In early 1981, when young sports columnist Paul Finebaum’s story on Bear Bryant “losing his grip” on the state of Alabama appeared in the Birmingham Post-Herald, assistants under brand new Auburn head coach Pat Dye pounced. It wasn’t so much the story itself as it was the accompanying art. At least that’s the way Finebaum remembered it when we were discussing the recruitment of Bo Jackson for a story I was writing.
“My memory is a little fuzzy 28 years later or whatever it was, but the story was about Bryant beginning to lose his grip and there were a couple of assistant coaches who were trying to get out.