Alabama Crimson Tide Men's Tennis
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The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the
University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...
, located in
Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...
. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the
National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
's Division I as a member of the
Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...
(SEC) (with the exception of rowing, which competes in the
Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
). The Spirit Squads compete in the
UCA The fiddler crab or calling crab may be any of more than one hundred species of semiterrestrial marine crabs in the family Ocypodidae, well known for their sexually dimorphic claws; the males' major claw is much larger than the minor claw, whil ...
and UDA College National Championships. In 2002, ''
Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
'' named Alabama the No.26 best collegiate sports program in America. Athletics facilities on the campus include the 100,077-seat
Bryant–Denny Stadium Bryant–Denny Stadium is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States, on the campus of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. It is the home field of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Opene ...
, named after football coach
Paul "Bear" Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of t ...
and former University President George Denny, 15,316-seat
Coleman Coliseum Coleman Coliseum is a 15,383-seat multi-purpose arena in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on the campus of the University of Alabama. It is the current home of the Alabama Crimson Tide men's and women's basketball and women's gymnastics teams, and previous ...
,
Foster Auditorium Foster Auditorium is a multi-purpose facility at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It was built in 1939 as a Works Progress Administration project and has been used for Alabama basketball, women's sports (in the 1970s and 1980s) ...
,
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 8,500. The stadium is comm ...
, the
Alabama Soccer Stadium The 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 ...
, the Sam Bailey Track Stadium, the
Ol' Colony Golf Complex Ol' Colony Golf Complex is a municipal public golf course in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The 18-hole course opened in December 2000 on 597 acres that was once a farm plantation for a mental institution named Cain's Colony. Ol' Colony was designed by pro ...
, the Alabama Aquatic Center, and the Alabama Tennis Stadium.


Sports sponsored


Football

University of Alabama law student William G. Little learned how to play
American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
while attending school in
Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...
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 Eugene Beauharnais Beaumont Jr. (October 2, 1868 – October 20, 1934) was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Alabama program during their inaugural football season in 1892. Beaumont was an alu ...
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 The ''Birmingham Post-Herald'' was a daily newspaper in Birmingham, Alabama, with roots dating back to 1850, before the founding of Birmingham. The final edition was published on September 23, 2005. In its last full year, its average daily circu ...
. 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 28
Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...
(SEC) championships and claimed 18
national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...
s. These include, for years prior to consensus selections, five titles from NCAA-recognized "major selectors" bestowed in 1934 and 1941, and retrospectively for 1925, 1926, and 1930. Alabama was also retrospectively selected as national champion for
1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...
,
1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...
, and
1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...
, as well as at the end of the 1975 college football season by the Matthews, Congrove, Colley Matrix, and
Dunkel System The Dunkel System, also known as the Dunkel College Football Index, is a college football rating system developed in 1929 by Richard C. "Dick" Dunkel, Sr. (1906–1975), to determine a national champion. Dunkel rated college football teams from 192 ...
s, but these five are not claimed by the university. In January 2012, Alabama defeated No.1
LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...
21–0 to take the BCS national title. In January 2013, Alabama defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 42–14 for its 15th national championship. In January 2016, Alabama defeated the
Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) ...
45–40 to claim its 16th national championship. On January 8, 2018, Alabama defeated the
Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...
26–23 to take the team's 17th national championship. On January 11, 2021, Alabama defeated the
Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree ...
52-24 for its 18th national championship. The team has also made 65 bowl appearances throughout their history (an NCAA record), beginning with the
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 ...
. Alabama's most recent bowl appearance was at the 2020 Citrus Bowl. Alabama has a 39–26–3 bowl game record. Since 1913, Alabama has had 98 players selected as first team All-Americans, with 29 of them being consensus selections. In 2009, Alabama also recorded their first
Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...
winner, Mark Ingram II, in the closest Heisman Trophy race. In 2015, Alabama had its second Heisman Trophy winner in
Derrick Henry Derrick Lamar Henry Jr. (born January 4, 1994) is an American football running back for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). His imposing rushing game and larger stature than the average running back earned him the nickna ...
. In 2020, wide receiver DeVonta Smith became the program's third Heisman Trophy winner.


