Your Mount Rushmore - The Crimson Tide Version

Great off-season topic, and with Patterson's retirement today, most timely.

I think we've been so incredibly blessed, you have to have multiple categories.

Football Coaches:
Wade
Thomas
Bryant
Saban

A shame to leave out Stallings. But to paraphrase Saban, who ya gonna kick out to put in Stallings?

Football Players:
Hutson
Lee Roy
Hannah
Newsome

And I know you can make a case for two dozen others. As with the coaches, who ya gonna kick out?

Non-Football Coaches:
Patterson (and it isn't close)
Newton
Murphy
Seawell

Due to the nature of his departure, I left Sanderson out. Hard on Newton's heels were Dee (Rocket 8 Basketball), Potter (women's golf), and Gambrell (swimming, including HC of the 1984 US Olympic team). Newton took over such a disaster, though, and the 1976 team was so good, I had to include him

Non-Football Athletes:
Reggie King (basketball)
Meredith Willard (gymnastics)
Jonty Skinner (swimming)
Jan Johnson (track--pole vault)

And I confess to being not terribly knowledgeable on this group. I'm sure I've left someone (hopefully not more than one) out.

Administrators:
Witt (and it isn't close)
Denny
Rose
Moore -- Earned for fundraising in an incredibly difficult time, and for the Saban hire...weaknesses otherwise noted, but overcome. Plus, he earned a lot of time out of purgatory with the way he treated his wife, who had early-onset Alzheimer's.

Forced to choose only four from any category, I'd go with:

Witt -- we were flat on our back on several fronts when he came, and we are a powerhouse on all fronts, academic and athletic now. That's no accident.

Denny -- see Witt above, and turn the clock back 75 years

Bryant -- see Witt and Denny, circa December, 1957

Saban -- see all three above, January, 2007. The partnership he and Witt formed is one for the ages. The whole University, not in any way limited to athletics, will benefit from that for decades.

It's just hard for an athlete in any sport, or a non-football coach at Alabama, to have an impact on the entire University and the whole state, that spans decades.

IMO, Bryant Jr. And Patterson are the only other ones for whom you can even make an argument.

Thanks for the indulgence. This was both huge fun and a recounting of many, many blessings.