The 2003 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (variously "Alabama", "UA", "Bama" or "The Tide") represented the University of Alabama in the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 69th as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and its 12th within the SEC Western Division. The team was led by head coach Mike Shula, in his first year, and played their home games at Legion Field in Birmingham and Bryant–Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. They finished the season with a record of four wins and nine losses (4–9, 2–6 in the SEC).
At the conclusion of the 2002 season, Dennis Franchione resigned as head coach and took the same position with Texas A&M. After a two-week-long coaching search, Washington State head coach Mike Price was hired as Franchione's replacement. Price then signed the 2003 recruiting class and led the Crimson Tide through spring practice. However, he was fired in May 2003 due to detrimental conduct as an employee of the University. Less than a week later, Mike Shula was hired as head coach of the Crimson Tide.
Alabama opened the season with what turned out to be the final game ever played at Legion Field with a victory over South Florida. After a loss to No. 1 Oklahoma in the second week, the Crimson Tide entered the rankings at No. 21 after their victory over Kentucky. However, they dropped out the next week after being upset by Northern Illinois. They then lost to Arkansas and Georgia before they defeated Southern Miss on homecoming. Alabama then lost consecutive games to Ole Miss and then in five overtimes to Tennessee before they won their final game of the season at Mississippi State. The Crimson Tide then closed the season with losses to LSU, Auburn and Hawaii and finished with an overall record of 4–9.
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“...I’m not money hungry.... People who are rich want to be richer, but what’s the difference? You can’t take it with you. The toys get different, that’s all. The rich guys buy a football team, the poor guys buy a football. It’s all relative.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)
“While over Alabama earth
These words are gently spoken:
Serve—and hate will die unborn.
Love—and chains are broken.”
—Langston Hughes (20th century)
“O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“In this dream that dogs me I am part
Of a silent crowd walking under a wall,
Leaving a football match, perhaps, or a pit,
All moving the same way.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“Is my team ploughing,
That I was used to drive
And hear the harness jingle
When I was man alive?”
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)