University of Alabama athletics
Encyclopedia
The University of Alabama
features 19 varsity sports teams. Both the male and female athletic teams are called the Crimson Tide. They participate in the NCAA
's Division I as a member of the Southeastern Conference
Western Division. In 2002, Sports Illustrated
named Alabama the #26 best collegiate sports program in America. Athletics facilities on the campus include the 101,821-seat Bryant-Denny Stadium
, named after legendary football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant
and former University President George Denny, and 15,316-seat Coleman Coliseum
.
Main rivalries for the program include those with Auburn University
and the University of Tennessee
. The rivalry with the Auburn Tigers is especially heated, as the two compete annually in nearly all sports. The annual football meeting, nicknamed the Iron Bowl
, is considered among the most intense college football rivalries, as well as one of the top rivalries in all sports—behind the New York Yankees–Boston Red Sox baseball rivalry according to Sports Illustrated and ESPN
. Other rivalries include those against Mississippi State University
(baseball and basketball)- (Alabama-Mississippi State rivalry), Louisiana State University
(football)- (Alabama-LSU rivalry
), the University of Mississippi
- (Alabama–Ole Miss rivalry
), and the University of Georgia
(women's gymnastics).
while attending school in Andover, Massachusetts
and began teaching the sport to fellow Alabama students in early 1892. Later in the year, the school formed an official team of 19 players, with Little as captain and E. B. Beaumont
as head coach. Early newspaper accounts of Alabama football simply listed the team as the "varsity" or the "Crimson White" after the school colors. Headline writers then made popular the nickname "The Thin Red Line". It was not until 1907 that the name "Crimson Tide" was used to describe Alabama. The name was supposedly first used by Hugh Roberts, former sports editor of the Birmingham Age-Herald. Roberts coined the nickname to describe the 1907 Alabama-Auburn game, played in a sea of mud. Although Auburn was favored to win, Alabama played well in the red mud and held Auburn to a 6-6 tie.
Since then, the program has won 22 SEC
championships and claims 13 national championship
s. In addition to the 13 championships claimed by the university, Alabama has been recognized by the NCAA as National Champions for the 1945
, 1962
, 1966
, 1967
, and 1977 college football season
s. However, those championships are not claimed by Alabama.
The team has also made 58 bowl
appearances throughout their history, beginning with the 1926 Rose Bowl
to, the most recent, the 2011 Capital One Bowl
. In those bowls, Alabama has a 33–22–3 record. Since 1913, Alabama has 98 first team All-Americans, 29 consensus. In 2009, Alabama also recorded their first Heisman Trophy
winner, Mark Ingram
, in the closest Heisman Trophy race ever.
, the Tide advanced to postseason play for six consecutive years, culminating with the team's advancement into the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament
for the first time in school history in 2004, where the team lost to eventual champion Connecticut
in the Phoenix Regional Final.
In January, 2009, Head Coach Mark Gottfried
resigned after eleven years at Alabama. Soon afterwards Anthony Grant
was hired as the new Head Coach. Under his watch the Crimson Tide
battled through a tough first year, finishing 17-15 and falling short of an NCAA Tournament bid, yet achieving a top 10 ranking in points allowed. Grant's second, and current, season with the Tide was much brighter. Although falling short of an NCAA Tournament
bid yet again, they were able to win the SEC Western Division Championship, finishing 12-4 in the SEC with an overall record of 21-11. They entered the NIT Tournament with a #1 seed and made it to the final four, winning three more home games within the NIT Tournament. Also they were able to stay unbeaten at home with a perfect 19-0 season, a school record.
team, compete in Foster Auditorium
. The team played its first game in 1974 and has been a varsity sport ever since. The team has had eight head coaches, including Rick Moody, who guided the club to the 1994 NCAA Women's Final Four
. Wendell Hudson
was named head coach on March 15, 2008, replacing Stephany Smith
.
The Crimson Tide has appeared in 10 Tournaments for the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
, including an eight-year streak of consecutive appearances in the tournament stretching from 1992 to 1999. In 10 NCAA tournament appearances, Alabama has advanced to the "Sweet Sixteen" six times and the "Elite Eight" and the "Final Four" in 1994. The most successful season was 1996-1997 when the Tide finished in second place in the Southeastern Conference
(10-2 record) and had a midseason national ranking of #2 in polls by the AP and USA Today (November 12, 1996), and finished with a 25-7 overall record. The University of Alabama Women's Basketball program shares the national record with Duke University for the most total points for both teams when Alabama defeated Duke 121-120 (in four overtimes) in 1995 in the NCAA Tournament, a game that ESPN
has declared as one of the best all-time women's basketball tournament games. Seven former players for the University of Alabama have made rosters of teams of the WNBA. Alabama has had an active player in the WNBA through every year of its existence. The current head coach for the Crimson Tide is Wendell Hudson. The team played its first season of 1974–75 in Foster Auditorium, but moved to what is now Coleman Coliseum the following season. After Foster Auditorium was extensively renovated in a project that began in 2009, the Tide returned to their original home on February 13, 2011.
five times (1950
, 1983
, 1996
, 1997
, 1999
), finishing second in 1983 and 1997. Home games are played at Sewell-Thomas Stadium
. They are currently coached by head coach Mitch Gaspard
and assistant coaches Andy Phillips
and Dax Norris.
