re: When Nate Oats leaves the hanger…

quote:

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Just couldn't seem to get players down there.

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He got some good ones, but couldn't keep them. Tony Mitchell turned out to be a head case. Devonta Pollard got caught up in his crazy mama's kidnapping scheme, and a couple more just didn't pan out and/or stick around.

The biggest problem he had was that he just was a square peg for a round hole. Alabama and Auburn are similar in that football is the only sport a lot of people follow. We call ours FOGs (Football Only Gumps).

To succeed, you've got to have a guy that can both coach and generate program energy. Pearl has done that spectacularly at Auburn. Grant is a really good coach and by all reports a great man, but he just didn't have the personality to do the other things to generate that buzz. Avery had the energy part down perfectly, but was at best an average coach.

Oats, like Pearl, has both qualities - which is our teams are playing for first place in the SEC and the inside track to the regular season conference title tonight

Edited to add: I don't know any Bama hoops fan that isn't glad to see Grant having success post-Bama.