Valiant Step

A Valiant Step Forward

Much has been written about the faring of the Alabama Crimson Tide over the last month. One can begin with the devastating overtime loss to national powerhouse LSU. The Tide simply ran short, but not before giving it a great run against a deeper, stronger Bayou Bengal team from Baton Rouge. The ultimate demise happened down on the ABarn plains to cross state rival War Eagles. Throw out the horrendous first quarter of the Auburn game, and Bama was in the ball game.

An amazing 9-2 season has landed the Tide a trip to Dallas for the 70th Cotton Bowl facing the explosive Red Raiders of Texas Tech. What a great match up : a top ranked explosive offense against one of the stingiest defensive teams in the nation!

So what is so valiant about this? For starters, Bama was predicted to end up at 7-4 if they could catch a few breaks here and there. They surpassed the expectations.

Next, Bama was a long shot for a major bowl, and especially one on New Years Day. Well, not only did they land the Cotton Bowl, but they beat out LSU for the bowl bid. They surpassed the expectations.

Lastly, the recruiting war for Tim Tebow went right down to the wire. Florida got him. But shouldn’t they? Both parents are Florida grads and older brother is a student at Florida. Plus, Tebow has been a lifelong Gator fan. But in his press conference, Tebow singled out one coach in his comments paying Shula and Bama a huge recruiting boost. Tebow stated, “Mike Shula is one of the most respectable men I’ve ever known.”

It’s been a long time since Alabama has been toe to toe in the national blue chip recruiting wars. Truthfully, even Coach Bryant didn’t land the big time blue chippers. Mike Shula has given and brought the University of Alabama not only a sense of pride and dedication, but a class act that in the end will reap huge rewards. Although Bama fans want to win, love winning, and believe in winning, most Bama fans know like Mike Shula that there is more to life than football, and it is a winning character.

Hiring Mike Shula was a valiant step forward that will reap huge rewards for the University of Alabama. Shula will surpass expecations just as he did as a Crimson Tide quarterback.