I give him beween 5-10 years. I don't expect much out of the Tide this season, and the next two are a toss-up because the scholarship reductions will start being felt then. But he'll have a longer leash than Curry did (unless he pulls a DuBose or Price, which ain't likely) because Bama can't afford to ditch yet another coach so soon. I think he'll have reasonable success by Tuscaloosa's standards (a couple of SEC titles and maybe a shot at a national title between 2006-2010), but the pressure will drive him away before 2013. The days of high-profile coaches staying in one place as long as Paterno, Bryant, Wooden and Knight did are over.
As a Dolphins fan, I am pretty familiar with Shula since he was our QB coach for a few years. He did a pretty good job with Fiedler. However, as a OC, he struggled. According to players in that system, he had good formations, but wasn't a very good playcaller. I don't think Shula will lost long in Bama because he has no head coaching experience, and now he has one of the biggest jobs in NCAA football. I hope he does well though. I say he is there less than five years. To add fuel to the fire, he has never had a coaching job with a college football team. All of his assistant and coordinator jobs have been in the NFL.
He will be done after two bad years. Everywhere I have heard commentators talk or journalists write, they are all of the opinion that this was a desperation hire. So I say 2 years and gone. Not ready for the big time.
All of you think less than five? Wow. Shula is #7 in 20 years, gentlemen. Seven in twenty years. I just don't think 'Bama can get rid of another coach that quick. We'll see. Also, Curry, Stallings, and Dubose all won the SEC. That won't change. Franchione would have, too, if he'd stayed four more.
Well, part of me thinks it was just a bad hire. Coughlin should have been the first choice if they were serious about a disciplined, winning program. Croom should have been the second choice. And I'm not sure how far down the list I would have gone before I tabbed Shula, but he wouldn't be near the top 3. And this wasn't going to be an easy program for any head coach for the next couple of years, much less a novice head coach.
Like any college coach, he'll be there until they find out about the little incident with the lace teddy and the gerbils.
I would have taken Coughlin myself. I feel for Croom, but I didn't want him to go in with less than the full limit of scholarships and no official spring training to implement his program. If (I'm wrong, and) Bama reeks for the next four years, let it happen on Shula's watch. Alum or not, Croom shouldn't even have wanted the job in those circumstances.