Currently, football here at the University of Alabama has become a social phenomenon. People from everywhere come to see the team play. "I was amazed when I came to Tuscaloosa for a football game. The entire experience is completely unreal," said Lewis Browning, the author of a biography of Crimson Tide Coach Wallace Wade, and assistant professor at Duke University. "Football has always been a social aspect... an observation in the way that the social part of football has changed is apparent in the dress, says Ken Gaddy, the directory of the Bryant Museum, "In the previous years, you would see people dressed up for games, but now we all wear jeans and a tee-shirt." Sources: www.rolltide.com www.collegefootballhistory.com The College Football Media Guide '92 www.angelfire.com
Created by crluehmann on Oct 27, 2009
Last updated: 03/12/10 at 05:42 AM
Tags: Alabama Football SEC
Nick Saban, former coach of the Miami Dolphins and of LSU arrives at the Capstone as Head Coach.
Mike Shula is named the Tide's 26th Head Football Coach.
Coach Gene Stallings leads the Tide to their 12th National Championship
Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant was inducted into the Coaches Hall of Fame.
Bryant dies at the age of 69, 28 days after he coached his final football game.
Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant leaves the Capstone with 6 titles, 3 "Coach of the Year" awards, and a record of 232-46-9.
The Tide's eleventh national championship included a 12-0-0 record in which the Tide allowed only 67 points from their opponents all season, and shut out 5 of them.
The Bear takes the Tide to another national championship victory with another 11-1-0 record.
The Bear leads the Tide to a ninth national championship with an 11-1-0 record.
After Paul "Bear" Bryant's 200th win, he was named "Coach of the Year."
The Bear brought the Tide home with a national championship both years.
The Tide returns to its undefeated glory and was named the number one team in America. This was the sixth national championship, and the first one to be played at the Capstone.
Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant takes over at the Capstone and stats start to improve. During his first two years, his record was 12-6-3.
During this time period, there were poor records under Coaches Drew and Coach "Ears" Whitworth.
Because of health problems, Coach Frank Thomas steps down.
The Tide won their Fifth National Championship with a 9-2 record.
Paul "Bear" Bryant begins to play under Thomas in 1935 and Alabama finishes out the decade of the 1930s with a record of 79-11-5.
The Tide returns to their 10-0 glory under Frank Thomas.
Coach Frank Thomas is hired to replace Wade.
This is the year of the Tide's third National Championship, and the year that Wade leaves as coach. It is also the year the Tide became associated with the elephants. Sports writers of the time would refer to linemen as elephants, and during the Ole Miss game fans started yelling "Hold your horses, the elephants are coming." This year the Tide went 10-0, allowed 13 points and scored 217.
Wade takes the team to a second National Championship in California versus Stanford, bringing along Alabama's 9-0 record. "President Denny was most concerned about the students first and then recruiting, said Ken Gaddy, the director of the Bryant Museum, "Sports are a way to get people's attention."
Coach Wade lead the Tide to its first undefeated season resulting in the first National Championship victory. Ken Gaddy, the director of the Bryan Museum, said, "During the 20s was when President Denny decided to use football as a marketing tool for the University."
Coach Wallace Wade arrives and takes the tide to a 7-2-1 season. "Wade was a strict disciplinarian, and the first successful coach," says Ken Gaddy, director of the Bryant Museum. Lewis Bowling, an assistant professor at Duke University, and the author of a biography on Coach Wade said, "Wade is sometimes referred to as the Godfather of Alabama football. He helped to build the tradition here."
Hugh Roberts, a sports editor from the Birmingham Post Herold said that Alabama was fighting Auburn in the rain and mud and looked like a "Crimson Tide," and the name stuck. Coincidentally, this game was the only tied Iron Bowl in the history of the match-up.
The team started picking up various nicknames including "Varsity," "The Crimson White," and "The Thin Red Line," which was most popularly used until 1906.
Because the student resistance was so high, the Board of Trustees decided to lift the travel ban on athletic teams, and football resumed at the University of Alabama.
This year, the Board of Trustees decided to pass a rule prohibiting athletic teams from traveling off campus.
The Football team took to the field for the first time. The first game was played in Birmingham on Friday afternoon, November 11, 1892. The team's first coach was Eugene B. Beaumont.
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