The Battle Plan
11/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | General
Another Alabama-LSU Weekend
It's finally here - Alabama-LSU week! That seems like all that needs to be said, although the buzz from the media and fans about this game has been going on all season. This series has become one of the great ones in the nation over the last several years. Two great academic institutions, with year-in, year-out nationally prominent football programs, that are built very much alike featuring physical, hard-nosed, old school, fundamental football principles. Yet, each have enough talented athletes to push the envelope in making big plays on any given play. Each team has had an extra week to prepare, so both should be about as physically and mentally ready to play as possible. And, it would be hard to top the atmosphere we expect in Bryant-Denny Stadium with a sellout crowd in attendance, a nationally-televised CBS prime time audience, and all the pageantry that goes with college football. All will converge tomorrow to make this a very special occasion.
In games like this, neither staff needs to spend much time motivating their teams. The challenge is to keep them from reaching an emotional peak too early in the week. The coaches are focused on preparing the players to be ready for all they might anticipate happening in the game and to concentrate on winning their individual battles on every play throughout. These games typically are won late in the fourth quarter, so every play counts as close games are usually determined by a handful of plays. But, from a motivational standpoint, the time to peak is from 7 to 11 Saturday night!
Paying Tribute to a True Crimson Tide Legend
Saturday night will be special to everyone affiliated with the Crimson Tide, not only because of our nationally-televised game against LSU, but also because we will honor the memory of one of our greatest players, radio personalities and ambassadors, Kenny "Snake" Stabler.
Before kickoff, we will show a video tribute to Kenny, commemorating his all-star career, and then recognize his family and present them with special gifts as a small token of our appreciation for all Kenny did to bring prestige to the Crimson Tide. His three daughters, Kendra Stabler Moyes, Alexa Stabler and Marissa Stabler, will participate in the ceremonies as will his sister, Carolyn Bishop, and Kenny's special and trusted friend, Kim Bush.
Joining them in the ceremony will be Kendra's husband, Scott, and their two sons - who Kenny so affectionately referred to as his "grand-snakes" - Justin and Jack. Alexa's fiancee, Hunter, and Carolyn's husband, Miles, will also be on the field. Also, I want to personally thank Crimson Tide Foundation donors Warren and Sallie Williamson who have so generously established the "Kenny Stabler Memorial Endowed Football Scholarship" as a lasting tribute to this football legend. I encourage any of you who want to contribute to the scholarship fund to contact the Crimson Tide Foundation office at (205) 348-9727.
The Regular Season in College Football: Something to Be Treasured
The one thing about the game of college football that we need to protect is the incredible playoff atmosphere that exists from the first game of the season, all the way to the College Football Playoff Championship Game in January. No other collegiate or professional sport in the country can make that claim. There is much talk among fans and the media about expanding the College Football Playoff, and the arguments that an expansion would create interest and revenues are legitimate. But the price that would be paid if the line were ever crossed would be very steep. The shining example of that is March Madness and what it has done to regular-season college basketball. The NCAA Basketball Tournament has expanded to 68 teams which, over three weeks in March has become one of the country's great sporting events. But it has contributed to making the regular season pretty much meaningless to fans. Let's not let that happen to college football.
Fulfilling the Mission: 9 Tide Teams Lead SEC in Graduate Success Rate
This week we received news of yet more evidence of the outstanding job that our students are doing in the classroom, as well as the excellent mentoring and guidance they are getting from our Academic Services staff led by Associate Athletics Director for Students Services, Jon Dever. An amazing NINE Crimson Tide teams lead the Southeastern Conference in Graduate Success Rate (GSR), including our football and men's basketball teams, in figures released by the NCAA on Wednesday.
The NCAA established the GSR and the Academic Success Rate (ASR) in response to college and university presidents who wanted graduation data that more accurately reflects the mobility among today's college students. Both rates improve accuracy over the federally-mandated graduation rate by including students who were omitted from the federal calculation. The GSR measures graduation rates at Division I institutions and includes students who have transferred into the institutions. The GSR also allows institutions to subtract students who leave their institutions prior to graduation, as long as they would have been academically eligible to compete had they remained.
Our overall GSR moved up to 92 this year, second in the SEC behind Vanderbilt's 93 (average GSR for all NCAA Division I student-athletes is 82). The GSR spans the period covering student-athletes who attended the University during 2005-08. Alabama and Vanderbilt are the only two schools in the SEC with overall scores of 90 or above.
The Tide was first, or tied for first, in nine different sports. The football team's score of 86 was up six points from last year while men's basketball improved to a perfect 100. We also led the SEC with perfect GSR scores of 100 in gymnastics, men's golf, women's golf, men's tennis, women's tennis, softball, and men's swimming & diving. Overall, 14 of our programs recorded scores of 90 or better and all 17 scored 83 or above.