Men's basketball

Alabama's men's basketball program has a respectable tradition with numerous SEC Championships and players becoming NBA stars and international professional players. In the conference, it trails only Kentucky in basketball wins, SEC tournament titles, and SEC regular season conference titles. The men's basketball program has risen in stature nationally, achieving a No.1 national ranking briefly in 2002. The Crimson Tide has become a regular conference basketball contender much as it was in the 1980s under the direction of Coach
Wimp Sanderson Winfrey "Wimp" Sanderson (born August 8, 1937) is a retired American college basketball coach. He coached at the University of Alabama from 1981 to 1992 and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock from 1994 to 1999. Sanderson was born in Flore ...
. Under head coach and former point guard
Mark Gottfried Mark Frederick Gottfried (born January 20, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach and former player who most recently served as head coach of the Cal State Northridge Matadors Gottfried played one season at Oral Roberts and three se ...
, 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 Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
in the Phoenix Regional Final. In January 2009, Head Coach
Mark Gottfried Mark Frederick Gottfried (born January 20, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach and former player who most recently served as head coach of the Cal State Northridge Matadors Gottfried played one season at Oral Roberts and three se ...
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 achieving a top-10 ranking in points allowed on defense. Grant's second season with the Tide resulted in the SEC Western Division Championship, finishing 12–4 in the SEC and an overall record of 25–12. They entered the 2011
NIT Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...
with a No.1 seed and made it to the NIT Championship Game and finished as the runner-up. The Crimson Tide was unbeaten at home with a perfect 19–0 season, a school record. In 2012 the Crimson Tide was a participant in the NCAA Tournament and finished its season with a 21–12 record. Former Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets coach Avery Johnson became the Alabama Head Coach on April 5, 2015.
Nate Oats Nathanael Justin Oats (born October 13, 1974) is an American basketball coach, currently the head basketball coach at the University of Alabama. Prior to Alabama he was the head coach at the University at Buffalo. Education and playing career Oa ...
became head coach on March 27, 2019.


Women's basketball

Alabama's women's
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
team competes in
Coleman Coliseum Coleman Coliseum is a 15,383-seat multi-purpose arena in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on the campus of the University of Alabama. It is the current home of the Alabama Crimson Tide men's and women's basketball and women's gymnastics teams, and previous ...
and had previously played in
Foster Auditorium Foster Auditorium is a multi-purpose facility at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It was built in 1939 as a Works Progress Administration project and has been used for Alabama basketball, women's sports (in the 1970s and 1980s) ...
. The team played its first game in 1974 and has since been a varsity sport. The team has had nine head coaches, including Rick Moody, who guided the club to the 1994 NCAA Women's Final Four.
Kristy Curry Kristy Lynn Curry (née Sims; born October 30, 1966) is the head coach of the University of Alabama's women's basketball team, the Crimson Tide. She took the job in 2013. Coaching career Curry graduated from Northeast Louisiana University in 1988 ...
was named head coach on May 11, 2013, replacing
Wendell Hudson Wendell Hudson (born April 16, 1951) is a retired American basketball player and former Associate Athletics Director for Alumni Relations and the former women's basketball program head coach of Alabama Crimson Tide women's basketball. In 1969, Hu ...
. The Crimson Tide has appeared in ten post-season Tournaments for the
NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 women's college basketball teams from the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic ...
, including an eight-year streak of consecutive appearances in the tournament stretching from 1992 to 1999. In ten 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 second in the
Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...
(10–2 record) and had a mid-season national ranking of No.2 in polls by the AP and USA Today (November 12, 1996); they 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 (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
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
Kristy Curry Kristy Lynn Curry (née Sims; born October 30, 1966) is the head coach of the University of Alabama's women's basketball team, the Crimson Tide. She took the job in 2013. Coaching career Curry graduated from Northeast Louisiana University in 1988 ...
. 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 has baseball. The Crimson Tide is second to LSU for the most SEC titles with 14 (including 13 regular season titles and one tournament title that was won in 1983, during an era in which the tournament decided the overall SEC title). Alabama is also second to the Tigers with seven SEC Tournament championships, including the 1983 one that decided the overall SEC title. Tide baseball teams have participated in the NCAA College World Series five times (
1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...
,
1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
,
1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
,
1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
,
1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
), finishing second in 1983 (to
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
) and 1997 (to LSU). Home games are played at
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 8,500. The stadium is comm ...
, known as "The Joe" to Crimson Tide fans. The baseball team is currently coached by head coach
Brad Bohannon Brad Bohannon is an American college baseball coach and former middle infielder. He is the head baseball coach at the University of Alabama. He played college baseball at Vanderbilt University in 1994 before transferring to the Georgia Institute ...
.


