Do you still consider Mike Shula years at Alabama a dark time in the program’s storied history?

Fans certainly take this current golden era for granted, during which Nick Saban has led the Crimson Tide to six national championships and the top of the college football mountain — but it’s also likely they took Shula for granted, too.

Neck-deep in NCAA sanctions that limited scholarships, Shula did his best but couldn’t quite recruit and coach the program back to the national championship glory the fan base always expected.

In “The Shula Years,” a new original sports documentary from AL.com, Alabama fans talk about what it was like to be a student during his tenure in Tuscaloosa. They talk about the ups and downs and compare it to the outrageous success of the Saban era. And they discuss whether or not Mike Shula was taken for granted by fans at Alabama, considering the circumstances of his tenure.

The doc also features former Alabama players John Parker Wilson and Mike Johnson, both of whom Shula recruited to play in Tuscaloosa and would finish their careers under Saban. Wilson and Johnson reflect on what Shula did for the program with one hand tied behind his back.

He lasted four seasons in Tuscaloosa, finishing his head coaching career with 26 wins and 23 losses, a far cry from Bear Bryant and his replacement, Nick Saban, who has reached legendary status at Alabama since replacing Shula in 2007. Alabama is once again the gold standard in college football, where anything less than winning a national championship means failure.

This is the latest edition of a monthly short documentary series “Iron Docs” from AL.com’s sports video team. Stay tuned for more interesting stories centered on Alabama and Auburn athletics in the near future.

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