7 times, including back-to-back 3rd place finishes in the 2008 and 2009 series. The team's current overall record stands at 707–224 (.759). Alabama has won the SEC Softball Tournament
four times (1998, 2003, 2005, 2010
).
13 out of 14 chances since they arrived, and have each lead their teams to a Southeastern Conference
Championship. Overall the Crimson Tide golf teams have combined to make the NCAA Tournament 31 times, won the SEC Championship 3 times, and have had over 30 players honored as All-America
ns. The men's golf program finished 6th in the nation in 2007 while being consistently ranked in the top three in the 2007–2008 season. The home course for the Tide has been the Ol' Colony Golf Complex
since 2005.
The Crimson Tide currently has two of the best teams in the country with the women ranked #1, and men ranked #4, by Golfweek.
squad at The University of Alabama first competed in 1975. The squad did not have a winning season until the arrival of Sarah Patterson
in 1979. In the intervening 33 years under Patterson and her husband David, the squad has won 5 national championships, 7 SEC championships, 26 regional titles, and 248 All-America
n honors. It has placed in the top 5 at the NCAA Championships 25 of the past 29 years and won the championships five times: in 1988, 1991, 1996, 2002, and most recently in 2011. Alabama has also won 7 SEC Championships including 1988, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2003 2009, and 2011. The gymnastics squad also hosts an annual fundraiser for breast cancer, where the crowd is encouraged to "Think Pink" and support the cause by turning out in pink clothing. As of the 2009 fundraiser, the effort had raised in excess of $750,000.
Gymnastics meets have an average attendance of over 13,000 at Coleman Coliseum. Meets against the team's arch-rival, the University of Georgia Gymdogs, often sell out. Alabama holds seven of the eleven NCAA records for the largest gymnastics crowds of all time, including an attendance of 15,162 fans on January 20, 2006.
Alabama's women's gymnastics
team, compete in Coleman Coliseum.
is the most recent addition to Alabama's list of varsity athletics. Mal Moore
announced the addition of Alabama's 21st varsity sport in October 2005. The women's rowing team became the newest varsity sport at The University of Alabama in Fall 2006. The team was added due to the NCAA's Title IX
and allows for 20 full scholarships. Taking only girls who had previously rowed for the Alabama Crew
Club (est. 1987) and other walk-ons, Head Coach Larry Davis built the program from the ground up. In the first year of competition (2006–2007), the Tide defeated the University of Cincinnati
, Creighton University
, and Murray State University
and also won medals at the Head of the Chattahoochee and the Head of the South.
The second year (2007–2008) of competition surprised many as the Varsity 8 went on to win silver medals at the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta
in Boston, MA and also the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships in Oak Ridge, Tennessee
. The Tide again medaled at the Chattanooga Head Race and the Head of the South and recorded several match race victories against Southern Methodist University
, Creighton, Murray State, Drake University
, and the University of North Carolina
. The team also landed three boats in the top 10 of their categories at the Dad Vail Regatta
in Philadelphia.
Within two years, the team has had 25 athletes earn SEC Academic Honor Roll honors and 16 earn Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Scholar-Athlete awards. For the 2007-2008 school year, Women's Rowing won the team service award by posting the most number of community service hours (over 1500) out of all women's sports at Alabama. Nationally, the Alabama women's rowing team has won both silver (in 2007) and bronze (in 2009) medals in the women's championship 8+ category at the legendary Head of the Charles regatta in Boston
.
was a varsity sport from 1986 to 1988, and was revived in 1994. Former Head Coach Don Staley had been with the program since 1994, but stepped down at the end of the 2007 season. He was replaced with former Clemson University
head coach Todd Bramble. The team has won the SEC West three times (1995, 97, 98) and participated in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship
in 1999. In 2005, senior Libby Probst earned third team All America honors and the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award after breaking almost every major offensive record in her career at "The Capstone." They currently play their home games at the Alabama Soccer Stadium
.
in 2005, 2006, and 2007. The team won the SEC Western Division Championship in 2000 and 2004, and was the SEC Volleyball Tournament Runner-up in 2005. In 2000, the Alabama Volleyball team achieved the nation's best team-GPA among Division I Volleyball teams. Past coaches for Alabama Volleyball have included Stephanie Schleuder, Dorothy Franco-Reed, and Judy Green
.
winning national titles in the 200-meter men's breaststroke in 2005 and 2007. The University also has two cheerleading squads (The "Crimson Squad" and "White Squad") and a dance team known as the Crimson Cabaret who compete annually at the UCA/UDA College Nationals. The Cheerleading squad won 2011 College Cheerleading National Championship.
