| FTBL Alabama Football History

[Kirk Van de Graaff]

After Wade left Alabama to become the head coach at Duke University, Frank Thomas took over the helm and launched another successful era for the Crimson Tide from 1931-46. Thomas, who amassed a record of 115-24-7, was a former Notre Dame quarterback who had been a roommate of the fabled George Gipp. In 1933, after the creation of the Southeastern Conference, Coach Thomas’s team won the first SEC title. A year later, his team went 10-0, including a 29-13 victory over Stanford in the 1935 Rose Bowl. Among the stars of that team were Don Hutson, Dixie Howell, and Paul Bryant. Hutson went on to become a star for the Green Bay Packers and a member of eight Halls of Fame, including the NFL and college football halls.

Frank Thomas (Encyclopedia of Alabama)

 

[Kirk Van de Graaff]

Thomas became the first to coach teams that appeared in what at that time were the four major bowls: the Rose, Cotton, Orange, and Sugar. His 1945 team also finished with a 10-0 record, defeating Southern California 34-14 in the Rose Bowl. Birmingham natives Harry Gilmer and Vaughn Mancha were the stars of the team and the last All-Americans for Coach Thomas. He stepped down after the 1946 season because of declining health and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.


Harry Gilmer (Encyclopedia of Alabama)

 

[Kirk Van de Graaff]

Haroldi “Red” Drew followed Thomas and took teams to the Sugar, Orange, and Cotton Bowls. His overall record was 54-28-7. In 1953, his team won the SEC Championship, but it was his 1952 team that gained national acclaim with a 61-6 win over Syracuse in the Orange Bowl. After a losing season in 1954, Drew stepped down.

Harold D. (Red) Drew, (Encyclopedia of Alabama)

 

[Kirk Van de Graaff]

After three dismal seasons from 1955-57 under Jennings B. “Ears” Whitworth, Alabama had an Abismal record of 4–24–2. His only Notable Player you ask? Bart Starr...

Alabama Crimson Tide (Southeastern Conference) (1955–1957)
1955	Alabama	0–10	0–7	12th
1956	Alabama	2–7–1	2–5	T–8th
1957	Alabama	2–7–1	1–6–1	10th
Alabama:	4–24–2	3–18–1
Total:	26–51–4

Jennings B. Whitworth


Bart Starr

 

[bamaledge]

 

[bamaledge]

Anybody know who the person next to coach?

 

[PurlJam]

Anybody know who the person next to coach?

Shug Jordan

 

[bamaledge]

Nope.
Shorty Price

 

[It Takes Eleven]

Nope.
Shorty Price

Pretty sure that's Shug.

 

[Davestwin]

The only real blemish on Coach Bryant’s record is his Bowl Record. Following the second close loss to ND, my dad punched our refrigerator so hard it damaged the Freon tube and we didn’t have use of a refrigerator for several weeks until we could afford another one.

 

[mando]

The only real blemish on Coach Bryant’s record is his Bowl Record. Following the second close loss to ND, my dad punched our refrigerator so hard it damaged the Freon tube and we didn’t have use of a refrigerator for several weeks until we could afford another one.

I was in my teens during those years and those bowl games against ND were brutal. 2012 had a lot of paybacks from those years.

 

[bamatommy]

