Alabama National Champions: What Tide team will win No. 28?

There are a total of 27 Alabama national champions won by Alabama athletic programs. Five Alabama team sports have won National Championships: Football; Gymnastics; Men’s Golf, Women’s Golf and Softball. What team will win No. 28?

Measuring Alabama national champions against every major collegiate athletic program is not easy. There are so many different team sports. Schools pick and choose from many team sports’ options while maintaining strict Title 9 parity guidelines.

For what appears to be a comprehensive list of every possible college team sport try this Wikipedia link. You see impressive numbers, particularly from Pac 12 schools Stanford, UCLA and USC.

The problem with the link is it gives credit for team sports lacking broad, national competition. Water polo, beach volleyball, rifle shooting and field hockey are not varsity sports at many schools.

Narrowing a review to just current SEC schools and eight major team sports provides an interesting and more clear picture. The list below compiles the national championships for SEC schools in football; men’s basketball; women’s basketball; gymnastics; baseball; softball; women’s golf and men’s golf.

The records for all the sports except football go back to the start of the SEC in 1933. Using the NCAA defined ‘major selectors’ designation, football is measured going back to 1907.

All-time SEC football national champions

• Alabama – 17 national championships: 1925; 1926; 1930; 1934; 1941; 1961; 1964; 1965; 1973; 1978; 1979; 1992; 2009; 2011; 2012; 2015; 2017 – see note below
• LSU – Four national championships: 1907; 1958; 2003 and 2007
• Florida – Three national championships: 1996; 2006 and 2008
• Tennessee – Two national championships: 1951 and 1998
• Auburn – Two national championships: 1957 and 2010
• Arkansas – One national championship: 1963
• Ole Miss – One national championship: 1960
• Texas A&M – One national championship: 1919
• Georgia – One national championship: 1980

More on college football national championships: There is no clarity in any list. Alabama arguably should not claim 1941 but it could claim 1945 or even 1966. Other schools can and do claim other non-consensus titles.

All-time SEC men’s basketball national champions

• Kentucky – Eight national championships: 1948-1951; 1958; 1978; 1996; 1998; 2012
• Florida – Two national championships: 2006 and 2007
• Arkansas – One national championship: 1994

All-time SEC women’s basketball national champions

• Tennessee – Eight national championships: 1987; 1989; 1991; 1996-1998; 2007 and 2008
• South Carolina – One national championship: 2017

All-time SEC baseball national champions

• LSU – Six national championships: 1991; 1993; 1996; 1997; 2000; 2009
• South Carolina – Two national championships: 2010 and 2011
• Georgia – One national championship: 1990
• Missouri – One national championship: 1954
• Vanderbilt – One national championship: 2014

All-time SEC gymnastics national champions

• Georgia – Ten national championships: 1987; 1989; 1993; 1998; 1999; 2005-2009
• Alabama – Six national championships: 1988; 1991; 1996; 2002; 2011; 2012
• Florida – Three national championships: 2013; 2014; 2015

All-time SEC softball national champions

• Texas A&M – Two national championships: 1983 and 1987
• Florida – Two national championships: 2014 and 2015
• Alabama – One national championship: 2012

All-time SEC women’s golf national champions

• Florida – Two national championships: 1985 and 1986
• Georgia – One national championship: 2001
• Alabama – One national championship: 2012

All-time SEC men’s golf national champions

• LSU – Five national championships: 1940; 1942; 1947; 1955 and 2015
• Florida – Four national championships: 1968; 1973; 1993 and 2001
• Alabama – Two national championships: 2013 and 2014
• Georgia – Two national championships: 1999 and 2005
• Texas A&M – One national championship: 2009

So how many Alabama national champions have been achieved? We call it 27 Alabama national champions from the eight-team sports tracked in this review. The only other SEC schools with 10 or more are Florida (16); LSU (15); Georgia (15) and Tennessee (10).

Next: Not easy to pick Tide's toughest '18 football opponent

So which team sport will be added to the Alabama national champions list? A few days ago, it was almost women’s golf making it as the 28th for the Crimson Tide.