Alabama Assistant Shares Reminder from Iron Bowl Playing Days

Freddie Roach was a star linebacker at Alabama from 2002-2005.

Freddie Roach and Charlie Peprah bring down Ronnie Brown in 2004 Iron Bowl / Alabama Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— Only one coach on the Alabama sideline this Saturday has the experience of actually playing in an Iron Bowl. Crimson Tide defensive line coach Freddie Roach played at Alabama from 2002-2005 and was on the losing end of all four rivalry games with Auburn.

"It’s a big game," Roach said after Alabama's Wednesday practice. There’s a lot of people in this state it means a lot to. It’s 365 days. Records don’t matter. Things that you’ve done up until this point don’t matter. You’ve got to go out and perform.”

Roach can relate to what this year's team is going through. Alabama was the higher-ranked team than the Tigers in both 2002 and 2005, but Auburn pulled off the upsets. The Crimson Tide was 9-2 in 2002 and ranked No. 9. In 2005, Alabama started the season 9-0 and was ranked as high as No. 4, but lost to Auburn 28-18.

This year's Alabama squad is in a similar position. The Crimson Tide was 8-2 with a clear path to the SEC championship game and the College Football Playoff before losing to Oklahoma last Saturday. Alabama still has an outside chance at the CFP, but the most important focus right now is beating Auburn.

" I kind of fell on the down side of it," Roach said about the Iron Bowl rivalry. "They [Auburn] had a really good run, did a really good job. We didn’t finish the games we had to finish. We lost to LSU and Auburn back-to-back in ’05 after being undefeated all season. Again, it’s about how you finish— that’s in 2005 and 2024. No matter what the circumstances are. Records don’t matter. Stats don’t matter. What you’ve done prior to this doesn’t matter. It’s about what you have to do on Saturday.”

Despite his lack of success as a player, Roach has found himself on the winning side of many Iron Bowls. In his post-playing career throughout various stints at Alabama as a staffer or assistant, Roach is 8-1 in Iron Bowls and looking to improve upon that record on Saturday. Roach's playing days were in the middle of Auburn's six-game winning streak, and Alabama is currently on a four-game streak since Roach rejoined the staff as the defensive line coach in 2004.

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