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 18 consecutive NCAA tournaments (every year since 1999) and have advanced to the Women's College World Series eight times, including back-to-back third-place finishes in the 2008 and 2009 series. On June 7, 2012, Alabama became the first team in SEC history to win the WCWS Championship defeating Oklahoma in three games. The team's current overall record stands at 708–224 (.759). Alabama has won the
SEC Softball Tournament The SEC softball tournament (sometimes known simply as the SEC tournament) is the conference championship tournament in college softball for the Southeastern Conference (SEC). It is a single-elimination (since 2006) tournament and seeding is based ...
five times (1998, 2003, 2005,
2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
and 2012).


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 Tournament 13 out of 14 chances since they arrived, and have each led their teams to a
Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...
Championship. Overall the Crimson Tide golf teams have combined to make the NCAA Tournament 31 times, won the SEC Championship four times, and have had over 30 players honored as
All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...
ns. The men's golf program finished sixth in the nation in 2007, while being consistently ranked in the top three in the 2007–08 season. The home course for the Tide has been the
Ol' Colony Golf Complex Ol' Colony Golf Complex is a municipal public golf course in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The 18-hole course opened in December 2000 on 597 acres that was once a farm plantation for a mental institution named Cain's Colony. Ol' Colony was designed by pro ...
since 2005. In 2012, the Crimson Tide has two of the best teams in the country with the women ranked No.1 and men ranked No.4 by Golf Week. The women's golf team won their first national title in 2012 while the men finished as the national runner-up. In 1941, Eleanor Dudley won the inaugural women's individual intercollegiate golf championship (an event conducted by the
Division of Girls' and Women's Sports The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Interc ...
(DGWS) — which later evolved into the AIAW championship in the 1970s). On June 2, 2013, the Alabama men's golf team won their first NCAA national title after defeating Illinois in the title match.


Gymnastics

The women's
gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...
squad at The University of Alabama first competed in 1975. The squad did not have a winning season until the arrival of former coach
Sarah Patterson Sarah Patterson (born ) is an English film actress. For her acting debut, Patterson starred as Rosaleen, a Little Red Riding Hood counterpart, in the Neil Jordan and Angela Carter film ''The Company of Wolves'' (1984). In 1987, she starred in a ...
in 1979. In the following 35 years under Patterson and her husband David, the squad won six NCAA national championships, seven SEC championships, 26 regional titles, and 248
All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...
n honors. It has placed in the top five at the NCAA Championships 25 of the past 29 years and won national championships six times: in 1988, 1991, 1996, 2002, and most recently won back to back titles in 2011 and 2012. Alabama has also won nine SEC Championships including 1988, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2003, 2009, 2011, 2014, and 2015. 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 gymnastics team is led by head coach Dana Duckworth, a former Crimson Tide gymnast and two-time NCAA champion, and competes in Coleman Coliseum.


