Gottfried- Alabama bball coach

[77fan88warrior]

What was the reason for his mid season resignation? It had to be more than just performance?

[77ncaachamps]

What was the reason for his mid season resignation? It had to be more than just performance?

A resignation doesn't necessarily mean it was purely his choice. He may have been pressured.


Did some more digging:

- Something about Steele?

- Local writer rips into him...

No reprieve for Alabama's Gottfried this season


The raging debate over Mark Gottfried's future has become both tiresome and tedious. For everyone's sake, let's hope it ends soon.
Some have argued that basketball seasons can turn on a dime.

What if Ronald Steele comes back? What if Alabama gets on a roll (it has three of the next four at home)? Remember, Alabama was the preseason pick to win the SEC West and make the NCAA tournament.

Forget about it.

This basketball team has run off the track and it's not getting back. Two wins this week at home (will anyone bother to show and cheer?) will not change that. Eventually, it will have to go back on the deadly road where the Tide has lost 14 straight SEC games
Gottfried's lame words are playing on deaf ears. The conversation now is the same one that has been going on for years with Gottfried. He was granted an 11th year to coach because most felt his school ties, moderate success on the court and masterful success on graduation rates had earned him that right. To say nothing of the fact that writing a $3 million check to pay him off simply didn't seem prudent in tough economic times.
That was then.

The argument now for him to go sooner rather than later is to cut the losses. Allow Gottfried to walk away with a modicum of pride as opposed to complete and utter humiliation, although that prospect seems to be a long shot at the moment.

So hopefully, for the good of the program, and to a lesser extent for Gottfried, there can be a painless and seamless resolution to this conundrum. Allow him to fall on the sword, to cease making nauseating excuses and walk away. One can only hope Gottfried might be wise enough to see he's out of cards and the other side is holding a Royal Flush.

You can divide up Gottfried's accomplishments and failures and have a field day with either. The positives are obvious. He's taken Alabama farther than any coach in history — to the Elite Eight.

The other side of the ledger is as dim as that fact is luminous. He's had only three winning SEC records in 10 seasons. That number is unlikely to change in his 11th year. His road record is frightening. He has one regular season SEC title and no tournament titles. And he has only once made it past the second round of the NCAA tournament, a place he hasn't been in three years. But the record against Auburn recently — having lost four of the last five — is the career killer. These are below average teams, even by Auburn standards! Gottfried also has lost five straight to Mississippi State, the school's other fierce divisional rival.
However, numbers really are not important right now. What's important is ending this regime now before the scene gets even uglier..

This column is difficult for me because I have known Gottfried for a long time. And liked him. I campaigned for him to get the job long before he was hired because I saw a young, hungry basketball coach, driven to succeed.
I was reassured knowing he came from a magnificent and marvelous family, and seemed to be someone of impeccable character and believed in doing things the right way.

Today, I see someone who has wandered into middle age while becoming intoxicated with money and power, someone who has lost touch.

Gottfried has gone from a struggling mid-major coach at Murray State to a $1 million a year big shot in the SEC, to a person some of his closest friends barely recognize anymore.

An element of the Alabama fans picked up on this earlier than most and started responding by skipping games in droves, calling in radio shows and newspapers, demanding change, expressing disgust and dismay. Many of the old-line establishment types stood by idly, defending Gottfried or making excuses. Standing operating procedure in Tuscaloosa. Others became turned off by his constant responses and mind-numbing offensive philosophy and terrible staff decisions.

Regardless, this program has become an unadulterated mess and that is Gottfried's responsibility. Now, it's the university's task to rectify the situation.

Gottfried barely survived last March because he called in chips with powerful friends and got a pass from the media. Essentially, it was a tie vote and the incumbent prevailed.

No longer is it a close call.

[77fan88warrior]

I read another article but they didn't mention attendance or alumni. I think it's a shame that these mid season dismissals are occurring. It certainly takes the incentive away for kids to play hard when they can possibly rollover and watch their coach be dismissed or "resign". It's not like they are going to sign many players for next year at this point. I hope most schools abstain from letting assistants leave mid season to take over somewhere else.