, men's rowing (crew)
, cricket
, cycling
, disc golf
, ice hockey
, lacrosse
, racquetball
, rugby
, men's soccer
, team handball
, table tennis
, triathlon
, ultimate frisbee
, wheelchair basketball
, water polo
, water skiing
, bass fishing
, and wrestling
.
(SECHC) of the American Collegiate Hockey Association
(ACHA) at the ACHA Division III level. Since 2006, Bama Hockey and the Frozen Tide has hosted sporting events for the Greater-Birmingham area at the Pelham Civic Center
.
of the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association
at the Division I level. The team plays at the University Recreation Fields and is coached by Randy Nace.
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
features 19 varsity sports teams. Both the male and female athletic teams are called the Crimson Tide. They participate in the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
's Division I as a member of the Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
Western Division. In 2002, Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
named Alabama the #26 best collegiate sports program in America. Athletics facilities on the campus include the 101,821-seat Bryant-Denny Stadium
Bryant-Denny Stadium
Bryant–Denny Stadium, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is the home stadium for the University of Alabama football team. The stadium opened in 1929, and was originally named Denny Stadium, in honor of former Alabama president George Hutchenson Denny...
, named after legendary football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant
Bear Bryant
Paul William "Bear" Bryant was an American college football player and coach. He was best known as the longtime head coach of the University of Alabama football team. During his 25-year tenure as Alabama's head coach, he amassed six national championships and thirteen conference championships...
and former University President George Denny, and 15,316-seat Coleman Coliseum
Coleman Coliseum
Coleman Coliseum is a 15,316-seat multi-purpose arena in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and is home to the University of Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball and gymnastics teams. It has also been home to the Alabama women's basketball and women's volleyball programs in the past.Before 1988, the building...
.
Main rivalries for the program include those with Auburn University
Auburn Tigers
Auburn Tigers is the name given to Auburn University athletic teams. The University is a member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 19 varsity teams in 13 sports:* Men's sports** Baseball** Basketball...
and the University of Tennessee
Tennessee Volunteers
The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the National Collegiate Athletic Association college sports teams at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. Mike Hamilton is the most recent Men's Athletic Director, but resigned on June 7, 2011, and Joan Cronan is the current Women's...
. The rivalry with the Auburn Tigers is especially heated, as the two compete annually in nearly all sports. The annual football meeting, nicknamed the Iron Bowl
Iron Bowl
The Iron Bowl is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the University of Alabama and the Auburn Tigers football team of Auburn University. The series is considered one of the best and most hard-fought rivalries in all of sports...
, is considered among the most intense college football rivalries, as well as one of the top rivalries in all sports—behind the New York Yankees–Boston Red Sox baseball rivalry according to Sports Illustrated and ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
. Other rivalries include those against Mississippi State University
Mississippi State Bulldogs
The Mississippi State Bulldogs are the athletic teams of Mississippi State University. They participate in NCAA's Division I in the competitive 12-member Southeastern Conference under the mascot Bulldogs and the school colors of maroon and white...
(baseball and basketball)- (Alabama-Mississippi State rivalry), Louisiana State University
LSU Tigers
The LSU Tigers are the athletic teams of Louisiana State University. They participate in the NCAA's Division I, in the Southeastern Conference. It fields teams in 14 varsity sports . Its official team nickname is the Fighting Tigers and the school mascot is Mike the Tiger...
(football)- (Alabama-LSU rivalry
Alabama-LSU rivalry
The Alabama–LSU football rivalry is an an American college football rivalry between the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the University of Alabama and the LSU Tigers football team of Louisiana State University...
), the University of Mississippi
Ole Miss Rebels
University of Mississippi sports teams, originally known as the "Mississippi Flood" , were re-named the Rebels in 1936 and compete in the twelve-member Southeastern Conference of the NCAA's Division I. The school's colors are cardinal red and navy blue , purposely chosen to mirror the school...
- (Alabama–Ole Miss rivalry
Alabama–Ole Miss rivalry
The Alabama–Ole Miss football rivalry is an an American college football rivalry between the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the University of Alabama and the Ole Miss Rebels football team of the University of Mississippi. Both universities are founding members of the Southeastern Conference...
