Have you ever stopped to think about how LONG it's now been since the "Dark Times" era?

All the time. Those were my college years.

We lost to Southern Miss 21-0 in 2000

Most of that dark era as you call it was due to sanctions. We're the only conf team to win at least 1 conf title every decade since the SEC was formed.

We've had 5 coaches win a national title and 4 of those won multiple titles.

Shula, Dubose and Fran all had 10 win seasons. Dubose won a conf title and Fran would have had us in Atlanta, but we weren't eligible due to sanctions.

quote:

---

Class of '98 here.

---

My freshman year. Signed on to this pain train after the 4-7 season. Knew we'd eventually be back, but not like this.

Older people will say that the years after Coach Bryant got pretty Dark too. I grew up on Bryant, watched the roller coaster that was Perkins, was a walk on on Coach Curry's last team and on Coach Stallings first team. Those weren't sanction years, but they also weren't all roses either. Perkins yearned for the NFL but he knew and understood our rivalries. Curry was an outsider that even though he got us to 10-0, he didn't beat the Barn. Coach Stallings, we lost the first 3 and A LOT of people questioned that hire. Then DuBose, Francione and his rope, Rolling Mike Price, and the Walmart brand bandaid, Mike Shula. I'm still thankful to this day that Coach Moore stayed persistent and brought Coach Saban to Tuscaloosa. I'm just enjoying the ride.

Does the nickname “Pluto” ring a bell?

Michael Turner and Northern Illinois ran all over us as I sat in section cc row 23

Sophomore at UA right now. I remember the Iron Bowl loss in 2006 because I watched it at a skating rink and this other 6 year old came rolling by and yelled that Alabama sucked because I was decked out in a S. Alexander mini-jersey and Bear Bryant hat. I waited for him to come around the second time and tripped him and sent him tumbling. I jumped on top of him and it was a whirlwind between both of us before my dad grabbed me. I had to wear his old Auburn hat everywhere for a week after that.
ETA: I didn’t know much at that point but I remember hearing about Nick Saban everywhere and knew it was a big deal when we got him. My first year of really watching every second of every game was 2008. I’ve been spoiled. Everyone my age has.

quote:

---

My first freshman year Bama lost to a Vandy team 30-21 that would finish 5-6. On homecoming. ...

---

was 14 and at that game too

Bama was spoiled by Bryant and let the rest of cfb passed them by. Instead of updating facilities, implementing more exciting offense, etc. The leadership stuck to the Bryant coaching tree and insisted that tradition was all we needed to remain a power.

I think those days are over, and as long as we stay on top of things we'll remain a power in post-Saban era. Don't know about ya'll but there are some exciting young coaches coming up (Joe Brady, PJ Fleck, Jim Leonhard, Matt Rhule).