Tide in transition

TUSCALOOSA | Once he saw the note, Mike Shula knew that his coaching career at the University of Alabama was over.

It was handed to him Sunday night by director of football operations Randy Ross, moments after Shula met with Crimson Tide players to make sure they all had made it safely back to the Capstone after Thanksgiving break.

It said only three words: “Call Mal Moore."

From that point on, the only remaining uncertainties were the final details of his departure.

“I have informed Mike Shula that he will not be retained as head football coach at the University of Alabama," the director of athletics said at a press conference Monday, formally ending nine days of speculation after the Tide lost its fifth straight game against rival Auburn to finish the regular season 6-6.

Assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Joe Kines will serve as interim head coach until a replacement is named. No timetable has been set to hire Alabama’s 27th head football coach.

“I want to thank Mike Shula for his commitment to the University of Alabama football program," university president Dr. Robert Witt, who attended the press conference but did not make any public statements, said in a press release.

“His leadership has provided our program with much-needed stability during the past four years, and we appreciate that, as our coach, he has demonstrated impeccable character and class in every way."

Although Shula guided the Crimson Tide out of arguably its darkest period ever, his teams went 26-23 over four seasons, with one finish above .500.

Last year, the Tide was 10-2 and ranked eighth nationally after a New Year’s Day victory against Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl. As a result, Shula received a contract extension bumping his annual salary to about $1.5 million. It also increased his total buyout to $3 million plus $200,000 per year.

“You are never comfortable with a/ssituation like this," Moore said. “It was a very difficult time for me and a difficult decision without question. His buyout, I assured [Shula] that it would be followed to the letter."

Hired on May 8, 2003, in the wake of an off-the-field scandal surrounding Mike Price, and a roster depleted by NCAA penalties, the rookie head coach had just 115 days to prepare for his season opener.

Consequently, none of the four-year players who made up his first signing class have yet to play their senior seasons.

“You hate to see this happen, but I can understand the university going in another direction as well," former Alabama standout Bobby Humphrey said. “You can’t point all the fingers at the coach, but he’s the one who had to take full responsibility for it."

The move means that Alabama will start next season with its fourth different head coach since 2000, and sixth since Gene Stallings retired in 1996.

Due to the high rate of turnover, Alabama will almost certainly hire someone who doesn’t already have a direct tie to the program, and, as Moore repeatedly said, is a “proven winner" as a head coach.

“I can say that I have not talked with any coach regarding this job, but that process will begin in the next day or so," he said. “We will start forming the list and ranking who we want to go after in what order."

Speculation led both Miami Dolphins coach Nick Saban and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier to state Monday that they had no interest in leaving their current positions.

Rich Rodriguez, whose name is also making the rumor rounds as a potential candidate, did likewise at West Virginia.

“Mike Shula is a good guy," Saban told reporters in Florida. “He’s a friend. I hate to see anybody not being able to maintain. I think he’s done a good job there and should have been given an opportunity to stay there."

Shula met with Moore last Tuesday to discuss the program’s future, but the coach proposed no sweeping changes.

When he didn’t hear anything Sunday -- after Witt and Moore met with members of the UA System board of trustees -- Shula told players that he believed the entire staff would return for next season.

After being fired, Shula told his wife, Shari, of the decision and began notifying assistant coaches. He spent Monday at home, receiving well-wishers and, in the words of a family friend, “being a dad" to his three daughters.

“I am deeply disappointed to be fired as the head football coach at the University of Alabama," Shula said in a press release. “From my very first day on this job, I had a single mission: to return the Crimson Tide to its place among the elite programs in college football. Although I maintain that we were moving steadily in that direction, I regret sincerely that I will not be given the opportunity to finish the job I was hired to do."

Shula also said he was “sorry" to players for this season’s record and that they had to hear of his firing from someone else.

“I don’t think he has anything to apologize for," sophomore quarterback John Parker Wilson said. “He put us in opportunities to win."

Most players didn’t find out about the firing until Monday morning, when they showed up at the Moore Football Facility for workouts. Moore addressed them later at a noon team meeting at Bryant Hall.

Among the things he said were that there wasn’t enough progress on the field or positive momentum, and that he was concerned about a downward slide.

“I have my own personal feelings about it," sophomore center Antoine Caldwell said. “I love coach Shula and everybody here does. I also know Mal Moore loves Alabama and I respect what he does. Right now I am not taking sides and I am hurting just like everybody else."

This will be Kines’ second stint as an interim head coach. He replaced Jack Crowe at Arkansas one game into the 1992 season.

The Razorbacks won their next game, 45-7 at South Carolina, and went on to record their first win at Tennessee, but went 3-6-1 under his direction.

“From our perspective, the way we are going to approach this now is to be completely focused on the student-athlete," the 62-year-old Kines said.

“Some of this staff have sat on the couch with their mother, their father, their grandmother or someone and assured them that we were going to take care of their child academically, physically and that the football part would come last. We are going to uphold that commitment," he said.

“We are only about two weeks away from exams. We are not going to let any child fall through the cracks."

The Tide is scheduled to resume practice Saturday for an expected invitation to play in the Independence Bowl, Dec. 28 in Shreveport, La.

“I spoke to Coach [Shula] last night," Kines said. “This is a great game, the greatest game in America. But sometimes it’s not a very good business."

Kines then walked away from the podium, apparently as much unaware about what comes next as anyone else in the program.

“That good?" he asked.

Reach Christopher Walsh at christopher.walsh@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0196.