Is the End Near for Coach Avery Johnson?

[Marshal Dillon]

Good article by Cecil Hurt. Read entire article.

For the fifth straight year, after the 29th game of its college basketball season, Alabama has a record of 17-12. The exact same record, not one game better or one game worse. In the “give credit where it is due” department, freelance sports writer John Mitchell pointed out on Twitter that Avery Johnson’s teams had gone 17-12 for a fourth consecutive year. Even he underestimated the length of the streak — Anthony Grant’s final team was 17-12, too. That’s half of a decade, some years more exciting and some more frustrating but ultimately reaching the same level, like a glass of water sitting on a table at room temperature. It’s a full turnover of the roster with the exception of The Eternal Riley Norris.

https://www.tidesports.com/cecil-hurt-its-deja-vu-for-alabama-basketball/




 

[Marshal Dillon]

Cecil is basically saying, something has to change because we are stuck in the mud with tires spinning. We have to beat Auburn & Arkansas, now. Hold tight everyone.

[ricky023]

CAJ is a good Christian man but he is not winning games as he should. I love him as a Christian but we should do what is expected of us in our profession no matter how much money is paid. I am very sad to say CAJ has let me and other BB fans of Alabama down. I do not know why but something has to change. We need something similar to a Rick Barnes or so. We just need to start winning or the off season needs to have a great search. RTR!

[McBaman]

Cecil always has a way with words but this has gotta be one of his Top 10.  Soooo well written and soooo to the point.  Not his first words saying "this is going nowhere..."  At the same time, Cecil makes the point: No guarantee the alternative will produce better results.  We got rid of Grant and yet here we are.

Deja vu all over again...(as Yogi put it.)

[SUPERCOACH]

The 17-12 record may be the same, but the competition has been tougher each year I believe.  I know we have a much better record against ranked teams with CAJ.  The question is really who can have us in a better position 5 years from now?  Is it CAJ if he stays, or is it the next guy?  That all depends on who the next guy is I suppose.  The odds of us actually getting another coach that is better than CAJ seem pretty low to me.

[Chechem]

The 17-12 record may be the same, but the competition has been tougher each year I believe.  I know we have a much better record against ranked teams with CAJ.  The question is really who can have us in a better position 5 years from now?  Is it CAJ if he stays, or is it the next guy?  That all depends on who the next guy is I suppose.  The odds of us actually getting another coach that is better than CAJ seem pretty low to me.

Yup.  I agree.

[N.AL-Tider]

Cecil is basically saying, something has to change because we are stuck in the mud with tires spinning. We have to beat Auburn & Arkansas, now. Hold tight everyone.

While I want Bama to do well in all sports, Basketball has been a very weak link for quite a while now and I would love to see that change.  However, I do take issue with your comment above (maybe that is from the link?  Not sure because I didn't read it).  The whole mindset of, "just beat Auburn" is NOT what Bama fans have ever held as far as I'm concerned and definitely not one that I want to see.  That is Auburn's mindset.  Bama's goals are and should be to win championships, not to "just beat Auburn."  Am I wrong?

[Hannibal Lecter, MD]

Cecil is basically saying, something has to change because we are stuck in the mud with tires spinning. We have to beat Auburn & Arkansas, now. Hold tight everyone.

While I want Bama to do well in all sports, Basketball has been a very weak link for quite a while now and I would love to see that change.  However, I do take issue with your comment above (maybe that is from the link?  Not sure because I didn't read it).  The whole mindset of, "just beat Auburn" is NOT what Bama fans have ever held as far as I'm concerned and definitely not one that I want to see.  That is Auburn's mindset.  Bama's goals are and should be to win championships, not to "just beat Auburn."  Am I wrong?

I think he just meant we have to win those games to get into the tournament.  Auburn just happens to be one of the two games we have left.

[ricky023]

If we can beat both teams then don't we have to make a good showing in the SEC Tourney though? RTR!

[pmull]

Cecil is basically saying, something has to change because we are stuck in the mud with tires spinning. We have to beat Auburn & Arkansas, now. Hold tight everyone.

While I want Bama to do well in all sports, Basketball has been a very weak link for quite a while now and I would love to see that change.  However, I do take issue with your comment above (maybe that is from the link?  Not sure because I didn't read it).  The whole mindset of, "just beat Auburn" is NOT what Bama fans have ever held as far as I'm concerned and definitely not one that I want to see.  That is Auburn's mindset.  Bama's goals are and should be to win championships, not to "just beat Auburn."  Am I wrong?

