The Texas Longhorns defeated #3 Alabama in Tuscaloosa at Bryant-Denny (named for Paul “Bear” Bryant & George Denny) Stadium on Saturday. Longhorn Coach Greg Sarkisian, a former assistant coach to Coach Nick Saban at Alabama, defeated his old mentor. Texas-Alabama regular season matchups began in 2022 after a 100-year hiatus.
1922 wrapped up the last Texas-Alabama regular season series. That year, the Crimson Tide traveled to Austin, TX and lost to the Horns by a score of 19-10. 19 was also the number of points scored that season by the University of Texas against Austin College, when Coach Pete Cawthon’s Kangaroos traveled to Austin, TX and lost to the Horns by a score of 19-0.
You may find it odd that the Longhorns would schedule both Alabama & Austin College in 1922. But there are good reasons for that. For one, Pete Cawthon’s Roos in the 1920s were exceptional, with players who would later become his assistant coaches before moving to their own impressive careers. But there’s another reason as well. The President of the University of Texas in 1922 was a graduate of Austin College.
Pete Cawthon coached AC football until 1927, producing some of the school’s finest teams. The Pete Cawthon award for most outstanding AC male athlete is named in his honor. His Hall of Fame worthy career took him far from the athletic fields of little Austin College. By 1953, he had ascended to yet another height: Athletic Director of the University of Alabama. Cawthon’s close ties to legendary Crimson Tide figures tell the tale of his time in Tuscaloosa.
The US Navy asked Cawthon to implement a physical training program in 1940 for American sailors. Cawthon called upon his friend Frank Thomas, Alabama Head Coach, to send some of his finest assistant coaches for the job. Thomas, whose winning percentage at Alabama trails only Nick Saban & Bear Bryant, enthusiastically agreed and sent five. One of those five assistants sent to Cawthon was Bear Bryant himself.
Cawthon’s US Navy job ended in 1942, so Frank Thomas asked Cawthon to return the favor and join his Alabama staff as an assistant coach. That year, Thomas & Cawthon led the Crimson Tide to eight wins and an Orange Bowl victory. Cawthon loved the experience so much that he moved his family from Texas to Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide with Thomas & Cawthon on the sideline was undefeated at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Bryant-Denny Stadium is also named for George Denny, the President of Alabama who was an alum of Washington & Lee in Lexington, VA. Denny retired to Lexington in 1943 and suggested that Cawthon use the town for the location of his next big idea: a Pete Cawthon summer camp for boys. For the next 10 years, Denny visited Cawthon every summer at his boys camp near Lexington. Camp counselors included Cawthon’s two sons, who would both enroll at the University of Alabama.
Alabama Athletic Director Frank Thomas was forced to resigned in 1952 due to declining health, requiring the Crimson Tide to find a replacement. They did, selecting former Austin Coach Coach Pete Cawthon on the recommendation of George Denny. Soon after taking the job, Cawthon embarked on a new mission on behalf of the Crimson Tide: to bring back the Texas-Alabama regular season rivalry. From the Birmingham News in 1953:
“If negotiations for a two-game series between the University of Texas and the University of Alabama materialize, Alabama will play Texas in Austin in 1956 and Texas will come to Legion Field in 1957. The early negotiations between Pete Cawthon, Alabama Director of Athletics, and Dana X. Bible, Texas Director of Athletics, call for the first game to be played at Austin in October 1956. Pete Cawthon would like to open the season with Texas in 1957 in a night game in Birmingham.”
That series never came to pass. Interest at Alabama declined after the Texas-native Cawthon was also forced to retire as Alabama AD in 1954 due to declining health. Cawthon’s health did recuperate enough in 1954 to allow him to visit Sherman, TX, however. He briefly reunited at Austin College that year alongside some of his former Roo players, many of whom had spent time as his assistant coaches.
The Walk of Champions graces the entrance to Bryant-Denny Stadium, the site of Saturday’s Horns victory. Five Alabama head coach statues line that walk into the stadium, including Frank Thomas, Bear Bryant, and Nick Saban. All of them would tell you: their careers would be nuthin’ without the support of their assistant coaches.
It’s cool that Bama’s Bear Bryant was sent from Tuscaloosa to be an assistant coach to Roo Pete Cawthon. It’s cool that Roo Pete Cawthon was an assistant coach to Bama’s Frank Thomas in Tuscaloosa during the Presidency of George Denny. It’s cool that UT’s Greg Sarkisian was an assistant coach to Bama’s Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa before coming to Texas. And yes, it’s cool as beans that my Horns got the win in Tuscaloosa thanks to Saban’s former assistant coach. Well done Sark.
But what’s really cool for Marc? Writing a Roo Tale about little Austin College playing the role of “Assistant Coach” alongside a national “Head Coach“ story about Sark, Saban, and two of the biggest college football programs in the country.
Assistant Coaches. They’re a thing. And it makes sense that they are abbreviated “AC.”
