There is a definite and distinct change that occurs when a coach takes the reins at Alabama. I know all too well about the effects.

The Alabama football coach simply cannot make a move without being seen, heard and judged. One is never anonymous. It is heady, intoxicating and stifling all at once. It becomes all encompassing, and spills over into every part of one's life.

Each man that has ascended to the Tide throne, including legends Wallace Wade, Frank Thomas and Paul "Bear" Bryant, has experienced its vagaries through both the highs and the lows.

Compulsive coaches study those films of teams under Bryant, Thomas and Wade and wonder: "Could I handle that? Could I get those guys to play like that? I would love to find out."

The magnet is not the power or riches. It is, rather, the excellence in performance through all the decades.

Obviously I cannot get inside the minds of Ray Perkins, Gene Stallings, Mike Dubose, Dennis Franchione or Mike Price, all of whom have been Alabama coaches since Coach Bryant. I can tell you about my experience.

I was surprised to have been approached about the job in 1987 (I was with the program through the 1989 season), at my visceral response to the challenge and by the company I would join. At the time I was hired, Dr. Joab Thomas was the university president and Steve Sloan became the athletic director.

I assumed that I was selected by a diverse committee representing the various factions of the university and, as a result, that the selection would be well received.

I was wrong. Alabama folks wanted one of Bear's boys.

My wife Carolyn recalls being picked up in the Citation II jet, the huge attendance at the press conference and live television. "The president of the United States doesn't get that kind of treatment," she said. Death threats were the order of the day as anonymous phone callers stated I would never survive the moment if I stood up at that dais.

My parents, initially thrilled by the appointment since they live in Alabama, were terrified by the death threats. Like any mom and dad, they lived in fear throughout the three-year experience. Carolyn's father left games "never quite sure who was on our side and who was not." He was speaking of Alabama fans.

I got three years to coach at Alabama. Mike Price's opportunity fell short.

This is not another diatribe on the behavior of Price, the value system of the Alabama faithful or the merits of Saturday's decision to fire Price. This is about the change imposed on a coach when he is enveloped by the Crimson Tide -- a change so drastic, so unexpected and so pervasive it affects all he holds dear.

Mike Price, a fine football coach, learned that lesson the hard way.

ESPN college football analyst Bill Curry coached for 17 years in the college ranks. His Game Plans for marquee matchups appear each week during the college football season.