Alabama Head Coach
The Alabama football team, known as the Crimson Tide has had twenty eight head football coaches since starting play in 1892. The University of Alabama football team is known globally for their athletic excellence. That excellence includes 18 recognized college football national championships and thirty-four conference championships entering the 2024 college football season. Much of the success of the Alabama football program is attributed to these coaches.
#1 - E. B. Beaumont
Eugene Beauharnais Beaumont Jr. became the head football coach of the University of Alabama football team, then known as the Cadets in the inaugural season of 1892. He compiled a 2-2 record for the lone season, a .500 win percentage. The University of Alabama yearbook is recorded as saying "We were unfortunate in securing a coach. After keeping him for a short time, we found that his knowledge of the game was very limited. We therefore got rid of him." [1]
#2 - Eli Abbott
Eli Abbott played college football at the University of Alabama and the University of Pennsylvania prior to taking the head coaching position in 1893. He coached the Alabama football team from 1893 to 1895, and later returned for a lone season in 1902. In 1896, he took over as the Alabama baseball team coach for the season. He compiled a 7-13 record at Alabama giving him a .350 winning percentage overall.
#3 - Otto Wagonhurst
Otto Wagonhurst became the Alabama football team’s head coach for the 1896 season, and finished the year with a 2-1 record, which is a .667 win percentage. Wagonhurst would move onto the University of Iowa football team for the 1897 season.
#4 - Allen McCants
Allen McCants came to the University of Alabama for the 1897 season. In his lone year as the Alabama football head coach, he compiled a record of 1-0, a perfect season. During this time, the University had placed a ban on athletic teams restricting them from playing off campus. Due to this restriction, the Alabama football team did not field a team in 1898.
#5 - W. A. Martin
William Augustin Martin Jr. arrived in Tuscaloosa in 1899 and coached the Alabama football team for one season. He compiled a record of 3-1 giving him a .750 winning percentage. He did not return for a second season.
#6 - Malcolm Griffin
The 1900 Alabama football team was helmed by Malcom Griffin, who coached just one year at Alabama finishing the year with a 2-3 record which is a .400 win percentage.
#7 - M. S. Harvey
Michael Smith Harvey coached the Alabama football team in the 1901 college football season. He finished the season with a 2-1-2 record, which works out to a .600 win percentage. Harvey would leave Tuscaloosa to take the head coaching job at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama (later known as Auburn) before moving on to the University of Mississippi for the 1903 and 1904 seasons.
#8 - W. A. Blount
William Alexander Blount Jr. became the eighth head coach of the University of Alabama football team in 1903. He stayed two seasons in Tuscaloosa compiling a 10-7 record, which is a .588 win percentage.
#9 - Jack Leavenworth
Jack Leavenworth coached the University of Alabama football team during the 1905 season. He compiled a 6-4 record which is a .600 win percentage.
#10 - J. W. H. Pollard
John William Hobbs Pollard, also known as “Doc” came to the University of Alabama to be the head coach of the football team in 1906 after previous head coaching stints at Union College, and Lehigh University. He remained in Tuscaloosa through the end of the 1909 season. In his time as the Alabama football team’s head coach, Pollard compiled a 21-4-5 record, which is a .783 win percentage. After not coaching in 1910, Pollard took the head coach position at Washington and Lee University, where he coached for just one year before retiring from coaching college football.
#11 - Guy Lowman
The 1910 college football season saw another coach come in for one season. That coach would be Guy Lowman. Lowman came to Tuscaloosa with one year of coaching experience under his belt, from the Warrensburg Teachers College. At Alabama, Lowman compiled a 4-4 record, which is a .500 win percentage. After the season, Lowman took the head coach position at Kansas State University where he coached three seasons. After a three year hiatus, Lowman took the head coaching position at the University of Wisconsin for one season, which would be his last coaching stint in college football.
