Alabama
When asked why he returned to his alma mater, Bryant replied, "Mama called. And when Mama calls, you just have to come runnin'." Bryant's first spring practice back at Alabama was much like what happened at Junction. Some of Bryant's assistants thought it was even more difficult, as dozens of players quit the team. After winning a combined four games in the three years before Bryant's arrival (including Alabama's only winless season on the field in modern times), the Tide went 5–4–1 in Bryant's first season. The next year, in 1959, Alabama beat Auburn and appeared in the inaugural Liberty Bowl, the first time the Crimson Tide had beaten Auburn or appeared in a bowl game in six years. In the 1960 season, Bryant led Alabama to an 8–1–2 record and a #9 ranking in the final AP Poll. In 1961, with quarterback Pat Trammell and football greats Lee Roy Jordan and Billy Neighbors, Alabama went 11–0 and defeated Arkansas 10–3 in the Sugar Bowl to claim the national championship.
The next three years (1962–1964) featured Joe Namath at quarterback and were among Bryant's finest. The 1962 Crimson Tide went 10–1, and the season ended with a 17–0 victory in the Orange Bowl over Bud Wilkinson's Oklahoma Sooners. The Crimson Tide finished No. 5 in the AP Poll. The 1963 Crimson Tide went 9–2, and the ended with a 12–7 victory over Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl, which was the first game between the two Southeastern Conference neighbors in almost twenty years, and only the second in thirty years. Alabama finished No. 8 in the AP Poll In 1964 the Tide went 10–0 in the regular season and won another national championship, but lost 21–17 to Texas in the Orange Bowl. The Tide ended up sharing the 1964 national title with Arkansas, as the Razorbacks won the Cotton Bowl Classic, and had beaten Texas in Austin. Before 1968, the AP and UPI polls gave out their championships before the bowl games (with the exception of the 1965 season). The AP ceased this practice before the 1968 season, but the UPI continued until 1973.
The 1965 Crimson Tide went 9–1–1 and repeated as champions after defeating Nebraska, 39–28, in the Orange Bowl. Coming off back-to-back national championship seasons, Bryant's 1966 Alabama team went undefeated, beating a strong Nebraska team, 34–7, in the Sugar Bowl. However, Alabama finished third in the AP Poll behind Michigan State and champions Notre Dame, who had previously played to a 10–10 tie in a late regular season game. In a biography of Bryant written by Allen Barra, the author suggests that the major polling services refused to elect Alabama as national champion for a third straight year because of Alabama Governor George Wallace's recent stand against integration.
The 1967 Alabama team was billed as another national championship contender with star quarterback Kenny Stabler returning, but they stumbled out of the gate and tied Florida State, 37–37, at Legion Field. Alabama finished the year #8 at 8–2–1, losing 20–16 in the Cotton Bowl Classic to Texas A&M, coached by former Bryant player and assistant coach Gene Stallings. In 1968 Bryant again could not match his previous successes, as the team finished No. 17 went 8–3, losing to the Missouri, 35–10, in the Gator Bowl.
The 1969 and 1970 teams finished 6–5 and 6–5–1 respectively. After these disappointing efforts, many began to wonder if the 57-year-old Bryant was washed up. He himself began feeling the same way and considered either retiring from coaching or leaving college football for the National Football League (NFL).
For years, Bryant was accused of racism for refusing to recruit black players. (He had tried to do so at Kentucky in the late 40s but was denied by then University President, Herman Donovan.) Bryant said that the prevailing social climate and the overwhelming presence of noted segregationist George Wallace in Alabama, first as governor and then as a presidential candidate, did not let him do this. He finally was able to convince the administration to allow him to do so, leading to the recruitment of Wilbur Jackson as Alabama's first black scholarship player who was recruited in 1969 and signed in the Spring of 1970. Junior-college transfer John Mitchell became the first black player for Alabama in 1971 because freshmen, thus Jackson, were not eligible to play at that time. They would both be a credit to the university by their conduct and play, thus widening the door and warming the welcome for many more to follow. By 1973, one-third of the team's starters were black, and Mitchell became the Tide's first black coach that season.
In 1971 Bryant began engineering a comeback. This included abandoning the pro-style offense tailored to departed quarterback Scott Hunter's passing ability for the relatively new wishbone formation. Darrell Royal, the Texas football coach whose assistant, Emory Bellard virtually invented the wishbone, taught Bryant its basics, but Bryant developed successful variations of the wishbone that Royal had never used. The change helped make the remainder of the decade a successful one for the Crimson Tide.
The 1971 Alabama Crimson Tide football team went undefeated in the regular season and rose to No. 2 in the AP Poll, but were dominated by top-ranked Nebraska 38–6 in the Orange Bowl. In the 1972 season, Bryant led Alabama to a 10–0 start before falling to No. 9 Auburn in the Iron Bowl and #7 Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
Bryant's 1973 squad went undefeated in the regular season and split national championships with Notre Dame. Notre Dame later defeated Alabama, 24–23, in the Sugar Bowl. The UPI thereafter moved its final poll until after the bowl games. The Crimson Tide fared very similarly in the 1974 season. The team went undefeated in the regular season but fell to the #9 Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl 13–11. The 1975 season started off with a 20–7 setback to the Missouri Tigers. Alabama won every game after that, including the Sugar Bowl over Penn State, to finish 11–1 but finished No. 3 in the final AP Poll. Alabama went 9–3 in the 1976 season. The Crimson Tide finished the season with a 36–6 victory over #7 UCLA in the Liberty Bowl. Alabama finished No. 11 in the final AP Poll In the 1977 season, Alabama suffered a 31–24 loss to Nebraska in the second game of the season. Alabama won every game after that including a 35–6 victory over #9 Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl but Notre Dame ended up as National Champions and Alabama was ranked No. 2.
The 1978 Alabama Crimson Tide football team split the national title with USC despite losing to the Trojans in September. The Trojans lost later in the year to three-loss Arizona State and drop to number 3. At the end of the year, number 2 Alabama would beat undefeated and top-ranked Penn State in the Sugar Bowl, with the famous late-game goal line stand to preserve the victory.
Bryant won his sixth and final national title in 1979 after a 24–9 Sugar Bowl victory over Arkansas to cap a 12–0 season. Bryant led Alabama to a 10–2 record and a #6 ranking in the final AP Poll in the 1980 season. The season ended with a 30–2 victory over #6 Baylor in the Cotton Bowl. In 1981, Bryant led the Crimson Tide to a 9–2–1 record and a #7 ranking in the final AP Poll.
Bryant coached at Alabama for twenty-five years, winning six national titles (1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, and 1979) and thirteen SEC championships. Bryant's win over in-state rival Auburn, coached by former Bryant assistant Pat Dye on November 28, 1981, was Bryant's 315th as a head coach, which was the most of any head coach at that time. His all-time record as a coach was 323–85–17.
