Background
He was born on September 11, 1913 in Moro Bottom, Arkansas.
He was born on September 11, 1913 in Moro Bottom, Arkansas.
Paul attended Fordyce High School where he started playing on the school’s football team as an eighth grader.
Since he had left Fordyce High School before graduating, he enrolled at a Tuscaloosa high school to finish his education.
In spite of being a brilliant player, Paul never played professionally and chose to become a coach at the Union University in Jackson upon his graduation in 1936.
He was offered the position of an assistant coach under Frank Thomas at the University of Alabama. He held this post for four years till 1940.
During the World War II he joined the United States Navy. He reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander and was discharged from the Navy in 1944.
In 1945, Bryant became the head coach of the Maryland Terrapins. In his first season he led the team to a 6-2-1 record. However, he quit after a single season over a dispute with the president of the school.
He was appointed the football coach at the University of Kentucky in 1946. He coached the team for eight seasons during which he led them to victories in the Southern Conference (1950) and Sugar Bowl (1950).
He was offered the head coaching position at Texas A&M University in 1954. In spite of an inauspicious start, he led the team to victory in the Southwest Conference championship with a score of 34-21 in 1956.
During this time the football team of Alabama, his alma mater, was performing very poorly. So, he took over the team in 1958. He changed the team’s fortune upon his arrival and led them to a win over Auburn the very next year.
Alabama played in the Super Bowl in 1961 and went 11-0. They defeated Arkansas to claim the national championship. They won the Sugar Bowl again in 1963.
The team went undefeated in 1966 and beat the Nebraska team 34-7 in the Sugar Bowl.
The team’s performances over the next few years were disappointing. In an attempt to revitalize his team, he adopted the newly designed wishbone formation instead of Alabama’s old power offense.
Bringing about this change enabled him to make the latter half of 1970s a successful one for Alabama. His team defeated the No. 1 Southern California in Los Angeles in 1977 and also beat the Buckeyes in 1978 and finished the season 11-1.
Alabama beat Penn State 14-7 in 1979 to win the national championship. His team registered a 24-9 win over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl and ended the season with a 12-0 record.
He announced his retirement after the 1982 season.
He married Mary Harmon in 1935 and had two children with her.