#12 - D. V. Graves
Dorsett Vandeventer Graves also known as “Tubby” came to Tuscaloosa in 1911, where he coached football, basketball, and baseball. Graves coached the Alabama football team for four seasons compiling a 21–12–3 which is a .625 winning percentage. Graves would move on to Texas A&M University where he coached one season of football, and basketball along with four seasons of baseball. Graves would give college football one more go at Montana State University in 1920 and 1921. However, Graves found his true calling in college baseball as he took over at the University of Washington starting in 1923, and would coach the baseball team until 1946, where he compiled an impressive 234–131–4 record.
#13 - Thomas Kelley
Thomas Kelley coached the Alabama football team from 1915 to 1917 compiling a 17-7-1 record which is a .700 win percentage. Kelley came to Alabama with previous coaching experience at Muhlenberg College. Kelly would leave Alabama after the 1917 season and take a break from coaching. In 1920 Kelley would take over head coaching duties for two seasons at the University of Idaho, before coaching at Missouri for one season, which was his last head coaching position in college football.
#14 - Xen Scott
Xenophon “Xen” Cole Scott, became the 14th Alabama football coach in 1919, where he would stay for four seasons. His Alabama record was 29–9–3 which is a .744 win percentage. Scott came to Alabama with previous coaching experience at Case Western Reserve University. Tragically, Scott was diagnosed with cancer of the mouth and tongue which forced his resignation at the end of the 1922 college football season. He would ultimately pass away in 1924 from the condition. Scott’s last season at Alabama was the first year of the Southern Conference.
#15 - Wallace Wade
Wallace Wade coached eight seasons at the University of Alabama beginning in 1923. He came to Tuscaloosa after a very successful assistant coaching position at Vanderbilt University. In those eight seasons, Wade’s Alabama football team compiled aa record of 61–13–3 which is a staggering .812 win percentage. Overall, Wade is credited with three undefeated seasons- 1925, 1926, and 1930 which are all National Championship seasons. Wade also brought home four Southern Conference Championships in his time at Alabama.
After the 1930 season, Wallace Wade moved to Duke University where he was the head coach for eleven seasons before taking a hiatus to serve in the United States Army during World War II. Upon completing his tour of duty, he returned to Duke to coach from 1945 to 1950. His full coaching record is 171–49–10, with three national championships and 10 conference championships.
In 1967, Duke University renamed Duke Stadium to Wallace Wade Stadium in his honor. In 2006, the University of Alabama placed a bronze statue of Wallace Wade on the Walk of Champions outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium in honor of his accomplishments as the Alabama football coach.
#16 - Frank Thomas
Coming off of the successful coaching campaign of Wallace Wade, Alabama chose Frank Thomas, who had spent four years coaching Chattanooga prior, as his replacement. Thomas coached Alabama from 1931 until 1946, with the exception of the 1943 season which was suspended due to World War II. During his fifteen seasons as the head coach of the Alabama football team, Thomas compiled an overall record of 115–24–7 which matches Wallace Wade’s winning percentage of .812. During his time in Tuscaloosa, Alabama claimed two National Championships (1934 and 1941) and four Southeastern Conference Championships.
Thomas was a heavy smoker, often seen smoking a cigar on the sidelines during games, fell ill in 1946. He decided to step down but remained as the athletic director. In 2006, the University of Alabama placed a bronze statue of Wallace Wade on the Walk of Champions outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium in honor of his accomplishments as the Alabama football coach.
#17 - Harold Drew
Harold Drew replaced Frank Thomas at the start of the 1947 season, and spent eight seasons at Alabama. His record at Alabama was 54–28–7, which is a .646 win percentage. His 1953 Alabama football team won the Southeastern Conference Championship. Drew had previously an assistant coach under Wallace Wade at Alabama from 1931-1941. Before that, he had a head coaching history at Trinity, and Chattanooga. In 1946, he coached the University of Mississippi.
#18 - Jennings B. Whitworth
Jennings B. Whitworth came to the University of Alabama after a five year stint at Oklahoma A&M. Whitworth coached three seasons with a combined record of 4–24–2 which is an abysmal .167 winning percentage. Following the 1957 college football season, Jennings B. Whitworth was fired.
