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Coaching legend Paul "Bear" Bryant passed away 40 years ago today...

Posted on 1/26/23 at 6:35 am
Posted by RollTide1987
Augusta, GA
Member since Nov 2009
64946 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 6:35 am
Just 28 days after being carried off the field for the final time after his team defeated Illinois in the Liberty Bowl. Bryant had gone to the hospital that morning complaining of chest pains and suffered a massive heart attack while under observation. He was 69.

Bryant retired as the winningest coach in the history of college football with one of the most impressive resumes in the history of the game.

W-L Record: 323-85-17
Bowl Record: 20-12-2
National Championships: 6
Conference Championships: 15

He was a winner everywhere he went:

Maryland (1945): 6-2-1
Kentucky (1946-1953): 60-23-5
Texas A&M (1954-1957): 25-14-2
Alabama (1958-1982): 232-46-9

The Tuscaloosa News
This post was edited on 1/26/23 at 7:50 am
Posted by Flipper94
Member since Dec 2022
377 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 6:37 am to
Vax
Posted by Hback
Member since Aug 2017
9170 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 6:39 am to

"It was just one little bone"

Posted by kywildcatfanone
Wildcat Country!
Member since Oct 2012
118895 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 6:53 am to
He never got over leaving Kentucky.


Great coach. Such a shame he didn't get more time in retirement.
Posted by Harry Morgan
Member since Sep 2019
9193 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 6:54 am to
Legend.
Posted by AwgustaDawg
CSRA
Member since Jan 2023
6852 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 7:29 am to
I am sure many here listen to Finebaum but several callers yesterday were relaying stories about interacting with Bryant and it seems like he was genuinely a nice person unless of course you were across the field from him during a game. You don't get that impression about good to great coaches today. Nick Saban seems like a total douche and Kirby Smart does also. Dabo as well. Ryan Day seems like hes even worse and Lincoln Riley comes across as a failed divorce lawyer who has flourished in used car sells.

Finebaum relayed a story about his needing an interview with Bryant, as a young reporter, and not being able to get in contact with him and Bryant making certain the interview got done in time. It is hard to imagine a head coach caring about that sort of thing today. They may be perfectly fine folks but they do not come across as such....
Posted by TDsngumbo
Alpha Silverfox
Member since Oct 2011
41527 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 7:31 am to
I despise Alabama but y’all get to claim two absolute legends. That’s impressive and y’all deserve bragging rights because of it.

This post was edited on 1/26/23 at 7:31 am
Posted by WilliamTaylor21
2720 Arse Whipping Avenue
Member since Dec 2013
35928 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 7:35 am to
Posted by mpwilging
Punta Gorda Isles, Florida
Member since Jan 2011
6925 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 7:50 am to
After we beat that arse 20-10. I won $50 on that game...
Posted by kengel2
Team Gun
Member since Mar 2004
30678 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 7:52 am to
quote:

Texas A&M (1954-1957): 25-14-2


Even Bear Bryant knew to get the frick away from 4&feit as soon as possible.
Posted by deltaland
Member since Mar 2011
90479 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 7:54 am to
quote:

Texas A&M (1954-1957): 25-14-2


For an average of 4 losses per season if you include the 2 ties as a loss.

The more things change the more they stay the same
Posted by GetCocky11
Calgary, AB
Member since Oct 2012
51236 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 8:23 am to
quote:


Coaching legend Paul "Bear" Bryant passed away 40 years ago today...


Oh damn you going to be ok, OP?
Posted by lsusteve1
Member since Dec 2004
41858 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 8:47 am to
quote:

Texas A&M (1954-1957): 25-14-2


Downright miracle work
Posted by Pandy Fackler
Member since Jun 2018
13977 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 8:50 am to
Joe Namath was in a quick public interview with a reporter once and the subject of Bryant came up. Namath got kind of annoyed and said..Look, it's no secret. Bryant was a mean man. Or something to that affect.

Anyway, all the coaches of that era were mean as motherfrickers. Bryant, Paterno, Bowden, you name him and he was mean as shite and one of the meanest of all they say was Lou Holtz.

