re: Greatest Quote ever by a coach on getting fired was by Gene Stallings

Once for the SEC Championship.

Well done
Best Gene Stallings quote--When you start listening to the fans you will soon find yourself sitting with them.

I also agree that as good as Saban is, Bear is the GOAT. NOBODY but Bryant could have defeated that 1978 Penn St team

In the late 90's there was local show on a station called CSPN in Bessemer and Gene had a part every week. He would not go over offense but defense and how to stop certain plays He was a damn master of defensive football.

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Gene Stallings

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Great man!

I hate Bama hired Bob Backrath. How much of a douche can you be to make Stallings say "frick this" and resign. He was a Junction Boy

He runs off Stallings and hires DuBose. Genius! Hard to imagine why his arse went packing himself so quickly.

And here is one of those fans that just wanted better and contributed to Stallings leaving.

That worked out great.

Stallings helped a lot of families that had kids with disabilities during and after his coaching career. One family was from my hometown, and they were having trouble coming to terms with the prospects of life with a newborn with down syndrome. He reached out to them several times, during football season while he was coaching at Alabama and helped them to see the good in their situation.

John Mark deserves a statue next to his father.

That’s great to hear, I always liked him for some reason he just seemed sincere.

Plus every Southerner on the planet was pulling for him to bear Miami in the Sugar bowl that year

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Gene Stallings was a great college coach but he was so stubborn about opening up his offense

that it probably cost him a Natty or 2.

He had some great defensive teams

but never could score enough points to beat Spurrier and Florida.

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You talkin to me

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John Mark deserves a statue next to his father.

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Yes.

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I have always said the Bear was the GOAT, and a good guy. Gene Stalling is a very underrated coach at Bama.

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I believe Stallings actually gets a little more love than he should as a coach because people respect him as a genuine person who's done a lot of good in the world and was a great father to a son with special needs.

Stallings had a great tenure at Bama, but the timing of his hiring and resignation was favorable. If he had been hired a little sooner or stayed a little later, I think it would have been more difficult for him.

1. A lot of the key pieces of the 1992 national championship team were young players on the roster when he was hired.

2. Auburn quickly slipped into mediocrity in the early '90s after its strong '80s run, making it easier to score a few quick Iron Bowl victories out of the gate. Bill Curry coached against a hell of a lot better Auburn teams in his first three (and only three) years, including the first game at JHS.

3. If Stallings had stayed past 1996 - he was only 61 when he retired - I doubt his tenure would have ended on a high note. Spurrier had his number and Tennessee had taken control of the series with Manning, Martin, Lewis and those guys. I think a few more years in the saddle would have diluted the impact the 1992 championship has on his legacy and fewer people would remember him as a "great coach" as Bama became no better than the third best program in the SEC for a prolonged period of time.

4. His stints at A&M and with the Cardinals were abysmal.

Gene Stallings was so good of a coach that he won a NC with Jay Barker as QB.

My favorite Stallings quote was in response to a reporter who asked him about the lofty expectations at Bama. Stallings replied with this question, “What’s wrong with expecting excellence?”