Previous Events

November 26, 2019

Wimp & Sonny

(Basketball Coaches)

Winfrey "Wimp" Sanderson (born August 8, 1937)[1] is a retired American college basketball coach. He coached at the University of Alabama from 1981 to 1992 and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock from 1994 to 1999.

Charles H. "Sonny" Smith (born November 15, 1936) is a retired American men's college basketball head coach. Originally from Roan Mountain, Tennessee, Smith served as a head coach for twenty-two seasons. He is credited with turning around losing programs at East Tennessee State University and Auburn University. Additionally, Smith coached Virginia Commonwealth University from 1989-1998.

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November 19, 2019

Mark Richt

Former Georgia & Miami Coach

Mark Richt is a retired college football head coach and former player. He was the head football coach at the University of Miami, his alma mater, and recipient of the 2017 Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award.

Richt played college football as a quarterback at Miami. His previous coaching affiliations include 14 years at Florida State University where he served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Bobby Bowden, a year as offensive coordinator at East Carolina University, and 15 years as head coach at the University of Georgia. He has the third highest winning percentage among active FBS Division 1 coaches who have coached 200 or more games and has produced 93 draft picks (second highest).

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October 29, 2019

Jill Arrington

Sideline Reporter - ESPN (Ladies Night)

Jill Arrington is a veteran sportscaster known for her work on national television covering the NFL and college football sidelines as a sports reporter and anchor for several sports networks over the past 20 years.

After graduating from the University of Miami with a degree in Broadcast Journalism, Jill began her broadcasting career as a producer of entertainment television for several years. After that she entered the sports world as a sideline feature reporter for FOX Sports covering women's tennis and the NFL on “FOX NFL Sunday” and was the co-host of FOX Sports “NFL Under the Helmet.”

Jill then worked at CBS Sports as the lead sideline reporter on the “SEC College Football game of the week” and US Open tennis tournament for four years as well as feature reporter on the “The NFL Today” show. Jill also hosted the AFL's Pregame Show on TNN and was the sideline reporter for arena football games for 3 seasons.

Jill switched to ESPN as the lead college football sideline reporter for Thursday night’s primetime college football games as well as feature reporter on “ESPN College Gameday”.

After taking some time off to raise her daughter, Jill returned to FOX Sports as the host of “College Football Saturday Preview” for 3 seasons, as well as other sports shows such as FSN's “Totally NASCAR”, NFL Mobile Updates on “FOX NFL Sunday” and the “NFL Online OT”. Jill then anchored live hourly sports news updates for FoxSports.com for 3 years and joined FS1 as a sports news anchor, host, and reporter for FS1s "America's Pregame” for its inaugural 2 years

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October 22, 2019

Johnny Davis

UA, NFL

Johnny Davis is a retired football running back who played ten seasons in the NFL (1978–1987). Davis was a member of the 1981 San Francisco 49ers team that won Super Bowl XVI. He is a graduate of Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Alabama, and the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Davis played for the University of Alabama under coach Paul W. "Bear" Bryant and is one of the legendary "wishbone fullbacks". He lettered three of the four years of his college career. On November 23, 1977, Coach Bryant called him "the best fullback I've ever coached" in The Tuscaloosa News. Nicknamed "Bull", Davis led the Crimson Tide in rushing in three of his four seasons at Alabama, and he ranked third all-time at Alabama with 2,519 career rushing yards on 447 attempts, 5.64 average yards per carry, and 21 touchdowns. He was a member of the 2nd Team All-SEC 1975, 2nd Team All-SEC 1976, 2nd Team UPI All-America Team 1977, 1st Team All-SEC 1977, and Alabama Team of the Decade 1970s.

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October 15, 2019

Tommy Tuberville

Former AU Coach & Senate Candidate

Tommy Tuberville is a former college football coach and former player. Tuberville served as the head football coach at the University of Mississippi from 1995 to 1998, Auburn University from 1999 until 2008, Texas Tech University from 2010 to 2012 and University of Cincinnati from 2013 to 2016.

He is currently a candidate for Senator in Alabama.

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October 8, 2019

John Parker Wilson

Former Alabama QB

John Parker Wilson, former Alabama quarterback and color analyst for the Crimson Tide Sports Network, led Alabama to the SEC championship game in Nick Saban’s second year. When his career at Alabama ended, Wilson held every significant passing record in Alabama school history.