THE COACHES
List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected

No.	Name	Season(s) [A 6]	GC	OW	OL	OT	O%	CW	CL	CT	C%	PW	PL	PT	DC [A 7]	CC	NC	Awards
1	E. B. Beaumont	1892	4	2	2	0	0.500	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0	—
2	Eli Abbott	1893–1895, 1902	20	7	13	0	0.350	2	8	0	0.200	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
3	Otto Wagonhurst	1896	3	2	1	0	0.667	1	1	0	0.500	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
4	Allen McCants	1897	1	1	0	0	1.000	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
5	W. A. Martin	1899	4	3	1	0	0.750	1	0	0	1.000	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
6	Malcolm Griffin	1900	5	2	3	0	0.400	1	3	0	0.250	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
7	M. S. Harvey	1901	5	2	1	2	0.600	2	1	2	0.600	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
8	W. B. Blount	1903–1904	17	10	7	0	0.588	8	7	0	0.533	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
9	Jack Leavenworth	1905	10	6	4	0	0.600	5	4	0	0.556	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
10	J. W. H. Pollard	1906–1909	30	21	4	5	0.783	13	4	5	0.705	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
11	Guy Lowman	1910	8	4	4	0	0.500	1	4	0	0.200	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
12	D. V. Graves	1911–1914	36	21	12	3	0.625	14	11	3	0.554	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
13	Thomas Kelley	1915–1917	25	17	7	1	0.700	12	6	1	0.658	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
14	Xen Scott	1919–1922	41	29	9	3	0.744	17	8	3	0.661	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
15	Wallace Wade†​	1923–1930	77	61	13	3	0.812	45	10	2	0.807	2	0	1	—	4	3 – 1925, 1926, 1930	—
16	Frank Thomas†​	1931–1946	146	115	24	7	0.812	71	19	6	0.771	4	2	0	—	4	2 – 1934, 1945	SEC Coach of the Year (1945)[21][A 8]
17	Harold Drew	1947–1954	89	54	28	7	0.646	33	21	7	0.598	1	2	0	—	1	0	SEC Coach of the Year (1952)[21]
18	Jennings B. Whitworth	1955–1957	30	4	24	2	0.167	3	18	1	0.159	0	0	0	—	0	0	—
19	Bear Bryant†​	1958–1982	269	220	40	9	0.835	125	25	5	0.823	12	10	2	—	13	6 – 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979	AFCA Coach of the Year (1961, 1971, 1973)[22] AP SEC Coach of the Year (1961, 1964, 1965, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981)[21] UPI SEC Coach of the Year (1959, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1971, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1981)[21] SEC Coach of the Year (1961, 1964, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1979, 1981)[21]
20	Ray Perkins	1983–1986	48	32	15	1	0.677	14	9	1	0.604	3	0	0	—	0	0	—
21	Bill Curry	1987–1989	36	26	10	0	0.722	14	6	0	0.700	1	2	0	—	1	0	Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award (1989)[23] AP SEC Coach of the Year (1989)[21] UPI SEC Coach of the Year (1987, 1989)[21] SEC Coach of the Year (1989)[21]
22	Gene Stallings† [A 9]​	1990–1996	87	62	25	0	0.713	38	16	0	0.704	5	1	0	4	1	1 – 1992	AFCA Coach of the Year (1992)[22] FWAA Coach of the Year (1992)[25] George Munger Award (1992)[26] Walter Camp Coach of the Year (1992)[27] AP SEC Coach of the Year (1992)[21] SEC Coach of the Year (1992)[21]
23	Mike DuBose	1997–2000	47	24	23	—	0.511	16	16	—	0.500	0	2	—	1	1	0	AP SEC Coach of the Year (1999)[21] SEC Coach of the Year (1999)[21]
24	Dennis Franchione	2001–2002	25	17	8	—	0.680	10	6	—	0.625	1	0	—	0	0	0	—
25	Mike Price [A 10]	2003	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
26	Mike Shula [A 11]	2003–2006	49	10	23	—	0.303	5	19	—	0.208	0	1	—	0	0	0	—
Int	Joe Kines [A 12]	2006	1	0	1	—	.000	—	—	—	—	0	1	—	—	—	—	—
27	Nick Saban [A 13]	2007–present	216	189	27	—	0.875	109	18	—	0.858	16	6	—	9	7	6 – 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2020	AP Coach of the Year (2008)[31] Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (2008)[25] Home Depot Coach of the Year (2008)[32] Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award (2008)[33] Sporting News College Football Coach of the Year (2008)[34] Walter Camp Coach of the Year (2008)[27] AP SEC Coach of the Year (2009)[21] SEC Coach of the Year (2008, 2009, 2016)[21] Paul "

Alabama Recorded its first 10-win season in 1920 with a 10-1 record.
University’s president George H. Denny hired Xen Scott, a horse-racing journalist from Cleveland, to coach the school in 1919. Denny’s unusual choice paid off, as Alabama had its best season ever in Scott’s first year. Led by Mulley Lenoir, Riggs Stephenson, and Joe Sewell, Alabama finished with an 8-1 record. The next year, the Tide finished 10-1, marking its first 10-win season

.View attachment 26074 Xen Scott

 

[Kirk Van de Graaff]

This is Shorty Price.