Track and field

The Crimson Tide's men's
track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
program has produced numerous individual national champions, including
Calvin Smith Calvin Smith (born January 8, 1961) is a former sprint track and field athlete from the United States. He is a former world record holder in the 100-meter sprint with 9.93 seconds in 1983 and was twice world champion over 200 metres, in 1983 and ...
, the former world record holder in the 100-meter dash,
Jan Johnson Jan Johnson (born November 11, 1950 in Hammond, Indiana) is an American former athlete who competed mainly in the pole vault. He graduated in 1972 from the University of Alabama, where he holds the school record in the pole vault at 18 feet, 1/ ...
(pole vault), Gary England (shot put), Jeff Woodard (high jump),
William Wuycke William Wuycke (born May 21, 1958) is a former Venezuelan 800m runner, who set a personal best of 1:43.54 minutes at a 1986 meeting in Rieti (the race was won by Steve Cram). This result made Wuycke (as of 2021) the third-fastest South America ...
(1000 yards and 1000 meters),
Emmit King Emmit King (March 24, 1959 – November 28, 2021) was an American track and field sprinter, who twice was a member of the American Relay Team for the Summer Olympics (1984 and 1988) but he did not compete. He is best known for winning the bronze ...
(100 m), Keith Talley (55 m and 100 m hurdles),
Andrew Owusu Dr. Andrew Owusu (born July 8, 1972) is a Ghanaian athlete who competed in the triple jump and long jump. His personal best in the triple jump is 17.23 meters, achieved in August 1998 in Dakar. This is the current Ghanaian record as well as the ...
(long jump),
Miguel Pate Miguel Pate (born June 13, 1979 in St. Francisville, Louisiana) is an American track and field athlete. His speciality is the long jump, although during his high school and collegiate career he also competed in the triple jump, high jump, 100 m, 20 ...
(long jump and NCAA national record), Mats Nilsson (javelin),
Tim Broe Tim Broe (born June 20, 1977, in Peoria, Illinois) is a retired American long-distance runner. He reached the 5000 meters final at the 2004 Summer Olympics finishing eleventh. Tim competed collegiately for the University of Alabama where his 3,000m ...
(3000 m steeplechase), David Kimani (3000 m indoor and 5000 m), Kirani James (400 m), Diondre Batson (Indoor 200 meters), Hayden Reed (Discus) and the 4 × 100 meter relay team of Richard Beattie, Brad McQuaig, Eduardo Nava, and Clive Wright, and the mile relay team of Joe Coombs, Darroll Gatson, Tony Husbands, and Ike Levin. Individual national champions from the Crimson Tide women's track and field team have included Disa Gisladottir (high jump), Iris Gronfeldt (javelin),
Lillie Leatherwood Lillie Mae Leatherwood (born July 6, 1964) is an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres. Biography Leatherwood was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Brought up in Ralph, she attended the University of Alabama, in the 1986 NCAA Indoor ...
(400 m),
Liz McColgan Elizabeth Nuttall (née Lynch, formerly McColgan; born 24 May 1964) is a Scottish former middle-distance and long-distance track and road-running athlete. She won the gold medal for the 10,000 metres at the 1991 World Championships, and a ...
(née Lynch; mile),
Pauline Davis-Thompson Pauline Elaine Davis-Thompson (born 9 July 1966) is a former Bahamian sprinter. She competed at five Olympics, a rarity for a track and field athlete. She won her first medal at her fourth Olympics and her first gold medals at her fifth Oly ...
(200 m),
Flora Hyacinth Flora Hyacinth (born 10 March 1966 in St. Lucia)http://flofusionfitness.com/meet-the-doctor/ is a retired female track and field athlete from the United States Virgin Islands who specialized in the long jump and triple jump. Career Earli ...
(triple jump), Beth Mallory (discus), Remona Burchell (indoor 60 m), and
Quanesha Burks Quanesha Burks (born March 15, 1995) is an American track and field athlete who mainly competes as a long jumper. She represented her country at the 2015 Pan American Games and the 2017 World Championships in Athletics. She was the gold medalist a ...
(long jump). Coach Dan Waters is the head coach for both the men's and women's track and field program, assuming the position in 2012. The university hosts the Alabama Relays and the Crimson Classic annually, which brings many of the top programs in the country to compete at the Sam Bailey Track Stadium, built in 1975 with seating for 4,500 fans. A renovation project in 2012 created a facility that is among America's best.


Women's soccer

Women's
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
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 Todd Bramble (born 1967) is an American soccer coach. He is currently the Deputy Athletic Director for Intercollegiate Sports at George Mason. Education Bramble received a business management degree from Mercer University in 1989. Playing car ...
. The team has won the SEC West three times (1995, 97, 98) and participated in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship in 1999 and 2011. In 2005, senior Libby Probst earned third team All-American honors and the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year award after breaking almost every major offensive record in her career at the Capstone. The team currently plays its home games at the
Alabama Soccer Stadium The 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 ...
. Wes Hart became the head coach in 2015.


Women's 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 Championship The NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship refers to one of three championships in women's indoor volleyball contested by the NCAA since 1981: *NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship *NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship *NCAA Di ...
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. The venue for the Crimson Tide's home volleyball games is
Foster Auditorium Foster Auditorium is a multi-purpose facility at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It was built in 1939 as a Works Progress Administration project and has been used for Alabama basketball, women's sports (in the 1970s and 1980s) ...
.


