Daily Dose of Crimson Tide: Ray Perkins

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How about this for an accomplishment: During the three seasons Ray Perkins was a varsity split end for Alabama (1964-66), the team’s record was 30-2-1, and ironically the undefeated season was the one the Crimson Tide didn’t win the national championship (11-0 in 1966).

As a sophomore, his touchdown reception from Joe Namath, along with Ray Ogden’s 108-yard kickoff return, keyed a 21-14 victory against Auburn, which in addition to Notre Dame’s loss to Southern Cal propelled the Tide to No. 1 in the final polls (which were held before bowl games that year).

The following season, with polls holding the final voting at the end of the postseason, Perkins scored two touchdowns to help lead a 39-28 victory against Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, as Alabama successfully defended its title.

His senior year, with Kenny Stabler behind center, Perkins had 33 catches for 490 yards and was named an All-American. Against Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl, a 34-7 rout in Alabama’s favor, he set up the Tide’s first score, and later recorded a 45-yard touchdown.

Perkins went on to play for the Baltimore Colts, and caught a 68-yard touchdown pass from Johnny Unitas in the 1970 AFC Championship game, a 27-17 victory against the Oakland Raiders for a berth into Super Bowl V.

After his playing days were complete, Perkins turned to coaching, and was an assistant with the New England Patriots (1973-77) and San Diego Chargers (1978), before being named the head coach of the New York Giants in 1979.

Two members of his staff were Bill Parcells, who eventually replaced him, and Bill Belichick.

What promoted his departure was what he called his dream job, coaching the Crimson Tide, which became reality shortly after Paul W. “Bear” Bryant stepped down in 1982. Those who didn’t understand him, or Alabama football, were shocked when Perkins left New York, especially to undertake the nearly impossible task of attempting to follow Bryant.

Of course, that didn’t stop Perkins from trying to distance himself from the Bear’s legacy. One of his more controversial moves was to take down Bryant’s imposing coaching tower that stood over the practice fields (it was later returned to its original spot, primarily to serve as a campus monument and daily reminder of his legacy).

His first season resulted in an 8-4 finish. A year later, Alabama’s amazing 25-year bowl streak came to a close, and there were murmurs that the coaches’ job might already be in jeopardy. 

Perkins brought in every Alabama great he could to help inspire the team for Auburn, and it worked. On fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard-line, Tigers coach Pat Dye went for a touchdown instead of a field goal only to see safety Rory Turner drop Brent Fullwood short of the end zone.

“I just waxed the dude,” Turner said.

A year later, Alabama won the rematch on Van Tiffin’s dramatic 52-yard field goal, and beat Southern California 24-3 at the Aloha Bowl after struggling to a 3-3 halftime score, in part due to seven penalties. Perkins called it: “The worst first half I have been associated with to play such a great second half.”

Near the end of the 1986 season, rumors began to circulate that Perkins might leave to take over the head coaching job with the National Football League’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He initially denied them, but the scuttlebutt only gained momentum while Alabama headed to the Sun Bowl to handily defeat Washington, 28-6. 

Sure enough, Perkins resigned after the dominating victory with a 32-15-1 mark over four years.

“I do so with mixed emotions,” Perkins said. 

Some of this post originated from "100 Things Crimson tide Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die," published by Triumph Books


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Christopher Walsh
CHRISTOPHER WALSH

Christopher Walsh is the founder and publisher of BamaCentral, which first published in 2018. He's covered the Crimson Tide since 2004, and is the author of 26 books including Decade of Dominance, 100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, Nick Saban vs. College Football, and Bama Dynasty: The Crimson Tide's Road to College Football Immortality. He's an eight-time honoree of Football Writers Association of America awards and three-time winner of the Herby Kirby Memorial Award, the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s highest writing honor for story of the year. In 2022, he was named one of the 50 Legends of the ASWA. Previous beats include the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, along with Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks. Originally from Minnesota and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, he currently resides in Tuscaloosa.