DuBose: Power brokers hinder Tide football program

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Posted 7:12PM on Monday, May 9, 2005

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) Former Alabama coach Mike DuBose said the football program is being hindered by a group of power brokers and the lack of a clear hierarchy. He also said the same group pushed Gene Stallings into retirement. ``I feel like there are too many people trying to run that program,'' DuBose said in an interview with Mobile Register columnist Paul Finebaum. ``There was a point in time when one man was in charge and everybody knew where the buck stopped. Now, there are 10 or 15 people trying to run that program and it won't work. ``Until somebody is in charge there and everybody who works there as far as the athletic department is concerned knows where the bucks stops, the program can't be what it can and should be.'' DuBose, the 1999 Southeastern Conference coach of the year, was fired in 2000 during a 3-8 season. He spent the past two years as head coach at Luverne High School before accepting a job as defensive coordinator at Millsaps College, a Division III program in Jackson, Miss. DuBose played for the Tide and was an assistant coach under Stallings on Alabama's national championship team in 1992. Current coach Mike Shula has a record of 10-15 in two seasons at Alabama, which was placed on NCAA probation for rules violations that occurred during DuBose's tenure. DuBose reiterated in the interview that he has ``never broken a rule or ever asked anyone to break a rule.'' He was not cited in the NCAA's report. He also said Stallings was pushed out before he was ready to leave, despite winning 70 games and a national title in seven seasons. ``This is an opinion, not something coach Stallings ever said to me,'' DuBose said. ``There was a group of people who maybe thought he was about to become too strong, too influential and maybe didn't want to see it happen again. I don't really think Coach was ready to retire. I think he still had a lot of coaching left in him.'' DuBose declined to name the specific people but indicated they are still involved in the program. ``I feel like there are people who are trying to influence the program who have their own agendas rather than what's best for the athletic program and especially the football program,'' he said. In fact, he said the climate at Alabama would even have hampered Bryant. ``If coach Bryant were still alive today, and was coaching and the same people that were there making the decision now were making the decisions in the early '70s, coach Bryant wouldn't have had the decade of the '70s,'' DuBose said. The Tide won eight SEC titles and two AP national championships during that decade. (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)