BOL Round Table

How about sustained sucess and a coach that cares whether there is a crowd. Honestly at times I think Grant would rather play with no fans. What does he do on a daily basis to invigorate the program? I can guarentee you that Gymnastics and Softball, two teams with no tradition before there current coaches got there, worked tirelessly to build a fan base. Grant's been here 4 years. He could have had the student section moved. He had that much clout early on, he didn't care. People on here keep acting like that if we got rid of Grant we would go so far backwards. Do people realize that since hiring him, we actually have done just that. If Grant doesn't win one NCAA tournament game here, it will be the worst 4 year stretch of any coach in the modern tournament era for bama. Yes people I judge success not on meaningless 20 win seasons in a bad conference, hell Andy Kennedy has 5 20 win seasons in 6 years at Ole Miss and I would fire him on the spot, but instead I judge it on 3 criteria. 1. Conference Championships: None in 4 years. 2. SEC Tourney Titles: None in 4 years. 3. NCAA Tournaments and Success: 1 Tourney, in the newly expanded Tournament and ZERO wins in 4 years if he doesn't get one this year. All while making 7.6 million in those years. In contrast we paid Gottfried around 750 K in his first 4 years. For 3 million over 4 years we got and SEC Title, and an NCAA Win. In Hobbs last 4 years of coach we paid him just under 2.5 million, and he still had at least one NCAA win.

When the coach does not engage the fanbase and the product is mediocre, you get apathetic fans and I dont see how that is going to change. Add to this the fact that we are not in good physical condition and the 5 minute lulls will continue as we cant sustain consistent effort. I dont see CAG becoming an enthusiastic type of person. His voice never changes, his facial expression never changes. He seldon smiles and certainly never laughs that I have seen. He has no personality and everyone feeds off that. The fanbase/team is a reflection of the head coach and you see the zombie-like way in which the players play and the fans cheer. Its sad to see what it has become.

Remeber how electric CC was when we used to play Arky in the early to mid 90's? Or Kentucky all the way back from the 70's through the Pitino run? The support is there but it has been buried alive. It seems like CAG is a giant sinkhole and we have all fallen in...Help!

That Memphis game is not a good example. It didn't start till 9:00 on a weeknight. The placed was packed for the Georgetown game last year and it started at 6 or 7 on a weeknight. That makes a big difference. If we get some good "name" teams in non conference people will show up.

We got completely screwed by the SEC schedule makers this year though. We only got one shot at the top dogs in the league and only one of them was a home game.

Getting over 10,000 to a game on a weeknight for anybody other than Kentucky is basically all that has ever happened the last 10 years. Sure some games pull more and some pull less, but on average thats what it is. That is down this year because we got some really crappy games at home and team performance is lacking.

Somebody in the athletic department needs to figure out some way to get more people to the games consistently and fix the seating issue. Too many times lower seats are empty. The student section is always empty. And of course it is. They have some of the worst seats in the house. It's not like the athletic department is broke. Give free stuff away. Whatever happened to the free food before the game? Whatever happened to the bobbleheads to the first however many fans? I remember one year we all got free lunchboxes of the 2002 SEC Championship team, I still have mine somewhere. Somebody has dropped the ball over the years.

I think the best way to get people to games I. Tuscaloosa is to build excitement on TV through playing some marquee teams on the road in what is very likely to be a televised game.

Then also we have to play the marquee home games on Saturdays. Families can't be heading home from ttown on a Wednesday night at 11 pm.

Honestly if you think it takes 5 years to turn a team around then there is no point arguing with you.

Teams turned around in under 3 year just to name a few in the last few years.

Gottfried - NC State, took over a losing program and sweet 16 first year. Tourney team this year.

Larranga - Miami top 10 team. More wins over top 25 teams in one year than grant in 4 years.

Mike Anderson- Missouri, first two years mediocre. Elite Eight in 3rd year.

Tony Bennett - wash st. and Virginia now. Took over losing programs. Advanced to 2nd round in under 3 years with both teams.

Pearl- Tennessee - took over a losing program, 1st year took team to NCAA 2nd round. 4 tourneys first 4 years

Shaka smart - VCU final four and sweet 16 in 1st 3 yrs.

Frank Martin- KSU - hadn't win a NCAA game since 94'. First 3 years elite eight and NCAA 2nd round

I could keep adding to this list. But you get the idea. Also funny, every single coach on that list is making or was making less money than Grant was when they coached those teams.

Honestly if you think it takes 5 years to turn a team around then there is no point arguing with you.

Teams turned around in under 3 year just to name a few in the last few years.

Gottfried - NC State, took over a losing program and sweet 16 first year. Tourney team this year.

Larranga - Miami top 10 team. More wins over top 25 teams in one year than grant in 4 years.

Mike Anderson- Missouri, first two years mediocre. Elite Eight in 3rd year.

Tony Bennett - wash st. and Virginia now. Took over losing programs. Advanced to 2nd round in under 3 years with both teams.

Pearl- Tennessee - took over a losing program, 1st year took team to NCAA 2nd round. 4 tourneys first 4 years

Shaka smart - VCU final four and sweet 16 in 1st 3 yrs.

Frank Martin- KSU - hadn't win a NCAA game since 94'. First 3 years elite eight and NCAA 2nd round

I could keep adding to this list. But you get the idea. Also funny, every single coach on that list is making or was making less money than Grant was when they coached those teams.

So now you need experienced leaders. Last time I checked Releford has more starts at PG than any other guard in the league other than Boyton at Florida. Lacey, copper and Randolph have all started for over 60 games now. Most players don't hit that level of experience and amount of playing time to their junior or senior years.

You act as if no team in the country can win with young guys. The youngest team in the league isn't Alabama. It's Arkansas with 0 seniors and a sophomore as the starting pg. Alabama won an sec title with a true freshman at PG, Mo Williams, and a walk on sophomore.

People aren't coming to Coleman...but it has very little at all to do with weekend vs weeknight home dates. It has nothing to do with quality of the league. It has everything to do with the quality of product on the court and the level of optimism our coach and players are inspiring in our fan base.

When people openly groan and roll their eyes while watching us play, why would they want to spend their time doing something they've grown to hate? I hate to admit that I left Tuesday's game at the Under 8 timeout because I simply couldn't take any more. It was disgusting to watch. I spent as much time getting to and from the game as I did watching it, and it was excruciating at times. Bottom line: I had looked forward to it for weeks, and it was a miserable experience watching such incompetent basketball. Like a junkie, I'll keep coming back for more. But most fans won't.

If you don't think we've supported Grant, check the video below. Coleman seems pretty exciting to me. That was two years ago. It's sad watching that and seeing the talent/energy disparity then vs now. We had a somewhat serviceable shooter (C Davis,) big men who busted their butts for the most part (Hines and Green) and a wing man who could actually create his own offense (Mitchell.) Oh...and our point guard was actually playing point guard then, too. The play in the video is probably more exciting than anything we've seen out of this current team all year.