Tuscaloosa, AL – In Alabama Crimson Tide Football National Championship #17, Author Tommy Ford takes readers on a journey through Alabama’s 2017-18 championship season. With over 150 compelling images, all enclosed inside a durable slipcase, this book is certain to be a collector’s pride for years to come.
Alabama marched through the SEC undefeated at 11-0 before facing Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Nov. 25. After suffering a devastating 26-14 loss, Alabama was all but written off by members of the national media. As fate had it, the College Football Playoff committee ultimately placed the Crimson Tide in the postseason final four.
In the CFP semifinals, Alabama steamrolled Clemson, 24-6, to face Georgia, who had defeated Oklahoma in a wild, high scoring affair in Pasadena. And with a 26-23 overtime victory over the Bulldogs, Bama collected its 17th National Championship in school history.
“Alabama didn’t let the selection committee down,” writes Ford. “As the Tide proved, not only was it better on paper than No.5 Ohio State, but ultimately better on the field than the No. 1 Clemson, and, when it counted the most, better than No. 3 Georgia. Immediately following Alabama’s indescribable win over the Bulldogs, as the crimson and white confetti continued to fall in Atlanta, head coach Nick Saban expressed what the entire Alabama Nation felt. ‘I’ve never been happier in my life. Never.’”
Alabama’s Strength and Conditioning coach Scott Cochran provides additional insight in the forward to the book. “Alabama’s winding road to the 2017 National Championship may have indeed ended on on boom-boom play in Atlanta,” says Cochran, “but it started a year earlier in a sad, dejected locker room in Tampa following our crushing 35-31 loss to Clemson in the national title game. Not long after that loss, Coach Saban—in his own unique motivating way—set the internal mantra for our 2017 team: ‘Don’t Waste a Failure.’ I don’t think he publicly mentioned it until the summer, but let’s be clear: it was on our minds every single moment of every single day. During recruiting visits in January. All through our 4th Quarter Program. Spring practice. During the scorching days of August. Every practice of every week of every month of the 2017 season. Don’t waste a failure. Thanks to an incredible effort by our coaches and players, we didn’t.”
This special 144-page hard cover commemorative book is available on Amazon and Books-A-Million online, as well as in Books-A-Million Stores, Walmart, and Sam’s. H&A
For the Amazon link to buy the book, click here:
About the Author:
As an associate athletics director for the University of Alabama, Tommy Ford oversees the A-Club Alumni Association and the Red Elephant clubs. Ford, a native of Gadsden, Alabama, earned his B.S. in Finance from the University of Alabama in 1978 and his M.A. in Higher Education Administration from the university in 1998. As a student at Alabama from 1974-78, Ford served in the SGA Senate, Jasons and the Kappa Alpha Order, and during his senior year was sports editor of The Crimson White. After graduating from the Capstone, Ford returned to Gadsden before returning to the university in 1982. From 1982-87, Ford worked for the National Alumni Association in alumni chapter development and fundraising. In 1987, he was hired as assistant ticket manager in the Athletics Department, and then was promoted to ticket manager, a position in which he served from 1987-93. For 13 years from 1993-2006, Ford was director of TIDE PRIDE, the Athletics Department s football and basketball ticket priority program. Ford is the author or co-author of nine books: Alabama’s Family Tides; The University of Alabama All-Access Football Vault®; the Alabama-Auburn Rivalry Football Vault®; Bear Bryant on Leadership; Tornado to National Title #14; Crimson Domination: The Process Behind Alabama s 15th National Championship; A Season to Remember: Faith in the Midst of the Storm; Crimson Mission: Coach Saban & the Tide Silence Critics with 16th National Championship; and The University of Alabama Football Vault®. Ford is married to the former Robin Rich of Gadsden, and the couple has one son, 20-year-old John Michael.