), and the University of Georgia
Georgia Bulldogs
The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams of the University of Georgia. The Bulldogs compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference...
(women's gymnastics).
Football
University of Alabama law student William G. Little learned how to play American footballAmerican football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
while attending school in Andover, Massachusetts
Andover, Massachusetts
Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1646 and as of the 2010 census, the population was 33,201...
and began teaching the sport to fellow Alabama students in early 1892. Later in the year, the school formed an official team of 19 players, with Little as captain and E. B. Beaumont
E. B. Beaumont
-External links:...
as head coach. Early newspaper accounts of Alabama football simply listed the team as the "varsity" or the "Crimson White" after the school colors. Headline writers then made popular the nickname "The Thin Red Line". It was not until 1907 that the name "Crimson Tide" was used to describe Alabama. The name was supposedly first used by Hugh Roberts, former sports editor of the Birmingham Age-Herald. Roberts coined the nickname to describe the 1907 Alabama-Auburn game, played in a sea of mud. Although Auburn was favored to win, Alabama played well in the red mud and held Auburn to a 6-6 tie.
Since then, the program has won 22 SEC
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
championships and claims 13 national championship
NCAA Division I FBS National Football Championship
A college football national championship in the highest level of collegiate play in the United States, currently the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , is a designation awarded annually by various third-party organizations to their selection of the best...
s. In addition to the 13 championships claimed by the university, Alabama has been recognized by the NCAA as National Champions for the 1945
1945 college football season
The 1945 college football season finished with the United States Military Academy, more popularly known as “Army”, being the unanimous choice for the nation’s number one team by the 116 voters in the Associated Press writers’ poll...
, 1962
1962 college football season
During the 20th Century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as "Division I-A". The NCAA did recognize a national champion based upon the final results of "wire service" polls. The extent of that recognition came in the form of acknowledgment in...
, 1966
1966 college football season
The 1966 college football season was marked by controversy as the year of "The Tie", a November 19 game between the two top-ranked teams, Michigan State and Notre Dame. Neither team participated in a post-season bowl game. At the same time, 1966 was the first year that the professional football...
, 1967
1967 college football season
The 1967 college football season was the last one in which college football's champion was crowned before the bowl games. During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the college football teams that would later be described as Division I-A and now as Division I FBS...
, and 1977 college football season
1977 college football season
The 1977 college football season was one in which the top five teams all finished with records of 11-1-0. Notre Dame, which beat a #1 ranked Texas team in the Cotton Bowl Classic, became the national champion. The year 1977 was the last before NCAA's Division I was divided into I-A and I-AA...
s. However, those championships are not claimed by Alabama.
The team has also made 58 bowl
Bowl game
In North America, a bowl game is commonly considered to refer to one of a number of post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating...
appearances throughout their history, beginning with the 1926 Rose Bowl
1926 Rose Bowl
The 1926 Rose Bowl Game was held on January 1, 1926 in Pasadena, California. The game is commonly referred to as "the game that changed the south." The game featured the Alabama Crimson Tide, making their first bowl appearance, and the Washington Huskies....
to, the most recent, the 2011 Capital One Bowl
2011 Capital One Bowl
The 2011 Capital One Bowl was the sixty-fifth edition of the college football bowl game, and was played at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. The game was played on January 1, 2011 and matched the Alabama Crimson Tide from the Southeastern Conference with the Michigan State Spartans from the Big...
. In those bowls, Alabama has a 33–22–3 record. Since 1913, Alabama has 98 first team All-Americans, 29 consensus. In 2009, Alabama also recorded their first Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
winner, Mark Ingram
Mark Ingram, Jr.
Mark Ingram, Jr. is a running back for the New Orleans Saints. Ingram is the son of former NFL wide receiver Mark Ingram, Sr....
, in the closest Heisman Trophy race ever.
Men's basketball
Alabama's men's basketball program has been overshadowed for most of its history by football. However, in recent years, the men's basketball program has risen in stature nationally, achieving a No. 1 national ranking briefly in 2002. UA has become a regular conference basketball contender much as it was in the '80s under the direction of Coach Wimp Sanderson. Under head coach and former point guard Mark GottfriedMark Gottfried
Mark Frederick Gottfried is an American men's college basketball coach and former player. He was named head coach of NC State on April 5, 2011....
, the Tide advanced to postseason play for six consecutive years, culminating with the team's advancement into the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
for the first time in school history in 2004, where the team lost to eventual champion Connecticut
Connecticut Huskies men's basketball
The Connecticut Huskies is the name of the men's college basketball team representing the University of Connecticut, in Storrs, Connecticut, USA. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I, and the team competes in the Big East Conference...
in the Phoenix Regional Final.
