Shula drops the ball

After narrow wins over Hawaii and Vanderbilt and a blowout of Louisiana-Monroe, Alabama football coach Mike Shula knows Saturday’s road trip to Arkansas will answer quite a few questions about the Crimson Tide.
‘‘We’ll find out a lot more about our football team this week,’’ he said during Wednesday’s SEC teleconference.
We found out a little more about Shula last weekend and it’s obvious he still has a lot of growing up to do as a coach.
Either he doesn’t understand the nuances of public relations or simply doesn’t care.
Since last season, seven Alabama players have broken the law, team rules or both. Shula’s solution was to give each of them a one-game suspension, although he didn’t clue the public in on his plan until after last weekend’s romp over Louisiana-Monroe.
He had to say something because star linebacker Juwan Simpson, who made headlines for his arrest for handgun and marijuana possession over the summer, didn’t play and people tend to notice that sort of thing.
After declining to comment on team disciplinary matters for weeks, Shula said Saturday that he spread seven one-game suspensions out over three weeks because benching all seven players at once wouldn’t be ‘‘fair’’ to his team.
Shula’s reasoning behind his system of punishment was convoluted and convenient.
Other coaches, including Georgia’s Mark Richt, have suspended more than two or three players at a time without regard for the potential damage it would do to the onfield product. South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier ran off several alleged trouble-makers after taking the Gamecocks’ job.
Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville kept suspended linebackers Tray Blackmon and Kevin Sears on the shelf for an important game against LSU.
Using Shula’s method, the two could have played against LSU and then served the remainder of their punishment this Saturday against Buffalo.
Tuberville was quick to take a veiled shot at Shula after Saturday’s win over LSU.
‘‘We are going to continue to do it the right way,’’ he said. ‘‘When you do it that way, it means a heck of a lot more (to win). I think our fans know what I’m talking about.’’
Sometimes, it’s more important to take a stand without worrying about what the scoreboard will say.
Shula may coach the football team, but he must also consider the impact that his actions and those of his players have on his employer’s reputation.
It’s one thing for a coach to quietly handle the punishment of a player who misses curfew. When a player is arrested and it becomes public knowledge, the head coach’s plan for disciplinary action should also be revealed to the public before rather than after the fact.
Shula could have saved himself a lot of heat if he’d revealed his plans before the season opener. He obviously knew what he was going to do.
By not saying anything, Shula fed speculation that he had something to hide or cared more about victories than good behavior.
In mishandling the situation, Shula showed he won’t make anyone forget about Paul ‘‘Bear’’ Bryant for quite some time. Or Ray Perkins for that matter.