The Crimson Column presented by Mercedes-Benz
5/17/2018 2:22:00 PM | General
Remembering Commissioner Slive
On Wednesday, we lost one of the great leaders and visionaries of intercollegiate athletics in former Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive. His impact on our universities, our athletic departments, student-athletes, coaches and administrators is immeasurable, and we will forever be grateful for his leadership and guidance. Our deepest sympathies continue to go out to his wife Liz; daughter Anna; son-in-law Judd; and granddaughter Abigail.
Another Rhoads House NCAA Regional
For the 14th time in a row and 16th time in the program's 22-year history, the Crimson Tide softball team is hosting an NCAA regional this week as the nation's No. 12 seed, welcoming Oregon State, Wisconsin and Middle Tennessee to Tuscaloosa. Our reputation when it comes to hosting regional action is legendary. Combine that with an atmosphere at Rhoads Stadium that is second to none, and it is obvious how we bettered our own NCAA attendance record this season when 3,043 fans per game filled up the "Rhoads House." The regional gets underway Friday at 6 p.m., with Oregon State vs. Wisconsin, while Alabama faces Middle Tennessee starting at 8:30 p.m. The regional runs through Sunday and tickets are available through the Alabama Ticket Office and online at RollTide.com.
Football Partial Plans, Camping World Kickoff vs. Louisville Tickets on Sale Now
As I mentioned in the last Crimson Column, we have four- and six-game partial ticket plans available for the upcoming football season, which are on sale now. The six game plan includes a ticket to Arkansas State, Texas A&M, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi State and The Citadel, while the four game plan features Arkansas State, Missouri, Mississippi State and The Citadel. In addition, we still have an allotment of tickets available for purchase for the opener against Louisville in Orlando, which we now know will kick off at 7 p.m. CT. Several great opportunities to come cheer on the Tide this season!
Final Baseball Series of 2018
Our baseball team will play its final series of the 2018 season at home when it hosts No. 4 Ole Miss, beginning tonight at 6 p.m. Several promotions are planned for the weekend, including Family Four Packs and a T-shirt jersey giveaway. The program will also recognize its six seniors as part of its Senior Night festivities on Friday.
Men's Tennis Continues NCAA Tournament Run on Friday
Our men's tennis team has been playing some of its best tennis as of late and proved that with an upset victory over No. 11 Florida State to advance to its first NCAA Round of 16 since 2007. We will face the fifth-seeded Texas A&M Aggies on Friday at 6 p.m. CT at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex in Winston-Salem, N.C. Lots of us rooting for you back in Tuscaloosa!
Men's and Women's Golf Headed to NCAA Championships
Congratulations to our men's and women's golf teams on advancing to the final site of the NCAA championships! The women won the Tallahassee Regional in record performance, finishing 33-under par to set a new school regional record and equal the previous course record, while the men came in fourth at the Stockton Regional with a three-day total of 15-under par. This will be the 14th appearance at the championship for our women's team and the 20th for our men's team. The women begin play at the Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Oklahoma on Friday, while the men tee off on the same course next Friday. Best of luck to both programs as they look to bring home another championship!
Justin Thomas Ranked No. 1 in the World
While we're on the subject of golf, I wanted to congratulate former men's golfer Justin Thomas on overtaking the No. 1 world ranking. What an incredible accomplishment that we are certainly very proud of!
Future Football Scheduling
We are thrilled to have finalized future plans with both Texas and Notre Dame for a pair of home-and-home series in football. The Crimson Tide and Longhorns will meet up in 2022 and 2023, while the series with the Fighting Irish will take place in 2028 and 2029. These two are certainly great additions to our non-conference schedules and exciting opportunities for both our program and our fans!
Track & Field has Strong Showing at SEC Championships
Our men's and women's track & field teams had several top performers at the SEC Championships last weekend in Knoxville to place our men fourth in the final team standings, while our women finished ninth. This was the third straight top-five finish for our men's team, which hasn't been done since the 1989-91 seasons. Overall, we had three event champions with Vincent Kiprop winning the 5,000 and 10,000 meter races and Shelby McEwen the high jump, 12 All-SEC performances and two school records set. Congratulations to our student-athletes and coaches!
Rowing Has Top-5 Finish at Conference Championships
Our rowing team for finished fifth overall at the at the Big 12 championships last week in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. For the second straight year, we competed in all five Grand Final races and took home three event bronze medals. Job well done!
NCAA Public Recognition
The NCAA announced its Public Recognition Awards this week, and we once again had multiple teams earn the honor. The accolade goes to the top-10 percent of Division I teams by the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate. Our women's golf team led the way, earning the honor for the eighth year in a row, while the gymnastics and men's cross country teams both took home the recognition for the fourth-consecutive year. Our softball team earned the honor of the second time. Alabama has had four or more teams earn the honor each of the last four years. Overall, our teams have earned the accolade 37 times in its 13-year history. To have this kind of consistent success when it comes to this important metric is a source of great pride for The University of Alabama and this department.
Softball CoSIDA Academic All-District
In addition to finding out earlier this week that our softball team earned the right to host an NCAA softball regional, we also learned that senior Rachel Bobo and sophomore Bailey Hemphill have been named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District IV Team. Standouts on the field, Rachel owns a 3.76 grade point average in chemical engineering while Bailey has a 4.0 in human development. Our softball team has had multiple honorees in each of the last three seasons and has earned 45 district nods since Ginger Jones and Suzanne Olcott earned the Tide softball program's first district honors in 2000. Congrats to Rachel and Bailey and good luck to them as they move on the Academic All-America national ballot.
University Spotlight
I encourage you to check out this video highlighting the 2017-18 year in review at The University of Alabama. There are so many incredible moments captured here, so it's definitely worth a watch!
#RollTideFriday
Brandon Lee Bryant
Daniel Dixon
This week, we feature Brandon Lee Bryant and Daniel Dixon showing off some throwback looks!
Remember to use the hashtag #RollTideFriday in your social posts and tweet your photos to me at @Greg_Byrne. We will select two photos to feature in each blog and add even more to our #RollTideFriday Fan Hub.
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