Sweet Home Alabama? Not anymore.

Watching Alabama search for a new head coach is kind of amusing. Talk to any fan in the South that is not aligned with the Crimson Tide and they'll tell you so. Don't be mistaken; schadenfeude is alive and well in the Southeastern Conference.

After all, how can you not crack a smile at this Dixie soap opera that seems to have the same plot line for every episode? It goes something like this: a possible candidate's name is reported, he immediately declares he is not interested in the position and Crimson Tide fans are left to speculate who will be walking the sidelines with a clipboard and headset next fall. Scrub. Rinse. Dry. Scrub. Rinse. Dry. Over and over again.


So far nobody has openly campaigned for a job that was once considered one of the best in college football.

It's odd, but perhaps everybody is starting to realize that Alabama is not such a great destination — not after four coaches have come and gone since 2000 and the football program was put on probation for four years. But it's hard for Crimson Tide fans to understand this. They are married to the team's past. See — at Alabama there was once this great coach named Paul "Bear" Bryant. He won a lot of games and was sort of an autocrat — a larger-than-life figure in a state that loved its football.

But the"Bear," as fans who cheer for other Southeastern Conference teams like to tell Bama supporters, is dead. He's not coming back. Still, he is everywhere you go in Tuscaloosa. On the walls in living rooms across town. In the local drinking establishments. Firing up the crowd at Bryant-Denny Stadium with a garbled pep talk on the scoreboard. It's kind of scary and it's not helping the Crimson Tide, which went 6-6 this year before the administration decided to can head coach Mike Shula.

Alabama needs new blood. Four years ago it seemed that the administration thought so too when it hired Mike Price. But then Price had his little escapade with some strippers and he was fired. That was too bad. It would have been fun watching a Spread offense be installed at an institution that defines old-school. And it still could happen. Word on the street is that Bama is looking hard at Rich Rodriguez.

It would be a smart hire for a school that needs to rock the boat. But it may be too late. Alabama is no longer a destination job and that's hard to believe.

Photo Source: Rolltide.com/ESPN