Tennis

Men's and women's tennis at the University of Alabama have built a tradition of excellence and enjoy competing in the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Indoor Tennis Facility, and the University of Alabama Tennis Stadium, which has won an award from USTA for being among the most excellent tennis facilities in the nation, and has been selected as the host site for regional tournaments by the NCAA in 2012 and 2013. In the 1960s, Roberta Alison became Alabama's first female athlete when she joined the men's team and occasionally played the No.1 and No.2 positions. She went on to win American Women's collegiate Championships in 1962 and 1963 for singles, and 1963 in doubles. Today the Alabama Tennis program hosts the Roberta Alison Fall Tennis Classic each year to honor her. Alabama men's tennis began in 1949 with the coach, Lee Shapiro. Through the years, additional coaches have developed Alabama's program, including C. de la Manardiere (1951–1953, 1956); Rafael de Valle (1954–1955 and 1958–1960); Dr. Eugene Lambert (coach) in 1957; Jason Morton (1961–1964); Earl Baumgardner (1965–1966); Bill Mallory in 1967; Dale Anderson (1968–1969); Bill McClain (1970–1977);
Armistead Neely Armistead Neely (born March 19, 1947) is an American former professional tennis player. He is a member of the Southern Tennis Hall of Fame. Biography Neely grew up in Tampa, Florida, where he moved to as a child from Mobile, Alabama. He played co ...
(1978–1982); Tommy Wade (1983–1988); John Kreis (1989–1994);
Joey Rive Joey Rive (born July 8, 1963) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. Rive achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 57 in 1988. During his career Rive finished runner-up i ...
(1995–1997); Adam Steinberg (1998–2002); Billy Pate (2003–2012), and the current head coach, George Husack, 2013. The Men's Tennis Team has been a participant in the NCAA tournament 17 times: 1989, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2013, as well as having 33 singles qualifying and 17 doubles qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. Alabama's All-Americans include Jeff Robinson (1976, 1977), Andy Solis (1984, 1985), Gregg Hahn (1985, 1986),
John Stimpson John Stimpson (born September 1968) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Biography A left-handed player from Mobile, Alabama, Stimpson joined the tennis team at the University of Alabama in 1987 and played collegiate te ...
(1990), Francisco Rodriquez (1998, 1999), Maxim Belski (2001), Clinton Ferriera (1986, 1989), Ellis Ferriera (1989, 1990, 1991), Rick Witsken (1991, 1993), and
Juan Carlos Bianchi Juan Carlos Bianchi (born 22 January 1970) is a former tennis player from Venezuela, who represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia and played collegiate tennis at the University of Alabama for the Alabama Crim ...
(1993). Additionally, Stephen Mitchell, among others, played professionally, and
Konstantinos Efraimoglou Konstantinos Efraimoglou (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Εφραίμογλου; born December 4, 1962, in Athens, Greece) is a male former tennis player from Greece. Efraimoglou represented his native country in the doubles competition at the ...
was an Olympian in tennis in 1992. Ellis Ferreira became the champion at the
2000 Australian Open The 2000 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne in Australia. It was the 88th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 17 through 30 January 2000. Both Yevgeny Kafelnikov and ...
in men's doubles and
2001 Australian Open The 2001 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne in Australia. It was the 89th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 15 through 28 January 2001. Seniors Men's singles An ...
in mixed doubles.
Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
participants have included Juan Carlos Bianchi, Francisco Rodriguez, and Michael-Ray Pallares-González. Alabama's women's tennis team began in 1975, although Roberta Alison competed individually through the men's team years earlier. Coaches for the Crimson Tide Women's tennis team include Jean Mills (1975–1978), Mark Heinrick (1979–1980), Lewis Lay in 1981, Peter Heffeman (1982–1984), Karin Gaiser (1985–1993), Jim Tressler (1994–1997), Michelle Morton in 1997, and the current coach, Jenny Mainz (1998–2013). Coach Jenny Mainz was named in 2013 as the National Coach of the Year after her team reached the Round of 16 and had a singles player and a doubles team to both reach the national semifinals. All-Americans for the Crimson Tide women's tennis team include Titia Wilmink (1993), Marouschka van Dijk (1993), Baili Camino (1997), Robin Stephenson (2005),
Alexa Guarachi Alexa Guarachi Mathison (; born 17 November 1990) is an American-born Chilean tennis player who specialises in doubles. She reached her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 11 in September 2021, and has won five titles on the WTA Tour, most ...
(2013), Mary Anne Macfarlane (2012, 2013). The Crimson Tide women's team has sent 17 qualifiers for NCAA Singles Tournaments and twelve for the Doubles Tournaments . The Tide competed as a team in the NCAA Tournaments of 1993, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2013. The 2013 team produced the best results in program history, ending the season with a Sweet Sixteen appearance. Alabama was the winner of the NCAA Women's Doubles National Championship in 2014 and 2015 with the team of Erin Routliffe and Maya Jansen.


