Bear Bryant Totally Explained

Everything about Bear Bryant totally explained

| Sport = Football | Title = Head Coach | OverallRecord = 323–85–17 | BowlRecord = | Championships = 1961/1964/1965/1973/1978/1979 National Championship
1964–65/1971–75/1977–79 Southeastern Conference Championship
1961/1966/1981 Southeastern Conference Co–Championship | CFbDWID = 275 | Player = Y | Years = 1932–1936 | Team = Alabama | Position = | Coach = Y | CoachYears = 1945
1946–1953
1954–1957
1958–1982 | CoachTeams = Maryland
Kentucky
Texas A&M
Alabama | FootballHOF =1986 | CollegeHOFID =70009 }}
Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913–January 26, 1983) was an American college football coach. He was best known as the longtime head coach of the University of Alabama football team. At the University of Alabama, Paul W. Bryant Museum and Bryant-Denny Stadium are named in his honor. He was also known for his trademark houndstooth hat.
Before arriving at Alabama, Bryant was head football coach at the University of Maryland, the University of Kentucky, and Texas A&M University.

Biography

Paul Bryant was the 11th of 12 children who were born to William Monroe and Ida Kilgore Bryant in Moro Bottom, Arkansas.
   His nickname stemmed from his having agreed to wrestle a captive bear during a theater promotion when he was 13-years-old.
   He attended Fordyce High School in Fordyce, Arkansas, where 6-foot-1 Bryant began playing on the school's football team as an eighth grader. During his senior season, the team, with Bryant playing offensive end and defensive line, won the 1930 Arkansas state football championship.
   Bryant accepted a scholarship to play for the University of Alabama in 1931. Since he elected to leave high school before completing his diploma, Bryant had to enroll in a Tuscaloosa high school to finish his education during the fall semester while he practiced with the college team. Bryant played end for the Crimson Tide and was a participant on the school's 1934 national championship team. Bryant was known as the other end, and played opposite Don Hutson. Bryant was so tough as a player he played in the Tennessee game with a broken leg. Socially, Bryant pledged Sigma Nu and, as a senior, married Mary Harmon, and the two had a daughter nine months later. He was later granted an honorable discharge to train recruits and coach the North Carolina Navy Pre-Flight football team. One of the players he coached for the Navy was future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Otto Graham. While in the Navy, he attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

University of Maryland

In 1945 Bryant accepted the job as head coach at the University of Maryland. In his only season with the Maryland Terrapins (Terps), Bryant led the team to a 6-2-1 record. However, there was a struggle for control of the football program between Bryant and Harry Clifton "Curley" Byrd. Byrd was a former Terrapin coach (1912-1934) and, when Bryant was coach, he was the University President. In the most widely publicized example of the power struggle between the two strong-willed men, Bryant suspended a player for violating team rules only to discover that Byrd had the player reinstated while Bryant was away on vacation. Bryant left Maryland to take over the head coaching position at the University of Kentucky.

University of Kentucky

Bryant coached at the University of Kentucky for eight seasons. Under Bryant, Kentucky made its first bowl appearance (1947) and won its first Southeastern Conference title (1950). The 1950 Kentucky team concluded its season with a victory over Bud Wilkinson's #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners in the Sugar Bowl. The living players were honored for their National Championship during halftime of a game during the 2005 season. Bryant also led Kentucky to appearances in the Great Lakes Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Cotton Bowl. Kentucky's final AP poll rankings under Bryant included #11 in 1949, #7 in 1950 (before defeating #1 Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl), #15 in 1951, #20 in 1952 and #16 in 1953. The 1950 season was Kentucky's highest rank until it finished #6 in the final 1977 AP poll.
Bryant departed Kentucky after he and basketball coach Adolph Rupp had both completed successful seasons in their respective sports. Legend has it that, as a reward, Rupp was given an automobile: Bryant was given a zippo lighter. This isn't true. Bryant left Kentucky, furious that the University hadn't reprimanded Rupp for his players' roles in the college basketball point shaving scandals of the early '50s. Kentucky was suspended from playing college basketball in 1953, and Rupp received no suspension. This led Bryant to conclude, and rightly so, that basketball was #1 on the Kentucky campus and Bryant couldn't abide by that.

Texas A&M University

In 1954 Bryant accepted the head coaching job at Texas A&M University. He also served as athletic director while at A&M. The national coach of the year award was subsequently named the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award in his honor.

Was named Head Coach of Sports Illustrated's NCAA Football All-Century Team.

Somehow, he received votes for the Democratic Party Presidential nomination at the extremely contentious 1968 Democratic Convention

In February 1983, Bryant was posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan.

