TUSCALOOSA, ALA. — Former Alabama and NFL head coach Ray Perkins died Wednesday morning in Tuscaloosa. He was 79.
The school announced his death Wednesday, and daughter Rachael Perkins posted news of his death on her Facebook page. No other details were immediately available.
“He served the University of Alabama with great class and integrity,” Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said Wednesday on the Southeastern Conference coaches teleconference. “He was a great coach and had a tremendous impact on the game, and he was a really, really good person and a really good friend.”
Perkins left a head coaching job with the NFL’s New York Giants to replace Bear Bryant after the 1982 season.