Bill Battle????

MM stepping down is no surprise.
Bill Battle, however is.

Wonder if he'll step down from these boards?

Bill currently serves on the boards of:
. Bank of North Georgia
. Bryant-Jordan Student-Athlete Foundation
. The University of Alabama A-Club Educational & Charitable Foundation
. Crimson Tide Foundation
. National Football Foundation

Battle is also a member of the group that votes in the Harris Interactive College Football Poll.

Seems like he would have too....

Battle, a three-year starter at end from 1960-62; playing for Bear Byrant on his first national championship team; and was named to Alabama's 1960's all-decade team.

He became Coach Bryant's agent in 1981 and was his agent when he became the winningest coach in college football.

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“I couldn’t get it out of my mind,” Battle said. “To me, he was the most well-known coach in the country, the greatest figure in college athletics. All I could think about was, ‘Holy cow, he’s about to change agents.’”

So after the meeting, Battle steadied himself and said, “Coach, I don’t know that much about licensing, and I don’t know that much about being an agent, but I know you and I’ll make sure we do it the way you want to do it.”

“In that old, gravely voice, Coach Bryant said, ‘Aw, I ain’t got nothing to sell. The best in the business has been trying to sell me for years. All I want is somebody to take all these requests for speaking engagements and tell them I can’t come.’”

Battle tells the story with a raucous laugh that just about busts a gut. The most famous and revered coach in college football was going to be represented by the president of a window company.

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Bama was the first to sign on to Battle's ideal for a licensing company. So Bama help him start his billion dollar enterprise.

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“As soon as we started talking about a licensing program, we knew there was a lot of synergy there with Coach Bryant and Alabama,” said Gaston, now the athletic department’s chief financial officer. “The more we talked, the more sense it made. It was just logical for everything to come together right there.”

That conversation late in 1981 set the table for Alabama to become Battle’s first collegiate client in what was then Golden Eagle Enterprises, the company that became CLC in 1984. Golden Eagle, a company that made hickory-shafted mallet putters and Jack Nicklaus-licensed eyewear, was owned by the same man, Larry Striplin, who owned DISCO — and it had just enough of a licensing flavor to serve as the agency for that college business that Battle was starting to bring in.

Think it was strange for a window company president to serve as Bear Bryant’s agent? How about a putter and eyewear company representing the University of Alabama’s licensing?

But this is how it all started.

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Tennessee, a program that fired him and the fans showed their appreciation so many times?

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White guessed at the time that Battle didn’t want to go because of how the Volunteers treated the former coach when he was there. Even though Battle took the Vols to a bowl game in each of his first five seasons, he was fired in year seven, and throughout his tenure, the local fans never warmed to him. One day, Battle pulled up to his house in Knoxville to find a moving van sitting there. Other times, fans would come by in the middle of the night and express their displeasure by putting “For Sale” signs in his front yard.

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LINK

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MM stepping down is no surprise.
Bill Battle, however is.

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Yes, whoever heard of Bill Battle having anything to do with the Athletic Department?