TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- University of Alabama president Judy Bonner will recommend the hiring of Bill Battle as the athletic department's new athletics director, according to a university press release.
Battle, a former player under coach Paul "Bear" Bryant who was the head coach at Tennessee during the 1970s, will replace Mal Moore, who stepped down Wednesday because of health issues.
Alabama's Board of Trustees will meet via conference call Friday at 10 a.m. to vote on the recommendation.
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Comments » 78
BIVOLAR_BEARE writes:
Bill is a finacial success so that definitely makes sense..Good luck Coach Battle..
emailnodata (Inactive) writes:
Wow!!!
I remember I was surprised when Battle was run off from UT.
Seems a moving van was sent to his house....
don't suppose old Bill would take a little extra enjoyment from 'Rolling' UT, would he??
volnbig11land writes:
Best of luck to him!
The fake punt against joja was his undoing.
ElizabethtonvolnNC writes:
Agreed, would be a good hire....
But, you are still a joke.
jone8191#247590 writes:
This is an amazing turn of events. I am glad Bill Battle landed this position. An athletic director is a very important job. Check out Tennessee if you doubt that statement.
SavTnVol writes:
I still miss Coach Battle. Good luck Coach
DalTexVol writes:
Good for Bill Battle! He wasn't given the best treatment by Vol fans (probably was too young to be a head coach) but was always a gentleman and a classy individual. It will be interesting to how he gets along with "He Who Must Not Be Named."
CroKev writes:
Saban?
jimr07 writes:
PMS got you down today?...or.. maybe you can find an old dog to kick...
CarlChilders writes:
True, he never had a losing season, but:
11-1
10-2
10-2
8-4
7-3-2
7-5
6-5
CarlChilders writes:
On the plus side, CBB has always shown himself to be a class individual and he was the one responsible for giving Condredge Holloway the opportunity.
volspaws writes:
Seems everyone has forgotten about Coach Battle's remark about the "Gay Street Quarterbacks" when he self destructed at a press conference.....it was a smug and condescending jab at Knoxvillians.....good man, mediocre football coach.
wallingdad writes:
we can only hope he trashes Alabama the way he did Tennessee. I know many will say he never had a losing season at UT and that is true. However look at his record from year to year. it was a downward spiral. Doug Dickey left him stellar players to have quick success but once his own recruits started playing the fall began.
I remember getting beat by North Texas State University....at home!!!
I can only hope he does the same thing to Alabama
Geofffourmyle writes:
Did the calendar just jump forward to April 1?
Whatever. Good luck Coach Battle.
Walt
UT '81
stevefrommemphis writes:
+1 Agree wholeheartedly.
jack4444 writes:
You really think Battle would take that job? More work, tons of politics, dealing with those toothless fans, Battle's too smart.
CoverOrange writes:
Looks pretty good for being 71, however, he is 71 and has no experience in the athletic dept. This is a good ole boy interim hire.
CoverOrange writes:
Battle was captain of the Titanic, we just didn't know it in 1970. Just imagine if Majors had been hired then instead of Battle.
Olddogsrule writes:
"Battle, a former player under coach Paul "Bear" Bryant who was the head coach at Tennessee during the 1970s"
Proof there are parallel universes! I wasn't in the one where Bryant coached at Tennessee.
Geofffourmyle writes:
Right.
The people still touting Johnny Majors need to avoid courses in Clear Thinking.
As far as coaching at UT is concerned, Majors was just a place holder.
Walt
UT '81
emailnodata (Inactive) writes:
Holy cr@p.
Instead of "he said, she said",
this site is all
"you're stupid"
"no, You're stupid"
Razzle writes:
I'm thinking that probably went over the head of JANDS.
emailnodata (Inactive) writes:
As for Johnny, he screwed himself with a lot of UT fans when he disrupted the chemistry of a team that was on a roll.
Yeah, you knew he feared for his job, but as a fan you just wanted him to stay the hell away for that season while Phil had them rolling.
espender#273698 writes:
You are correct...his record had a serious downward spiral. Good X's and O's man, not so good of a recruiter. You can draw up plays all day long, but if you don't have the talent, oh well. He was a class act, but I was glad to see him go. Bear Bryant owed us and the rest of the conference in those days, and that loss to North Texas State still burns me.
FWBVol writes:
You have to remember that most of the people on this board weren't alive in 1976 when Battle was forced out at Tennessee.
I was a freshman at UT that fall and I remember his statement well.
He said, "If the Gay Street quarterbacks, and every two dollar bettor that got upset when Tennessee didn't beat the spread, knew half as much about their business as he did about his business (football), they would be working on Wall Street instead of Gay Street."
The way the press was coming down on him and the fans were treating him at that time I don't know if I wouldn't have reacted the same way. He was still a very young head coach and may have made that statement to draw some fire towards himself and away from the team that also was getting raked over the coals pretty well.
With the downward turn the team was on under Battle and the success Johnny Majors was having at Pitt at the same time, athletic director Bob Woodruff and the powers that be had no choice but to pull the plug on the Battle Era.
That led to my favorite Battlism when he said, "Class is when they run you out of town to make it look like you're leading the parade."
eduardo writes:
And we brought back a traitor from fla in 85!!!!
DalTexVol writes:
Was he wrong? Having seen from afar the way some East Tennessee fans act when things are not going their way, I don't think he was.
