141-790: The Alabama Crimson Tide football program represents the University of Alabama (variously Alabama, UA, or Bama) in the sport of American football . The team competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The team is currently led by Kalen DeBoer . The Crimson Tide is among the most storied and decorated football programs in NCAA history . Since beginning play in 1892,
282-561: A 14–13 victory, which is credited with helping revive the series. For many years, the contest was held at Legion Field in Birmingham, before the teams began alternating between Bryant-Denny Stadium, in Tuscaloosa, and Jordan–Hare Stadium , in Auburn . Alabama won the most recent meeting 27–24 at Auburn, and leads the series at 50–37–1. Despite the heated in-state rivalry with Auburn, Bear Bryant
423-618: A 2003 ranking of 97th. In the fall of 2011, the University of Alabama Trustees approved a resolution to expand Gorgas Library by 50,000 square feet (4,600 m ), doubling the seating capacity from 1,139 to 2,278. In academic year 2014–2015, UA received $ 76 million in research contracts and grants. The Alabama International Trade Center and the Center for Advanced Public Safety are two research centers at UA. The US Department of Homeland Security has selected The University of Alabama as
564-465: A Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in interdisciplinary studies. The New College Review , a non-fiction cultural journal, is written, edited, designed, and published by students. The University of Alabama System's financial endowment was valued at $ 1.520 billion in the National Association of College and University Business Officers' (NACUBO) 2019 listings. UA's portion of
705-581: A First Team All-American. The most recent All-Americans from Alabama came after the 2022 season , when Will Anderson Jr. and Brian Branch were each named First Team All-America by various selectors. In 1951, the College Football Hall of Fame opened in South Bend, Indiana . Since then, Alabama has had 23 players and four former coaches inducted into the Hall of Fame. Alabama had two members inducted into
846-469: A GPA of 3.5 or greater and less than 3.7 (without rounding). Magna cum laude honors are conferred with a GPA of 3.7 or greater and less than 3.9. Summa cum laude honors are conferred with a GPA of 3.9 or higher. In the 2023 U.S. News & World Report rankings, UA was tied for 170th in the National Universities category (tied for 91st among "Top Public Schools"). Additionally, in
987-636: A National Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) in Information Assurance Education and Research. NCAA Division I FBS National Football Championship A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection of the best college football team. Division I FBS football
1128-466: A board of trustees to manage the construction and operation of the university. The site the board chose for the campus was, at the time, outside the city limits of the erstwhile state capital , Tuscaloosa. William Nichols , the architect of the Alabama State Capitol building in Tuscaloosa, was chosen to design the campus. Influenced by Thomas Jefferson 's plan at the University of Virginia ,
1269-586: A call to arms and defense by the student cadet corps, only four buildings survived the burning: the President's Mansion (1841), Gorgas House (1829), Little Round House (1860), and Old Observatory (1844). The university reopened in 1871 and in 1880 Congress granted the university 40,000 acres (162 km ) of coal land in partial compensation for war damages. The University of Alabama enrolled female students beginning in 1892. The board of trustees allowed female students largely because of Julia S. Tutwiler , with
1410-453: A college football playoff were frequently made by head coach Joe Paterno of Penn State , whose independent teams finished the 1968 , 1969 , and 1973 seasons unbeaten, untied, and with Orange Bowl victories yet were left without a single major national title. The 1980s were marked by a succession of satisfying national championship games in the Orange Bowl and Fiesta Bowl , but
1551-404: A footnote about the school's SEC history. In the 1980s, Alabama's Sports Information Director Wayne Atcheson started recognizing five pre-Bryant national championship teams (1925, 1926, 1930, 1934, 1941) by adding them to the university's Football Media Guide. According to Atcheson, he made the effort in the context of disputed titles being claimed by other schools, and "to make Alabama football look
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#17328553412801692-578: A heavy Eastern bias, with little regard for the South and the West Coast. The Bowl Championship Series used a mathematical system that combined polls (Coaches and AP/Harris) and multiple computer rankings (including some individual selectors listed above) to determine a season ending matchup between its top two ranked teams in the BCS Championship Game. The champion of that game was contractually awarded
1833-490: A large, four-year primarily residential university accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools . Full-time, four-year undergraduates comprise a large amount of the university enrollment. The undergraduate instructional program emphasizes professional programs of study as well as the liberal arts, and there is a high level of co-existence between the graduate and undergraduate program. The university has
1974-407: A master's degree in 1992. Later in his life, Wallace apologized for his opposition to racial integration . In 2010, the university formally honored Lucy, Hood and Malone by rechristening the plaza in front of Foster Auditorium as Malone-Hood Plaza and erecting a clock tower – Autherine Lucy Clock Tower – in the plaza. In 2019 Autherine Lucy was presented with a doctorate of humane letters, and in 2022
2115-639: A member of the SEC) emerged as the most intense game on Alabama's schedule. The teams played many significant games, especially in the late 1950s and early 1960s. A heated feud developed between Bear Bryant and Georgia Tech head coach Bobby Dodd following a controversial hit in the 1961 game, a 10–0 Alabama victory. Dodd cited this feud as the primary impetus for Georgia Tech leaving the SEC three years later. The two teams have met 52 times, making Georgia Tech Alabama's most played among current non-conference opponents. Alabama leads
2256-636: A merger with International News Service in 1958. The weekly ranking was a joint polling effort between the news agency and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), with UP/UPI sports writers gathering and tabulating the coaches' votes and publishing the results in newspapers across the nation. The UP/UPI rankings were originally conducted by polling 35 of the nation's college football coaches. The coaches were chosen to represent every major football conference, with 5 coaches from each of 7 regions, in an apparent effort to combat
2397-567: A multi-game single-elimination tournament for the first time in college football history. Four teams are seeded by a 13–member selection committee rather than by existing polls or mathematical rankings. The two semifinal games are rotated among the New Year's Six bowl games, and the final is played a week later. The competition awards its own national championship trophy . Although the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has never bestowed national championships in college football at
2538-506: A new scheduling format for the Crimson Tide to play against the other members of the conference. Only the 2024 conference schedule was announced on June 14, 2023, while the conference still considers a new format for the future. Announced schedules as of August 4, 2024. University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama , UA , the Capstone , or Bama )
2679-531: A path to a Navy commission. During this time the University of Alabama had extensions in other cities including Mobile ; the University of South Alabama was opened in 1963 to replace that program. Until the 1960s, the university admitted only white students (with one temporary exception). The practice of racial segregation was common in the American South at this time and the university barred all students of color from attending. The first attempt to integrate
