Auburn Tigers of West Alabama

If you want details on athletics at the University of West Alabama, look up the Tigers.

The University of West Alabama Tigers football team represents the institution in NCAA Division I as its American football club. S alabama, state The team is a member of the Gulf South Conference in NCAA Division II. In 1938, West Alabama fielded its first ever varsity football team. The Tiger Stadium in Livingston, Alabama has a capacity of 7,000 and is the site of home games for the team. Brett Gilliland leads the Tigers as their coach. [2]

History [ edit ]

In 1931, back when West Alabama was still called Livingston State Teachers College, the school's first football team took the field. But it wasn't until seven years later that the university officially scheduled intercollegiate competition for all of its athletics. They played four matches in 1938 against Marion Institute, Jacksonville State, Demopolis A, and Demopolis B. S, and Troy State, were all regional opponents. In the end, LSTC's record was 2-2. In the same year that World War II began, [3] fewer people in the United States decided to go to college. Due to this, LSTC did not have any sports teams between the years of 1942 and 1945. In 1944, Dr After being elected president, William Wilson Hill immediately began promoting the university and trying to attract new students. With the men back on campus, athletics are once again a hot topic. The football team, which had been dormant for the previous three years, recently resumed play under the direction of new head coach E. G McCollum They started off the year with a 24-14 loss to Mississippi College, the first of many meetings between the two teams this year. Additionally, LSTC's rivalry with future Gulf South Conference opponents Troy State and Delta State was reignited that year. After a long season, the team finished with a winning record of 6-3. McCollum quit at the end of the season because he saw a better opportunity elsewhere. After two disappointing campaigns in 1947 and 1948, LSTC took a risk by hiring Vaughn Mancha, a star player at the University of Alabama, as their fourth head coach. Mancha, then only 28 years old, had never been a coach before. The two-time All-American had just finished his rookie season with the Boston Yanks in the NFL. As soon as Mancha took over, the team started winning. In his first year as head coach, he guided LSTC to a historic victory over Florida State by a score of 13-6. In addition, they finished the regular season with a 7-1-1 record, which was the best in school history at the time. LSTC's historic season has qualified them for a matchup with Jacksonville State in the Paper Bowl. JSU emerged victorious in a tight defensive battle, 12-7. The Tigers' home field was Livingston High School until 1952. Tiger Stadium, with a seating capacity of 7,000, was built on land formerly known as "Crawdad Creek" and became the team's permanent home field. We needed a stadium on campus, so we built one. Once again, the following year was a winning one, as the team went 6-3-1. They were unable to repeat their success from the previous year. Mancha's third-year squad got off to a rough start (2-4) and continued to play poorly until they finished the year on a high note (5-5). It was announced that Mancha's time at LSTC would end after this season because he would be taking over as defensive coordinator at Florida State. With an overall record of 18-10-2, Mancha has now moved on.

Leaving Mancha behind, the Tigers went winless for the next 15 years. In 1965, the team's record was 5-4, their best performance. The hiring of Morris Higginbotham in 1967 marked the beginning of better fortune. He had an impressive 111-27-8 record as a high school coach in Alabama before taking over in Livingston. The Birmingham, Alabama, native led his 1968 squad to a 9-2 record and an appearance in the Peanut Bowl in Dothan, Alabama. For his efforts, he was named coach of the year by the Alabama Collegiate Conference. Higginbotham coached the Tigers to a 19-9-2 record during his brief three-year tenure. Mickey Andrews, formerly an assistant under Higginbotham, eventually took over as head coach. Andrews followed in the footsteps of former LU head coach Vaughn Mancha by excelling in two sports at the University of Alabama before being hired by the school in 1967. For three years, Andrews was the head coach of the UWA football team, during which time the Tigers posted a 24-7-2 record. During the 1971 season, the team defeated Arkansas Tech for the school's first and only championship. In the 1972 NAIA semi-finals, Carson-Newman defeated LU, ending LU's hopes of winning the title for a second year in a row. In a close game, the score ended 7-7. A contentious tiebreaker, however, sided with Carson-Newman. When Florida State offered Andrews the position of defensive coordinator in 1973, he became the second LU head coach to accept it. For the next head coach position, LU once again looked inward, hiring Andrews' top assistant, Jim King. The Adamsville, Alabama-born King enrolled at LU in 1970. With a record of 10-3 in 1975, he guided the Tigers into the postseason of college football's National Collegiate Athletic Association. The team's path to the NCAA Finals was paved with obstacles, including a matchup against the number one team in the country, North Dakota. Due to the heavy snowfall, the game was almost postponed. Yet, in a shocking turn of events, LU ultimately came out on top and advanced. They were forced to face a formidable Northern Michigan squad on national television during the semi-finals. Despite a 10-0 first-quarter lead, LU was defeated by a score of 28-26. Like other successful coaches at LU, King left to pursue other opportunities [5]. He went 29-14-1 over the course of three seasons. Since then, the Tigers have had some successful years but mostly unsuccessful ones.