In January, 2009, Head Coach Mark Gottfried
Mark Gottfried
Mark Frederick Gottfried is an American men's college basketball coach and former player. He was named head coach of NC State on April 5, 2011....
resigned after eleven years at Alabama. Soon afterwards Anthony Grant
Anthony Grant
-External links:* at RollTide.com...
was hired as the new Head Coach. Under his watch the Crimson Tide
Crimson Tide
Crimson Tide may refer to:* Crimson tide, a type of algae also known as Karenia brevis* Alabama Crimson Tide, the sports teams of the University of Alabama* Crimson Tide , a 1995 American thriller...
battled through a tough first year, finishing 17-15 and falling short of an NCAA Tournament bid, yet achieving a top 10 ranking in points allowed. Grant's second, and current, season with the Tide was much brighter. Although falling short of an NCAA Tournament
NCAA Tournament
NCAA tournament may refer to a number tournaments organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association:Men's sports*NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, the most common usage of this term*NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Championship...
bid yet again, they were able to win the SEC Western Division Championship, finishing 12-4 in the SEC with an overall record of 21-11. They entered the NIT Tournament with a #1 seed and made it to the final four, winning three more home games within the NIT Tournament. Also they were able to stay unbeaten at home with a perfect 19-0 season, a school record.
Women's basketball
Alabama's women's basketballBasketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
team, compete in Foster Auditorium
Foster Auditorium
Foster Auditorium is a multi-purpose facility at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It was built in 1939 and has been used for Alabama basketball, women's sports , graduations, lectures, concerts, and other large gatherings, including registration...
. The team played its first game in 1974 and has been a varsity sport ever since. The team has had eight head coaches, including Rick Moody, who guided the club to the 1994 NCAA Women's Final Four
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season...
. Wendell Hudson
Wendell Hudson
Wendell Hudson is a retired American basketball player and former Associate Athletics Director for Alumni Relations and the current eighth head women's basketball coach of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide....
was named head coach on March 15, 2008, replacing Stephany Smith
Stephany Smith
Stephany Smith was the head women's basketball coach at the University of Alabama from 2005 to 2008. She replaced basketball coach Rick Moody, and became only the school's 7th basketball coach...
.
The Crimson Tide has appeared in 10 Tournaments for the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Women's Division I Championship is an annual college basketball tournament for women. Held each April, the Women's Championship was inaugurated in the 1981–82 season...
, including an eight-year streak of consecutive appearances in the tournament stretching from 1992 to 1999. In 10 NCAA tournament appearances, Alabama has advanced to the "Sweet Sixteen" six times and the "Elite Eight" and the "Final Four" in 1994. The most successful season was 1996-1997 when the Tide finished in second place in the Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
(10-2 record) and had a midseason national ranking of #2 in polls by the AP and USA Today (November 12, 1996), and finished with a 25-7 overall record. The University of Alabama Women's Basketball program shares the national record with Duke University for the most total points for both teams when Alabama defeated Duke 121-120 (in four overtimes) in 1995 in the NCAA Tournament, a game that ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
has declared as one of the best all-time women's basketball tournament games. Seven former players for the University of Alabama have made rosters of teams of the WNBA. Alabama has had an active player in the WNBA through every year of its existence. The current head coach for the Crimson Tide is Wendell Hudson. The team played its first season of 1974–75 in Foster Auditorium, but moved to what is now Coleman Coliseum the following season. After Foster Auditorium was extensively renovated in a project that began in 2009, the Tide returned to their original home on February 13, 2011.
Baseball
Alabama also has a winning tradition in baseball. The Crimson Tide is tied with LSU for the most SEC titles with 14 regular season titles. Alabama also leads the conference with 7 SEC Tournament Championships. Tide baseball teams have participated in the NCAA College World SeriesCollege World Series
The College World Series or CWS is an annual baseball tournament held in Omaha, Nebraska that is the culmination of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which determines the NCAA Division I college baseball champion. The eight teams are split into two, four-team, double-elimination brackets,...
five times (1950
1950 College World Series
The 1950 College World Series was played at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska from June 15 to June 23. It was the first College World Series to be held at the stadium, which hosted the event through 2010....
, 1983
1983 College World Series
The 1983 College World Series was played at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, NE from June 3 to June 11. The thirty-seventh tournament's champion was The University of Texas, coached by Cliff Gustafson...
, 1996
1996 College World Series
The 1996 College World Series was played at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, NE from May 31 to June 8. The fiftieth tournament's champion was Louisiana State University, coached by Skip Bertman...
, 1997
1997 College World Series
The 1997 College World Series was played at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, NE from May 30 to June 7. The fifty-first tournament's champion was Louisiana State University, coached by Skip Bertman...