Women's rowing

Women's rowing is the most recent addition to Alabama's list of varsity athletics.
Mal Moore Mal Mathad Moore (December 19, 1939 – March 30, 2013) was an American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the athletic director at the University of Alabama from 1999 to 2013. On November 23, 1999, he was hired as ...
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 The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
's
Title IX Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...
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 The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...
, Creighton University, and
Murray State University Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, H ...
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 eight went on to win silver medals at the prestigious
Head of the Charles Regatta The Head of the Charles Regatta, also known as HOCR, is a rowing head race held on the penultimate complete weekend of October (i.e., on the Friday that falls between the 16th and the 22nd of the month, and on the Saturday and Sunday immedia ...
in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, 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 SMU Mustangs, Southern Methodist, Creighton, Murray State, Drake Bulldogs, Drake, and the North Carolina Tar Heels, North Carolina. The team also landed three boats in the top ten 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 Head of the Charles regatta in Boston.


Others

Other varsity sports include swimming and diving, and cross-country. The university supports both men's and women's programs in all these sports. The school has had individual success in all these sports, including Vladislav Polyakov winning national titles in the 200-meter men's breaststroke in 2005 and 2007.


Spirit Squads

The Spirit Squads are made up of two cheerleading squads (Coed Squad and All-Girl Squad), the Alabama Dance Team, and Big Al (mascot), Big Al. They appear at many University sporting events. The cheer squads and dance team compete annually at the UCA/UDA College National Championships in Division 1A. The Coed Cheerleading squad won for the first time in 2011 and then again in 2015. They came in second in 2017, fourth in 2018, and third in 2019 in the D1A Coed Championship. The All-Girl Squad debuted in 2014 placing second in their debut UCA appearance. The All-Girl team came back to win in 2015 and had repeated wins in 2020 and 2022 in the D1A All-Girl Championship. In 2015 Alabama became the first school to clean sweep both Division 1A cheer titles. The Alabama Dance Team placed seventh in Hip Hop in 2018 and 2019, and 11th in 2019 in Jazz at the UDA College National Championship. 2019 was the first year in school history that the dance team finaled in both of their two divisions.


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 US. The club sports include bowling, men's association football, soccer, rugby union, rugby, collegiate wrestling, wrestling, lacrosse, men's volleyball, ice hockey, team handball, water polo, men's Rowing (sport), rowing (crew), cricket, cycle sport, cycling, disc golf, racquetball, table tennis, triathlon, ultimate (sport), ultimate frisbee, wheelchair basketball, water skiing, equestrian eventing, and bass fishing. The Crimson Tide's Water Skiing Team, Racquetball Team, and Wheelchair Basketball teams have the distinction of being among the nation's best, with national championships achieved by each of these teams.


Ice hockey

The men's ice hockey team, known as the Alabama Frozen Tide, competes inter-collegiately as a member of the South Eastern Collegiate Hockey Conference, an organization comprising mostly SEC schools that do not sponsor hockey, in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) at the ACHA Division I level. Many clubs have played at this level before moving on to varsity status at their respective university. The team plays its home games at Pelham Civic Complex in nearby Birmingham. The program has taken a more advanced approach to recruiting including finding players in Canada. The practice is common among NCAA Division I programs. Taylor Joseph, the son of NHL goalkeeper Curtis Joseph, currently plays on the team. Since 2006, Bama Hockey and the Frozen Tide has hosted sporting events for the Greater-Birmingham area at the Pelham Civic Center. Alabama won the league title in 2012 and was runner-up in two other seasons. The current head coach is John Bierchen, the first UA alumnus to return to his alma mater and coach the program.