He later played for Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Pittsburgh in the NFL.

He is now a financial analyst.

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October 1, 2019

Curley Hallman

Curley Hallman is a former college football player and coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Southern Mississippi and Louisiana State University, compiling a career record of 39–39.

In 1987, Hallman became the head coach at Southern Miss, where he proceeded to compile the highest winning percentage in school history with the help of future NFL star quarterback Brett Favre. He left for Baton Rouge just days before the Golden Eagles were due to play in the 1990 All-American Bowl.

LSU started the 1991 season with one-sided losses to Georgia (31–10) and Hallman's alma mater, Texas A&M (45–7), and finished 5–6. The season marked the second time LSU suffered three consecutive losing seasons, and the first time since 1954 to 1956. LSU ended up having 4 consecutive losing seasons under Hallman.

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September 24, 2019

Nate Oats

New Basketball Coach at Alabama

Nate Oats was formally introduced as head men's basketball coach at The University of Alabama on March 28, 2019.

This past year, Oats guided Buffalo to a 32-4 overall record and a 16-2 mark in conference play, leading the program to its second consecutive MAC regular season and tournament championships. The Bulls were ranked for 20 weeks in the Associated Press Top-25 throughout the 2019 season, which marked the first time in school history the program had earned a national ranking. Buffalo went on to climb as high as No. 14 in the nation which was the highest ranking by any MAC team in past 40 years. Additionally, the 32 victories not only set a program record, but was the most wins ever by any Mid-American men's basketball program.

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September 17, 2019

Gene Chizik

Former AU Coach and SEC/ESPN

Eugene T. Chizik is a former college football coach and former player. He was most recently the defensive coordinator at North Carolina from 2015–2016. He served as the head coach of the Auburn football team from 2009 until the end of the 2012 season. Chizik's 2010 Auburn Tigers football team completed a 14–0 season with a victory over Oregon in the BCS National Championship Game. Chizik played college football at the University of Florida in 1981 for head coach Charley Pell.

Coach Chizik is now an analyst for the SEC network operated by ESPN.

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September 10, 2019

Sarah Thomas

Only Female NFL Official (Ladies night)

Sarah Thomas is currently an official for the National Football League (NFL). Thomas was the first woman to officiate a major college football game, the first to officiate a bowl game, and the first to officiate in a Big Ten stadium.

In 2013, Thomas became one of 21 finalists in contention for a permanent NFL officiating position.

Thomas worked New Orleans Saints scrimmages, and was part of the NFL officiating development program, spending three days at the Indianapolis Colts minicamp.

On April 8, 2015, the NFL officially announced that Thomas would become the first permanent female official in NFL history. Thomas made her NFL regular season debut in a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium on September 13, 2015, as part of Pete Morelli's crew as the line judge.

On December 24, 2016, Thomas broke her wrist in a mid-game collision on the sideline of a Vikings-Packers game. After being looked at for a brief concussion protocol, Thomas returned and finished the game with the broken wrist.

In 2017, Thomas moved to the down judge position. The change in the position name from head linesman coincided with the move in to use a gender-neutral term.

Thomas is the first woman to earn an on-field assignment for a playoff game. She was named to the crew for the game between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Chargers on January 13, 2019. She was an alternate for the 2018 Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Rams Wild Card game. She did appear in a Super Bowl LIII commercial in 2019 for the NFL. September 10th.

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August 5, 2019

Tom Luginbill

ESPN

Tom Luginbill is a National Recruiting Director and college football analyst for ESPN. Luginbill grew up in Tempe, Arizona and San Diego. He is the son of the professional and college coach Al Luginbill. He hosts these TV shows: ESPNU Recruiting Insider, ESPNU Coaches Spotlight and College Football Live.

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July 31, 2019

Micky Haddock

Former SEC Official

Mickey Haddock served many years as an athletics official for the Gulf South Conference. Later, he was a Southeastern Conference (SEC) official for five sports including football. He also served as president of the SEC Football Officials Association.

He was the Mayor of Florence Alabama for one term. I am sure that Mickey has some great stories of his interfaces with SEC coaches.

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