2820-664: A post-bowl champion paid off, as in all three years the losing team had also been the No. 1 team in the pre-bowl penultimate AP rankings. The AP Poll was used as a component of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) computer ranking formula starting in 1998, but without any formal agreement in place like the contract made between the BCS and the Coaches Poll. For the 2003 season the AP Poll caused
2961-467: A result, the public and the media began to take the leading vote-getter in the final AP Poll as the national champion for that season. In the AP Poll's early years, the final poll of sportswriters was taken prior to any bowl games and sometimes even prior to the top teams' final games of the regular season. In 1938 , the poll was extended for one week after Notre Dame , No. 1 in the scheduled "final" poll, subsequently lost to rival USC . Following
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#17328553412803102-626: A safe learning environment for her. The university was not integrated until 1963 when Vivian Malone and James Hood registered for classes on June 11. Governor George Wallace made his infamous " Stand in the Schoolhouse Door ", standing in the front entrance of Foster Auditorium in a symbolic attempt to stop Malone and Hood's enrollment. When confronted by U.S. Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and federal marshals sent in by U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy , Wallace stepped aside. President John F. Kennedy had called for
3243-531: A split national title and BCS controversy when it awarded its national championship to No. 1 USC instead of BCS champion LSU . In December 2004 the AP opted out of the BCS formula, requesting that the BCS "discontinue its unauthorized use of the AP poll as a component of BCS rankings", in response to three AP voters from Texas elevating Texas above California into the Rose Bowl in the last regular season AP Poll. In
3384-662: A very high level of research activity and has a "comprehensive doctoral" graduate instructional program in the liberal arts, humanities, social sciences. health sciences (medical school), and STEM fields . UA began offering engineering classes in 1837. It was one of the first universities in the nation to offer an engineering degree. Over the past decade, UA has greatly expanded its science and engineering programs, in terms of numbers of students, faculty hired, and number and size of new academic/research facilities (almost one million in new square footage). UA's College of Engineering enrolls more students than any other engineering program in
3525-529: A victory over the Volunteers. Between 1971 and 1981, Alabama held an 11-game winning streak over the Volunteers and, between 1986 and 1994, a nine-game unbeaten streak. However, following Alabama's streak, Tennessee responded with a seven-game winning streak from 1995 to 2001. Alabama holds the longest winning streak at 15 from 2007 to 2021. Tennessee won the most recent meeting 24-17 in Knoxville, while Alabama leads
3666-491: Is Mississippi State . The rivalry has been called the "Battle for Highway 82", with the schools being only 90 miles apart. Many cite the 2014 meeting as the biggest game in the series where Alabama faced a #1 ranked, 9–0 Mississippi State team with Dak Prescott as its quarterback. Alabama won 25–20, which helped catapult them into the first College Football Playoff. Alabama won the most recent meeting 40–17 in Starkville and leads
3807-651: Is not a game where a great national championship is possible or desirable. The very nature of the sport would forbid anything like such a series of contests as are played in baseball." Claimed intercollegiate championships were limited to various selections and rankings, as the nature of the developing and increasingly violent full-contact sport made it impossible to schedule a post-season tournament to determine an "official" or undisputed champion. National championships in this era were well understood to be "mythical" . Beyond rankings in newspaper columns, awards and trophies began to be presented to teams. In 1917 members of
3948-843: Is " Roll Tide !". It was not until 2009 that an Alabama player received a Heisman Trophy , when running back Mark Ingram II became the university's first winner. In 2015, Derrick Henry became the university's second Heisman winner. The Crimson Tide won back to back Heisman trophies in 2020 and 2021, with DeVonta Smith and Bryce Young . Alabama has 973 official victories in NCAA Division I (an additional 21 victories were vacated, and eight victories and one tie were forfeited). Alabama has won 34 conference championships (4 Southern Conference and 30 SEC championships), and has made an NCAA-record 77 postseason bowl appearances. The program has 36 seasons with ten wins or more (plus one vacated) and has 46 bowl victories, both NCAA records. The Crimson Tide lead
4089-646: Is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama , United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the public universities in Alabama as well as the University of Alabama System . It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". The university offers programs of study in 12 academic divisions leading to bachelor's, master's, education specialist , and doctoral degrees. The only publicly supported law school in
4230-441: Is a list of the national champions of college football since 1869 chosen by NCAA -designated "major selectors" listed in the official Football Bowl Subdivision Records publication. Many teams did not have coaches as late as 1899. The first contemporaneous poll to include teams across the country and selection of a national champions can be traced to Caspar Whitney in 1901. The tie was removed from college football in 1995 and
4371-476: Is home to several museums, cultural facilities and historical landmarks. The Alabama Museum of Natural History at Smith Hall exhibits Alabama's rich natural history. The oddest artifact there could be the Sylacauga meteorite , the largest known extraterrestrial object to strike a human being who survived. The Paul W. Bryant Museum houses memorabilia and exhibits on the history of UA athletic programs, most notably
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4512-592: Is in Mary Harmon Bryant Hall. The Library Annex holds seldom-used books and journals, as well as other volumes which need special protection, that would otherwise take up valuable space in the libraries. Other libraries on campus are independent of the University Libraries. The 66,000-square-foot (6,100 m ) Bounds Law Library, at the Law Center, holds more than 300,000 volumes. Established in 1978,
4653-567: Is not out of the realm of possibility that a team could win the AP national championship without winning the College Football Playoff's national championship", although that scenario has yet to occur. News agency United Press (UP), the main competitor to the Associated Press, began conducting its own college football ratings during the 1950 season . The wire service came to be known as United Press International (UPI) following
4794-559: Is offered jointly by the other universities in the UA system. UA conferred 9,105 degrees in the 2023–24 academic year, including 6,604 bachelor's degrees (3,579 with Latin honors ), 1,192 master's degrees, 300 doctorates, 56 education specialist, and 153 professional degrees. Latin honors are conferred on graduates completing a bachelor's degree for the first time (including at other universities) with an overall grade point average of at least 3.5. Cum laude honors are conferred to graduates with
4935-568: Is the only National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sport for which the NCAA does not host a yearly championship event. As such, it is sometimes referred to as a " mythical national championship ". Due to the lack of an official NCAA title, determining the nation's top college football team has often engendered controversy. A championship team is independently declared by multiple individuals and organizations, often referred to as "selectors". These choices are not always unanimous. In 1969 even
