grant florida 2015.jpg
Alabama coach Anthony Grant works the sideline during a 52-50 loss to Florida on Jan. 27, 2015, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)
Let's get the standard legal disclaimer out of the way right up front. Things can change in this kind of situation, sometimes dramatically and suddenly, but remember this:
Alabama's Bill Battle is not an athletics director given to sudden and dramatic moves.
So if you're waiting for him to give you a Gladiator-like thumbs-up or thumbs-down on Anthony Grant's future, perhaps as early as today if Alabama's SEC Tournament opener against Florida goes wrong, don't hold your breath.
From a practical standpoint, even if Grant loses to his mentor Billy Donovan for the 10th time in 10 tries as a head coach, Alabama likely will have more games to play. It seems fairly certain that the Crimson Tide will receive an NIT bid Sunday night.
As a former coach himself, Battle wants to let Grant coach his team as free from distraction as possible. As an administrator, Battle doesn't want to set a precedent by talking about any coach's future until that coach's season is complete.
The more you talk to people around the program, the more likely it appears that Grant will return for his seventh season as head coach. That's not written in stone and won't be until Battle says it publicly, no doubt in a low-key press release when the season's over, but there doesn't seem to be much sentiment inside the Mal Moore Athletic Facility to make a change.
Like most people who've tried to get to know the Alabama basketball coach, Battle likes Grant and respects him. Unlike most people who see only the bottom line and note that Alabama has reached higher ground in the past, Battle sees a program in solid shape from the inside-out that needs improvement but doesn't really require dynamite and a wrecking ball.
The feeling is that Battle doesn't want to fire Grant and the result of today's game against Florida won't radically change the equation. Losing won't erase the positive aspects of the program Grant's built. Winning won't solve the issues that still exist.
Sometimes a game is a true referendum on a coach and his future. Sometimes it's just another game. The Florida game appears to be a chance for Grant and the Crimson Tide to do something they haven't done since he became the head coach, and that's beat the Gators. It doesn't appear to be a make-or-break opportunity for Grant to save his job. Or else.
Think of it as small-scale survive and advance.