#19 - Paul “Bear” Bryant
Paul “Bear” Bryant was hired away from Texas A&M University for the 1958 season. Bryant, who was an end on the 1934 National Championship team said “Momma called. And when Momma calls, you just have to come runnin'” about his decision to take the Alabama job. As the Alabama football coach, Bryant spent twenty-five seasons and compiled a record of 232–46–9, an .818 win percentage. Over those years, Bryant brought six National Championships and thirteen Southeastern Conference Championships. [2]
Bryant began his coaching career at Maryland, where he spent one season. He moved on to Kentucky where he spent eight years and won one Southeastern Conference Championship in 1950. After the 1953 season, Bryant stepped down because he felt that football came second to basketball at Kentucky. In 1954, Bryant took over as the head football coach at Texas A&M. That first season is legendary, the “Junction Boys” as they became known as because of the pre-season training camp in Junction, Texas which players quit en masse. The team would go 1-9, players from that team would go on to win the Southwest Conference Championship in 1956.
Bryant announced prior to the 1982 Liberty Bowl, that he was retiring as Alabama’s head football coach but would remain as the athletic director. The game took place on December 29, 1982 which Alabama defeated Illinois 21-15. After the game, Bryant was asked what he planned on doing in retirement, Bryant said “Probably croak in a week.” Twenty-eight days later, Paul “Bear” Bryant passed away at 69 years old. At the time, he retired as the winningest coach in college football history with an overall record of 323-85-17 over thirty-eight seasons of coaching college football. Bryant only had one losing season, the 1954 Junction Boys Texas A&M team.
In 1975, the Alabama state legislature voted to rename Denny Stadium to Bryant-Denny Stadium, which is located at 920 Paul W Bryant Drive Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In February 1983 Bryant was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan. In 1988, the Paul W. Bryant Museum opened to the public. The museum displays the history of sports at The University of Alabama, including showing the office of Bryant as it looked when he passed away. In 2006, the University of Alabama placed a bronze statue of Paul “Bear” Bryant on the Walk of Champions outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium in honor of his accomplishments as the Alabama football coach.
#20 - Ray Perkins
Ray Perkins was hand selected by Paul “Bear” Bryant to replace him for the 1983 college football season. Perkins, an alum of Alabama, as a player under Bryant between 1964 to 1966, Perkins went on to play in the NFL from 1967 to 1971. After several years of assistant coach positions in the NFL, Perkins became the head football coach of the New York Giants in 1979, where he coached until 1982 before leaving to coach Alabama.
Perkins coached Alabama for four seasons, and had an overall record of 32–15–1, a .677 win percentage and won three bowl games. However, in the 1984 season, Alabama finished at 5-6 giving them their first losing season since 1957, the season before Bryant took over. Despite rebounding with a nine and ten win season in 1985 and 1986, increasing pressure to maintain the dominance that Alabama enjoyed under Coach Bryant caused Perkins to accept the highest paid coaching position in NFL history at the time to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
#21 - Bill Curry
Alabama then turned to Bill Curry to coach the Alabama football team for the 1987 season after he spent seven seasons at his alma mater, Georgia Tech. Curry spent three seasons at Alabama and compiled a 26-10 record, a .722 win percentage including the 1989 Southeastern Conference Championship. After disagreements about conditions in a new contract, Curry chose to leave Alabama to take the head coach position at Kentucky where he coached for seven seasons. He would later return to college football as the head coach of Georgia State for three years beginning in 2010.
#22 - Gene Stallings
Gene Stallings, a former player of Paul “Bear” Bryant at Texas A&M including being a member of the famed “Junction Boys” team, took over at Alabama starting with the 1990 season. Stallings spent seven years as the Alabama football coach, where he went 70–16–1, a .713 win percentage. Stallings also brought the 1992 National Championship to Alabama along with the Southeastern Conference Championship in that season as well.
Stallings had coached Texas A&M for seven seasons from 1965 to 1971. Stallings then moved on to the NFL where he spent fourteen years as an assistant coach at the Dallas Cowboys before taking the head coach position of the St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals from 1986 to 1989.
In 2006, the University of Alabama placed a bronze statue of Gene Stallings on the Walk of Champions outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium in honor of winning the 1992 National Championship as the Alabama football coach.