5076-429: The 1947 season the AP held a special post-bowl poll with only two teams on the ballot, Notre Dame and Michigan , but stated that the result would not supersede that of the final poll conducted following the end of the regular season. The rivals , both unbeaten and untied, had been ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in the final poll. January voters were impressed by Michigan's 49–0 win over common opponent USC in
5217-594: The 2010 BCS National Championship Game . The 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, and 2020 titles bring the total number of national championships claimed by Alabama to 18. Thirteen of Alabama's national championships were awarded by the wire-services ( AP , Coaches' Poll ) or by winning the BCS National Championship Game . In January 2013, CNN suggested that Alabama might be college football's new dynasty, and in May 2013, Athlon Sports ranked Alabama's ongoing dynasty as
5358-563: The Associated Press (AP), American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), Sporting News ( TSN ), and the Walter Camp Football Foundation (WCFF). Alabama has had 149 players honored 173 times as first team All-Americans (84 consensus) in its history, including 20 players honored twice and two players ( Cornelius Bennett and Woodrow Lowe ) who were honored three times as
5499-609: The College Football Playoff era , the Associated Press has continued to award the AP Trophy to the No. 1 team in the final AP Poll. AP rankings are not incorporated in the CFP selection committee's seeding, and voting AP sportswriters are not obligated to award their title to the winner of the CFP national championship game . In 2015 the Associated Press's global sports editor stated that "it
5640-601: The Crimson Tide ), inaugurated in 1892, ranks as one of the ten best in US history. In a 1913 speech president George H. Denny extolled the university as the " capstone of the public school system in the state", thereby establishing the university's current nickname, The Capstone . As of June 2024 UA has produced 65 Goldwater Scholars, 16 Rhodes Scholars, and 16 Truman Scholars. In 1818, the United States Congress authorized
5781-536: The Houlgate System , Azzi Ratem rankings, Dunkel Power Index , Williamson System , and Litkenhous Ratings . Two short-lived national championship trophies were contemporaries of the Dickinson System awards. The Albert Russel Erskine Trophy was won twice by Note Dame in 1929 and 1930 , as voted by 250 sportswriters from around the country. The large silver Erskine trophy was last awarded to USC on
Alabama Crimson Tide football - Misplaced Pages Continue
5922-610: The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records or may not claim national championship selections that do appear in the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records (see National championship claims by school below). National championship selectors came to be dominated by two competing news agencies in the later half of the 20th century: the Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI). These wire services began ranking college football teams in weekly polls, which were then promptly published in
6063-578: The Rissman Trophy two seasons; thus Notre Dame is engraved on the trophy for 1924 and Dartmouth for 1925 . The Rissman Trophy was retired by Notre Dame's three wins in 1924, 1929, and 1930; the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy was put into competition for 1931 following the untimely death of the legendary coach. The popularity of the Dickinson System kicked off a succession of mathematical rankings carried in newspapers and magazines such as
6204-536: The Rose Bowl and elevated the Wolverines above the Irish in the special post-bowl poll. The AP champion would lose its bowl game five times, following the 1950 , 1951 , 1953 , 1960 , and 1964 seasons . In 1965 the AP decided to delay the season's final poll until after New Year's Day , citing the proliferation of bowl games and the involvement of eight of the poll's current top ten teams in post-season play. In
6345-603: The Williamson System as having selected TCU and LSU as co-champions for 1935. However the system's post-bowl final rankings published in January 1936 show TCU first, SMU second, and LSU third. The accompanying column written by Paul B. Williamson states "There was no undisputable national champion in 1935". The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists the Williamson System as having selected LSU in 1936. However
6486-580: The liberal arts , fine arts , and sciences . It is the largest of the university's 12 colleges, with approximately 7,900 undergraduate students and 1,100 graduate students. Most core curriculum classes and majors and minors are part of the college. There are 11 other academic divisions at the University of Alabama (see the table above). Eight divisions (Arts and Sciences, Business, Communication and Information Sciences, Education, Engineering, Human Environmental Sciences, Nursing, and Social Work) grant undergraduate degrees. Degrees in those eight divisions at
6627-510: The 1934 edition of Spalding's Foot Ball Guide , naming retroactive national champions for the years 1869 to 1932 while naming Michigan and Princeton (his alma mater ) contemporary co-champions for the 1933 season. In all, he selected 94 teams over 61 seasons as "National Champion Foot Ball Teams". For 21 of these teams (at 12 schools), he was the only major selector to choose them. Their schools use 17 of Davis' singular selections to claim national titles. His work has been criticized for having
6768-501: The 1978 season. The games usually have national implications—seven of the 15 meetings between the two schools have featured both teams ranked in the top ten—and eight of the meetings have been decided by a touchdown or less. The most recent game was in 2011, with Alabama winning 27–11. It was the final loss for long-time Penn State head coach Joe Paterno . Alabama leads the series 10–5. Official record (including any NCAA imposed vacates and forfeits) against all current SEC opponents as of
6909-516: The 1990s began with consecutive split AP Poll and Coaches Poll national titles in 1990 and 1991 . The Bowl Coalition and then Bowl Alliance were formed to more reliably set up a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in a bowl game on New Year's Day, but their efforts were hampered by the Rose Bowl's historic draw and contractual matchup between the Big Ten and Pac-10 conference champions. The Bowl Championship Series in 1998 succeeded in finally bringing
7050-551: The 2008 season, former Alabama players and personalities were brought on to provide guest commentary for each broadcast. Current radio staff : Former radio staff : From 1992 to 2023, Alabama played in the West Division of the SEC and played each opponent in the division each year along with several teams from the East Division. The SEC will expand the conference to 16 teams and will eliminate its two divisions in 2024, causing
7191-437: The 2013 season. Derrick Henry became Alabama's second Heisman trophy winner on December 12, 2015. Tua Tagovailoa finished runner-up for the 2018 season as well. For the 2020 season, Alabama became the second program in college football history to have three players finish in the top five. DeVonta Smith became Alabama's third Heisman winner with Mac Jones finishing third and Najee Harris fifth. In 2021, Bryce Young became
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#17328553412807332-566: The 2020 PRWeek Awards. It was the department's ninth recognition as a finalist for the award and first selection as the top program. As of 2021 The Princeton Review ranked University of Alabama first in the nation as a party school and first for having lots of Greek life . The university was also ranked the eighth-most LGBT unfriendly school in the nation. The University of Alabama has 2.9 million document volumes, along with nearly 100,000 uncatalogued government documents in its collection; of these, 2.5 million volumes are held by
7473-582: The 2023 U.S. News rankings, the law school was tied for 35th in the nation, the business school was tied for 55th, the education school tied for 56th, and the engineering school was tied for 99th. In 2016, Business Insider ranked the UA law school as the third-best public law school in the nation. In August 2020, the UA Department of Advertising and Public Relations was named the Most Outstanding Education Program by PRWeek during