An exciting new era in football history began with Bobby Wallace's hiring in 2006. In the Gulf South Conference, Wallace got his start as a head coach at the University of North Alabama from 1988 to 1997. In his three years as head coach of the Lions at UNA (from 1993 to 1995), his teams went 41-1 overall and won three consecutive national titles. The group from 1995 was named Division II's "Best Team of the Quarter Century." During Wallace's time at UNA, the football team went 6-for-6 in the NCAA Division II Playoffs and won the Gulf South Conference Championship in 1993 and 1995. He won 82 games and lost 36 in his 10 years as head coach, and 12 of his players went on to play in the NFL. Former head coach at Temple University since 1997 before moving to Livingston. With Wallace at the helm, many at UWA hoped for a return to football's glory days. UWA's first winning season in 14 years was an encouraging start to the Wallace era. The Tigers' final record was 6-5. UWA broke a few losing streaks with victories at Lambuth, Southern Arkansas, and Arkansas-Monticello (see also [6]). However, the excitement had to be put on hold as the team finished 2007 with a 1-9 record and finished 2008 with a 4-7 record. The 2009 season was one to remember for allace and his squad. Winning the first three games of the season set the tone for the year, and one of those victories was a televised home victory over Arkansas Tech However, three defeats in a row followed. UWA's playoff chances were nearly dashed after a loss to West Georgia the week after victories over #22 Delta State and Arkansas-Monticello. UWA and North Alabama, a division rival and Wallace's former team, played to the bitter end of the regular season. In those years, UNA topped all Division II polls and was consistently ranked as the best college football team in the country. UWA's valiant effort forced overtime after they had squandered a lead they had held for the majority of the game. Even after four extra periods, it looked like UNA would win, but a fumble gave UWA the ball and the victory. They used that opportunity to their advantage and ultimately won the game with a field goal. For the Tigers, it was their first victory at Florence's Braly Municipal Stadium since the 1987 campaign. UW-Ashland (UWA) was rewarded with a spot in the NCAA Division II playoffs (see [7]). The Tigers earned a 24-22 road victory over #20 Albany State in the first round. The Tigers rallied from an early deficit against #10 Carson-Newman, but ultimately lost 59-41. The Tigers went 8-5, their most victories since 1975, and had eight players named to the All-GSC team. UWA won six games against GSC opponents, the most since 1981, and finished with a 5-1 record at Tiger Stadium, the best since 1985. At the conclusion of the season, [10] they were ranked for the first time in school history on two different polls. Although the AFCA ranked them at #21, the D2Football.com poll had them at #19. [11][12]

USA Today ranked UWA 12th in the country heading into the 2010 season. Both Lindy's and Sporting News ranked them in their preseason top 25 polls, with Lindy's having them at #23 and Sporting News at #24. In the 2010 Gulf South Conference Pre-Season Poll, the Tigers of the University of West Alabama football team were picked to finish in second place, marking UWA's highest preseason ranking since 1976. In 1976 and 1972, the Red and White were the highest-ranked team going into the competition. [14] On August 28, West Alabama kicked off their season at NAIA member Shorter, who is located relatively close by in Demopolis, Alabama. A synthetic playing field was recently installed, marking the culmination of a massive renovation project at Tiger Stadium. Tigers' first game on the new field was against Lambuth on September 18; they lost by a single point. After beating West Georgia at home in the season opener, UWA's Gulf South Conference campaign was derailed by a loss at Delta State. They started off 3-2, but then won three in a row, including a thrilling Homecoming victory over Henderson State in the final seconds. Officials added a second to the clock after it appeared the game had ended. The winning touchdown was a pass from quarterback Deon Williams to wide receiver Gerald Worsham in the corner of the end zone. Two weeks later, before hosting Valdosta State in the regular season finale, the team lost another pair of heartbreakers. Bobby Wallace told his players the day before the game that he would be resigning as head coach at the end of the season. [18] The Tigers gave Wallace a victory in his final game despite falling behind and trailing the #7 ranked Blazers at halftime. The victory was only the team's second all-time and the first against Valdosta State since 1985. UW-Anchorage finished the year with a 7-4 record, their first such streak since 1991 and 1992. The Harlon Hill Trophy is the Division II version of the Heisman Trophy, and Deon Williams is one of 24 finalists for the award this year. Exactly one week after the season ended, [20] Will Hall replaced Bobby Wallace as offensive coordinator. To cap off a legendary career, Division II Hall of Famer Bobby Wallace was inducted in December. In 2011, the team went 8-4, defeated a Division I opponent in Georgia State, and advanced to the NCAA Division II Championship. In 2012, the team went 5-0, an unbeatable record in Gulf South play. Round one of the playoffs saw UWA defeat Miles College 41-7. Second round defeat at the hands of eventual national champion Valdosta State resulted in a final score of 49-21. UW-A finished with a 9-4 record.

