Athletic teams at a University of Alabama are known as a Crimson Tide. A school fields teams inside Eleven varsity sports in the NCAA's Division I and is a member of the competitory Southeastern Conference (Western Section). A school's athletic teams compete at a greatest level, typically contending for conference & NCAA titles. Athletic facilities in campus include a 83,818-seat Bryant-Denny Stadium, named when legendary football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and former UA President George Denny, and the 15,043-seat Coleman Coliseum.

Alabama maintains athletic contention sustaining Auburn University and the University of Tennessee. A contention by owning Auburn is especially heated when it encompasses 100% sports. A annual Alabama-Auburn game is nicknamed a Iron Bowl and is considered one of the virtually all incapacitating games all told of college football. A Alabama-Auburn hoops is typically known as "Iron Ball."

When a competition by having Tennessee is centered about football mostly, no shortage of bitterness on text, especially given a recent history between UT Coach Phil Fulmer & his relationship to the Tide's virtually all recent NCAA probation. There are as well competition by having Louisiana State University (football), Mississippi State University (men's basketball), and a University of Georgia (women's gymnastics).

Football
A Tide's football team, started around 1892, is one of the oldest in the united states. A program's tradition is rich; it has won 21 SEC titles & the sum of Dozen national championships: within 1925, 1926, 1930, 1934, 1941, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1992. There are besides 5 extra years where a NCAA's official record recognizes a Crimson Tide when national champion: 1945, 1962, 1966, 1975, and 1977. A team has played within 51 bowl games (Xxix wins, Xix losses, & Ternary ties), has Xvii hA lot-of-famers, & 91 All-Americans honored 101 days. A 1st Everthing-U.s. from either Alabama W.T. "Bully" VandeGraaff world health organization manufactured a team within 1915. He late served as an Alabama adjunct coach & head coach at Colorado College.

Alabama quarterbacks won a foremost 3 Super Bowls. Notable previous Alabama players include Joe Namath who was the MVP of Super Bowl III with the New York Jets, Ken Stabler who was the winning quarterback for the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XI, Bobby Skelton, Pat Trammell, Steve Sloan, Bart Starr who was a both-period MVP by using a Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II, Johnny Musso, and David Bailey, to title two or three. A eighties brought Walter Lewis, Van Tiffin, Bobby Humphrey, Derrick Thomas and Cornelius Bennett.

Paul "Bear" Bryant
Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. the title is an inspiration per se, conjuring images of the human within a houndstooth hat standing per goal post, coaching his team to eventually a second triumph. Years of own experience were etched inside his gentle face, however behind the grandfatherly exterior lay what can be described when a right stuff, the stuff that created a legend.

It was December 3, 1958; Bryant had a few news for his followers at Texas A&M University. "Gentlemen, I've heard Mama calling," he told the children, "and now I'm going home." & front yard he come, restoring a misused feel of pride & morale to the team that floundered withwithin one of the moo points in its history. A Tide was presently to turn. From either 1978 to 1980, Bryant led a blush warriors to twenty-xxviii straight triumph, the record that catapulted the University to the top around national college football history. He experienced more winning streaks of xix, xvii, twelve & eleven games.

Bryant when said, "Winning isn't everything, but it sure beats coming in second." Under his leadership, seldom did a Tide came around 2nd. Bryant understood that there was supplementary to the streaming video player than the heavy arm or even convenient legs. the building of character was requirement to the building of a winning team. "Intentions over the years were to help the players to be better persons every day, to help themselves, to teach a lesson on and off the field," he said.

It, were lessons non shortly forgotten. Kenny "Snake" Stabler, world health organization quarterbacked Bamthe to a hone 11-0 year within 1966, recalled when Coach Bryant suspended him in the period of his junior season. "He made me realize what I was throwing away, and he gave me the opportunity to recapture it," Stabler said.

In December 29, 1982, sports history was made & an era ended sustaining Bryant's final game, a Liberty Bowl. It wwhen a equivalent bowl he got taken a Tide to inside his 1st season as head coach. Within a endure rally of respect for a human world health organization experienced brought the Tide from either mediocre to powerful, the boys defeated Illinois 21-15. By using 323 career wins, Bryant wwhen lauded as a winningest coach around college football history. Coach Bryant led a Tide to 232 wins, sise national championships, & Two dozen straight bowl appearances.

"I'd probably croak in a week if I ever quit coaching," Bryant it used to be that said. He non just knew his players; he knew himself. He died 37 times when he coached his endure game. It took triplet churches to hang in to a people that gathered for the funeral service on January 28, 1983.

A 5-mile processiin slowly avalanche Tenth Street, retiring a bowl that for Xxv years got been filled by owning fans cheering him on, preceding Memorial Amphitheater in which his professional was placed. So a somber caravan manufactured its way to I-59, where tons traffic stopped to allow its passage. Officials approximated between 500,000 & 1,000,000 population lined a 53 mile stretch to Elmwood Cemetery inside Birmingham.

