Ray Perkins, former Alabama football player and coach, dies at 79
Former University of Alabama football coach Ray Perkins died Wednesday morning in Tuscaloosa.
Current Alabama head coach Nick Saban confirmed Perkins’ death on Wednesday’s SEC teleconference, offering condolences to the Perkins family and describing Perkins as “a really, really good person and a really good friend.”
Perkins, 79, was a star receiver at Alabama in the 1960s. He went on to become the coach of the New York Giants, then surprised the football world twice, first by leaving New York to replace Paul W. “Bear” Bryant as the Alabama coach following the 1982 season, then by leaving Alabama to return to the NFL, when he took the head coaching job in Tampa Bay in 1987.
He was also the coach at Arkansas State for one season, 1992.
Perkins came to Tuscaloosa in 1963 and was a star receiver on teams featuring quarterbacks Joe Namath, Steve Sloan and Ken Stabler from 1964-66. He was an All-American in 1966 when he caught 33 passes for 490 yards and seven touchdowns.
He played professionally for the Baltimore Colts under coach Don Shula from 1967-71. After assistant coaching stints at New England and San Diego, he was named coach of the Giants in 1979. He led New York to the 1981 playoffs before accepting the Alabama job and the daunting task of following Bryant.
Perkins was 32-15-1 in four years at Alabama and recruited some of the Crimson Tide’s greatest players including Cornelius Bennett, Curt Jarvis, Derrick Thomas, Mike Shula and Bobby Humphrey. He also served as the school’s athletic director and had a bristly relationship, at times, with the Alabama administration. Still, his sudden departure for a huge financial offer from Tampa Bay in December 1986 came as a surprise in Tuscaloosa.
In four years at Tampa Bay, Perkins went 19-41 and he was eventually let go by owner Hugh Culverhouse.
Other than his one-year stint at Arkansas State, Perkins continued to coach at various levels, including Jones County (Miss.) Junior College, not far from his hometown of Petal, Mississippi.
He eventually retired quietly in Tuscaloosa.
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