In addition to the sports that ranked No. 1 in the SEC, men's track and field (96) and soccer (94) were second in the SEC. These scores are another indicator of our mission in action. We are all very proud of our students, faculty, coaches, staff and everyone who works so hard to keep us moving forward in this vital part of our mission.
The Start of a New Era of Alabama Basketball
Speaking of basketball, the Avery Johnson Era of Alabama Basketball begins tonight at 7 p.m. at Coleman Coliseum against Trevecca Nazarene from Nashville, Tenn. I am excited about the energy that Coach Avery and his staff have generated in their short time on campus. Rome wasn't built in a day, and Alabama Basketball won't return to its glory days overnight, either, but foundation stones are being laid every day to build toward that ultimate goal.
This team is very important in that turnaround process. This is a hard-working, solid team that I believe can overachieve. We still need recruiting strength to add talent and depth to get where we need to be. I believe this staff can attract talented players to Alabama with good character and an interest in getting a degree.
We look forward to great support from our student body this year as we welcome them to new and better seating arrangements near the floor. I encourage all our fans who have expressed interest in basketball to step up and make every effort to attend as many games as possible. Whether it is buying season tickets, special multi-game offers, or individual games; come early, come often and be energetic. If you have tickets, come to the games. If you see that you can't make it, give the tickets to someone who will go. If you can't find anyone, turn your tickets back in and let us put someone in your seats who will wear crimson and support this team.
Giving Where It Is Most Needed
When talking with donors about where they would like their gifts designated, we are sometimes asked, "Where is the most need?" We have a variety of areas that need ongoing financial support, but we have a special fund that allows us to use donations wherever they are needed most at any given time. Our Priority Needs Fund helps support a variety of current projects while establishing funding for upcoming and long-term projects. If you are interested in making a contribution that will provide flexibility and options for the Athletics Department to fund areas of need, please visit the Crimson Tide Foundation website to give now.
Teamwork by the Crimson Tide Family
Last week, the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) awarded The University of Alabama accreditation for its emergency preparedness and response activities. This designation is the only accreditation process for emergency management programs and is important accreditation for any federal or state agency, county, city or university to attain. It is a credit to many people who researched and did the work necessary to secure the accreditation.
Of even greater importance, the fact that Alabama is one of only three universities to pass muster in this process is a great credit to our university and the many organizations that play a role in our emergency preparedness and response activities. According to the EMAP standards, the program "fosters excellence and accountability in emergency management and homeland security programs by establishing credible standards applied in a peer review assessment and accreditation process." Congratulations to UA's Dr. Donald Keith, our Director of Emergency Preparedness, who led a collaborative effort that involved many areas of campus and external agencies that led to UA meeting the 64 standards necessary to achieve this status.
The standards for this accreditation are very high, encompassing areas of prevention, protection, mitigation, response and recovery. We are very fortunate at Alabama to have such great collaboration from all areas of campus, not only in times of success but also in times of crisis. I wanted you to know about this accreditation because it is an excellent example of the teamwork we have on our campus.
Sports Updates
Men's Golf
Our 15th-ranked men's golf team, under the direction of Coach Jay Seawell, earned its second straight tournament win as the Tide claimed the Warrior Princeville Makai Invitational by five strokes over No. 3 Wake Forest. The Tide finished the three-day, 54-hole event with a team total of 824 (281-269-274), which tied for the sixth-lowest tournament total in program history while the 40-under par finish ranks fourth-lowest vs. par in the Alabama record book. This week's victory comes on the heels of winning the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate back on Oct. 5-6 in Birmingham. Individually, all five Alabama golfers finished among the top 10 in the 17-team field led by senior captain Tom Lovelady, who had a career-best finish of second overall. Tom led the entire field in par 4's average score (3.73, 8 under) and was second with 20 birdies overall, while carding a career-low 54-hole score of 13-under par 203 (68-67-68). He has recorded sub-70 scores in five of his last six rounds. Not to be outdone, sophomore Jonathan Hardee set new benchmarks during the week as he finished tied for fourth overall with a three-round total of 9-under 207 (70-68-69) - both career-best results. Junior Robby Shelton (74-66-69) and sophomore Steven Setterstrom (71-69-68) tied for sixth overall with an 8-under par 208, while freshman Davis Riley tied for ninth with a 7-under 209 (72-68-69). It marked the final tournament of the fall season for the Crimson Tide, who return to action in February, 2016 when it begins the spring season at the Puerto Rico Classic.
