Since playing their first college football game in 1892, the Alabama Crimson Tide football program has become one of college football’s most accomplished. With thirteen national titles and eight AP or Coaches consensus championships to its credit, the Alabama program has consistently remained among the elite of NCAA football powers. Nearly half of the program’s national championships were earned during the tenure of one Alabama coach – the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant, who coached Alabama teams from 1957 until his retirement after the 1982 season.

The Bear turns it around

When Bryant arrived in Alabama from Texas A&M, the program had been suffering through a period of four straight losing seasons. The Bear’s arrival seemed the spark that the Tide needed to turn the program around, and that year’s team posted a record of five wins, four losses, and one tie. Bryant’s unique style of coaching and masterful discipline of the sport provided the foundation that the program needed to enable the players to begin to function as a team and ascend toward their potential. In just his fourth campaign with the program, Bryant had the Crimson Tide back into national championship contention. In fact, they went on to win the national title that year, in Bryant’s first trip to a bowl game with his new team. It was a feat that the team would repeat often during his tenure as coach, as the program became one of the most dominant in the NCAAs. Beginning in 1961, and ending with the 1966 season, the Crimson Tide managed to accumulate 60 total wins, with only 5 losses. Over that same period, they won three national championships, four SEC titles, and were invited to six bowl games. In two of those seasons, the team went undefeated. Alabama football was back!

The Crimson Tide Seventies

The next decade belonged to the Tide. Bryant’s teams took the SEC championship eight of those ten years, and won another three national titles as well. That same period also saw another first for the Alabama team, and it came about during a rematch of the Tide’s loss to USC in 1970. During the next year’s game between the two schools, Bryant made the fateful decision to allow African American player John Mitchell to start for his team. Though Alabama won the game by a touchdown, it is better known for being the first instance of a black player starting an Alabama game.

After the team’s 1982 victory in the Liberty Bowl, Bryant called it a career. His retirement came after 323 victories – a record for coaches at the time. Sadly, the Bear’s time on Earth ended shortly thereafter, as he passed away within a month after walking away from the game. His legacy, however, remains alive to this day, as coaches both far and wide draw inspiration from his legendary career.

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