#23 - Mike DuBose
Mike DuBose took over as the Alabama football coach following the retirement of Gene Stallings following the 1996 college football season. DuBose had been the Alabama defensive coordinator and played for Paul “Bear” Bryant from 1972 to 1974. In four years at Alabama, DuBose led Alabama to a 24–23 record, which is a .511 win percentage including the 1999 Southeastern Conference Championship. However, after a shocking upset to Central Florida in the middle of the 2000 season, which Alabama would ultimately finish 3-8, DuBose was fired, but allowed to finish the season.
#24 - Dennis Franchione
Dennis Franchione was selected to replace Mike DuBose for the 2001 college football season. Franchione came to Alabama after head coaching stints at Southwestern, Pittsburg State, Southwest Texas State, New Mexico and TCU. Franchione coached at Alabama for two seasons compiling a 17–8 record, a .680 winning percentage. At the end of the 2002 season, after heavy speculation, Franchione chose to accept the head coaching position at Texas A&M where he coached for five seasons. He would return to college football in 2011, coaching Texas State for five years.
#25 - Mike Price
Mike Price was selected to replace Dennis Franchione for the 2003 season after fourteen seasons at Washington State. Price accepted the position in December of 2002, but his contract was terminated in May of 2003 for off the field issues including expenses on a University of Alabama issued credit card to a woman who wasn’t his wife in a hotel in Pensacola, Florida after being seen at a strip club earlier in the night. Along with previous reprimands for visiting bars on campus, which the University deemed to be unprofessional behavior. Price never coached a game at Alabama, but would return to college football at UTEP coaching from 2004 until 2017.
#26 - Mike Shula
Mike Shula, son of NFL Hall of Fame coach Don Shula, was chosen to replace Mike Price with only four months to put together a staff and prepare the team. Mike Shula, who played at Alabama under Ray Perkins, had many years of NFL assistant coaching experience coming into the 2003 season. In four seasons at Alabama, Shula compiled a record of 26–23 (16 of those wins were later vacated) for an official .303 win percentage. Following a 6-6 on the field record in 2006, Alabama chose to fire Shula. Shula would return to the NFL as an assistant coach for several teams through the 2023 season. For the 2024 season, Shula has returned to college football as an offensive analyst at South Carolina.
#27 - Nick Saban
After a long coaching search that brought embarrassment to the University of Alabama, Athletic Director Mal Moore, hired Nick Saban away from the Miami Dolphins of the NFL. Nick Saban, who had many years of NFL assistant coaching experience including coaching under Bill Belichick as well as college head coaching stints at Toledo, Michigan State, and LSU. As the Alabama football coach, Saban coached seventeen seasons compiling a record of 201–29, that’s an amazing .877 win percentage. Saban, who had previously won a National Championship at LSU, won six more at Alabama. Alabama made eight playoff appearances under Nick Saban, and won nine Southeastern Conference Championships.
In 2010, the University of Alabama added a bronze statue of Nick Saban to the Walk of Champions outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium for winning the 2009 National Championship. The base of the statue displays the years of every National Championship season. The Saban statue was updated to show the championship seasons of 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, and 2020. After his retirement, the University of Alabama announced that they were honoring Saban by naming the playing field of Bryant-Denny Stadium after him, which will be dedicated at the start of the 2024 college football season. [3]
#28 - Kalen DeBoer
Kalen DeBoer was selected by the University of Alabama to replace Nick Saban for the start of the 2024 college football season. DeBoer comes to Alabama after head coaching stints at Sioux Falls, Fresno State, and Washington and brings an overall record of 104–12 which is a .896 win percentage. He is coming off a National Championship Game loss to Michigan.
References
- Sports Illustrated [ Daily Dose Of Crimson Tide, Alabama’s First Coach Beaumont ] August 25, 2024
- 247 Sports [ Momma Called And When Momma Calls You Just Have To Come Runnin ] August 25, 2024
- Roll Tide [ Alabama To Name Football Field After Legendary Coach Nick Saban ] August 25, 2024
Contributors
Last Modified: August 26, 2024