Volleyball
Coach Ed Allen's squad showed tremendous resilience in a five-set win against Arkansas on Sunday. Trailing the Razorbacks, 2-1, heading into the fourth set, the Tide rallied late to win the fourth, 25-20, and force a deciding fifth set. Needing 15 points to win, Arkansas held a late 13-12 lead before the Tide scored three unanswered to secure the five-set victory, 15-13. Senior setter Sierra Wilson continues to edge closer to the Alabama career assists record. Sierra leads the SEC in total assists (1,137) and assists per set (11.60) this season and is sixth and ninth, respectively, among all NCAA players. She and current career school record-holder Brigitte Slack (2005-08) are the only two players in program history with more than 1,000 assists in each of their four seasons. In addition to her accomplishments on the court, Sierra holds a 4.0 cumulative GPA and was named a First Team Academic All-American last season. This weekend, the Tide is back in action in Foster Auditorium against Tennessee tonight at 7 p.m. and against South Carolina on Sunday at 2 p.m. Tonight's match features Faculty & Staff night, as all faculty and staff members will receive free admission to the match with additional family members qualifying for a discounted $3 ticket. Sunday's match is our Salute to Service match, as all military members receive free admission to the match.
Rowing
Coach Larry Davis and our team concludes its fall season this weekend in Chattanooga, Tenn., at the Head of the Hooch Regatta, one of the largest regattas in the southeast. The Tide will face a large contingent of college and club teams over two days starting on Saturday morning. Results will be posted online at regattacentral.com and a full recap at the end of the day will be posted on rolltide.com. Like many members of our rowing team, senior Jacklin Byers balances a jam-packed schedule with rowing and her many activities on campus. The Lorton, Va., native recently talked with UA Student Affairs about it in their debut Capstone 101 feature you can read here.
Cross Country
Coach Dan Waters' cross country teams are taking the weekend off to prepare for the NCAA South Region Championships, which will be held next Friday, Nov. 13, in Tuscaloosa at the Crimson Tide's home course, the Harry Pritchett Running Park. This is the most important meet of the season, and it would be a tremendous advantage for our runners to have a large crowd cheering them on. The women's 6-kilometer race will begin at 9 a.m. CT, with the men's 10-kilometer race to follow at 10 a.m. CT. The women's squad has a great chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships for the first time since 1994, while the Tide's recently crowned SEC champion Antibahs Kosgei headlines the men's field.
Swimming & Diving
Coach Dennis Pursley's teams won an early morning Halloween meet in Columbia, S.C., last Saturday. We swept both the 400 medley and freestyle relays and won 17 individual events. Freshman Katie Kelsoe and senior Emma Saunders led the way for the women, swimming on winning relays as well as notching a pair of individual wins each. Katie led off the winning 400 medley relay as well as taking first in the 100 and 200 backstrokes, and was named the SEC Freshman of the Week for her efforts. Emma anchored the winning 400 freestyle relay and won the 100 and 200 freestyles. Junior Connor Oslin paced the men, leading off the winning 400 medley relay as well as taking top honors in the 100 and 200 backstroke and the 100 butterfly.
Women's Tennis
Coach Jenny Mainz's two newcomers, freshman Andie Daniell and junior Joanna Nena Savva, wrapped up the team's fall schedule last weekend at the 28th annual Roberta Alison Fall Classic, held at the Alabama Tennis Stadium and the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility. Andie was undefeated in singles play, going 3-0 to win her draw. She toughed out a lengthy 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-6(5) decision in the finals against Natalie Suk of Ole Miss in a match that was halted due to rain and eventually moved indoors. Joanna rebounded nicely from losing her opening match of the event, finishing with a 2-1 singles record, including a victory in the consolation finals of her draw.
Men's Tennis
Coach George Husack's team continues its busy fall with the Commodore Scramble in Nashville, Tenn. this weekend. Junior Hayes Brewer, sophomores Sam Edwards and Matthew Rossouw and redshirt freshman Langford Hills are representing the Crimson Tide at the event. Play began this morning and runs through Sunday. Earlier this week, four players, along with assistant coach Ryler DeHeart, competed at the USTA Player's Choice Open in Birmingham. Ryler and sophomore newcomer Grayson Goldin both reached the final round of qualifying before bowing out. Matthew, Langford and freshman Spencer Richey also took part in the qualifying draw. Sophomore Korey Lovett received a wild card into the singles main draw, where he defeated former TCU standout Nick Chappell to reach the round of 16 before falling to the tournament's six seed. Korey and Grayson also entered the doubles main draw via a wild card, but lost their opening match.