7614-763: The 9,500-square-foot (880 m ) Sloan Y. Bashinsky Sr. Computer Center. The Eric and Sarah Rodgers Library for Science and Engineering, in the Science and Engineering Quad, is named after two popular, long-time professors of engineering and statistics, respectively. It opened in 1990, combining the Science Library collection in Lloyd Hall and the Engineering Library collection in the Mineral Industries Building (now known as H.M. Comer Hall). Rodgers Library
7755-499: The 9–0 Georgia Tech squad were given gold footballs with the inscription "National Champions" by alumni at their post-season banquet. The Veteran Athletes of Philadelphia put up the Bonniwell Trophy for the national championship in 1919 under the stipulation that it was only "to be awarded in such years as produces a team whose standing is so preeminent as to make its selection as champion of America beyond dispute." Notre Dame
7896-1755: The AFCA Coaches Poll Coaches' Trophy was returned. Record does not count wins against UCLA, or against Oklahoma in the BCS Championship game on January 4, 2005, as they were vacated by the NCAA. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists Dunkel as having selected LSU, while Dunkel's official website gave USC as its 2007 selection. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists CCR as having selected LSU, while CCR's official website gives USC as its 2003 selection. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists DeVold (DeS) as having selected Florida, while DeVold's official website gives Ohio State as its 2006 selection. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists R(FACT) as having selected Florida, while R(FACT)'s official website gives co-champions Ohio State and Florida as its 2006 selection. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists Wolfe as having selected Florida, while Wolfe's official website gives Utah as its 2008 selection. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists CCR as having selected Alabama, while CCR's official website gives LSU as its 2011 selection. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists Anderson & Hester (A&H) as having selected LSU, while A&H's official website gives Missouri as its 2007 selection. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists Anderson & Hester (A&H) as having selected Alabama, while A&H's official website gives LSU as its 2011 selection. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists
8037-857: The Allen Bales Theatre, the Marion Gallaway Theatre, the English Building auditorium, and the Frank M. Moody Music Building, which houses the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra as well as three resident choirs. The UA Opera Theatre performs in Bryant-Jordan Hall. The University of Alabama is an autonomous institution within the University of Alabama System and governed by the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama and headed by
8178-494: The Associated Press began the best-known and most widely circulated poll of sportswriters and broadcasters. Before 1936, national champions were determined by historical research and retroactive ratings and polls. [...] The criteria for being included in this historical list of poll selectors is that the poll be national in scope, either through distribution in newspaper, television, radio and/or computer online." Since World War II, Alabama claims only national championships awarded by
8319-595: The Associated Press is probably the most well-known and widely circulated among all of history's polls. Due to the long-standing historical ties between individual college football conferences and high-paying bowl games like the Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl , the NCAA has never held a tournament or championship game to determine the champion of what is now the highest division, NCAA Division I , Football Bowl Subdivision (the Division I, Football Championship Subdivision and lower divisions do hold championship tournaments). As
8460-505: The Big Ten and Pac-10 into the fold with the other conferences for a combined BCS National Championship Game rotated among the Fiesta , Sugar , Orange , and Rose bowls and venues. BCS rankings originally incorporated the two major polls as well as a number of computer rankings to determine the end of season No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup. Although the BCS era did regularly produce compelling matchups,
8601-419: The Coaches Poll and National Football Foundation championships. Unlike all selectors prior to 2014, the College Football Playoff does not use math, polls or research to select the participants. Rather, a 13-member committee selects and seeds the teams. The playoff system marked the first time any championship selector arranged a bracket competition to determine whom it would declare to be its champion. Below
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#17328553412808742-571: The College of Arts and Sciences in 1996, the New College's stated objectives were to "create an opportunity for a highly individualized education that enables students to draw from the resources of all University classes and faculty" and to "serve as an experimental unit with the expectation of exporting successful innovations to other sectors of the University". The college allows undergraduate students flexibility in choosing their curriculum while completing
8883-407: The College of Communication and Information Sciences is in Reese Phifer Hall and holds more than 10,000 volumes. The School of Social Work Reading Room in Little Hall contains around 200 volumes. UA is one of the 126 members of the Association of Research Libraries , which yearly compiles internal rankings. In 2011, the University of Alabama ranked 56th among all criteria, a marked improvement over
9024-491: The Crimson Tide is against its in-state rival, Auburn University; considered one of the top sporting rivalries in the US. The Alabama-Auburn game has come to be known as the Iron Bowl. The outcome of the game generally determines "bragging rights" in the state of Alabama until the following contest. The game may also have implications as to which team will represent the SEC Western Division in the SEC Championship Game . On February 22, 1893, at Lakeview Park in Birmingham , Auburn
9165-417: The Crimson Tide. Of the 27 different head coaches who have led the Crimson Tide, Wade, Thomas, Bryant, and Stallings have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame . The current head coach is Kalen DeBoer , who took over the position in 2024 following the retirement of long-time head coach Nick Saban following the 2023 season. National championships in NCAA FBS college football are debated as
9306-419: The Erosophic and the Phi Beta Kappa societies, which often had lectures by such distinguished politicians and literary figures as United States Supreme Court justice John Archibald Campbell , novelist William Gilmore Simms , and professor Frederick Barnard . The addresses to those societies reveal a vibrant intellectual culture in Tuscaloosa; they also illustrate the proslavery ideas that were so central to
9447-481: The Health Sciences Library, at the University Medical Center, serves students at the College of Community Health Sciences. Its 20,000-volume collection includes clinical medicine, family practice, primary care, medical education, consumer health, and related health care topics. Located in Farah Hall (home of the Department of Geography) the Map Library and Place Names Research Center holds over 270,000 maps and 75,000 aerial photographs. The William E. Winter Reading Room of
9588-419: The NCAA does not officially award the championship. Despite not naming an official National Champion , the NCAA provides lists of championships awarded by "major selectors." According to the official NCAA 2009 Division I Football Records Book, "During the last 138 years, there have been more than 30 selectors of national champions using polls, historical research and mathematical rating systems. Beginning in 1936,
