After an hour or two of drowning my sorrows in Lynchburg, Tennessee’s finest, I finally got the chance to step back and form a level headed opinion of the run at Gregg Marshall from Alabama athletic director.
As evident from social media, Tide fans went from total euphoria from the rumored Friday visit from Marshall and his family to a replay of many games during the 2014-2015 season where victory was snatched from the hands of basketball fans.
One thing I have to respect is Battle finding the man he wanted and swinging for the fences to get him. Some thought Alabama would just automatically settle for a coach and not try to run with the big dogs. National media was telling everyone it wasn’t possible even when Wichita media said that it seemed Marshall was leaning toward heading to Tuscaloosa until a last minute momentum shift.
The rumored offer from Alabama was $4.2-4.9 million per year. If that’s not taking your best shot, I have no idea what it would be. Media in Wichita also mentioned late on Wednesday night that Battle pulled out all of the stops, even including Coach Nick Saban’s agent Jimmy Sexton in the dealings in some type of way.
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The cold hard truth of the matter is Alabama isn’t a basketball school but Battle letting the information get out that he was going to make a run at Marshall with a crazy offer proves that he wants the country to know that he wants to change that perception to the best of his ability. A lot of the staff of Alabama pay sites believed that the interest was mutual and Battle may have thought he had his man and let the information out so that it made it feel like he was the guy and he was the one we wanted.
Now, here are the problems. You’ve got a powerhouse offer out there that is known as well as a lot of candidates that know they are your back-up plans. They know what you are prepared to pay so the Tide will be forced to go a bit higher on some targets that may have been signed cheaper if all of the Marshall dealings would have been worked in secret. On the other hand if one of their targets are content where they are, they could use the Tide’s offer to drive up the salary at their current job.
I liked the transparency that came with the statement that he released but it’s also another way of making your next candidates feel that they are playing second fiddle for you.
If Battle truly did think he had his man, I really can’t blame him for the way he did it. If not for the late Mal Moore being persistent, we wouldn’t have Coach Saban. You had two separate flights for two different athletic directors at Alabama with the ramifications of both being program-changing trips. One worked out well for Tide fans but didn’t. You win some and lose some.
There still a chance of Battle making a great hire for the basketball coach but with the way this one played out, it just may be a bit more difficult.