, 1999
1999 College World Series
The 1999 College World Series was played at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, NE from June 11 to June 19. The fifty-third tournament's champion was the University of Miami, coached by Jim Morris...
), finishing second in 1983 and 1997. Home games are played at Sewell-Thomas Stadium
Sewell-Thomas Stadium
Sewell–Thomas Stadium is a baseball stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It is the home field of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide college baseball team. The stadium opened in 1948 and the current seating capacity is 6,571...
. They are currently coached by head coach Mitch Gaspard
Mitch Gaspard
Mitch Gaspard is the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team. The 2010 season was Gaspards first season as the head coach of the Crimson Tide. He has been on the Alabama coaching staff for ten years, and was given the head coaching position when Jim Wells retired...
and assistant coaches Andy Phillips
Andy Phillips
George Andrew "Andy" Phillips is the current assistant coach for The University of Alabama's baseball team. He has played for the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox. Phillips was raised in Demopolis, Alabama, where he played baseball for the Demopolis Academy...
and Dax Norris.
Softball
The Alabama softball team was started in 1997. They are currently coached by head coach Patrick Murphy and assistant coaches Alyson Habetz and Stephanie VanBrakle. They have won six Southeastern Conference championships (two regular seasons and four tournaments), made 13 consecutive NCAA tournaments (every year since 1999) and have advanced to the Women's College World SeriesWomen's College World Series
The Women's College World Series is the final portion of the NCAA Division I Softball Championship for college softball in the United States. The tournament format consists of two four-team double-elimination brackets. The winners of each bracket then compete in a best-of-three title game series...
7 times, including back-to-back 3rd place finishes in the 2008 and 2009 series. The team's current overall record stands at 707–224 (.759). Alabama has won the SEC Softball Tournament
SEC Softball Tournament
The SEC Softball Tournament is the conference championship tournament in college softball for the Southeastern Conference . It is a single-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records...
four times (1998, 2003, 2005, 2010
2010 Alabama Crimson Tide softball season
The 2010 Alabama Crimson Tide softball team was an American softball team, representing the University of Alabama for the 2010 NCAA softball season. The Crimson Tide played its home games at the Alabama Softball Complex. The 2010 club made the postseason for the 12th straight year.-Previous...
).
Golf
Alabama's men's and women's golf teams have become two of the top programs in the nation since head coaches Jay Seawell (men) and Mic Potter (women) took over in the 2002 and 2006 respectively. They have combined to make the NCAA TournamentNCAA Tournament
NCAA tournament may refer to a number tournaments organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association:Men's sports*NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, the most common usage of this term*NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Championship...
13 out of 14 chances since they arrived, and have each lead their teams to a Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
Championship. Overall the Crimson Tide golf teams have combined to make the NCAA Tournament 31 times, won the SEC Championship 3 times, and have had over 30 players honored as All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
ns. The men's golf program finished 6th in the nation in 2007 while being consistently ranked in the top three in the 2007–2008 season. The home course for the Tide has been the Ol' Colony Golf Complex
Ol' Colony Golf Complex
Ol' Colony Golf Complex is a municipal public golf course in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The course opened in December 2000 on 597 acres that was once a farm plantation for a mental institution named Boy's Colony...
since 2005.
The Crimson Tide currently has two of the best teams in the country with the women ranked #1, and men ranked #4, by Golfweek.
Gymnastics
The women's gymnasticsGymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
squad at The University of Alabama first competed in 1975. The squad did not have a winning season until the arrival of Sarah Patterson
Sarah Patterson (coach)
Sarah Patterson is the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide gymnastics team. She has built the program at the University of Alabama into one of the most successful in the history of college gymnastics....
in 1979. In the intervening 33 years under Patterson and her husband David, the squad has won 5 national championships, 7 SEC championships, 26 regional titles, and 248 All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
n honors. It has placed in the top 5 at the NCAA Championships 25 of the past 29 years and won the championships five times: in 1988, 1991, 1996, 2002, and most recently in 2011. Alabama has also won 7 SEC Championships including 1988, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2003 2009, and 2011. The gymnastics squad also hosts an annual fundraiser for breast cancer, where the crowd is encouraged to "Think Pink" and support the cause by turning out in pink clothing. As of the 2009 fundraiser, the effort had raised in excess of $750,000.
Gymnastics meets have an average attendance of over 13,000 at Coleman Coliseum. Meets against the team's arch-rival, the University of Georgia Gymdogs, often sell out. Alabama holds seven of the eleven NCAA records for the largest gymnastics crowds of all time, including an attendance of 15,162 fans on January 20, 2006.
Alabama's women's gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
team, compete in Coleman Coliseum.
