Alabama Football History: Coaches, Draft Picks, Scandals, All-Americans, and Everything Else You Need to Know About the Crimson Tide

Alabama is one of the most storied programs in college football. 

It’s also in the early stages of writing its next chapter after the Nick Saban era became the defining dynasty for a generation of college football fans.

Sometimes, to appreciate what comes next, you’ve got to look backward instead of forward. So put the Alabama football odds down for a second and discover a little pigskin history about the Crimson Tide. 

Alabama Football Team History

The Alabama football program began in 1892 when law student William G. Little started teaching his classmates the rules. In the late 19th century, American football was most popular in the northeast, and Little had attended prep school in Andover, Massachusetts. 

The first official school team at Alabama had a roster of 19 players, with Little serving as team captain.

Alabama slowly built its program, achieving a 6-2 record under head coach Thomas Kelley in 1915 – good enough for a tie for first in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. But the first real heights came in the 1920s under head coach Wallace Wade, who guided the Crimson Tide to 61 wins from 1923-30.

Modern organizations have awarded retroactive championships to Alabama for their seasons in 1925, 1926, and 1930. The 1926 season included a Rose Bowl win against Washington.

Alabama became an original member of the SEC in the early 1930s, and did compete for championships – both conference and national – through the ‘30s and ‘40s. 

But the first real high-water mark for Alabama football came in the late 1950s, when former player Bear Bryant took the reins of a flagging program in 1958. Within five years, Bryant’s stingy defense and power offense had taken control of college football. 

Bryant coached in Tuscaloosa until 1982, ultimately winning 13 SEC titles and six national championships. It affirmed Alabama as one of the premier brands in the culture of southern football.

Alabama would succeed in the post-Bryant era, even winning a national championship under Gene Stallings after a perfect 13-0 season in 1992. But the variance grew wilder in the ‘80s, ‘90s, and 2000s, with the overall balance of scandal and on-field results in the mid-2000s.

Luckily for Alabama fans, the cavalry was coming. Alabama hired Saban to lead the program in 2007; by his third year, the Crimson Tide were winning Heisman Trophies and national championships.

When he retired after the 2023 season, Saban had ultimately won nine SEC championships at Alabama, alongside three BCS national championships and three more College Football Playoff-era national championships. 

In an era with far more competition, funding, and overall difficulty than the mid-20th century, Saban’s run is widely seen as the greatest accomplishment in the history of college football.

Alabama Football Scandal

Alabama football isn’t without its share of scandal. One of the biggest took place in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Memphis high school coach Lynn Lang allegedly received $150,000 in cash to steer Albert Means toward playing at Alabama.

As a result, the NCAA delivered a huge punishment to Alabama in 2002, sentencing the program to a loss of 21 scholarships in addition to a five-year probation and a two-year bowl ban. 

The scandal and subsequent punishment are seen as a key reason why Alabama football was so damaged prior to Saban’s arrival.

But the drama didn’t stop there. New head coach Mike Price was brought in for the 2003 season, and Price infamously displayed some, uhh, bad judgment in his opening months as the man in charge. 

Price was fired in May and replaced by Mike Shula, who went 0-4 against Auburn and generated an NCAA violation of his own for improper use of textbooks. 

Alabama Football Coaches: The Complete History

• E.B. Beaumont (1892)
• Eli Abbot (1893-1895; 1902)
• Otto Wagonhurst (1896)
• Allen McCants (1897)
• W.A. Martin (1899)
• Malcolm Griffin (1900)
• M.S. Harvey (1901)
• W.B. Blount (1903-04)
• Jack Leavenworth (1905)
• J.W.H. Pollard (1906-09)
• Guy Lowman (1910)
• D.V. Graves (1911-14)
• Thomas Kelley (1915-17)
• Xen Scott (1919-22)
• Wallace Wade (1923-30)
• Frank Thomas (1931-46)
• Harold Drew (1947-54)
• Jennings B. Whitworth (1955-57)
• Bear Bryant (1958-82)
• Ray Perkins (1983-86)
• Bill Curry (1987-89)
• Gene Stallings (1990-96)
• Mike DuBose (1997-2000)
• Dennis Franchione (2001-02)
• Mike Price (2003)
• Mike Shula (2003-06)
• Nick Saban (2007-23)
• Kalen DeBoer (2024-present)

Alabama Football Conference History

In an age of college football conference realignment, Alabama is a bit unusual. The school played its first SEC season in 1933 as a founding member and hasn’t made any changes since then.

Prior to that, it had spent a brief number of years in the Southern Conference from 1922-32.

Alabama Football All-Americans

Alabama has had more than 100 players recognized as All-Americans since the program began. A large number of those have come since 2008.

Some of the biggest names to earn unanimous consensus All-American honors at Alabama during the modern era include:

• RB Mark Ingram II 
• S Mark Barron
• RB Trent Richardson
• CB Dee Milliner
• OG Chance Warmack
• WR Amari Cooper
• RB Derrick Henry
• DE Jonathan Allen
• DB Minkah Fitzpatrick
• DT Quinnen Williams
• RB Najee Harris
• WR DeVonta Smith
• CB Patrick Surtain II
• LB Will Anderson Jr.

Alabama Football Draft Picks

Since the start of the NFL draft in the 1930s, Alabama has had more than 450 players selected.

That includes 84 first-round picks and three No. 1 overall picks: RB Harry Gilmer (1948), QB Joe Namath (1965), and QB Bryce Young (2023).

(Technically, Namath was drafted into the AFL.)

Alabama Football Heisman Winners

Prior to Saban, no Alabama players had ever won the Heisman Trophy. But since 2008, Alabama has had four different players – at three different positions! – win the Heisman.

They are Mark Ingram (2009), Derrick Henry (2015), DeVonta Smith (2020), and Bryce Young (2021).