So what is Finebaum REALLY trying to say?

I just read the following article by Paul Finebaum from The Mobile Register.  Ouch!

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Time for Tide to fire Shula
Tuesday, November 21, 2006

The time has come for the University of Alabama to finally man up and act like one of the greatest football powers, one with a storied tradition, instead of Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.

The time has come for someone high up in the elite and rarefied air of the Alabama administration to discover the missing clue bag that should tell them Mike Shula needs to go now as the school’s head football coach. Finally, the time has come to sincerely thank Shula for his service. Give him a gold watch. Pay him whatever his contract specifies. But most important, put the program out of its misery and give the loyal fan base an early Christmas present by hiring a legitimate head football coach, not someone who four years ago was absent from everyone’s head coaching list and likely never will be again.

The experiment failed. It wasn’t a total disaster.

It was worse.

It was a slow, painful death, akin to Chinese water torture. Like one nail at a time being slowly ripped away, leaving the skin raw and bleeding.

And it was so predictable if only people could have taken the Crimson blinders off and seen this for what it really was and was always going to be.

Letting a teenager drive the family car without driver’s ed will usually garner the same result — a wrecked car, or in this case a severely damaged football program.

Alabama has been moving in the right direction under Shula? Says who?

The Tide, assuming it doesn’t go bowling, just completed its third non-winning season out of four. The Tide’s only SEC wins this year were by a field goal against Vandy and in overtime against Ole Miss. Thank goodness there wasn’t a road game at
Kentucky.

And many people strongly believe this nightmare should continue. Please. Do
Alabama fans really enjoy pain that much? Notre Dame and Florida made tough choices two years ago in firing Tyrone Willingham and Ron Zook, both of whom had enjoyed some success. Today, in the latest BCS standings,
Florida is No. 4 and Notre Dame No. 5.

What’s the best thing one can say about Shula after four years? He’s a nice guy. Now, is that worth nearly a $2 million contract to ruin one of the crown jewels of college football?

I’ve never heard anyone say Tommy Tuberville is a nice guy. But he’s an exceptional head football coach and his résumé speaks for itself.

With Shula, there was always an excuse, usually from him.

I sat there Saturday night in the bowels of Bryant-Denny Stadium, watching Shula mouth the words once again, about how close this team is to turning the corner. Unfortunately for Shula, the words no longer had resonance, not with his own team, not with the once-loyal fan base or anyone else. And my mind wrenched back to the same question I’ve been asking for the last four years: How did this guy ever get hired in the first place? 

And while some continued to argue and lobby late into the weekend and even Monday that Shula deserves more time, the only choice is to put the program out of its desolation. Cut the losses. Take the public relations hit. Do whatever is necessary. Just end the madness.

Why would anyone reasonably expect Shula to do next year what he hasn’t been able to do in four previous years? The program has no discipline. It has no direction. It has no leader. It has no moral compass.

It simply has an oblivious and dysfunctional head coach who has continued to sink deeper into the abyss with each embarrassing and mind-boggling Saturday.

The university doesn’t need another coaching change, some lamely argue. Why not? Do Alabama fans enjoy being humiliated every year by
Auburn? The streak’s at five and there’s no danger of it ending as long as Shula is the head coach.

What is there not to see other than having to admit a colossal error in hiring Shula and an even bigger blunder in giving him a new contract and hefty raise earlier in the year?

For the sake of the program, someone needs to see the light. Hopefully, what has been crystal clear to some for a long time will finally be crystalline to those who matter.

Firing Mike Shula isn’t a tough decision.

It’s the only decision.
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I didn’t make that up.  I am not that bold… ok, yes I am, but that is beside the point.  You can find the source article by clicking here.