9729-410: The NCAA has never officially endorsed a championship team, it has documented the choices of some selectors in its official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records publication. In addition, various analysts have independently published their own choices for each season. These opinions can often diverge with others as well as individual schools' claims to national titles, which may or may not correlate to
9870-421: The National Football Foundation. Selectors are listed below with years selected retroactively in italics . Poll selections that constitute a "Consensus National Championship" in 1950 or later, as designated by the NCAA, are listed in bold . College football historian Parke H. Davis is the only selector considered by the NCAA to have primarily used research in his selections. Davis published his work in
10011-416: The Nichols-designed campus featured a 70-foot (21 m) wide, 70-foot (21 m) high domed Rotunda that served as the library and nucleus of the campus. The university's charter was presented to the first university president in the nave of Christ Episcopal Church. UA opened its doors to students on April 18, 1831, with Alva Woods as president. An academy-style institution during the antebellum period,
10152-455: The President of the United States, Richard Nixon , made a selection by announcing, ahead of the season-ending "game of the century" between No. 1 Texas and No. 2 ( AP ) Arkansas , that the winner would receive a presidential plaque commemorating them as national champions despite the fact that Texas and Arkansas still had to play in a bowl game afterward. Texas went on to win, 15–14. While
10293-531: The SEC West Division with 18 division titles and 15 appearances in the SEC Championship Game . The Associated Press (AP) ranks Alabama fourth in all-time final AP Poll appearances, with 61 through the 2023 season. Alabama plays its home games at Bryant–Denny Stadium , located on the campus in Tuscaloosa, Alabama . With a capacity of 100,077, Bryant–Denny is the 10th largest non-racing stadium in
10434-517: The State of Alabama dictates the board's makeup and requires the board to include three members from the congressional district that contains the Tuscaloosa campus and two members from every other congressional district in Alabama. Board members are elected by the board and are confirmed by the Alabama State Senate . The president of the University of Alabama is the principal executive officer of
10575-467: The University Libraries. The University Libraries system has six separate libraries. The Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library, which sits on the Main Quad , is the oldest and largest of the university libraries. Gorgas Library holds the university's collections in the humanities and social sciences, as well as the university's depository of U.S. government documents. The library opened in 1939. A seven-story addition
10716-488: The best football team in the country at the end of the season. One of the earliest such polls was the AP College Football Poll, first run in 1934 (compiled and organized by Charles Woodroof, former SEC Assistant Director of Media Relations, but not recognized in the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records ) and then continuously from 1936. The first major nationwide poll for ranking college football teams,
10857-568: The best it could look" to compete with the other claimants. Atcheson maintains that the titles are the school's rightful claims. Four of the five championships claimed in the Media Guide come before the AP poll was introduced in 1936. Many schools claim national championships from pre-1936 because there was no contemporary or nationally recognized authoritative source before that year. The University of Alabama 2009 Official Football Media Guide says Alabama had 12 national championships prior to winning
10998-454: The calculation of the BCS standing, are listed together. The NCAA records book divides its major selectors into three categories: those determined by mathematical formula, human polls, and historical research. The BCS is additionally categorized as a hybrid between math and polls, and the CFP as a playoff system. Many of the math selection systems were created during the 1920s and 1930s, beginning with Frank Dickinson's system , or during
11139-625: The campus, including the President's Mansion , Denny Chimes , Foster Auditorium (a National Historical Landmark ), the Gorgas–Manly Historic District , and Maxwell Observatory . A cemetery next to the Math and Science Education Building includes the graves of two enslaved persons who were owned by faculty members before the Civil War. Both men died in the 1840s, and their graves went unmarked until 2004. Campus culture facilities include
11280-427: The chancellor of The University of Alabama. The state legislature created the board to govern the university's operations. Its responsibilities include setting policy for the university, determining the university's mission and scope, and assuming responsibility for the university to the public and the legislature. The board is self-perpetuating and composed of 15 members and two ex officio members. The Constitution of
11421-439: The city, and the loss of life. From a small campus of seven buildings in the wilderness on the main road between Tuscaloosa and Huntsville (now University Boulevard) in the 1830s, UA has grown to a massive 1,970-acre (800 ha) campus in the heart of Tuscaloosa. There are 297 buildings on campus containing some 10,600,000 square feet (980,000 m ) of space. In 2010, the school added 168 acres to its campus by purchasing
11562-656: The completion of the 2023 season. This is a partial list of the ten most recent bowl seasons in which Alabama competed. Alabama has an overall bowl record of 46–28-3 (77 games) through the 2023 season. Eight former Alabama football players have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame , the fourth most among all colleges. Source: During the football season, the Crimson Tide Sports Network (CTSN) broadcasts multiple shows on gameday for most sports. The network includes more than 60 radio stations across
11703-535: The conditions that they be over eighteen, and would be allowed to enter the sophomore class after completing their first year at another school and passing an exam. Ten women from Tutwiler's Livingston school enrolled for the 1893 fall semester. By 1897, women were allowed to enroll as freshmen. During World War II, UA was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program , which offered students
11844-725: The conference split into separate divisions and added the Championship Game in 1992. Alabama is the only school to win an SEC Championship in every decade since the conference was founded in 1933. † Co-champions The SEC was split into two divisions beginning in the 1992 season. Alabama competed in the SEC West. Alabama won 18 division titles and posted an 11–4 record in the SEC Championship Game . † Co-champions Every year, several publications release lists of their ideal "team". The athletes on these lists are referred to as All-Americans . The NCAA recognizes five All-American lists. They are
11985-676: The country. Radio stations WFFN -FM, WTSK -AM as a backup, broadcast all home games in the Tuscaloosa area. Football radio broadcasts begin three hours prior to the game's designated kickoff time with Chris Stewart and Tyler Watts in Around the SEC . The radio broadcast then moves to the Crimson Tide Tailgate Party hosted by Tom Roberts. Immediately following the end of the game, the Fifth Quarter Show begins as host Eli Gold talks to coaches and players and gives game statistics. For
12126-506: The dawn of the personal computer age in the 1990s. Selectors are listed below with years selected retroactively in italics . The poll has been the dominant national champion selection method since the inception of the AP Poll in 1936. The National Football Foundation merged its poll with UPI from 1991 to 1992, with USA Today from 1993 to 1996, and with the FWAA since 2014. For many years,