Men's lacrosse

The men's lacrosse team competes in the SouthEastern Lacrosse Conference of the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association at the Division I level. The team is a club level team. The team plays at the University Recreation Fields and is currently coached by Craig Landru. The team was founded by Steven Shipowitz in the early 1980s. The Crimson Tide made their first appearance in the SELC Tournament in 2012, losing to the Florida State Seminoles 22–9 in the quarterfinals. The team briefly played in the Atlantic Coast Lacrosse Association in 2001, hosting the league tournament that season.


Women's lacrosse

The University of Alabama Women's Lacrosse team competes in the Southeastern Women's Lacrosse League (SWLL). The team is a club level team founded in 2004. The Crimson Tide made their first appearance in the SWLL Tournament in 2013, losing to the Georgia Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs, University of Georgia Lady Bulldogs in the semifinals and have appeared in the SWLL Tournament every year since. The team plays at the University Recreation Fields and is currently coached by Jason Sanderson who became head coach in 2013.


Rugby

Founded in 1973, Alabama Rugby is the oldest ongoing club sport at the university. Alabama rugby today competes in the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference (SCRC) against its traditional SEC rivals. Alabama finished second in the west division of the conference in 2012 and in 2014 finished second in the SCRC, nationally ranked at No.37. Alabama won the 2015 SCRC rugby sevens competition by beating Mississippi State 24–14 in the final, to earn a berth in the nationally televised 2015 Collegiate Rugby Championship. They additionally won the 2016 SCRC rugby 15s conference championship against Tennessee 12-8 and placed second in the 2018 tournament. Alabama rugby is led by head coach Eddie Buckner. The rugby team won the Los Angeles Sevens Collegiate Championship in 2020.


National championships

Alabama has won 10 NCAA Division I team national championships in the following sports : * Men's sports (2): **NCAA Men's Golf Championship#Team Titles, Golf: 2 (2013, 2014) *Women's sports (8): ** NCAA Women's Gymnastics championship#Team Titles, Team gymnastics: 6 (1988, 1991, 1996, 2002, 2011, 2012) ** Women's College World Series#Team Titles, Softball: 1 (2012) ** NCAA Women's Golf Championship#Team Titles, Golf: 1 (2012) In addition, Alabama has claimed or been awarded 18 national championships at the FBS level of Division I football, a sport in which the NCAA did not award a championship. * College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS, Football: 18 (1925, 1926, 1930, 1934, 1941, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1992, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2020) *See also **List of Southeastern Conference national championships#NCAA team championships, SEC national team championships **List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships#NCAA Division I Team Championships, List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships


Rivalries

The two main rivalries for the program are those with Auburn Tigers, Auburn University and the Tennessee Volunteers, 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 according to ''Sports Illustrated'' and
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
. Other rivalries include those against Mississippi State Bulldogs, Mississippi State University in baseball and basketball (Alabama–Mississippi State rivalry), LSU Tigers, Louisiana State University in football (Alabama–LSU rivalry), the Ole Miss Rebels, University of Mississippi in football (Alabama–Ole Miss rivalry), the Florida Gators, University of Florida in softball, and the Georgia Bulldogs, University of Georgia in gymnastics.


Athletic academics

Alabama has student-athletes who have excelled in the classroom as well as on the field. The University of Alabama is eighth in the nation for the number of ''Academic-All Americans'' since 2000 from all universities in the United States. Among Division I BCS schools in the southeastern U.S., the University of Alabama is at the top of the list with the greatest number of Academic All-Americans since 2000. Each of the University of Alabama's 21 varsity athletic teams scored significantly above the national standard of 925 in the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate (APR) of 2012. 14 Crimson Tide teams achieved scores equal to or above the national Division I average for the particular sport, and two teams achieved "perfect" APR scores, which placed them in the highest percentile in the nation.


In popular media

The hit song Deacon Blues, by Steely Dan, says "They call Alabama the Crimson Tide... call me Deacon Blues". "Deacon Blues" itself is a football reference, having originally been Deacon Jones but was renamed to avoid legal troubles. The movie Crimson Tide (film), Crimson Tide depicts a mutiny on a submarine, USS ''Alabama''.


See also

* List of Southeastern Conference national championships#NCAA team championships * List of NCAA schools with the most NCAA Division I championships#NCAA Division I Team Championships


Notes


References


Further reading

*


External links

* {{navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, Alabama Crimson Tide, color=white , list = {{Southeastern Conference navbox {{Big 12 Conference navbox {{Alabama Sports Alabama Crimson Tide,