After three national titles in the 1960s, Alabama slipped. The Tide went 6–5 in 1969 and 6–5–1 in 1970, and USC came to Birmingham in 1970 and won 42–21. For the first time, people wondered out loud whether Bear Bryant had lost his touch.
Summer school in Texas
Bryant's answer was to go back to school. In the summer of 1971 he went to Austin to see his friend Darrell Royal, whose Texas teams had been winning with a new option offense called the wishbone. Royal walked him through it. Alabama didn't have a classic passing quarterback, and the wishbone didn't need one.
Keep it quiet
Bryant made the switch and swore everyone to secrecy. He had campus security and Tuscaloosa police check the apartments that overlooked practice and chase away anyone watching from the rooftops. Local reporters who figured it out were warned not to print it.
The reveal
The secret came out on Sept. 10, 1971, at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The same USC team that had embarrassed Alabama a year earlier was heavily favored again. Alabama lined up in the wishbone, scored two quick touchdowns and held on to win 17–10.
That team, led by running back Johnny Musso, went 11–0 in the regular season, beat an unbeaten Auburn team 31–7, and lost only in the Orange Bowl to Nebraska.
A decade of wins
Then the wishbone took off. From 1971 through 1979, Alabama went 97–11. It won the SEC title eight times in the decade and claimed national championships in 1973, 1978 and 1979.
Bryant was in his late 50s and had already won three national titles. He could have kept doing what he knew. Instead he went to Texas, learned something new, and won three more.