Football: BYU takes down San Diego State in Poinsettia Bowl. 5C
F R I D A Y , D E C E M B E R 21 , 2012
Sports
WE’RE GOING TO MIAMI!! SHOP: tuskwearcollection.com or Locally at Woods & Water and Expeditions on The Strip
SECTION C
WWW.TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM
CRIMSON TIDE
ALABAMA LOOKING BACK:
20 YEARS LATER
PHILOSOPHER COACH THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michael Phelps shows off one of his four gold medals he won in London at the Summer Olympics. Phelps was voted the Associated Press male athlete of the year.
Phelps voted AP male athlete of the year The Associated Press
Now that he’s away from the pool, Michael Phelps can reflect — really ref lect — on what he accomplished. Pretty amazing stuff. “It’s kind of nuts to think about everything I’ve gone through,” Phelps said. “I’ve fi nally had time to myself, to sit back and say, ‘... that really happened?’ It’s kind of shocking at times.” Not that his career needed a capper, but Phelps added one more honor to his staggering list of accomplishments Thursday — The Associated Press male athlete of the year. Phelps edged out LeBron James to win the award for the second time, not only a fitting payoff for another brilliant Olympics (four gold medals and two silvers in swimming at the London Games) but recognition for one of the greatest careers in any sport. Phelps fi nished with 40 votes in balloting by U.S. editors and broadcasters, while James was next with 37. Track star Usain Bolt, who won three gold medals in London, was third with 23. Carl Lewis is the only other Olympic-related star to be named AP male athlete of the year more than once, taking the award for his track and field exploits in 1983 and ‘84. The only men honored more than twice are golf’s Tiger Woods and cyclist Lance Armstrong (four times each), and basketball’s Michael Jordan (three times). “Obviously, it’s a big accomplishment,” Phelps said. “There’s so many amazing male athletes all over the world and all over our country. To be able to win this is something that just sort of tops off my career.” Phelps retired at age 27 as soon as he fi nished his fi nal race in London, having won more gold medals (18) and overall medals (22) than any other Olympian. No one else is even close. “That’s what I wanted to do,” Phelps said. “Now that it’s over, it’s something I can look back on and say, ‘That was a pretty amazing ride.’”
Stallings had the right stuff to coach the Crimson Tide By Cecil Hurt Sports Editor
TUSCALOOSA | People all over America know Gene Stallings, the football coach. It’s possible that even more people know Gene Stallings, the father, or Gene Stallings, the ambassador for more worthy causes than can be listed here. But Gene Stallings, the philosopher? That is a less familiar hat for the Texan to wear. Yet all seven of his University of Alabama football teams were reflections of the Stallings philosophy, though the 1992 national championship team was, almost certainly, the supreme expression. “On offense, our philosophy was this: We wanted to score, to kick at a score or to make the other team go 80 yards or more if we gave up the ball,” Stallings said. “On defense, our philosophy was not to let the other team move the ball effectively. “Now that sounds simple, and it is. But a philosophy is nothing more than an abstract statement of what you believe. How you implement that philosophy is your method. For instance, my method on offense involved running the football effectively, keeping it at least seven plays, keeping it away LOOKING BACK: from the other team. On defense, the method was to be a unified system with the front three, or four depending on how we were aligned, being coordinated with the linebackers and secondary, all of it tied in with the coaches as part of a unified system. T his is the se c“Now that would take a lot more ond installment explaining than you probably have in a series looking back 20 years later time for, but that is the essence of at Alabama’s 1992 it.” national champiAlthough Stallings’ initial familonship team. iarity, for most Alabama fans, was his connection as a player and a Coming Saturcoach with UA legend Paul W. day: A look at how “Bear” Bryant, he notes that much the 1992 season of his coaching technique came unfolded from his other famous mentor, Tom Inside: A look at Landry of the Dallas Cowboys. how Gene Stallings “Some of that (philosophy) comes was influenced by straight out of a Cowboys meeting,” Bear Br yant, his Stallings said. “At Dallas, we were son John Mark and more into philosophy than Alabama his coaching desiwas under Coach Bryant, who was sions | Page 3C more into motivation, blocking and tackling. Coach Bryant was a people person. His Xs and Os weren’t better than anyone else’s — but his players thought they were. Of course, at Alabama I coached the way Coach Bryant wanted, and with the Cowboys I coached more the way Coach Landry wanted. That is what a good assistant coach does. Then, when it was my time, I used what I wanted and had learned from both.” Dabo Swinney, now the head coach at Clemson, spent seven years with Stallings as a player and assistant coach. He was well aware of Stallings’ influences. “He only had two bosses in his life, and that was Coach Bryant and Tom Landry with the Dallas Cowboys. That’s two of the greatest right there,” Swinney said. “To be honest, I didn’t know how much I really learned under him until he was gone. He gave you the rope for you to do the job, but he held you accountable. He was going to set the parameters of the environment that you worked in, he was going to control the practice schedule and he handled the discipline. He took a lot of things on.” The question that loomed before his hiring was whether Stallings’ time would ever come at Alabama. By 1990, he had already been a head coach twice — at his alma mater, Texas A&M, and, after a long stint on the Cowboys staff, with the National Football League’s St. Louis/Phoenix SEE STALLINGS | 3C
STAFF FILE PHOTO
“On offense, our philosophy was this: We wanted to score, to kick at a score or to make the other team go 80 yards or more if we gave up the ball. On defense, our philosophy was not to let the other team move the ball effectively. Now that sounds simple, and it is. But a philosophy is nothing more than an abstract statement of what you believe. How you implement that philosophy is your method.” Former Alabama coach Gene Stallings
ALABAMA FOOTBALL
Mosley will be back for senior season By Chase Goodbread Sports Writer
TUSCALOOSA | Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley announced Thursday he will return to the Crimson Tide for his senior season in 2013 and pass on the opportunity to enter the NFL Draft early. Mosley was a finalist for the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker, and his presence next season will help maintain a defense that will be lose at least one STAFF PHOTO | ROBERT SUTTON starter in the secondary, and sevAlabama linebacker C.J. Mosley, an AP All-American, eral others in the front seven. “The main thing was, just finishannounced he will return to the Crimson Tide to play ing my degree, finishing school,” his senior season.
INSIDE ALABAMA FOOTBALL: Pruitt officially takes job as FSU defensive coordinator | 5C
Mosley said. “I just felt like I haven’t accomplished everything I could.” Mosley called it an easy decision, and made the early announcement because he didn’t “want it floating around that I was leaving, even though it ended up being that way, anyway.” Multiple draft services had projected Mosley as a potential second-round pick. Mosley joked that with senior
Nico Johnson exiting the program, with whom he has shared time at the weakside linebacker position throughout his career, he’ll be a fi rst-year starter next season. Mosley leads the Crimson Tide in tackles with 99, 43 more than No. 2 tackler Trey DePriest, and is as game-experienced as any defender Alabama has. “It’s important to him and his family to get an education. We’re certainly pleased and happy that he’s going to continue to develop,” said UA coach Nick Saban. “He’s a guy that’s gotten bigger and stronger every year. He’s gotten to be a better and better player.’
Mosley joins quarterback A J McCarron as juniors announcing their intentions to stay. Others who may turn pro early include juniors Dee Milliner, D.J. Fluker and running back Eddie Lacy. On Thursday, Lacy denied rumors that he has decided to leave Alabama after the season. “I have not made a decision on that yet,” Lacy said. “That’s not something I’m thinking about at this time. We have another game left. I have to talk to my parents about it, we have to talk to Coach Saban about it. That’s an external thing that we can not allow to affect us right now.”