BigOrangeDan writes:
Class act all the way. Great business man and has a love for the game.
volspaws writes:
Great post FWB.....i actually hated to see Battle melt down with that remark because I knew he was better than that....hate that the remark became a part of his legacy, but it did....much like Jerry Green's line about the fans "shopping at the K Mart"....the irony was that Green himself looked and acted like the K Mart shopper
BruisedOrange writes:
Karma... payback... whatever you call it, it's got a reputation for not bein' pretty.
May I suggest all Vol fans over the age of 60 pitch in to cover the cost of a Mayflower moving truck to Tuscaloosa at Mr. Battle's convenience.
Let's nip this karma thing in the bud.
DalTexVol writes:
Yes, and that was the Hayden Fry era at North Texas State. Heard of him?
Was it an upset? Yes, but those NTSU teams of the early to mid-70s were solid football teams. Fry then took the Iowa job and turned a door mat team into a perennial winner.
Ayres_Hall writes:
Wow. Stay classy Vol Nation.
wallingdad writes:
yeah, North Texas was really strong that year. they beat West Texas A&M 16-15. we all know how much of a powerhouse WTA&M was that year.WTA&M finished 5-6 but they did have that big win over Drake! North Texas also got beat by Memphis that year. Yeah, Fry was the coach and he certainly out-coached Battle but that is not saying much. Tennessee was pathetic that year under Battle. Do not try to defend it.
PennVol writes:
I was just a kid but can remember Bobby Denton say "that's your starting line-ups for the University of Tennessee Volunteers, coached by Bill Bat-tlllllle". Loved his orange jacket with the little Vol helmet on the pocket.
stevefrommemphis writes:
I attended that famous game. NTS running back Sears Woods scored three touchdowns, including returning a kickoff for the winning TD with less than 2 min remaining in the game. UT fumbled inside the UT 5 to set up one NT touchdown. If UT had lost to Troy last year, the small crowd leaving Neyland Stadium would have had the same stunned reaction as the crowd leaving after the NTS game.
After the game, the Chattanooga paper reported that Hayden Fry had perhaps been interviewed for or maybe had expressed interest in the UT job at one point. Now that would have been a good hire! ! !
stevefrommemphis writes:
... and if Battle had been allowed to stay another two seasons, it would have been 4-7, 2-9. It took Majors about 7 years to fix the mess he inherited. I have never forgiven Battle for the 1970's downfall, but I have especially never forgiven A.D. Bob Woodruff for being stupid enough to hire an inexperienced kid in his 20s to be head coach of UT.
UT in 2012 under Dooley looked more similar to the mid 70s Battle teams than anything I have seen at UT - total confusion, disorganized, 12 men on field, 10 men on field, outmanned, etc...
I read some book quoting UT players on Battle's last teams saying that one of the assistant line coaches didn't even know the most basic stances.
RollTideJoe writes:
You obviously haven't been to a Bama game. There are no toothless fans, idiot. You only show your ignorance making such a comment.
DalTexVol writes:
I am not defending it--I said it was an upset. You can cherry pick games to prove a point and I can as well. What I said was that NTSU always played solid football under Hayden Fry. 1975 was his first season and they went 7-4, followed by 7-4, 10-1 and 9-2.
chattabluetick writes:
As Dickey's players graduated the record went down down down!
CoverOrange writes:
1. The North Atlantic won a lot of battles.
2. I had doubts about Dooley from day 1, not a syncophant.
3. JM struggled with the restrictions on recruiting instituted when he took over UT and starting with a lack of talent at many positions. If he had been handed Dickey's team and gotten most of his assts he had at Pitt, might have been a different story. Or maybe not. JM finally did build a winner when he finally got the right mix of assts. Phil started with talent and that right mix of assts and went to the next level. PF > JM > BB > DD. Okay?
DalTexVol writes:
Correction 1975 was their first season as an independent. Two years later they finished #16 in the coaches poll.
jimr07 writes:
Where are all you guys saying Dave hart was in b'ham signing the contract?
Col26ca writes:
Good Luck Bill, At age 72 I hope this is your last career move.
buzz29 writes:
Regarding this latest situation involving TN and AL, and in the words of Kramer on Seinfeld, "Can't you two see that you're in love with each other?". Talk about ties that bind.....
BIVOLAR_BEARE writes:
Dickey had good teams and talent at UT, but he didn't do squat at UF. How many Sugar Bowls did he have UF in while he coached there?? As you probably had forgotten the Sugar Bowl used to be the biggest bowl game attached to the SEC champion. Majors was undefeated in Sugar Bowl games at UT as well as a huge Cotton Bowl victory over SWC winner Arkansas. Big games he showed up, and though he wasn't undefeated in NYD bowls, his bowl record far out-shined Fulmer's..Just keeping it real.
TnReb writes:
Who gives a rat's hind end? If it gets the job, runs it like he coached, then we can all be happy that the end is in sight.
Geofffourmyle writes:
Given 17 years, Majors' record didn't match Coach Battle's.
Walt
UT '81
abnermc writes:
BB obviously needs the money.
rtrchatt writes:
Great hire. The "Steve Jobs" of college marketing. Coach Battle love the U of A.
A fantastic day in the Bama nation. Roll Tide
jawbreaker writes:
I agree that the fake punt was the final straw; all he had to do was kick the ball, and Tennessee wins. His real undoing was the fact that the quality of athlete, and the coaching thereof, slipped lower and lower year after year following Dickey's departure. Coach Battle is a class guy, however, and will probably do a bang-up job at Bama. I wish him well, except when Bama plays the Vols.
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