So all this talk about the dickiness of the likes of Saban, Meyer, Smart or whoever else. Those frickin' guys are a bunch of Stuart Smalley's compared to the guys that preceded them.

Matters not though. Dicks win championships. So while the rest of you are happy and content with the empathetic and relatable coaches you have coaching your teams. Alabama and Georgia fans will gladly keep their douchey champions.

Oh and by the by. They say Brian Kelly is really nice to his players. That's good to hear.
Posted by TouchdownTony
Central Alabama
Member since Apr 2016
9656 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 8:53 am to
The days I started watching college football coincided with Bama's damn near perfect run in the 70's. OU, Texas ran the wishbone but NOBODY ran it like Alabama.
Remember being in that cold arse liberty bowl for hte final game and media, not from the U.S. but from around the globe were there. You will never see another Liberty Bowl with that much attention again. Thank you Kris Jenner for those picks when Eason kept going down. Tony Eason was eating us alive.
Posted by mpwilging
Punta Gorda Isles, Florida
Member since Jan 2011
6925 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 8:59 am to
quote:

After we beat that arse 20-10. I won $50 on that game...


Downvote away Gumps.

Same thing will happen to Nicky, and actually the decline has begun. Remember who predicted this...
Posted by coachcrisp
pensacola, fl
Member since Jun 2012
30589 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 9:53 am to
quote:

Joe Namath was in a quick public interview with a reporter once and the subject of Bryant came up. Namath got kind of annoyed and said..Look, it's no secret. Bryant was a mean man. Or something to that affect.

One night at an Alabama basketball game, I was sitting with a group of buddies, and we were next to Coach Crowe(Coach Bryant's only Heisman winner who was an asst. coach), and we were all talking(incl, Crowe) and the conversation came around to Coach Bryant, and I asked him, "Coach, how would you describe Coach Bryant in one sentence." He thought for just a second, and then replied,"Coach Bryant was a mean man."...and he started laughing.
Posted by AwgustaDawg
CSRA
Member since Jan 2023
6852 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 10:02 am to
quote:

One night at an Alabama basketball game, I was sitting with a group of buddies, and we were next to Coach Crowe(Coach Bryant's only Heisman winner who was an asst. coach), and we were all talking(incl, Crowe) and the conversation came around to Coach Bryant, and I asked him, "Coach, how would you describe Coach Bryant in one sentence." He thought for just a second, and then replied,"Coach Bryant was a mean man."...and he started laughing.



I played football from the age of 7 until my senior year of high school and had a heaping pile of coaches in that time and every last one of them was a mean SOB on the field with players. This was in the 70's and 80's. The same is true of drill sargeants....they are "mean" to recruits and many are just downright mean but many are also very nice people away from base. It is entirely possible that Paul Bryant was a nice, decent man, in his time, to reporters and fans while being a seriously cruel sob to players. Football is a violent game played by violent men...there is an element of cruelty in every football player who plays for any period of time ON the field...most do not carry that cruelty off the field but some definitely do. It takes an element of cruelty to get people with a streak of cruelty in them to begin with to work together as a team....thus coaces are generally speaking assholes to players and players cuss coaches for it but usually, hopefully, also admire the coach and may even grow to genuinely care about the cruel SOB.
Posted by jchamil
Member since Nov 2009
16456 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 10:05 am to
quote:

Downvote away Gumps.

Same thing will happen to Nicky, and actually the decline has begun. Remember who predicted this...


Coaches get old and decline in older age? That's pretty groundbreaking news right there
Posted by Nitro Express
Gulf Coast
Member since Jul 2018
16117 posts
Posted on 1/26/23 at 10:08 am to
quote:

Downvote away Gumps.

Same thing will happen to Nicky, and actually the decline has begun. Remember who predicted this...


All you dipshits have been predicting a decline for the last decade. You've never been right, and you're not right this time. Keep it though, because one day he'll finally hang it up. Until then, we'll keep laughing at you.
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