12267-467: The education building in which she sheltered during the protests was renamed in her honor. On April 27, 2011 , Tuscaloosa was hit by a tornado rated EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita scale , killing six students who lived off campus; the campus grounds were not damaged by the storm, but the university canceled the rest of the spring semester and postponed graduation because of damage to approximately 12% of
12408-440: The end of the regular season and prior to any bowl games being played. This changed when the AP Poll champion was crowned after the bowls for 1965 and then in 1968 onward. The Coaches Poll began awarding post-bowl championships in 1974. National champions crowned by pre-bowl polls who subsequently lost their bowl game offered an opportunity for other teams to claim the title based on different selectors' awards and rankings, such as
12549-640: The field in Pasadena following their "national championship game" victory over Tulane in the 1932 Rose Bowl . The Toledo Cup was meant to be a long-running traveling trophy, but was promptly permanently retired by Minnesota's threepeat in 1934 , 1935 , and 1936 . College football's foremost historian Parke H. Davis compiled a list of "National Champion Foot Ball Teams" for the 1934 edition of Spalding's Official Foot Ball Guide . Davis selected national champions for each year dating back to college football's inaugural season in 1869 , for which he selected
12690-448: The final AP Poll or the final Coaches' Poll . This policy is consistent with other FBS football programs with numerous national title claims, including Notre Dame, USC , and Oklahoma , except that in the pre-1936 era, unlike Alabama, there are major selectors' titles that these schools do not claim. All national championships claimed by the University of Alabama were published in nationally syndicated newspapers and magazines, and each of
12831-594: The first 3 from 1992 to 1994. Alabama won the most recent meeting 31–29 in Gainesville, and leads the entire series 27–14. Alabama has a rivalry with the Georgia Bulldogs . Alabama won the most recent meeting 41–34 in Tuscaloosa and leads the series 44–26–4. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were at one time considered Alabama's arch rival. During the suspension of the Iron Bowl between 1907 and 1948, Georgia Tech (then
12972-520: The following year, which resulted in a national championship for Minnesota . The AP's main competition, United Press (UP), created the first Coaches Poll in 1950. For that year and the next three, the AP and UP agreed on the national champion. The first "split" national championship between the major polls occurred in 1954, when the writers selected Ohio State and the coaches chose UCLA . The two polls have disagreed 11 times since 1950. Both wire services originally conducted their final polls at
13113-615: The fourth winner with Will Anderson Jr. finishing fifth. With its fourth Heisman winner Alabama has produced the fifth most Heisman trophies of all time behind Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ohio State and USC. Top 5 finishes for Alabama players: Starting in 1994, the Southeastern Conference has annually honored one former football player from each of the SEC member schools as an "SEC Legend". The following former Crimson Tide football players have been honored as SEC Legends. The main rivalry of
13254-666: The fourth-best since 1934, behind Oklahoma (1948–58), Miami (1986–92), and Nebraska (1993–97). Alabama has won a total of 34 conference championships; this includes four Southern Conference and 30 SEC Championships. Alabama captured its four Southern Conference titles in 1924, 1925, 1926, and 1930. Alabama captured the first SEC title in 1933 and has won a total of 30 SEC Championships (1933, 1934, 1937, 1945, 1953, 1961, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1989†, 1992, 1999, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023). The school has won more SEC football titles than any other school, including 11 since
13395-462: The inaugural 1951 class— Don Hutson and Frank Thomas . On December 12, 2009, Mark Ingram II became Alabama's first Heisman Trophy winner . In the closest race ever, he edged out Stanford running back Toby Gerhart by 28 points. Other notable finishes for an Alabama player occurred in 1993, when David Palmer finished third in the Heisman voting and when A. J. McCarron finished as runner-up for
13536-407: The integration of the University of Alabama as well. Although Hood dropped out after two months, he returned and, in 1997, received his doctorate. Malone persisted in her studies and became the first African American to graduate from the university. In 2000, the university granted her a doctorate of humane letters. Autherine Lucy's expulsion was rescinded in 1980, and she re-enrolled and graduated with
13677-688: The land formerly belonging to Bryce Hospital . It also plans to acquire more land to accommodate the continuing growth of the enrollment. The university maintains the University of Alabama Arboretum in eastern Tuscaloosa and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab on Dauphin Island , just off the Alabama Gulf Coast. In 2011, the Sustainable Endowments Institute gave the university a College Sustainability Report Card grade of "B+". UA
13818-399: The last consensus champion with a tie in its record was Georgia Tech in 1990. As designated by the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records publication: A letter next to any season, team, record, coach or selector indicates a footnote that appears at the bottom of the table. Parke H. Davis' selection for 1901, as published in the 1934 edition of Spalding's Foot Ball Guide ,
13959-530: The master's, specialist , and doctoral level are awarded through the Graduate School. The law school offers JD and LL.M. degree programs. The College of Community Health Sciences provides advanced studies in medicine and related disciplines and operates a family medicine residency program. Medical students are also trained in association with the University of Alabama School of Medicine , from which they receive their degree. Founded in 1971 and merged into
14100-461: The meeting was more heated following Alabama's hiring of head coach Nick Saban , who previously coached at LSU. With the hiring, many media outlets dubbed the 2007 meeting as the "Saban Bowl". The Crimson Tide lost the first "Saban Bowl" in 2007, won the 2008 and 2009 meetings only to lose in Baton Rouge in 2010. In 2011, the teams played as the consensus No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in
14241-478: The middle 50 percent composite scores were 1080–1370. The University of Alabama is a college-sponsor of the National Merit Scholarship Program and sponsored 189 Merit Scholarship awards in 2020. In the 2020–2021 academic year, 223 freshman students were National Merit Scholars . The University of Alabama is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". It is
14382-457: The national champions of various polls were selected before the annual bowl games were played, by AP (1936–1964 and 1966–1967), Coaches Poll (1950–1973), FWAA (1954), and NFF (1959–1970). In all other latter-day polls, champions were selected after bowl games. During the BCS era, the winner of the BCS Championship Game was automatically awarded the national championship of the Coaches Poll and
14523-461: The national championship selectors, and are cited in the Official 2010 NCAA FBS Record Book. In addition to the championships claimed by the university, the NCAA has listed Alabama as receiving a championship for the 1945 , 1966 , 1975 , and 1977 college football seasons . In Alabama's 1982 media guide, the last for Coach Bryant, 1934 is listed as the only national championship before Coach Bryant in
14664-457: The newly created Alabama Territory to set aside a township for the establishment of a "seminary of learning". When Alabama was admitted to the Union in 1819, a second township was added to the land grant , bringing it to a total of 46,000 acres (186 km ). The General Assembly of Alabama established the seminary on December 18, 1820, named it "The University of the State of Alabama," and created
