The story I was told regarding that photo was that it was taken after a defeat and that it captured one of those moments where the Coach was using the heartache of a defeated competitor to teach one of those harder life lessons. In this sense, it was symbolic of the coach/player relationship regardless of team or sport that is to say, it was bigger that that game, our team, or these people.
It does not take but a few minutes for former players of Coach Bryant in conversations to drift out of the Hard-Nosed Bear of a Man type storys into cavioting it all by stressing that he was also a great father figure. We so seldom see that side of Coach Bryant, this photo is what represents that angle for me.