next season is not going to be easy, and I don't want anyone to think that in a single year things will turn around. My bet is that Avery Johnson gives the Tide faithful hope for a better future.