Recent history
As punishment a dying of Bear Bryant, a Crimson Tide football progam has got its high points & its moo points. Since a retirement of Bryant, a team has vii different head coaches: Ray Perkins, Bill Curry, Gene Stallings, Microphone Dubose, Dennis Franchione, Mike Price, & Mike Shula. A Tide won its go national championship around 1992 against the University of Miami Hurricanes during a Stall tenure. It used to be that Ten years, a program has been disciplined by owning sanctions from either a NCAA twice & got 5 different head coaches.

As punishment Gene Stallings' retirement in 1996, defensive coordinator Mike Dubose was named head coach. He proved to be an excellent recruiter of defensive linemen, though as a head coach he wasn't as effective. He benefited tremendously from the leadership of Shaun Alexander and Chris Samuels, winning the SEC championship in 1999. Expectations quickly rose for the Tide, which started the season as high as No. 3 in some polls. The Tide quickly lowered, ending up 3-8 in a season best exemplified by a last-second loss to Central Florida. Dubose was quickly fired and replaced by an up-and-coming coach from TCU, Dennis Franchione.

The media-savvy Franchione gained popularity quickly with his coaching style and media-friendly press conferences. He led Alabama to two winning seasons in 2001 and 2002, going 7-5 and 10-3, respectively. After NCAA sanctions hit in 2001, Franchione was rumored to be interested in other jobs, including the University of Kansas opening. One year later, under much media scrutiny, Franchione left for Texas A&M University. After the well-documented Mike Price fiasco [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Mike+Price+Alabama+firing&btnG=Google+Search], Miami Dolphins quarterbacks coach Mike Shula was hired after a rushed search. It was his first head coaching job at any level. Shula went through many first-year pains, ending up 4-9. Slight improvement during his second season sent the Alabama Crimson Tide to a 6-6 record and the Music City Bowl, its first bowl in three years. The 2005 recruiting class was Alabama's first "to the full" recruiting class since 2001 due to the harsh penalties imposed on the program by the NCAA resulting in the loss of 21 total scholarships over 3 years. Most observers feel that it will take at least two more recruiting classes for the team to recover to full strength.

Men's basketball
Alabama's men's basketball program has been overshadowed for most of its history by football. However, as the football program has drifted in relative mediocrity in recent years, the men's basketball program has risen in stature nationally, achieving a No. 1 national ranking briefly in 2002. In recent years, UA has become a regular conference basketball contender much as it was in the 80's under the direction of Coach Wimp Sanderson. Under head coach and former point guard Mark Gottfried, the Tide has advanced to postseason play every year for the past six years, culmunating 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 2005, the program acheived a minor setback when the team was embarrased in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by upstart team Wisconsin-Milwaukee lead by now-Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl. However, this has not dimmed the programs light by any amount. In a recent ESPN article [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2136606], Alabama was described as one of several "dark horse threats [to advance to] a Final 4."

Women's gymnastics
UA's women's gymnastics team, like the basketball teams, competes in Coleman Coliseum. Coached by Sarah Patterson, the team regularly competes for the NCAA National Championship, having won the NCAA team title in 1988, 1991, 1996 and most recently in 2002. In addition to those 4 titles, the UA Gymnastics team has placed in the top 5 at the NCAA Championships 19 of the past 21 years.

Other Sports
In addition to the three major sports on campus, the University of Alabama has had success in a number of other sports.

'''''Women's Soccer''''' was a Varsity Sport from 1986 to 1988, and was revived in 1994. Head Coach Don Staley has been with the program since 1994, having won 113 games at the University and 302 in his career (end of 2004). The team has won the SEC West three times and participated in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship in 1999.

'''''Women's Basketball''''' played its first game in 1974 and has been a Varsity Sport ever since. The team has had seven head coaches, including Rick Moody, who guided the club to the 1994 NCAA Women's Final Four. Stephany Smith was introduced as the 7th head coach in the program's history on April 13, 2005.

Softball has been successful ever since its introduction at the University of Alabama in 1997. The team has won the SEC Conference Tournament three times (1998, 2003, 2005), and have been to the NCAA Softball Championship in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma three times (2000, 2003, 2005). Head Coach Patrick Murphy is also a coach for the Canadian National Team.

Volleyball is coached by Judy Green and has been at the University since 1974. Although successful in the 2004 season, finishing with a 21-9 overall record and finishing 2nd in the SEC West, the team still failed to win a place in the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship

Baseball has won 25 pieces of SEC Hardware and have also participated in the NCAA College World Series five times (1950, 1983, 1996, 1997, 1999), finishing second in 1983 and 1997. The head coach is Jim Wells

Additional Sports at the University include Tennis, Golf, Cross Country, Swimming & Diving, and Track. The University fields separate Men's and Women's teams in each sport. The University also has two Cheerleading squads (The Crimson Squad and The White Squad) and a dance team known as the Crimson Cabaret.

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 crew, cricket, cycling, disc golf, lacrosse, racquetball, rugby, soccer, team handball, tennis, ultimate frisbee, wheelchair basketball, water polo, water skiing, and wrestling.