Earlier this week, I brought you this story about Mark Gottfried's wife confronting Paul Finebaum. In the story, I listed the signs that a coach is on the hot seat. As a refresher here they are:

• Coach referring to the current season as a rebuilding season
• FireCoachX.com website
• Vote of confidence from AD or President
• Constant threads on the message boards about potential new coaches
• Bad loss against an extremely inferior team
• Common knowledge of the amount of the coach's buyout.

Unfortunately, I forgot to include:

• Coach or someone inside the sports information department issues press release to the media with all of his favorable stats.

"The Play is Under Review" was able to obtain a copy of the favorable stats sent to the media about Mark Gottfried today. Here they are:

(Note: Some of the formatting is awkward. I'll try to get it cleaned up later)

Facts Entering the 2007-08 Season…

Nationally
Most Division I Victories (12 years or less)
Rank Coach (Current School) Div. 1 Years Wins
1. Tom Izzo (Michigan State) 12 278
2. Mark Gottfried (Alabama) 12 250
3. Mike Brey (Notre Dame) 12 241
4. Phil Martelli (St. Joseph’s) 12 240
5. Tim Welsch (Providence) 12 215
Willis Wilson (Rice) 12 215

SEC Coaches
Average Wins Per Year (minimum 5 years)
Rank Coach (Current School) Div. 1 Years Wins Wins Per Year
1. Billy Donovan (Florida) 13 296 22.7
2. Bruce Pearl (Tennessee) 6 132 22.0
3. Mark Gottfried (Alabama) 12 250 20.8
4. Rick Stansbury (Miss. State) 9 185 20.5
5. Billy Gillispie (Kentucky) 5 100 20.0

Most Post-Season Appearances
Rank Coach (Current School) Div. 1 Years Appearances Breakdown
1. Dave Odom (South Carolina) 21 15 (9 NCAA, 6 NIT)
2. Mark Gottfried (Alabama) 12 11 (7 NCAA, 4 NIT)
3. Billy Donovan (Florida) 13 10 (9 NCAA, 1 NIT)
4. Kevin Stallings (Vanderbilt) 13 9 (3 NCAA, 6 NIT)
5. Rick Stansbury (Miss. State) 9 7 (4 NCAA, 3 NIT)

NCAA Tournament Appearances
Rank Coach (Current School) Appearances Years as Head Coach
1. Dave Odom (South Carolina) 9 21
2. Billy Donovan (Florida) 9 13
3. Mark Gottfried (Alabama) 12 7
4. John Brady (LSU) 4 16
Rick Stansbury (Miss. State) 4 9
Bruce Pearl (Tennessee) 4 6

Most Victories in a Season in Alabama History
Three of Mark Gottfried’s teams rank among the top 5 in Alabama history for wins a season:
Season Wins
2001-02 27
2000-01 25
2005-05 24

Most Regular Season Victories in Alabama History
*Four of Mark Gottfried’s teams in the last 7 years rank among the 11 all-time for regular season wins in the 95 years of Alabama basketball:

Rank – Season Wins Final Season Record
1st – 2001-02 24 27-8
2nd – 2004-05 23 24-8
11th – 2000-01 20 25-11
2003-04 20 20-13
2006-07 20 20-12

SEC Records Since 2000-01 (entering this season)
Florida 183-54
Kentucky 177-60
Alabama 151-77
Mississippi State 151-80
LSU 135-87
Tennessee 129-89
South Carolina 129-101
Vanderbilt 125-97
Mississippi 123-96
Arkansas 116-97
Georgia 115-96
Auburn 109-104

In The Rankings
Entering the 2007-08 season, Alabama had been ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 a total of 85 of a possible 127 weeks.

I realize that Sports Information Departments release favorable statistics to the media all the time. The timing of these statistics are curious though.

I'll let the message boards and talk shows debate the merits of these stats. If you have read some of my other basketball related posts, you'll get an idea about how I feel about these.