COLLEGE FOOTBALL Alabama, Shula get ready to sign

The Dolphins assistant was a Crimson Tide quarterback.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- Alabama is set to hire Mike Shula as its football coach, possibly as early as today, according to several reports.
The Birmingham News, ESPN Radio and The Miami Herald all reported that Alabama has settled on the former Crimson Tide quarterback and current Miami Dolphins assistant.
Shula, the son of former NFL coach Don Shula, was unavailable for comment Wednesday night, and Alabama spokesman Larry White declined comment when contacted by The Associated Press.
Alabama fired Mike Price on Saturday after the first-year coach, already warned about his behavior, spent hundreds of dollars at a Pensacola, Fla., topless bar.
A woman reportedly ordered about $1,000 in food from room service sent to his hotel room the following morning. An attorney for Price told the Birmingham newspaper that he's considering appealing the termination.
Time frame
Alabama players left a meeting with university president Robert Witt and athletic director Mal Moore on Wednesday confident that they would have a new coach by the weekend -- and that he'd have worn the crimson and white jersey.
"They said we'd know something by Saturday -- definitely," Justin Smiley said.
Sylvester Croom and Richard Williamson -- also former Tide players -- were the only others to have interviewed for the job. Witt and Moore didn't meet with any candidates Tuesday or Wednesday.
Asked about the search after the meeting, Witt would only say, "We're optimistic we'll be able to make a decision relatively soon."
He and Moore planned to hold a teleconference with reporters today. The school's final exams conclude Friday.
The 37-year-old Shula has been an NFL assistant for 15 years, including two stops each in Miami and Tampa Bay. He has no previous head coaching experience.
Croom told the Birmingham newspaper on Wednesday that he had not received word of a decision but would support whatever decision was made by the university.
Shula passed for 3,881 yards and 33 touchdowns as a three-year starter at Alabama from 1984-86 and was a two-time All-Southeastern Conference selection.
Clint Johnston said it boils down to loyalty for the team, not where the candidates went to school.
"As players, we're not so much focused on getting somebody in here that's played here, but somebody in here that just wants to be here," Johnson said.