Bryant was honored with a U.S. postage stamp in 1996.

Country singer Roger Hallmark recorded a tribute song in his honor.

Bryant won the Coram award in 1981.

Tribute Poem

The following poem appeared in the Birmingham Post-Herald December 29, 1983 as a tribute to the late Paul "Bear" Bryant. Signed and numbered prints with a photograph by Cliff Byrd of Coach Bryant in his classic pose leaning against the goal post appear in the Paul W. Bryant Museum at the University of Alabama and in Birmingham at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Paul “Bear” Bryant
1913–1983
He led his crimson troops
Across two decades on the field;
More than a coach, or a myth, or a man,
He leaned against each goal post,
A proud symbol of his sport,
His chiseled chin catching the sun,
His squinting stare peering out
From under his houndstooth hat
Searching through each autumn afternoon
For the silent pride inside his boys
Who fought for their gentleman general
Who believed in the spirit of man.

Poem by Charles Ghigna.

Legacy

Many of Bryant's former players and assistant coaches went on to become head coaches at the collegiate level and in the National Football League.

Players

Alabama

Bill Battle – Tennessee (1970-1976)

Jim Blevins – Jacksonville State (1965-1968)

Sylvester Croom ^† – Mississippi State (2004-present) 2007 SEC Coach of the Year

Mike DuBose – Alabama (1997-2000), Millsaps College (2006-present)

Danny Ford – Clemson (1979-1989), Arkansas (1993-97) 1981 National Championship
1981 NSSA Coach of the Year

Joey Jones – Birmingham Southern (2007), South Alabama (2008-present)

Bill Oliver^† – Tennessee-Chattanooga (1980-1983)

Charley Pell^† – Jacksonville State (1969-1973), Clemson (1977-78), Florida (1979-1984)

Ray Perkins – New York Giants (1979-1982), Alabama (1983-1986), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1987-90), Arkansas State (1992)

Mike Riley – Oregon State (1997-1999, 2003-present), San Diego Chargers (1999-2001)

Jackie Sherrill – Washington State (1976), Pittsburgh (1977-1981), Texas A&M (1982-1988), Mississippi State (1991-2003) 1981 Walter Camp Coach of the Year

Steve Sloan – Vanderbilt (1973-1974), Texas Tech (1975-1977), Ole Miss (1978-1982), Duke (1983-1986)

Richard Williamson^† – Memphis State (1975-80), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1990-91)

Texas A&M

Jack Pardee – Chicago Bears (1975-1977), Washington Redskins (1978-80), University of Houston (1987-89), Houston Oilers (1990-94)

Gene Stallings^† – Texas A&M (1965-1971), St.Louis/Phoenix Cardinals (1986-1989), Alabama (1990-1996) 1992 National Championship
1992 Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year
1992 Walter Camp Coach of the Year

Kentucky

Jerry Claiborne^‡ – Virginia Tech (1961-1970), Maryland (1972-1981), Kentucky (1982-1989) 1974 Sporting News Coach of the Year

Charlie McClendon – LSU (1962-1979) 1970 AFCA Coach of the Year

Howard Schnellenberger^† – Baltimore Colts (1973-1974), Miami (FL) (1979-1983), Louisville (1985-1994), Oklahoma (1995), Florida Atlantic (2001-present) 1983 National Championship
1983 NSSA Coach of the Year

Assistant Coaches

Alabama

Pat Dye – East Carolina (1974-1979), Wyoming (1980), Auburn, (1981-1992) 2005 College Football Hall of Fame Inductee (as coach)

Curley Hallman – Southern Mississippi (1988-90), LSU (1991-94)

Texas A&M

Bum Phillips – Houston Oilers (1975-80), New Orleans Saints (1981-85)

Jim Owens^# – Washington (1957-1974) 1960 (H) National Championship

Kentucky

Paul Dietzel – LSU (1955-1961), Army (1962-1965), South Carolina (1966-1974) 1958 (AP)(UPI) National Championship
1958 NSSA Coach of the Year † also served as assistant coach under Bryant at Alabama
‡ also served as assistant coach under Bryant at Alabama and Texas A&M
# previously served as assistant coach under Bryant at Kentucky

Head coaching record

In his career, Bryant participated in a total of 31 post-season bowl games including 24 consecutively at Alabama. Bryant won 15 bowl games (including eight Sugar Bowls)

(*) Before the 1974, the final coaches poll was released before the bowl games, so a team that lost its bowl game could still claim the national championship. This was changed as a result of Alabama claiming the 1973 coaches' poll national championship despite losing to Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.

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