Auburn and Arkansas are the only two regular season games left on the schedule. HTH

[N.AL-Tider]

Cecil is basically saying, something has to change because we are stuck in the mud with tires spinning. We have to beat Auburn & Arkansas, now. Hold tight everyone.

While I want Bama to do well in all sports, Basketball has been a very weak link for quite a while now and I would love to see that change.  However, I do take issue with your comment above (maybe that is from the link?  Not sure because I didn't read it).  The whole mindset of, "just beat Auburn" is NOT what Bama fans have ever held as far as I'm concerned and definitely not one that I want to see.  That is Auburn's mindset.  Bama's goals are and should be to win championships, not to "just beat Auburn."  Am I wrong?

Auburn and Arkansas are the only two regular season games left on the schedule. HTH

Thanks for clearing that up for me...  

[Catch Prothro]

The odds of us actually getting another coach that is better than CAJ seem pretty low to me.

Yup.  I agree.

I agree with this assessment too.  I'd like to see CAJ stay for a few more years then maybe AP takes over.

That, or Bama rehires Gottfried.   

[Catch Prothro]

Cecil is basically saying, something has to change because we are stuck in the mud with tires spinning. We have to beat Auburn & Arkansas, now. Hold tight everyone.

Cecil is saying we are riding into a headwind on a flat road in Kansas where nothing changes.

(But at some point, I think change will happen.  It's inevitable.)  

Cecil's not advocating for a coaching change, at least not yet.

And it makes for a thorny dilemma for a columnist. If things were better, showing progress, you wouldn’t have to think about the big picture. If they were significantly worse, that would be easy, too. But when things are same — the unchanging same — there is a more difficult puzzle to solve. Do you advocate blowing things up and starting from scratch? Would that makes things better or is it just a frustration reaction, a desire to overturn the apple basket just to see which way the apples will roll?

Only CAJ can answer the question, is his heart in it or not.

[Marshal Dillon]

The 17-12 record may be the same, but the competition has been tougher each year I believe.  I know we have a much better record against ranked teams with CAJ.  The question is really who can have us in a better position 5 years from now?  Is it CAJ if he stays, or is it the next guy?  That all depends on who the next guy is I suppose.  The odds of us actually getting another coach that is better than CAJ seem pretty low to me.

Excellent points. Grant was 0-21 against last Top 25 ranked teams he played. CAJ is like 13-13 against ranked teams. My concern is do we accept 17-12 on a regular basis or expect more. Neither Wimp or C.M Newton were considered big hires at the time for Bama. Neither was Coach K, who was coaching Army when Duke hired him. Hiring a coach is usually a gamble.



 

[pmull]

The comparison between Grant's teams and Johnson's teams end at the 17-12 records after 29 games in the last 5 years. As SC said the SEC as a whole is much stronger. Our SEC non conference schedule is also stronger under CAJ. Our record against ranked teams is much improved. To Grant's credit he rarely lost to a bad team but he never beat a good team. Other ways CAJ is better than Grant:

1. CAJ plays an exciting style of basketball. When we play well we are fun to watch. Grant was boring even when we won. Most wins were low scoring games like 62-58. We are a much better offensive team under CAJ.

2. CAJ has to recruit against Bruce Pearl. CAJ had to recruit against Barbee who never had a winning season.

3. CAJ promotes the program. He is on radio, TV, commercials, big screen at football games, etc. Grant was a hermit except on game day.

4. CAJ and his staff does a better job of developing players. Players under Grant never got any better than the day they showed up on campus. A few examples are Jimmy Taylor and Donta Hall developed into good (not great) big guys. An example this year is Petty. Last year he was a three point shooter. When his shot was off (and that is often) he was no help to the team. This year he is posting up smaller guards, driving the basketball and developing a two point game. He is also rebounding the ball.

5. CAJ is a better recruiter.

We have a good Atlectic Director in Greg Byrne. I hope he is putting out feelers to see if an experienced and proven home run hire is available. I do not think he will find one better than what we already have. As long as CAJ is motivated and wants to be our coach I think he will only get better. Like everyone else I want to win NOW. However, I am concerned about starting starting all over with an unproven coach.

I am still buckled up!

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