New Trend

Is this becoming a new trend in the Southeastern Conference? To leave your coaching job and change your mind within a weeks time. I promise when I went to Alabama this weekend I did not try to talk the baseball coach out of his retirement, but apparently someone did. In fact, I had come to terms with his leaving and moved on after hearing some insider things. Now with him pulling a Billy Donovan and wanting his job back, I have mixed emotions about his return. I'm not happy with him throwing us all for a loop, quite possibly wasting part of the University's money to start a coaching search for his replacement, and playing the just kidding game. I do not appreciate any of it. Thankfully, he only upset one group of people and not two as he was set to retire not take another job, but still, I can't just welcome him back with open arms.

Certainly Coach Wells was a fabulous coach during the heyday of his 13 years (so far) with THE University of Alabama, but this past season seemed to signify the beginning of the end. Our bats fell silent on way too many occasions for a Jim Wells coached team, and we missed the entire College World Series all together this year after losing on the second day of the SEC tournament (a tournament we have won 6 times during his tenure)...We weren't even invited to a Super Regional much less asked to host one. So, when he announced his retirement, I was a little shocked, but understood that when it's time to go it's time to go. Sometimes you can hurt an athletic program if you stay too long and lose the desire to coach the sport. Based on what I learned during my visit to Alabama for an absolutely awesome wedding, I'm hoping upon hope that Coach Wells's meeting with Mal Moore to request his job back included Mal Moore requesting that Coach Wells shape up the problems that apparently exist.

Until then, I remain a rather skeptical Alabama Baseball fan because if change was needed, then that's what I hope results.