Women's Basketball
The season is right around the corner, and I know our team is excited and anxious to take everything they've worked on in practice this last month and put it to use in a game against someone else. Our young squad will first play an exhibition game versus Faulkner at 6 p.m. CT on Monday at Foster Auditorium before officially tipping off the regular season on Friday as the front end of a doubleheader with the men's team at Coleman Coliseum. Come early as the women's team opens up with Alabama A&M at 4:30 p.m. CT, while the men's team follows at 7:30 p.m. CT against Kennesaw State. This week, the team hosted its first Rise and Shine & Roll Tide event, opening the doors to all fans for an open practice and breakfast on Tuesday. Those in attendance were introduced to the squad, got an early look at the team on the court and some even went home with some great giveaways from the team as a thanks for their support.
Upcoming Action
Here's a summary of athletic events over the next several days (times listed are for the location of the event: CT is Central Time, ET is Eastern Time, MT is Mountain Time, PT is Pacific Time):
Saturday, November 7
| Sport | Opponent/Event | Location | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Football | vs. LSU | Bryant-Denny Stadium | 7 p.m. CT |
| Men's Tennis | Commodore Scramble | Nashville, Tenn. | All Day |
| Rowing | Head of the Hooch | Chattanooga, Tenn. | All Day |
Sunday, November 8
| Sport | Opponent/Event | Location | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volleyball | vs. South Carolina | Foster Auditorium | 2 p.m. CT |
| Men's Tennis | Commodore Scramble | Nashville, Tenn. | All Day |
| Rowing | Head of the Hooch | Chattanooga, Tenn. | All Day |
Monday, November 9
| Sport | Opponent/Event | Location | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women's Basketball | vs. Faulkner (Exhibition) | Foster Auditorium | 6 p.m. CT |
Thursday, November 12
| Sport | Opponent/Event | Location | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Women's Tennis | USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships | Flushing Meadows, N.Y. | All Day |
Friday, November 13
| Sport | Opponent/Event | Location | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cross County | NCAA South Regional Championships | Harry Pritchett Running Park | 9 a.m. CT |
| Women's Basketball | vs. Alabama A&M | Coleman Coliseum | 4:30 p.m. CT |
| Men's Basketball | vs. Kennesaw State | Coleman Coliseum | 7:30 p.m. CT |
| Volleyball | at Florida | Gainesville, Fla. | 7 p.m. ET |
| Men's Tennis | CCB Collegiate Invitational | Birmingham, Ala. | All Day |
| Women's Tennis | USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships | Flushing Meadows, N.Y. | All Day |
Where to See, Listen and Follow Alabama Sports
Here's how to follow Crimson Tide teams in action this week via TV, radio, rolltide.com and social media (access a complete listing of Alabama Athletics social media platforms):
Men's Basketball
TV (Online Streaming): SEC Network +
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (check local listings)
Live Stats: www.rolltide.com
Twitter: @AlabamaMBB
Women's Basketball
TV (Online Streaming): SEC Network +
Live Stats: www.rolltide.com
Twitter: @AlabamaWBB
Cross Country
Live Results: www.rolltide.com
Twitter: @AlabamaTrack
Football
TV: CBS Sports
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (check local listings); Sirius 84; XM 84; Compass Media (National)
Live Stats: www.rolltide.com
Twitter: @AlabamaFTBL
Rowing
Twitter: @AlabamaRow
Men's Tennis
Twitter: @AlabamaMTN
Women's Tennis
Twitter: @AlabamaWTN
Volleyball
Live Stats: Sunday - www.rolltide.com; Friday - www.gatorzone.com
Twitter: @AlabamaVBall
Catch Alabama Athletics on the SEC Network
Here's a summary of our athletic events to be televised over the next week on The SEC Network and its platforms. Read this schedule closely as some events can be seen via SEC Network +, which is available online via ESPN3 If you can't make it to our games in person, catch us on radio or TV. (All times listed are Central Time)
Saturday, November 7
| Time | Event | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 6 a.m. | REPLAY: 2014 Football at LSU | SEC Network |
Sunday, November 8
| Time | Event | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 2 p.m. | Volleyball vs. South Carolina | SEC Network |
Monday, November 9
| Time | Event | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 12 p.m. | Alabama Football Weekly Press Conference | SEC Network + |
| 6 p.m. | Women's Basketball vs. Faulkner | SEC Network + |
Friday, November 13
| Time | Event | Network |
|---|---|---|
| 4:30 p.m. | Women's Basketball vs. Alabama A&M | SEC Network + |
| 6 p.m. | Volleyball at Florida | SEC Network + |
| 7:30 p.m. | Men's Basketball vs. Kennesaw State | SEC Network + |
Our teams need your support, so please plan to attend to do your part! A rising tide lifts all boats and it takes all of us to Keep the Tide Rising!
Roll Tide!