14805-483: The next season, 1966 , neither of the top two teams ( Notre Dame and Michigan State ) were attending bowl games so no post-bowl poll was taken, even after two-time defending AP national champion No. 3 Alabama won the Sugar Bowl and finished the season unbeaten and untied. In 1967 the final poll crowning USC national champion was taken before No. 2 Tennessee or No. 3 Oklahoma had even played their final games of
14946-567: The polls with LSU winning 9–6 in overtime. They played each other again for the BCS National Championship with Alabama winning 21–0 to secure its 14th National Championship. Alabama won the most recent meeting 42–13 in Baton Rouge, and leads the series 57-27–5. Alabama also maintains a rivalry with the Ole Miss Rebels . Alabama won the most recent meeting 24–10 in Tuscaloosa, and leads the series 55–10–2. Alabama's most-played rival
15087-399: The post-bowl FWAA Grantland Rice Award or Helms Athletic Foundation title. Post-bowl polls allowed for the possibility of a "national championship game" to finally settle the question on the gridiron . But a number of challenges made it difficult to schedule even the season's top two teams to play in a single post-season bowl game , let alone all of the deserving teams. Calls for
15228-447: The program claims 18 national championships , including 13 wire-service ( AP or Coaches' ) national titles in the poll-era, and five other titles before the poll-era. From 1958 to 1982, the team was led by Hall of Fame coach Paul "Bear" Bryant , who won six national titles with the program. Alabama then had a dominant run under head coach Nick Saban between 2007 and 2023, resulting in six further national titles. The team's rallying cry
15369-713: The quarterfinals and semifinals are hosted by all of the six partner bowl games , with the final two remaining teams advancing to the College Football Playoff National Championship . The concept of a national championship in college football dates to the early years of the sport in the late 19th century. Some of the earliest contemporaneous rankings can be traced to Caspar Whitney in Harper's Weekly , J. Parmly Paret in Outing , Charles Patterson, and New York newspaper The Sun . "Football, however,
15510-410: The regular season (as determined by internal rankings, or aggregates of the major polls and other statistics) to compete in what is intended to be the de facto national championship game. The current iteration of this practice, the College Football Playoff , selects twelve teams to participate in a national first round or quarterfinals, with the final four teams advancing to the semifinals. The games of
15651-505: The regular season, and well before those two teams met in the Orange Bowl . In 1968 the final poll was again delayed until after the bowl games so that No. 1 Ohio State could meet No. 2 USC in a "dream match" in the Rose Bowl . Every subsequent season's final AP Poll would be released after the bowl games. UPI did not follow suit until the 1974 season ; in the overlapping years, the Coaches Poll champion lost their bowl game in 1965 , 1970 , and 1973 . The AP's earlier move to crown
15792-403: The selections published elsewhere. Historically, the two most widely recognized national championship selectors are the Associated Press (AP), which conducts a poll of sportswriters , and the Coaches Poll , a survey of active members of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). Since 1992, various consortia of major bowl games have aimed to invite the top two teams at the end of
15933-434: The selectors below are listed in the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book as being "major selectors" of national championships. The criterion for the NCAA's designation is that the poll or selector be "national in scope, either through distribution in newspaper, television, radio and/or computer online". Former selectors, deemed instrumental in the sport of college football, and selectors that were included for
16074-457: The series 28–21–3; Georgia Tech won the last meeting in 1984 . Alabama's fight song, "Yea Alabama", mentions Georgia Tech with the line "Send the Yellow Jackets to a watery grave." There have been many historic games between Alabama and Penn State . The two teams met five times during the tenure of Bear Bryant, including in the 1979 Sugar Bowl , which determined the national championship for
16215-690: The series 59–40–7. A rivalry within the SEC Western Division occurs yearly between Alabama and the LSU Tigers. Starting in 1895, the Tigers were victorious 12–6 in the first meeting. The teams did not regularly meet until the mid-1960s during Alabama's dominance of the SEC. Between 1971 and 1981, the Crimson Tide won 11 consecutive times. In the 1969 game, LSU defeated Alabama 20–15 in Baton Rouge . Alabama did not lose again in Baton Rouge until 2000. In 2007,
16356-529: The series 86–18–3. The series dates back to 1900 but the rivalry has intensified in recent years, with the last four meetings having national championship implications. Alabama leads the series 14–5. Alabama has a rivalry with the Florida Gators , which was largely developed with the start of the SEC Championship Game . Alabama and Florida have met in 10 SEC Title Games (Alabama leads 6–4 in Title games), including
16497-430: The series, losing only once, and never allowing a touchdown by the Volunteers. Beginning in 1928, the rivalry was first played on its traditional date and began to be a challenge for the Crimson Tide as Robert Neyland began challenging Alabama for their perennial spot on top of the conference standings. In the 1950s, Jim Goostree, the head trainer for Alabama, began another tradition as he began handing out cigars following
16638-542: The severe discipline problem, president Landon Garland received approval from the legislature in 1860 to transform the university into a military school. Many of the cadets who graduated from the school served as officers in the Confederate Army during the Civil War . As a consequence of that role, Union troops burned the campus on April 4, 1865, only five days before Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. Despite
16779-576: The sole competitors Princeton and Rutgers as co-champions. Similar retrospective analysis was undertaken in the 1940s by Bill Schroeder of the Helms Athletic Foundation and in Deke Houlgate's The Football Thesaurus in 1954. The Associated Press (AP) began polling sportswriters in 1936 to obtain rankings. Alan J. Gould , the creator of the AP Poll, named Minnesota , Princeton , and SMU co-champions in 1935, and polled writers
16920-500: The sports sections of each agency's subscribing newspapers across the country. The team ranking No. 1 in each agency's final poll of the season was awarded that agency's national championship. National championships are often stated to be "consensus" when the two major polls are in agreement with their selections. The Associated Press (AP) college football poll has a long history. The news media began running their own polls of sports writers to determine who was, by popular opinion,
17061-498: The state as of 2016. UA's freshman engineering classes have also had the highest average ACT score among all state of Alabama engineering programs for the last several years. Ten of the university's twelve academic units (see above) offer degree programs across a combined total of 117 areas of study. Two areas, economics and health care management, are offered jointly by separate units ( Culverhouse College of Business and Arts & Sciences for both), and one area (material science)
17202-460: The state is at UA. Other academic programs unavailable elsewhere in Alabama include doctoral programs in anthropology , communication and information sciences, metallurgical engineering, music, Romance languages , and social work. The school was a center of activity during the American Civil War and the civil rights movement . The University of Alabama varsity football program (nicknamed
17343-501: The system's endowment was valued at $ 885.7 million in September 2015. The university uses a standard academic calendar based on the semester system with two 15-week semesters and a summer term. In fall 2021, Alabama received 42,421 applications for first-time freshman enrollment, from which 33,472 applications were accepted (78.9%) and 7,593 freshmen enrolled, a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend
17484-414: The system's post-bowl final rankings show Minnesota first and LSU fourth. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists the Williamson System as having selected Pittsburgh in 1937. However the system's post-bowl final rankings show California first and Pittsburgh second. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists the Williamson System as having selected TCU alone in 1938. However
17625-611: The system's post-bowl final rankings show a tie between TCU and Tennessee. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists the Williamson System as having selected Tennessee in 1940. However the system's post-bowl final rankings show Stanford first and Tennessee sixth. The NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records book lists the Billingsley Report as having selected Army in 1944 and Ohio State and Army in 1945. According to Billingsley's official website, these selection years are reversed. Kansas' 1960 defeat of Missouri
17766-500: The tenure of football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant . Athletic trophies and awards are displayed at the Mal Moore Athletic Facility. The Sarah Moody Gallery of Art at Garland Hall hosts revolving exhibitions of contemporary art, including from the university's own permanent collection. The Jones Archaeological Museum at Moundville exhibits the history of Mississippian culture in Alabama. Numerous historical landmarks dot
17907-400: The topmost level, it does maintain an official records book for the sport. The records book, with consultation from various college football historians, contains a list of "major selectors" of national championships from throughout the history of college football, along with their championship selections. While many people and organizations have named national champions throughout the years,
18048-407: The university and is appointed by the chancellor with approval of the board of trustees. Stuart R. Bell became the 29th president on July 15, 2015. In fall 2023, UA employed 7,472 employees, including 2,117 instructional staff (faculty), 2,631 professional staff, and more than 2,600 office, clerical, technical and service staff. The College of Arts and Sciences is the university's college for
18189-411: The university and the state. Discipline and student behavior were major issues at the university almost from the day it opened. Early presidents attempted to enforce strict rules regarding conduct. Students were prohibited from drinking, swearing, making unauthorized visits off-campus, or playing musical instruments for more than an hour at a time. Still, riots and gunfights were not uncommon. To combat
18330-408: The university emphasized the classics and the social and natural sciences. There were around 100 students per year at UA in the 1830s. As the state and university matured, an active literary culture evolved on campus and in Tuscaloosa. UA had one of the largest libraries in the country on the eve of the Civil War with more than 7,000 volumes. There were several thriving literary societies, including
18471-429: The university occurred in 1956 when Autherine Lucy successfully enrolled on February 3 as a graduate student in library sciences after she secured a court order preventing the university from rejecting her application on the basis of race. In the face of violent protests against her attendance, Lucy was suspended (and later outright expelled) three days later by the board of trustees on the basis of being unable to provide
18612-493: The university) of 22.7%. Alabama's freshman retention rate is 88.6%, with 72.1% going on to graduate within six years. The university started test-optional admissions with the Fall 2021 incoming class and has extended this through Fall 2024. Of the 63% of enrolled freshmen in 2021 who submitted ACT scores, the middle 50 percent composite score was between 21 and 31. Of the 17% of the incoming freshman class who submitted SAT scores,
18753-432: The winnowing selection of the top two teams resulted in many BCS controversies , most notably 2003's split national championship caused by the BCS rankings leaving USC , No. 1 in both human polls, out of the Sugar Bowl . The BCS victors were annually awarded The Coaches' Trophy "crystal football" on the field immediately following the championship game. In 2014 the College Football Playoff made its debut, facilitating
18894-689: The world and the eighth largest stadium in the United States. Alabama has had 28 head coaches since organized football began in 1892. Adopting the nickname "Crimson Tide" after the 1907 season, 12 coaches have led the Crimson Tide in postseason bowl games: Wallace Wade , Frank Thomas , Harold D. "Red" Drew , Bear Bryant , Ray Perkins , Bill Curry , Gene Stallings , Mike DuBose , Dennis Franchione , Mike Shula , Joe Kines , and Nick Saban . Eight of those coaches also won conference championships: Wade, Thomas, Drew, Bryant, Curry, Stallings, DuBose, and Saban. During their tenures, Wade, Thomas, Bryant, Stallings, and Saban all won national championships with
19035-427: Was Harvard. The NCAA Records Book states "Yale" for 1901, which is an error that has been perpetuated since the first appearance of Parke H. Davis' selections in the 1994 NCAA records book. The FWAA stripped USC of its 2004 Grantland Rice Trophy and vacated the selection of its national champion for 2004. The BCS also vacated USC's participation in the 2005 Orange Bowl and USC's 2004 BCS National Championship, and
19176-523: Was built on the north side of the library in the 1970s. The Angelo Bruno Business Library , in the Business Quad, is named after the co-founder of the Bruno's grocery chain who gave the university $ 4 million to create a library focusing on commerce and business studies. Opened in 1994, the 64,000-square-foot (5,900 m ), three-story facility holds more than 170,000 volumes. Bruno Library also houses
19317-506: Was designed with help from IBM to incorporate the latest in informatics . McLure Education Library was founded in 1954 in a remodeled student union annex (across the street from the old Student Union, now Reese Phifer Hall) and named in 1974 after John Rankin McLure, the longtime dean of the College of Education. The William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library, which holds the university's collection of rare and historical documents and books,
19458-599: Was more adamant about defeating his rivals to the north, the Tennessee Volunteers . The series is named the Third Saturday in October , the traditional calendar date on which the game was played. Despite the name, the game has been played on the third Saturday only five times between 1995 and 2007. The first game between the two sides was played in 1901 in Birmingham, ending in a 6–6 tie. From 1902 to 1913, Alabama dominated
19599-608: Was overturned by the Big Eight Conference on December 8 (ineligible player). The reversal erased the only loss on Missouri's record. The national title count listed below is a culmination of all championship awarded since 1869, regardless of "consensus" or non-consensus status, as listed in the table above according to the selectors deemed to be "major" as listed in the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records . The totals can be said to be disputed. Individual schools may claim national championships not accounted for by
19740-471: Was the first to be awarded the trophy, in 1924 . Professor Frank G. Dickinson of Illinois developed the first mathematical ranking system to be widely popularized. Chicago clothing manufacturer Jack F. Rissman donated a trophy for the system's national championship in 1926 onward, first awarded to Stanford prior to their tie with Alabama in the Rose Bowl . A curious Knute Rockne , then coach of Notre Dame , convinced Dickinson and Rissman to backdate
19881-427: Was victorious in the first ever Iron Bowl, 32–22. The series was suspended after the 1907 contest, due to violence and financial complications. In 1944, Auburn suggested to reopen the series, though the board of trustees at Alabama rejected. The series was resumed in 1948, with Alabama crushing the Tigers 55–0, which is still the largest margin of victory in the series. In the following contest, Auburn shocked Alabama with
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