DuBose not buckling

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The show is called Hey, Coach.
But this week in Alabama, the Monday night call-in radio show featuring Crimson Tide Coach Mike DuBose could have been called Hey, Stupid.
Not that any of the callers had to have comments bleeped out, and no one at the restaurant where DuBose does the show in person got into a food fight.
But as Danny Ford -- the former Alabama player and Arkansas coach -- might have observed, "It don't take no scientific rocket" to see that DuBose again is under fire.
A year after it appeared DuBose was on the verge of losing his job, but nine months after he was named SEC Coach of the Year and received a contract extension for leading Alabama to its first conference title since 1992, there is a debate raging about his ability to lead the Tide as it prepares to play Arkansas.
"The callers were respectful, but they were concerned," said Eli Gold, Alabama's radio play-by-play announcer and host of Hey, Coach. "And in some instances they were respectfully angry.
"Nobody came out and said, 'You stupid so-and-so.' ... But there's no question that people are concerned, upset, disappointed, whatever adjective you want to use."
Alabama fans are all of that because they watched in shock as the Tide was blanked by Southern Mississippi 21-0 Saturday in Birmingham.
A Tide team with 18 starters returning from last year and picked No. 3 in the preseason polls brings a 1-2 record and lots of questions with it to Fayetteville.
"It's not easy," DuBose said of appearing in public on a radio show after a game like last week's. "But I understand and appreciate our fans.
"I do understand why they're so upset. I'm upset at myself. I don't blame them a bit."
For DuBose, it's a scenario that's become familiar in his four seasons as Alabama's coach after being a Tide player under Bear Bryant and an assistant coach for a combined 11 years in two stints.
"The Bible in Job 14:1 says that man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble," DuBose said. "But I didn't know it meant that much trouble."
Instead of "Roll, Tide, Roll," it's been "Roller coaster, Tide, Roller coaster" during the DuBose era at Alabama, in which the team has a 22-17 record with a series of highs and lows.
"I don't know how much it's helped," DuBose said of going through troubling times at Alabama the previous three years. "But it's obviously given us practice at handling the situation -- more than we'd like to."
DuBose's coaching debut in the 1997 opener went well, with a 42-17 victory over Houston. But in his third game, Ford's Razorbacks upset the Tide 17-16, starting Alabama's slide to a 4-7 record -- its worst finish since 1957.
The Tide bounced back with a 7-4 record in 1998 to earn a Music Bowl bid, but was trounced by Virginia Tech 38-7 -- Alabama's worst bowl loss since 1972.
Things got worse shortly before last season when DuBose admitted he had an improper relationship with a secretary and had two years knocked off his contract and $360,000 taken out of his salary to pay for a sexual harassment lawsuit the university had to settle.
Then things got really bad when Alabama lost to Louisiana Tech 29-28 on a last-second touchdown pass in the season's third game.
Bob Bockrath was forced to resign as Alabama's athletic director a few days after the game and DuBose's job also appeared to be in serious jeopardy.
But then the Tide saved its season and DuBose's job, beginning with a 35-28 victory over Arkansas and including two victories over Florida, 40-39 in overtime to end the Gators' home winning streak at 30 games and 34-7 in the SEC Championship Game.
DuBose's off-the-field problems were forgiven as he was praised for holding the Tide together and received a contract extension through the 2004 season.
Alabama entered this season as a heavy favorite to win a second consecutive SEC title -- something the Tide hasn't done since winning three in a row from 1977-79 -- and hopes of being in the national championship hunt.
The Tide's failure to live up to its preseason expectations has DuBose back in the hot seat, as he was a year ago, and Alabama again is looking to Arkansas as a make-or-break game.
"It's tough to say it's a must-win this early in the season, but it just about is," said Kenny Stabler, the former Alabama star quarterback who is now color analyst on the team's radio broadcasts, said on Hey, Coach. "We've got to get the confidence built up and get everybody on the same page."
That would seem to apply in particular to Alabama's offensive coaches.
Quarterbacks coach Charlie Stubbs calls the plays, but offensive line coach Neil Callaway has the title of offensive coordinator, and DuBose reiterated this week that he as head coach has final say on the game plan and play calls.
Stubbs is a former BYU assistant who came to Alabama to help install a pass-oriented offense he seemingly never has been able to fully install.
Callaway is a former Alabama teammate of DuBose, and DuBose said he is moving Callaway from the sideline to be in the press box with Stubbs to give the Tide some more eyes up high.
It's a situation that has begged the question, "Who's running the offense?" DuBose even heard it from Gold on Monday night.
"I asked him some very, very tough questions about the offense and the coaches, and the thing I like about Mike DuBose is he doesn't dance around," Gold said. "A lot of people don't like the job he's doing, others want to give him more time, but whatever your personal opinion is, I appreciate the fact the man doesn't disappear into the woodwork.
"He's in here, taking questions from the fans, and he hangs in there and doesn't give you little cheapy answers, little prepackaged sound bites."
Stubbs isn't giving anybody any answers right now, at least on the record.
Always quotable in the past, Stubbs has refused interview requests the last two weeks and on Tuesday DuBose had to squelch rumors on talk radio shows and the Internet that Stubbs had resigned.
"There is no validity to rumors out there, and I'm not going to say anything else about it," DuBose said. "We've got a big game and our focus has to be on Arkansas.
"Let it go. Let us do our job."
On Internet message boards this week, fans have been vocal, calling for Alabama to "drop the flop from Opp" -- DuBose is from Opp, Ala. -- and "Cut the cord" from one of Bear's boys and hire Clemson Coach Tommy Bowden, Miami Coach Butch Davis or Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer.
Alabama fans at the Bob Baumhower's Wings restaurant had mixed reactions about the job DuBose is doing the night of his call-in show.
"I like him as a person, but he's not getting the job done," said Roy Guy, who has been going to Alabama games for 40 years. "We're pitiful, and there's a war going on out there on the coaching stuff.
"DuBose needs to let Charlie Stubbs have the offense and get out of the way, just like he did last year when his job was on the line. We started kicking butt and won the SEC."
Scott Buttram, who said he has been going to Alabama games for 35 years, said he's still confident in DuBose.
"He learned from the best when he played here under Coach Bryant," Buttram said. "He knows what it takes, he knows what's expected at Alabama.
"He's been through a lot of things here, weathered bigger storms than this, and I think he'll get everything fixed."
But Buttram doesn't sound totally convinced.
"It could get real ugly, or it could turn out like last year," he said. "If we beat Arkansas, nobody will remember those first three weeks."
Alabama senior guard Griff Redmill said he's been impressed with the way DuBose has handled the adversity he's experienced in his roller coaster ride with the Tide.
"When you're at the bottom of the roller coaster, you've got to just hold onto the track, because you're going to come back up sooner or later," Redmill said. "And that's kind of how it is with Coach DuBose -- I know he's going to be back on top."

This article was published on Friday, September 22, 2000

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