As a whole, the 2013 squad went 8-3 (5-1). With a GSC record of 5-1, the Tigers became the first team in GSC history to win back-to-back championships. In that season, they went on a tear, defeating four ranked teams in a row, including Delta State and the year's overall No. 1 team, Val As of this season, Coach Hall is the head coach at West Georgia.

Afterwards, Brett Gilliland became the Tigers' new head coach. His first season would see him go 5-6 with five players named to the all-GSC team.

Well-known ex-athletes [ edit ]

Among the notable graduates are:

• In 2019, Dontavius Blair became an offensive lineman for the Toronto Argonauts.
• Cornerback Malcolm Butler of the New England Patriots from 2014 to 2017 and the Tennessee Titans from 2018 to 2020.
• Offense lineman Kennedy Estelle has played for both the Saskatchewan Roughriders (2016) and the Montreal Alouettes (2019).
• In 2013, Otha Foster played safety for the Kansas City Chiefs. In 2014, he played for the Toronto Argonauts. In 2015, he played for the Edmonton Eskimos. In 2016, he played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. In 2017, he played for the Baltimore Ravens. In 2018, he played for the BC Lions.
• Kevin Guy was a wide receiver for the Orlando Predators in 1999 and the New Jersey Red Dogs from 1997 to 1999.
• Wide Receiver Tyreek Hill, formerly of the Kansas City Chiefs (2016-2022) and the Miami Dolphins (since 2022).
• Linebacker Ken Hutcherson played for the Dallas Cowboys in 1974 and 1975 before moving to the San Diego Chargers.
• Linebacker Deon Lacey has played for the Edmonton Eskimos since 2014 and previously for the Dallas Cowboys in 2013.
• NFL player Charles Martin played defensive end for the Green Bay Packers from 1984 to 1987, the Houston Oilers in 1987, and the Atlanta Falcons in 1988.
• As a wide receiver, Seth Roberts has played for the Oakland Raiders from 2014 to 2018, the Baltimore Ravens in 2019, and the Carolina Panthers from 2020 on.
• Wide Receiver Lawrence Samuels played for the Tampa Bay Storm from 1994 to 2000, 2002 to 2010, and the New Jersey Red Dogs in 2001.
• Back in 1987, Johnny Shepherd was a running back for the Buffalo Bills.
• Dee Virgin is a cornerback for the Detroit Lions and the Houston Texans respectively.
• NFL player Matt Willis in 2014 for the Cleveland Browns
• Ridge Wilson has been a defensive end and linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs since 2013.
• Kendrick's 2001-02 job title with the Buffalo Bills is defensive end.
• Professional Wrestler Joshua Fatu Signs with WWE
• Professional Wrestler Jonathan Fatu Signs with WWE

Results from the Program [ edit ]

The Alabama Collegiate Conference Champions 1940, 1949 The Undisputed Champions of the Gulf South Conference 1971, 2012, 2013, 2017 Team Members Competing in the NCAA Division II Playoffs 1975, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2017, 2018 Championships of the Regions in NCAA Division II 1975 Championships of the NCAA's Second Division Participants in the NAIA Team Playoffs 1971, 1972 Championships at the Regional Level in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes 1971, 1972 Winners of the NAIA Championship 1971

References [ edit ]

A look at the world outside [ edit ]

• Site officiel