 

[UAgrad93]

After three dismal seasons from 1955-57 under Jennings B. “Ears” Whitworth, Alabama had an Abismal record of 4–24–2. His omly Notable Player you ask? Bart Starr...

Alabama Crimson Tide (Southeastern Conference) (1955–1957)
1955	Alabama	0–10	0–7	12th
1956	Alabama	2–7–1	2–5	T–8th
1957	Alabama	2–7–1	1–6–1	10th
Alabama:	4–24–2	3–18–1
Total:	26–51–4

View attachment 26120

Jennings B. Whitworth
View attachment 26121

Bart Starr

Little known fact about Bart Starr. He was an education major and he was actually a PE teacher/junior high football coach at Warrior High School before being drafted by Green Bay.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Little known fact about Bart Starr. He was an education major and he was actually a PE teacher/junior high football coach at Warrior High School before being drafted by Green Bay.

An even littler known fact, he and his attorney were once accosted in the parking lot in front of Coleman by a crazed fan* who wanted his autograph...

*The crazed fan in question may or may not have started this thread.

 

[UAgrad93]

An even littler known fact, he and his attorney were once accosted in the parking lot in front of Coleman by a crazed fan* who wanted his autograph...

*The crazed fan in question may or may not have started this thread.

I had to call my Dad before I posted that. I wasn’t sure if he was doing his student teaching there or if he had actually been hired. My Dad was in 1st grade but had 5 older brothers. The 3 oldest actually had a lot of interaction with Bart Starr before he got the call from the Packers.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

I had to call my Dad before I posted that. I wasn’t sure if he was doing his student teaching there or if he had actually been hired. My Dad was in 1st grade but had 5 older brothers. The 3 oldest actually had a lot of interaction with Bart Starr before he got the call from the Packers.

Good stuff.

Starr, Namath, and Stabler... all 3 incredible players, but all 3 were also extremely nice and generous with their time to their fans...

I passed up on a chance several years ago to get a signed helmet by all 3, and it was a really cool UA throwback helmet with no facemask. I regret not getting it way too often...

 

[UAgrad93]

Good stuff.

Starr, Namath, and Stabler... all 3 incredible players, but all 3 were also extremely nice and generous with their time to their fans...

I passed up on a chance several years ago to get a signed helmet by all 3, and it was a really cool UA throwback helmet with no facemask. I regret not getting it way too often...

My freshman year at UA, Namath came out to practice and spoke to the team. He then took the time to talk to all of us in the QB room. As soon as I got home, I called my Dad to tell him! Following week, it was Stabler swinging by for a visit! Coming from a kid that grew up hearing stories about these guys, I was like a fat kid in a candy store!!! The UA football fraternity is second to none!!

 

[Kirk Van de Graaff]

An even littler known fact, he and his attorney were once accosted in the parking lot in front of Coleman by a crazed fan* who wanted his autograph...

*The crazed fan in question may or may not have started this thread.

True story!

 

[Kirk Van de Graaff]

1958
Alabama turned to Paul “Bear” Bryant to reinvigorate the program, as he had at the University of Maryland, the University of Kentucky, and Texas A&M University.

For the next 25 years, Alabama football would become not only a source of pride for much of the state but the elite program of college football. No school would match the 232 victories or the six national titles (1961-64-65-73-78-79) that Alabama compiled during that time, and Bryant became the most dominant figure in college athletics. In his fourth year as head coach, Bryant’s 1961 team won the national championship with a 11-0 record. Its stars included quarterback Pat Trammell and linebacker Lee Roy Jordan.

The Bear! (Encyclopedia of Alabama)


1961 Alabama Crimson Tide, Pat Trammell