Crimson Column presented by Mercedes-Benz
8/2/2018 5:35:00 PM | General
I hope this edition of Crimson Column finds you well! Before we turn our complete focus on the 2018-19 season, which officially kicks off this week with the start of fall sport practices and football's Fan Day on Saturday, I wanted to take a look back at all of our accomplishments from the past year. We have enjoyed numerous successes academically and athletically, and you all should be very proud as fans of the Crimson Tide. As always, thank you for your continued support of Alabama Athletics, and Roll Tide!
Academic Success
One of our great points of Crimson Tide pride is that we are succeeding at the highest levels, not just on the playing field, but in the classroom as well. Overall, our student-athletes earned a 3.27 cumulative grade point average for the 2017-18 academic year, with all 17 programs earning a 2.75 GPA or better and 15 earning better than a 3.0. Even more impressive is that eight of our programs earned better than a 3.5 GPA.
Individually, an NCAA-best 11 of our student-athletes earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in 2017-18, making Alabama the only school to produce double digits in this prestigious honor the last five years in a row. We've had 88 Academic All-Americans since 2010, which is also tops in the nation.
Our main goal is always to prepare our student-athletes for the world beyond with a top-notch education, and when summer commencement comes to a close this weekend, over 175 Crimson Tide student-athletes will have fulfilled that goal with a University of Alabama degree, and of that, we are all most proud.
Our student-athletes' academic success has been recognized in a number of ways since the end of the school year and you can read all about in these articles:
- Alabama Athletics Leads the Nation in CoSIDA Academic All-Americans
- Alabama Athletics Places 92 Student-Athletes on SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll
- Alabama Athletics Leads SEC with 136 Student-Athletes on the Spring Academic Honor Roll
- Track & Field Lands 10 on USTFCCCA All-Academic Individual List
- Men's Tennis Places Five on ITA Scholar-Athlete Team for Second Straight Year
- Women's Tennis Places Seven on ITA Scholar-Athlete Team for Second Consecutive Year
- Volleyball Wins 2017-18 AVCA Team Academic Award
- Women's Golf Named to WGCA All-Scholar Team GPA List
- Women's Golf Lands Five on WGCA All-American Scholars List
- Swimming and Diving Among National Leaders in CSCAA Scholar All-America Honors
Athletic Success
As many of you may have already seen, we had our highest finish in program history in the Learfield Directors' Cup, coming in at No. 14. Six of our teams placed within the top 10 of their respective sports and nine in the top 15 to help us achieve that feat and move up 11 spots from our No. 25 finish a year ago. Football won its fifth national championship since 2009, and 17th overall, while both of our golf programs finished as national runner-ups in their championships. Our men's track & field team had its best showing at the outdoor championships since 1986 with a fifth-place finish in Eugene. It also placed ninth at the NCAA indoor championships after winning the Southeastern Conference title.
Other team highlights from the 2017-18 season include:
- Gymnastics' NCAA-best 32nd regional championship win
- Men's tennis' run to the NCAA round of 16 for the first time since 2007
- Softball winning its 14th-consecutive NCAA regional title and remaining the only team to advance to the NCAA super regional every year since the format's inception
- Men's swimming & diving finishing 13th at the NCAA championships, its fifth-consecutive top-15 finish
- Men's cross country earning a spot at the final site of the NCAA championships for the first time since 2010 and finishing 14th as a team
- Men's basketball advancing to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2012 and winning an NCAA tournament game for the first time since 2006
- Soccer earning a spot in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011
- Women's swimming & diving and indoor and outdoor track & field advancing and scoring at their respective NCAA championships
- Women's basketball advancing to the Women's National Invitation Tournament quarterfinals for the second-straight season
I would also like invite you to check out a video highlight reel we shared today on social media showing some of our favorite moments from the season.
#RollTideFriday
I've been so impressed with how #RollTideFriday has continued throughout our second year of the campaign and cannot wait to see what year three has in store.
This week, our photos feature Andrea Guardino and Gary Greer at The Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, California and Ray and Edie Delp and Carolyn and Holland Powell in Hartbeespoort, South Africa.
Andrea Guardino and Gary Greer
Ray and Edie Delp, Carolyn and Holland Powell
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.
