I wouldn't pin that one on Major. It's clear that whatever role he had in the offense was less than his title would indicate. It's also clear that John Parker Wilson is dead weight that is dragging that offense down.
All reports had Pendry having a ton of input on the offense. Applewhite ran the spread at Rice and Bama last year looked more like a traditional one or two back offense with the QB under center. It appears that Applewhite was having his name attached to an offense that wasn't his baby. He probably didn't want his name attached to that offense anymore if he didn't think it would be successful.
"Being a coordinator the last two years I know how important is to have guys in your room that are dedicated to you and what you want to do offensively and are dedicated to making your job easier. You have to have a great room, you have to have continuity in that room and you have to have guys that buy into that. We did a great job of that at Rice" taking what he said in the press conference, or in this case who he left out, it is not hard to figure out what happened at bama...This isn't rocket science folks. Whether he was going to be demoted, fired, or he resigned the reason is pretty obvious, at least to me.
So he gets fired from Bama and a job just happens to have opened up the week before at his alma mater? This maybe makes sense if Applewhite had landed anywhere but Texas, but the odds that he gets fired the same week that a job opens up at his alma mater are astronomical.
whatever the titles he holds are irrelevant, it is OBVIOUS that Major has taken a giant step UP with his move from the Bama job, to the Texas job, better school, better football program, now and historically, better city, better, much better boss to work for, and better fans. It will be interesting and fun to see what Major can do here. as far as Bama goes, we shall see if LSU was real or if Saban's true colors are more like what he did with the Dolphins, i.e. suck a giant unpleasant thing and what happened at LSU was a fluke, based on what happened at Bama last year, LSU may have been a fluke.
Major wasn't fired, but if your Aggie co-worker is telling you that he was, there's no point in arguing with him. You're not going to change his mind. My advice is to ignore people like that. Life's too short to spend any time at all attempting to educate idoits.
Who cares? Bama is a 2nd tier program. Welcome back to the big time, Major, no matter what the circumstances.
Keep in mind that Bama's offense absolutely sucked for a few years prior to the arrival Saban and staff
fwiw, applewhite also did a tremendous job at syracuse....i realize that everyone loves applewhite, but lets keep the glasses clear shall we.
S197 - are you really going to compare Sabans first year at Bama with his 3rd year at LSU??? Bama fans finally have a reason to be excited, we're actually getting some really good players coming in. On our board someone posted (only using rivals.com as a reference) where our current recruits would fit on the roster using Rivals 6.1 scale..... 12 of the top 20 are incoming freshman, and that not counting other we may get on signing day. (Bama currently has 21 **** or ***** players on the roster. This incoming class has 17 with a chance at more. We'll be back to Tier 1 soon enough, until then i'm just going to enjoy the ride.) On bama being a 2nd tier program.....if they can come back as well as Texas did, i see no reason to be unhappy. I'm sure everyone was saying Texas was tier 2 program when they couldn't win the SWC. Or even OU was with Blake and Gundy, but the traditional programs tend to find their way back to the top once they get a coach who gets off his butt.
is it lightning striking when you get to choose the players you recruit?? look at LSU this year, if that's not a case of simply "out talenting" the competition, i don't know what is. and 17 of 22 starters recruited by Saban, the guy may just be a football got when it comes to recruiting. but back to the thread and i apologize for derailing it, Major made easily the best choice for him, time for him to settle in and start that family.
My boss is a big time donor so I put some stock in what he knows about our program.... Anywho... we were talking football last week and he made mention that Applewhite was on his down (or possibly out) at Alabama. It caught me by surprise. I didn't follow up on his statement. It doesn't really change anything. I'm glad he is on the 40 acres.
fwiw, the story I heard was that major was entirely happy at bama and highly regarded saban. however he did not want to pass up the opportunity for an "in" to the texas staff. he was not fired. this is coming from the same source that confirmed major would become the rb coach a day before ob reported there was interest in him. it dont make a **** either way.
COMMENTARY: KIRK BOHLS Major reasons behind the move Applewhite seeks stability, trust Click-2-Listen By Kirk Bohls AMERICAN STATESMAN STAFF Thursday, January 17, 2008 "I called the plays" Major Applewhite You know I bet Tide freaks think Fran was about to be fired too when he left for A&M.
The thing that makes all these Applewhite was fired or going to be demoted things fishy is that they came out AFTER Major had quit and come back to Texas. If Alabama was really going to fire or demote him, it seems like it would have been out in the media before Major left. This whole thing smells like Alabama sour grapes to me.
No, Assistant Head Coach doesn't come with a gold star. It does come with $275,000 a year, though. Funny how aggy went from crowing about hiring MA for their all-world staff to denigrating him for returning to Texas. I wouldn't expect anything more, considering the source.
I hope the Pendry talk, influence has some truth to it cause Bama sucked last year. I hope Applewhite lives up to his hype. He hasn't shown proven results yet from behind the whistle. Maybe Mack is looking for some Applewhite honeymoon cover if Texas goes 7-5 or 6-6 next year with the tough schedule and lots of holes on D. I hope I'm wrong.
It's incredibly obvious which posters think the world ends at the edge of Austin, and which ones actually pay attention to the rest of CFB.
jt09, I don't know who you are referring to, but people who think Bama is currently a top tier program are living in the past, just like people who thought we were a top tier program in 1996. Texas is top tier program now, and a better situation, given equal pay, under any circumstances.
Wow, did I just get called an Aggie for thinking the title "assistant head coach" is just fluff? I'm pretty sure its "assistant to the head coach" anyways.
