Mike Shula-era Alabama coach, now at Kansas State, reflects on pre-Saban struggles | Goodbread
NEW ORLEANS — Buddy Wyatt remembers the people more than the school.
From Mike Shula to his fellow assistant coaches, to a fan base he called the most passionate he'd ever seen. The former Alabama defensive line coach tutored one of the Crimson Tide's 2004 co-captains in Todd Bates, and three of its future NFL draft picks in Antwan Odom, Anthony Bryant and Mark Anderson.
"Good people and good coaches," Wyatt, now Kansas State's defensive line coach, told The Tuscaloosa News. "I have great memories of all those guys."
Wyatt will be on the Kansas State side when Alabama (10-2) plays the Wildcats (10-3) in the Sugar Bowl on Saturday (11 a.m. CT, ESPN) at Caesars Superdome.
The circumstances of his time at Alabama, of course, he'd rather forget.
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Shula pulled Wyatt and the rest of his staff together in May of 2003 on the heels of former coach Mike Price's embarrassing ouster and inherited, objectively, a mess. Spring practice had just ended, so there was no opportunity to transition players to a completely different offense than the one Price had just installed. The effects of NCAA probation still loomed. With Alabama banned from bowl participation, a pseudo bowl at Hawaii had been arranged for the end of Shula's first season. But on the recruiting front, as Wyatt recalls it, damage had already been done.
"The probation hurt recruiting the most, and we tried to overcome that. Recruiting in the SEC is very competitive," Wyatt said. "So you've got that hanging over your head and you've got other schools saying, 'Why would you go there, you're not going to get to go to a bowl game,' and things like that. The SEC opened my eyes to some things."
Just two years after Wyatt's departure, UA found itself in the hunt for a national championship in 2008, and won it in 2009. Fifteen years later, Wyatt's KSU defensive line will face the monster born from Shula's exit in the Sugar Bowl. This Alabama team fell short of championship aspirations with two regular-season losses, but Wyatt found preparation for the Crimson Tide plenty difficult. Since he last coached at Alabama, Wyatt's had stops at Nebraska, Kansas, Texas A&M, SMU and, now, KSU. And he hasn't seen many quarterbacks like the one his unit will be tasked to stop on Saturday.
"Bryce Young is special. I was hoping he wouldn't play," Wyatt said with a laugh, referring to whether Young would forego the game for NFL draft preparation. "You can't be a selfish pass rusher when you're going against a guy like that. You've got to understand your responsibility and your rush lane. You can't just take a shot because you want to take a shot, because that's how you put your defense in harm's way. You've got to understand where you're supposed to be."
After Shula's dismissal following the 2006 season, Wyatt moved on to coach Nebraska's defensive line. And although Alabama's record over Wyatt's four years was just 26-24, he sensed that between unwavering fan and administrative support, the stage was well-set for the next coach. A coach, as it turned out, who happened to be the best in the business.
"It was a place that was waiting to erupt in success," Wyatt said.
Erupt it did.
Reach Chase Goodbread at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Mike Shula-era Alabama coach, now at KSU, reflects on pre-Saban struggles
