Embracing THE Mystique : Gene Stallings Is Similar in Style and Manner to the Late Bear Bryant, and Crimson Tide Is Playing Like Bryant Teams of Old

Even in the moments after his own controversial 19-year coaching career at Auburn came to an emotional end, Pat Dye made a beeline toward the man whose team had just beaten him.

Escorted by state troopers, surrounded by photographers sent to Birmingham’s Legion Field on Thanksgiving Day to capture his every grimace, Dye finally arrived at midfield. He was there to pay his respects and to state the obvious: that he had just witnessed greatness.

“I believe you’ve got the best football team in the country,” said Dye, as he half-hugged Alabama Coach Gene Stallings. “I believe that. Hey, you’re doing it right.”

To which Stallings, his gray tweed jacket still dripping from a Gatorade sideline shower, said, “We’ll miss you, buddy.”

Typical Stallings. Understated. Dignified in defeat, humble in victory. If you didn’t know any better, you would have thought it was Stallings who had to return to a losing locker room.

Instead, he presides over the country’s second-ranked team. The Crimson Tide is undefeated and only a victory away from a Sugar Bowl invitation and a New Year’s Night appointment with No. 1 Miami. But to get there, Alabama must beat No. 12 Florida in today’s inaugural Southeastern Conference championship game that will be played at Legion Field, less than an hour’s drive from the Tuscaloosa campus.

To which Stallings reminds everyone: “We’re 11-0 and haven’t won anything.”

That’s not entirely true. In only his third season at Alabama, Stallings has managed to win over a Crimson Tide following spoiled by the successes of the legendary Bear Bryant, who collected SEC titles and national championships as if they were stamps. Bryant set a standard that no coach could duplicate, though some have made the mistake of trying.

Ray Perkins, who played for Bryant at Alabama, was the first to follow. He lasted four seasons and finished with a 32-15-1 record and no SEC banner.

Bill Curry, an outsider who unwittingly made the mistake of playing at hated Georgia Tech and who never served as a Bryant assistant, lasted three seasons. It was time enough for him to win 26 games in 36 tries, add another conference title to Alabama’s record book and one day find a brick thrown through his office window. He left for Kentucky shortly thereafter.

Now there is Stallings, who, by his own admission, is more Bryant-esque in both manner and style than his two predecessors. Some of it is by accident, some of it by habit for Stallings, who played for Bryant at Texas A&M; and was his assistant at Alabama.

For instance, to hear Stallings speak, his voice slow, low, deep and with more than a hint of twang, is to almost hear Bryant. You know how a tape-recorded voice sounds when the batteries are nearly depleted? That’s Stallings . . . and it was Bryant.

Bryant believed in stopping the run. So does Stallings, whose Alabama defense is ranked first nationally in four major categories, including run defense.

Bryant believed in controlling the ball on the ground. The same goes for Stallings, whose team averages 215.9 rushing yards per game.

Bryant cherished a sound kicking game. Yes, well, Stallings is working on that.

Most of all, Bryant believed in winning, which he did with numbing regularity. Even now, almost a decade after his death, it is a hard act for any Alabama coach to follow.

“I enjoy (coaching), but I also know the people of Alabama gauge everything by what Coach Bryant did,” Stallings said. “Right, wrong, indifferent . . . he set the standard. And that’s what people want. You’re talking about the very best that’s ever been, in my opinion.”

Stallings knows all about the wants and needs of Alabama followers. After a disastrous 0-3 start in 1990, Stallings found himself the target of countless second-guessing. Never mind his game-day strategy, Alabama fans wanted to know why Stallings, who had a losing record at Texas A&M; and later with the St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals, had been hired in the first place. After all, if the Crimson Tide needed more defeats, there was Perkins.

Rumors of Stallings’ imminent departure immediately surfaced. Truth is, he wasn’t going anywhere, even when the Tide was embarrassed in the Fiesta Bowl by Howard Schnellenberger’s Louisville team.

