The Alexander City Outlook

Lutz: BCS title gives Tide credibility again

When former Alabama football player and Alexander City Middle School coach Bill Lutz graduated from the University in 1990, Jay Barker was at the helm and the program was just two years shy of winning its 12th national championship.

Lutz, a Tuscaloosa native, had just moved to Alexander City to take a job at Radney Elementary School in 1991 and watched that championship game from in Superdome. Eighteen years later he watched the Tide overtake the Longhorns from his living room in Alexander City.

“It means everything to the players and even to the ex-players because we all know what they’re trying to accomplish and in a way there is a victory for all of us in that,” Lutz said.

Lutz walked on to the team in 1986 as a 26-year-old freshman when Ray Perkins was the head coach. He secured a spot on the team for two years and in 1988 he accepted a student assistantship to help train the team throughout the remainder of his college career.

“Playing for Alabama is the best thing I could have done for my life,” Lutz said.

After earning an undergraduate degree in education, Lutz worked as a graduate assistant on the football team under coach Gene Stallings until he graduated.

Lutz said he watched over the past two decades as the Alabama football program struggled through almost a half-dozen coaches and several difficult seasons. But now that the program has claimed its 13th title, he said it appears the tide is turning.

“After coach Stallings left, we went though some tough times, but this helps put us back on our feet,” Lutz said. “It gives us some credibility in athletics again.”

But credibility is just the first step. Performance is the next and if the program and maintain those two things, Lutz thinks Alabama can secure its position as a top-ranked program, not just for 2009, but also in the coming years.

“I know we are on the top right now, but I really see us only getting better,” Lutz said. “You can’t predict how games are going to turn out, but everything is set so that if they perform, they’re going to win more championships in the future.”

Lutz’s father, “Red” Lutz, also played for the Tide in the late 1940’s and his mom, Mary, was a cheerleader for the team during the same time period. Both earned degrees in education while at the university.

“It makes us all proud because once you’re a member there, you’re a member for life,” Lutz said.