The one and only bear
... was so impressed with Bryant to offer him a football scholarship. The only problem was that he was short a couple of credits from graduating. “Under the relaxed standards of that era, Bryant spent a year getting housing and aid from Alabama while he made up math and Spanish credits at Tuscaloosa High” (Herskowitz44). Although Alabama did not win any national championships in his years as a player, they won two SEC championships (1933 and 1934) and upset a very good Stanford team in the Rose bowl in 1935 (Herskowitz). With Bryant’s successful playing days over, he was hired as an assistant coach at Alabama, at the age of 23. He soon married his college sweetheart, Mary Harmon, and the couple would soon have two children. After four successful years as an assistant at Alabama, Bryant took a job as an assistant coach at Vanderbilt for two years. He quickly earned a reputation as a demanding coach and strict disciplinarian (Puma internet). After the 1941 season, Bryant interviewed for the coaching position at Arkansas. The job was his, but on December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and Bear joined the Navy for four years (Puma internet). Bryant’s first head coaching job was at North Carolina Pre-Flight School, after leaving the Navy. He was offered the head-coaching job at Maryland in 1945, and he accepted. He left the following year because of a disagreement with the president of the school and was soon offered the head-coaching job at Kentucky (Herskowitz 60). For eight years he coached eight winning seasons and led the Wildcats to four bowl games. Since Kentucky was a basketball school, the football program was not highly acknowledged. The athletic director at Kentucky favored basketball and its coach, which lead him to believe that his presence was not appreciated. So in 1954, Bryant packed up his things and took the coaching job at Texas A&M University (Puma internet). The football program at A&M was struggling; he knew he had to instill discipline and toughness for A&M to be competitive. In his first season, he loaded up the team in two buses and headed to Junction, Texas. This was arguably the toughest training camp in football history. Half of the team quit and Bryant had his one and only losing season that year. However, this built a foundation and A&M had three winning seasons after that first year. Bryant ultimately turned the program around for Texas A&M while he felt that he had done his job in Texas. He then decided to take the head coaching job at his Alma Mater, Alabama. For the next 25 years he coached at Alabama, winning 13 Southeastern Conference championships and was named national champions in 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, and 1979. On November 28, 1981, Bryant was the first football coach in history to win 315 games in college football (Herskowitz 111). On December 29, 1982, Bryant coached his last game and retired with a total of 330 wins. Thirty-seven days after he coached his last game, he died on January 26, 1983 (Herskowitz153). With every good coach, there are similarities in coaching styles that enables their teams to win games. Woody Hayes was a successful football coach for Ohio State University (Walton 19). Coach Bryant and Hayes both maintained strict discipline and required toughness in their players. They both would lead by example by showing how tough they could be. Last but not least, they both valued education for their players and for each of them to become leaders. Another good coach that has similarities to coach Bryant is Vince Lombardi. Bryant and Lombardi both took struggling teams and brought them to the top in a short t...