The University of Alabama is one of the most esteemed names in college sports.
Down in Tuscaloosa, the school is home to roughly 40,000 students and, in terms of sports, is a dominant force in the Southeastern Conference, specifically in terms of its football program.
The success of the program dates before the start of the SEC in 1933. Alabama is the only program to win an SEC championship in every decade since the start of the conference. Alabama has won 34 total conference championships, with four in the Southern Conference and 30 in the SEC. In its time, it has accumulated 77 bowl appearances, an NCAA record and has produced four coveted Heisman Trophy winners along with holding 16 national championships, the second most in collegiate history behind Yale.
Courtney Larrimore, sports editor of the Crimson White, Alabama’s school newspaper, believes that Alabama’s expectation to excel in athletics sets them apart from other SEC schools.
“A certain level of excellence is expected at all times,” Larrimore said. “Like you think back to the 2022 (football) season, Alabama lost three games, and people were saying, ‘Oh, the Alabama dynasty fell.’ ‘Alabama is not good anymore.’ Losing three games to most other schools is still a good season, but to Alabama, it’s the fall of a dynasty, which I think is what sets us apart, or sets them apart, is that it’s just always that expectation that they’re going to be great.”
Aside from football, Alabama boasts many other strong and notable programs, including women’s gymnastics, which has won six national championships, men’s and women’s golf, which have accumulated two and one NCAA championships, respectively, and the school’s softball program has also clinched one championship.
Despite the lack of a national championship in its program’s history, Alabama’s men’s basketball has performed well in recent years, making a Final Four appearance in the most recent NCAA tournament.
Another notable program that Alabama has is its adapted athletic program. The program, which is one of 12 of its kind in the country and is the only one in the SEC, includes multiple wheelchair sports such as basketball, tennis and track and field. Adapted Athletics, which was founded in 2003, has brought home several national championships to Tuscaloosa.
In its previous year, Alabama finished eighth overall and fourth in the SEC for the Learfield Directors’ Cup with 1028.88 points, in comparison to Texas, which secured its third victory of the Cup with 1377 points. The SEC held more combined points than any other conference.
In addition to Alabama’s numerous successful programs, another thing that makes the sports culture at the school so electric is its loyal fan base.
According to Sports Illustrated, The Crimson Tide stretches to roughly 5.3 million people, making it the eighth biggest NCAA fanbase.
Larrimore revealed the fanbase to have a religious type of loyalty.
“It is absolutely like nothing I’ve ever seen to be in Alabama,” Larrimore said. “It’s almost like a religious type of devotion that the fans have, and especially when you have that in the state chapter between Alabama and Auburn, it is just insane.”
Both the athletic programs and fans at Alabama have such an intense and rich school culture, which makes it a notable opponent for Texas as it enters the SEC.