Women's rowing
Women's rowingCollege rowing (United States)
Rowing is one of the oldest intercollegiate sports in the United States. However, rowers comprise only 2.2% of total college athletes. This may be in part because of the status of rowing as an amateur sport and because not all universities have access to suitable bodies of water. In the 2002-03...
is the most recent addition to Alabama's list of varsity athletics. Mal Moore
Mal Moore
Mal M. Moore is the current Director of Athletics for the University of Alabama. On November 23, 1999, he was hired to his current position after spending almost thirty years in other areas with the university...
announced the addition of Alabama's 21st varsity sport in October 2005. The women's rowing team became the newest varsity sport at The University of Alabama in Fall 2006. The team was added due to the NCAA's Title IX
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...
and allows for 20 full scholarships. Taking only girls who had previously rowed for the Alabama Crew
Crew
A crew is a body or a class of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard...
Club (est. 1987) and other walk-ons, Head Coach Larry Davis built the program from the ground up. In the first year of competition (2006–2007), the Tide defeated the University of Cincinnati
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati is a comprehensive public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a part of the University System of Ohio....
, Creighton University
Creighton University
Creighton University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the school is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. The university is accredited by...
, and Murray State University
Murray State University
Murray State University, located in the city of Murray, Kentucky, is a four-year public university with approximately 10,400 students. The school is Kentucky’s only public university to be listed in the U.S.News & World Report regional university top tier for the past 20 consecutive years...
and also won medals at the Head of the Chattahoochee and the Head of the South.
The second year (2007–2008) of competition surprised many as the Varsity 8 went on to win silver medals at the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta
Head of the Charles Regatta
The Head of the Charles Regatta, also known as HOCR or HOTC, is a rowing race held on the penultimate complete weekend of October each year on the Charles River, which separates Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts. The race is named the "Head" of the Charles because it is a head race...
in Boston, MA and also the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships in Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 27,387 at the 2000 census...
. The Tide again medaled at the Chattanooga Head Race and the Head of the South and recorded several match race victories against Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
, Creighton, Murray State, Drake University
Drake University
Drake University is a private, co-educational university located in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The institution offers a number of undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and pharmacy. Today, Drake is one of the twenty-five oldest law schools in the country....
, and the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina
Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
. The team also landed three boats in the top 10 of their categories at the Dad Vail Regatta
Dad Vail Regatta
The Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta is the largest regular intercollegiate rowing event in the USA, drawing over a hundred colleges and universities from North America. The event has been held annually on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1953. Briefly in late 2009, it was planned...
in Philadelphia.
Within two years, the team has had 25 athletes earn SEC Academic Honor Roll honors and 16 earn Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Scholar-Athlete awards. For the 2007-2008 school year, Women's Rowing won the team service award by posting the most number of community service hours (over 1500) out of all women's sports at Alabama. Nationally, the Alabama women's rowing team has won both silver (in 2007) and bronze (in 2009) medals in the women's championship 8+ category at the legendary Head of the Charles regatta in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
.
Women's soccer
Women's soccerCollege soccer
College soccer is a term used to describe association football played by teams who are operated by colleges and universities as opposed to a professional league operated for exclusively financial purposes...
was a varsity sport from 1986 to 1988, and was revived in 1994. Former Head Coach Don Staley had been with the program since 1994, but stepped down at the end of the 2007 season. He was replaced with former Clemson University
Clemson University
Clemson University is an American public, coeducational, land-grant, sea-grant, research university located in Clemson, South Carolina, United States....
head coach Todd Bramble. The team has won the SEC West three times (1995, 97, 98) and participated in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship
NCAA Women's Soccer Championship
NCAA Women's Soccer Championships are divided into three divisions. This article lists NCAA Women's soccer championships.-Division I:The NCAA began conducting a Women's Division I Soccer Championship tournament in 1982 with a 12-team tournament...
in 1999. In 2005, senior Libby Probst earned third team All America honors and the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award after breaking almost every major offensive record in her career at "The Capstone." They currently play their home games at the Alabama Soccer Stadium
Alabama Soccer Stadium
The University of Alabama Soccer Stadium was built in 2004. The complex features covered bench areas for both teams and a press box with seating for 1,500 spectators and standing room for many more. The University of Alabama soccer field was the first home of Alabama soccer and it saw its first...
.
