From the desk of Mal Moore
8/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | General
Dear Crimson Tide Fan:
This will be an extremely important week for our football program as everyone in the department prepares for the upcoming game with Hawaii. Not only has our football team been going full speed getting ready for the opener but so has our administrative team.
Certainly, the debut of the renovated Bryant-Denny Stadium is meaningful to everyone who takes pride in the Crimson Tide program. We will have a special dedication Thursday night and Saturday promises to be a special night.
As many of you are aware, we have invited back all of our former football players, so that they can walk on the playing field before the largest crowd in the state of Alabama history. These are the men who have helped sustain our program and provided you with so many wonderful memories through the years.
We also have Jim Nabors coming in from Honolulu to participate in the pre-game by singing our National Anthem.
I know Coach Mike Shula and his staff have been diligently preparing for what will be a very difficult opener. In visiting with the coaches, I can assure you that they know they have a difficult task ahead of them this coming Saturday. We really hope we have an environment much like we had last year when we beat Florida. I can assure you that type of enthusiasm makes a difference.
Our fans have been amazing in supporting our team through the years, and that is reflected in the demand for tickets for this season opener. It is critical for you to consider that we will have nearly 10,000 more people in the stadium and anywhere from 3,500 to 4,000 more vehicles around our campus.
This will require all of us to be a little bit more patient in trying to accommodate the progress we've made in increasing the size of our venue. The University commissioned the Bruno Team to map out a plan to alleviate the problem as much as possible, and I ask you to read carefully their recommendations on uagameday.com.
All of you who have car pooled and RV pooled have greatly helped our parking situation the last few years, and I know we can continue to have such selfless actions by you.
On a closing note, I want all of you to keep our cheerleader Meg Ingram in your thoughts and prayers. Meg is from Huntsville and was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor and will soon be undergoing treatments.
We look forward to seeing many of you in Tuscaloosa this week, and as always, thank you for supporting the Crimson Tide.
Roll Tide!
Mal Moore
Athletic Director
