Alabama and Texas A&M Share Links in Their History

In 2012, Texas A&M visited Alabama for the first time as a member of the Southeastern Conference.  For many Bama fans, and college football fans in general, that game will be remembered as the day Johnny Manziel became "Johnny Football" as the Aggies upset the #1 ranked Crimson Tide.  However, something significant happened before the game was ever played.

Paul W. "Bear" Bryant is a legend for what he did as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. But before he roamed the sidelines in Tuscaloosa, he had stints at Kentucky and Texas A&M.  To honor the coach, the 2012 meeting between the Tide and the Aggies began with the honoring of All-Americans who played for Bryant at both schools.  If you listened to the names of the Aggie players being honored, you'd might recognize a few.  Some spent time as assistant coaches at Alabama under Bryant.

If you visit the Bryant Museum here in Tuscaloosa, there is a Heisman Trophy near the entrance. It's not the one won by former Tide running back Mark Ingram (that one is in the Mal Moore Athletics Facility).  Instead, it belongs to former Texas A&M halfback John David Crow.  Crow was the first Aggie to receive the award, and it was not until Manziel that A&M would see a second one.  So why is his trophy on display in Tuscaloosa, Alabama? He also happens to be the only player to win the award with Bryant as his head coach.  Despite Bryant's success at Alabama, no Tide player ever one the Heisman until Ingram in 2009.

But Joh David Crow has deeper connections to Alabama than just that.  After his professional career ended, Crow joined Bryant's staff at Alabama.  From 1968 to 1971, he coached the offensive backfield.  His son, Johnny Crow, would go on to play for the Crimson Tide.

Of course, a majority of Tide fans are aware that Gene Stallings, head coach of Bama's 1992 championship team, was one of the famous "Junction Boys" from Bryant's first season at A&M.  Stallings was a sophomore on that team that started Bryant's legend in the football world.  The roots go deeper with Stallings as he was also both an assistant to Bryant at Alabama and head coach of the Aggies from 1965 to 1971.

This pattern of player-at-one-coach-at-another was reversed with Jackie Sherrill.  Sherrill was a member of both the 1964 and 1965 national title teams that Bryant coached at Alabama.  He would later go on to coach the Aggies from 192 to 1998.

One connection neither school wants to remember is Dennis Franchione.  Coach Fran was hired at Alabama in 2001, but left after only two seasons to take the opening at Texas A&M. His actions made him very unpopular with the Alabama fanbase.  He didn't fair much better with the Aggies, where he coached to relative mediocirty from 2003 to 2007.  He coached what many see as A&M's most embarrassing loss ever: a 77-0 beatdown by Oklahoma in 2003.

The current narrative surrounding this rivalry revolves around Nick Saban's defense vs Kevin Sumlin's offense.  But to those who truly understand the history of college football, these two schools are linked in ways that one or two games can never change.