Volleyball
The Alabama women's volleyball is coached by Ed Allen, who was hired on January 10, 2011. The team has competed in the NCAA Women's Volleyball ChampionshipNCAA Women's Volleyball Championship
The NCAA has contested team championships in women's volleyball since 1981. The following is a list of the champions of each division with their record for the year in which they won the championship, and the runner up, city, site and other final four participants for division I...
in 2005, 2006, and 2007. The team won the SEC Western Division Championship in 2000 and 2004, and was the SEC Volleyball Tournament Runner-up in 2005. In 2000, the Alabama Volleyball team achieved the nation's best team-GPA among Division I Volleyball teams. Past coaches for Alabama Volleyball have included Stephanie Schleuder, Dorothy Franco-Reed, and Judy Green
Judy Green (volleyball coach)
Judy Green is an American volleyball coach. She is the former head coach of the volleyball team at the University of Alabama , and was formerly the head coach at the University of Montevallo from 1986-1995...
.
Other varsity sports
Additional varsity sports at the University include tennis, cross country, swimming and diving, and track and field. The University supports both men's and women's programs in all of these sports. The school has had individual success in all of these sports, including Vladislav PolyakovVladislav Polyakov
Vlad Polyakov is an Olympic breaststroke swimmer from Kazakhstan. He swam for his native country at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics....
winning national titles in the 200-meter men's breaststroke in 2005 and 2007. The University also has two cheerleading squads (The "Crimson Squad" and "White Squad") and a dance team known as the Crimson Cabaret who compete annually at the UCA/UDA College Nationals. The Cheerleading squad won 2011 College Cheerleading National Championship.
Club sports
The University of Alabama through University Recreation also fields a number of club sports of varying degrees of competitiveness, though most compete only with other teams from the southeastern part of the country. The club sports include men's volleyballVolleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, men's rowing (crew)
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
, cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
, disc golf
Disc golf
Disc golf is a disc game in which individual players throw a flying disc into a basket or at a target. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association, "The object of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end in the fewest number of throws of the disc." Of the more than 3000...
, ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
, racquetball
Racquetball
For other sports often called "paddleball", see Paddleball .Racquetball is a racquet sport played with a hollow rubber ball in an indoor or outdoor court...
, rugby
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, men's soccer
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
, team handball
Team handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
, table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
, triathlon
Triathlon
A triathlon is a multi-sport event involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance events. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances...
, ultimate frisbee
Ultimate (sport)
Ultimate is a sport played with a 175 gram flying disc. The object of the game is to score points by passing the disc to a player in the opposing end zone, similar to an end zone in American football or rugby...
, wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair basketball
Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people in wheelchairs and is considered one of the major disabled sports practiced. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation is the governing body for this sport. It is recognized by the International Paralympic Committee as the sole...
, water polo
Water polo
Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...
, water skiing
Water skiing
thumb|right|A slalom skier making a turn on a slalom waterski.Waterskiing is a sport where an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation on a body of water, skimming the surface.-History:...
, bass fishing
Bass fishing
Bass fishing is the activity of angling for the North American gamefish known colloquially as the black bass. There are numerous black bass species considered as gamefish in North America, including largemouth bass , smallmouth bass , Spotted bass or Kentucky bass , Guadalupe bass Bass fishing is...
, and wrestling
Collegiate wrestling
Collegiate wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the collegiate and university level in the United States. Collegiate wrestling emerged from the folk wrestling styles practised in the early history of the United States...
.
Ice Hockey
Men's Ice Hockey team known as the Frozen Tide competes intercollegiately in Southeastern Collegiate Hockey ConferenceSoutheastern Collegiate Hockey Conference
The South Eastern Collegiate Hockey Conference is an ACHA Division III non-varsity ice hockey conference in the Southern United States. The league's mission is to develop and advance collegiate ice hockey...
(SECHC) of the American Collegiate Hockey Association
American Collegiate Hockey Association
The American Collegiate Hockey Association is the national governing body of non-varsity college ice hockey in the U.S. The organization provides structure, regulations, promotes the quality of play, sponsors National Awards and National Tournaments....
(ACHA) at the ACHA Division III level. Since 2006, Bama Hockey and the Frozen Tide has hosted sporting events for the Greater-Birmingham area at the Pelham Civic Center
Pelham Civic Center
Pelham Civic Complex is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Pelham, Alabama. It features two NHL size ice skating rinks with a holding capacity of 500 skaters, a skating school, ice skating birthday party rooms, and a multi-purpose banquet area. Its hockey capacity is 3,500; the arena has of...
.
Lacrosse
The men's lacrosse team competes in the SouthEastern Lacrosse ConferenceSouthEastern Lacrosse Conference
The SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference is a lacrosse-only athletic conference affiliated with the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association . The SELC incorporates teams in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and is divided into two divisions,...
of the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association
Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association
The Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association is a national organization of non-NCAA, men's college lacrosse programs. The MCLA oversees game play and conducts national championships for over 200 teams in ten conferences throughout the United States and Canada...
at the Division I level. The team plays at the University Recreation Fields and is coached by Randy Nace.