BREAKING: Mal Moore Steps Down as Alabama Crimson Tide Athletic Director

Jan 8, 2013; Fort Lauderdale FL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide athletic director Mal Moore and head coach Nick Saban with the national championship coaches trophy during the winning coach press conference at Harbor Beach Marriott Resort

Alabama athletic director Mal Moore is stepping down from his post atop the department, BamaHammer.com learned Wednesday.

Moore will become a special assistant to University President Dr. Judy Bonner.

“Mal Moore is Crimson Tide sports,” said Bonner in a UA release. “During his tenure as athletics director, our student athletes have experienced unprecedented success in every aspect of their careers at UA, on the field of play and in the classroom. His contributions to UA athletics on every level are unsurpassed. And, while he will no longer be in charge of day-to-day operations, I am so pleased that we will continue to be able to rely on his wisdom and expertise going forward.”

“As many of you may know, due to factors related to my health, I am at a point that I can no longer fulfill my duties as athletics director in the true championship manner the position requires,” said Moore. “While I have to focus on my health issue, I look forward to maintaining an ongoing working relationship with this great University as special assistant to Dr. Bonner. I know I can count on each of you to continue your unequaled support for me and The University of Alabama.

“I cannot adequately express what the University means to me. It has been a part of my life for more than 50 years, and I feel honored to have served the Crimson Tide as a player, coach and administrator. I am so appreciative of the University administration, coaches, staff, student-athletes and fans who have made my tenure as director so very meaningful, memorable and special.”

The news comes one week after Moore was admitted to Birmingham’s Brookwood Hospital, and then transferred via aircraft to North Carolina to be admitted to the Duke University Medical Center for additional tests related to pulmonary issues.

The Duke University Medical Center is one of the premiere hospitals in the world for lung transplants, and their website states that their “clinical care, research, and training programs focus on the most pressing issues facing patients with pulmonary disease or those who are critically ill.”

In August of 2012, Moore was admitted to DCH Hospital in Tuscaloosa for an irregular heartbeat. He was released a few days later with his personal physician saying he was “doing fine.”

Moore was Alabama’s athletic director since 1999, and made an indelible mark on one of the nation’s most storied athletic programs, leading a department that has enjoyed tremendous success athletically and academically as well as undergoing an unprecedented period of growth during his tenure.

Through his guidance, Alabama’s athletic department remains focused on his vision of having all Crimson Tide athletic teams and student-athletes competitive at the highest level nationally while continuing to elevate athletic facilities at the Capstone to premier status nationally for all sports.

During his tenure as Director of Athletics, Moore has overseen more than $240 million of capital improvements to University of Alabama athletic facilities. Those projects have encompassed the entire scope of all Crimson Tide athletic programs and have benefitted every Alabama student-athlete, coach, and administrator.

Throughout his career, Moore has worked with a diversified field of constituents, from fellow coaches and former players, to fans and the business community. All of those experiences and relationships – in addition to his ability to unify those many constituents – have made him the ideal person to lead Alabama athletics in the 21st century.

Moore’s dedication to and love of the University of Alabama was recognized on March 28, 2007, when, as a permanent tribute to his life-long contribution to The University of Alabama, the Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama officially dedicated the facility formerly known as The Football Building as the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility.

Under Moore’s direction, Alabama’s athletic teams have produced national championship teams in football, gymnastics, softball and women’s golf as well as Southeastern Conference championships in football, basketball, baseball, gymnastics, men’s and women’s golf, men’s cross country and softball.

Alabama athletes have earned some of the highest honors the SEC and NCAA have to offer, including SEC Athlete of the Year, SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, NCAA Top VIII, NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships and NCAA Sportsperson of the Year. These honors are over and above the individual conference and national titles that Alabama athletes continue to bring home to the Capstone on a regular basis.

In addition to making his mark on Alabama Moore has also had a national impact as a key member of several prestigious NCAA and college football committees. Moore has served on the NCAA Division I Football Issues Committee, the SEC Athletic Directors Bowl Advisory Committee and the Big Six Conferences Minority Coaches Forum.

Moore’s distinguished record of service to UA began more than 50 years ago when he joined the Crimson Tide football squad as a scholarship player for Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant from 1958-62. Moore has the distinction of being a part of ten national championship teams as a player, coach and athletic director (1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1992, 2009, 2011 and 2012), 16 SEC championships, and 39 bowl trips. He is the only individual connected with the Tide program to be a part of ten national football championships.

In 2011, he was elected to the State of Alabama Sports Hall of Fame for his accomplishments as a coach and an administrator. After the completion of the 2011-12 academic and athletic seasons, Moore was named the winner of the John L. Toner Award, given to the nation’s best athletic director. In 2012, the City of Tuscaloosa honored him and his late wife, Charlotte, by naming the new Caring Days program the Mal and Charlotte Moore Center. The facility is a day program for adults with Alzheimer’s and other memory disorders.

During a coaching career that spanned 31 years, Moore spent 22 of those at Alabama with stops at Montana State, Notre Dame and the NFL’s St. Louis and Phoenix Cardinals. At Alabama, Moore started as Coach Bryant’s graduate assistant in 1964, then as defensive backfield coach for five years beginning in 1965 before becoming quarterbacks coach from 1971-82 and serving as the Tide’s first offensive coordinator starting in 1975. He returned as offensive coordinator under Gene Stallings from 1990-93 before moving into athletic administration.

A 1963 graduate of The University of Alabama, Moore holds both an undergraduate degree in Sociology and a 1964 Master’s Degree in Secondary Education from the Capstone. A native of Dozier, Ala., he was married to the former Charlotte Davis of Tuscaloosa for 41 years before she passed away after a long illness in 2010. He has one daughter, Mrs. Steve (Heather) Cook of Scottsdale, Ariz., a granddaughter, Anna Lee, and a grandson, Charles Cannon.