http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/sports/8350418.htm

Shula follows Perkins' lead

At the University of Alabama, they have a name for men who tamper with tradition simply for the sake of asserting their authority. They call such men Ray Perkins.

Having played quarterback for Perkins 18 years ago, Alabama football coach Mike Shula should understand there is no such thing as insignificant change when it involves the Crimson Tide. It's a working example of chaos theory.

A butterfly flaps its wings in China and three weeks later gale force winds capsize sailboats off the California coast.

When Perkins succeeded Paul "Bear" Bryant in 1983, he raised the ire of Alabama fans by taking down the legendary coach's practice field tower. A Sports Illustrated photographer captured an image of the tower lying in a thicket of weeds, a portrait that foreshadowed the outcome of Perkins' tenure.

Perkins said years later that he took down the tower because he didn't want to try to be Coach Bryant and that he set the artifact aside for eventual inclusion in the College Football Hall of Fame.

His reason for disassembling a piece of Alabama's history seemed sound, although the execution of it left much to be desired.

So how should we interpret Shula's recent decision to remove Sylvester Croom's name from the spring football practice award it appeared on for 16 years? Had the "Commitment to Excellence Award" belonged to another former Alabama player before being re-named by Shula in Bart Starr's honor, the change might have passed unnoticed.

But Croom, a former all-Southeastern Conference and All-America center for Bryant, was a finalist for the job Shula received. Croom never complained that his heftier resume was trumped by Shula's surname and never challenged Alabama officials for apparently placing greater value on complexion than qualification.

Croom kept quiet, accepted the Mississippi State job and became the SEC's first black head football coach. As best as we can tell, his commitment to excellence remains intact. Because Croom had the audacity to accept a head coaching job in the same conference, however, Shula decided to penalize him in a move that smacks of insecurity.

Shula didn't even have the courage to call Croom and inform him of the change. Instead, Croom learned of it from a Jackson Clarion-Ledger reporter last week. An Alabama spokesman said that Shula and his staff renamed the award because "they didn't feel it was appropriate to have an award at the University of Alabama that's named for a coach at another school in the conference."

Never mind the fact that Phenix City product Woodrow Lowe's name still graces the "Most Improved Linebacker Award" even though he now coaches the linebackers at Alabama-Birmingham. Or that a room in Alabama's Bryant Conference Center bears the name of Logan Young, a booster who was disassociated from the university for his role in NCAA violations.

"It (naming the room) was done way back," Alabama athletic director Mal Moore told the Birmingham News. "That has no effect on the NCAA ruling. His disassociation was from that point forward."

If you apply that logic, it makes no sense for Alabama to disassociate Croom in a different form. If Shula is smart, he'll reinstate Croom's name on the award Bryant linked him to when he returns from his fund-raising cruise.

Croom became the symbol for the Commitment to Excellence Award because of what he did as an Alabama player, not as a coach. He wanted to coach at his alma mater, but his alma mater did not want him.

It's too early to tell if Croom will reveal himself as the better coach, but this much is certain after Shula's 4-9 rookie season and his misguided move in renaming the spring practice award.

Right now, Shula bears far more resemblance to Perkins than he does to Bryant.



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