TUSCALOOSA, Ala.– After four seasons of serving as the University of Alabama’s Director of Athletics, Bill Battle announced his retirement on Sunday via press release. Battle, 75, succeeded former director Mal Moore in 2013 after health issues forced him to step down.
During Battle’s tenure, Alabama athletics produced three national championships (men’s golf in 2013 and 2014; football in 2015); 10 Southeastern Conference championships in five different sports (three in football, two in gymnastics, two in men’s golf, and one in women’s golf, softball and women’s tennis); 15 NCAA individual champions (seven in 2013-14, six in 2014-15, and two in 2015-16); 43 Academic All-Americans (eight in 2013, 17 in 2014, eight in 2015, 9 in 2016, and one so far in the 2016-17 academic year – leading the nation in that category in both 2014 and 2015), including six Academic All-Americans of the Year (one in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and a national-leading three in 2016); and 16 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship awardees (5 in 2013, a national-leading 7 in 2014, two in 2015, and 3 in 2016).
Battle, who underwent a stem cell transplant for multiple myeloma in June of 2016, battled from illness to watch his program earn one SEC team title (football), produced four All-Americans and one Academic All-America honors. During the 2015-16 academic year, Alabama won two SEC titles (football and women’s golf) while seven of 17 teams finished their respective seasons ranked among the top 25 nationally, including four national top-10 finishes and one national title (football). Individually in 2015-16, six student-athletes earned three individual NCAA championships: Quanesha Burks (women’s indoor track – long jump), Katie Bailey (gymnastics – vault) and the men’s swimming 200-yard medley relay team (Connor Oslin, Pavel Romanov, Luke Kaliszak and Kristian Gkolomeev).
Per UA president Stuart Bell, Battle will remain at AD until a successor is hired for the role.
“Bill has done a tremendous job as Director of Athletics, and has accomplished so much during his career,” said Bell. “His business expertise, coupled with his coaching experience and his strong understanding of the role an athletic department has in the daily fabric of a university, has allowed us to achieve the great successes we have enjoyed during his tenure. We are blessed to have the continued benefit of his counsel.”
While Battle is looking forward to his new position, he wanted to inform people that his health was not a factor in making the choice to step aside.
“I am in full remission and I feel great,” he said. “When I came here in 2013, I committed to Dr. Witt that I would be here for four years, or the equivalent of another college degree. Last summer, before my medical procedure, I told Dr. Bell that I was expecting, as were my doctors, to come through that procedure very well, and that I intended to serve out the last year of my contract.”
Battle continued with: “I told him that he should be looking for a replacement. That process has been going on over the last few months. As you know, in this business, high-level changes are hard to map out and announce very far in advance. Meanwhile, I would like to continue to help the University, but I’d also like to be able to spend more time at our farm in Georgia and in Jackson Hole, the sort of things a full-time AD job doesn’t really permit.”
Excellence in academics was a core value of the “Battle Plan” at Alabama.
From 2011 to 2016, the school had an SEC-best 25 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship awardees; a national-best. It’s graduation rate of 72 percent with a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 92 in 2016, was ranked second in the SEC and was up one point from the previous year. The GSR spans the period covering students who attended the University during 2005-08. In addition to standing in the top two in the SEC with its overall GSR, the Crimson Tide was first or tied for first in nine different sports (football, men’s basketball, gymnastics, men’s golf, women’s golf, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, softball and men’s swimming & diving. Men’s track & field and women’s soccer were second in the SEC with scores of 96 and 94, respectively.
As for football, the Crimson Tide had the highest Graduation Success Rate (86) among the four teams selected for the 2016 College Football Playoff. Alabama had the second-highest GSR (80) of the four teams selected for the 2017 College Football Playoff. The 2016 season marked the eighth consecutive year that the Crimson Tide football team suited up more than 20 graduates for a bowl game as 22 Crimson Tide players already had earned diplomas prior to the postseason.
Three Tide football players graduated with master’s degrees in the 2016 fall semester.
***All information comes via press release from UA’s athletic department of communication***
Stephen M. Smith is a senior analyst and columnist for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @Smsmith_TDALMag.