Nor was anyone thrilled when Alabama failed last season to win the SEC title and the Sugar Bowl bid that went with it. Instead, the Crimson Tide settled for the Blockbuster Bowl and a victory over Colorado.

But if there were any lingering reservations about Stallings’ ability to coach and lead his program, they were erased this season.

In six months, Stallings has seen David Palmer, Alabama’s one true offensive star, arrested twice on drunk driving charges. He has dealt with the accusations (later recanted) of a former Alabama recruit who said he was offered gifts to sign with the Tide. He has weathered the controversy caused by the more serious accusations of former Alabama star Gene Jelks, who said he received payoffs from Alabama boosters and coaches--all before Stallings arrived. And he has guided a one-dimensional team--great defense, 49th-rated offense--to the brink of a national championship matchup against the Hurricanes.

Stallings has worked through all of this and still won. He has earned admirers with the 11 victories, as well as with his handling of Alabama’s external problems, especially those involving the talented but troubled Palmer.

Stallings not only suspended Palmer, but arranged for him to receive professional counseling. Three games later, after Stallings was convinced Palmer had made significant progress, he was allowed to rejoin the team.

“I had David Palmer’s best interests at heart, more so than the football team’s,” Stallings said.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Stallings has made a career of looking out for others. His schedule of charity events is as legendary as Bryant’s won-loss record. And his special relationship with son Johnny, who was born with Down’s syndrome, has provided Stallings with a compassion and perspective not always shared by other football coaches.

“I’ve got children of my own,” he said. “It’s not like I haven’t been around any little crisis from time to time. A lot of it is just common sense. You’ve got to do what you think is right.”

Added tailback Chris Anderson: “He’s a players coach. He wants to help out the player first. I think everybody loves playing for him.”

Stallings’ philosophy didn’t begin and end with Palmer. Do the right thing? Stallings was smart enough to realize upon his arrival at Alabama that nobody could replace Bryant. The trick, he said, was to embrace the Bryant mystique but not be overwhelmed by it.

“I’m not competing with Coach Bryant, and I think people realize that,” he said. “I’m just trying to do the best I can. I’ve got a good staff, and we’re trying to win football games, and we’re trying to make a difference to the players.

“But . . . here at Alabama, you’ve got to win,” he said.

So important are victories here, that Stallings said he can’t imagine the day Bryant’s aura and accomplishments are supplanted by a successor.

“Not in my lifetime,” Stallings said.

In fact, several weeks ago a caller to Stallings’ radio talk show solemnly said, “We know there’s a loss looming out there, but some of us will still be with you.”

Stallings can’t help but laugh as he remembers that one.

“It’s not like Coach Bryant won them all,” he said. “He lost a few.”

Shoes off, feet propped on his desk during a recent interview, Stallings looks as comfortable as any coach can expect to be at Alabama. His office includes two paintings of Bryant, six game balls presented to him by the team, a lithograph of a fighter jet flown in Desert Storm, a bowl of red jelly beans, a ceramic elephant collection, a case of assorted championship rings, a large chart with more than 50 categories used to grade the Crimson Tide defense and a single sign that reads: “Never Confuse Activities With Accomplishments. Results Are What Count.”

If so, then Stallings can rest easy. Sort of.

“I’ve got to say to this point things have worked out pretty good,” he said.

He isn’t alone. Since those initial three losses, Stallings is 29-3-0, including three consecutive victories against Auburn. Better yet, he has positioned the Crimson Tide to win its first national championship since 1979.

Yet, Stallings said he understands how fickle support can be. A loss today to underdog Florida would produce an unpleasant rumbling from Alabama followers. A victory would be welcomed, but there still is this matter of beating Miami. And even then, no one would be rushing to add a Stallings wing to the on-campus museum that bears Bryant’s name.

“No, definitely not,” Stallings said.

Stallings can live with that. He is a Bryant disciple, not a twin. He respects the legacy, but unlike those before him, he doesn’t live in awe of it.