In Wimp's 12 years as head coach he won 10 games in conference 10 times, made the Sweet Sixteen 6 times, won 4 SEC tournament titles, and finished 3rd or better in the SEC (counting before the divisional split) 7 times. (link)
The link above says 5 NCAA Sweet Sixteens in the write up, but I see 6 listed. I date back as a fan to 1990 so I'm going with 6 until otherwise told.
| 1980–1981 | Alabama | 18–11 | 10–8 | 4th | NIT 2nd Round |
| 1981–1982 | Alabama | 24–7 | 12–6 | 3rd | NCAA Sweet 16 |
| 1982–1983 | Alabama | 20–12 | 8–10 | T–8th | NCAA 1st Round |
| 1983–1984 | Alabama | 18–12 | 10–8 | 5th | NCAA 1st Round |
| 1984–1985 | Alabama | 23–10 | 11–7 | T–3rd | NCAA Sweet 16 |
| 1985–1986 | Alabama | 24–9 | 13–5 | T–2nd | NCAA Sweet 16 |
| 1986–1987 | Alabama | 28–5 | 16–2 | 1st | NCAA Sweet 16 |
| 1987–1988 | Alabama | 14–17 | 6–12 | T–8th | |
| 1988–1989 | Alabama | 23–8 | 12–6 | T–2nd | NCAA 1st Round |
| 1989–1990 | Alabama | 26–9 | 12–6 | 2nd | NCAA Sweet 16 |
| 1990–1991 | Alabama | 23–10 | 12–6 | 2nd | NCAA Sweet 16 |
| 1991–1992 | Alabama | 26–9 | 10–6 | 3rd (Western) | NCAA 2nd Round |
I don't have a link to back this up, but I remember at one point in the early 90s that Alabama had either the most or 2nd most(to UNC) active players in the NBA. Obvious that's not the case now (we have 4 in McDyess, Mo Williams, Wallace, and Gee).
Why the look to the past? Well, I think we got a coach right now that (if he sticks around) can equal or even surpass what Wimp accomplished. This is coming from someone that had Grant 3rd on my wishlist of coaches to hire when Gottfried resigned (Lavin, Greenburg). This is one of those times I'm glad I was wrong.
2 comments:
well, i was there. and there's a lot of things about wimp those stats don't show.
keep in mind wimp stepped into the position with a much healthier program than grant has.
wimp had never been head coach of a major college program.
wimp clamped down on the poaching of the area's top talent. bobby lee hurt. ennis whatley. buck johnson. derrick mckey. robert horry. it's a long list.
very early in wimp's tenure the former ucla head coach came to town to build a program at alabama/birmingham. he thought when he got off the plane he would mop up area talent unmolested. wimp brought him to a painful reality. he wasn't backing down from any coach in his backyard.
in his second year wimp defeated #1ranked ucla in their gym.
wimp quickly made everyone forget c. m. newton, who was a great coach in his own right.
wimp wasn't compared to his predecessor.
he was compared to joe b. hall.
dale brown.
eddie sutton.
don devoe.
sonny smith.
wimp sanderson made mistakes.
wimp sanderson made enemies.
wimp sanderson fought for alabama basketball.
wimp sanderson paid the price.
there's more to wimp than that win/loss record.
a LOT more.
Thanks for that fb... I was only in school for Wimp's last year (91-92), but became a fan during the 90-91 season. I remember standing outside for student season tickets outside Coleman when he walked around and talked to all of us in line thanking us for the support. We saw great games vs Arkansas, Kentucky, and LSU that year.
If we can come close to the success Wimp had here with Grant I'll be ecstatic.
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