Ray Perkins, former Alabama Crimson Tide and New York Giants coach, died on Wednesday. He was 79 years old. Perkins’ family told AL.com that he died Wednesday morning at his home in Northpoint, Alabama. It’s been reported he was dealing with heart issues for a couple of years.
“Our condolences to Ray Perkins’ family and friends,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said during the SEC teleconference as reported by ESPN. “He served the University of Alabama with great class and integrity. He was a great coach and he had a tremendous impact on the game, and he was a really good person and a really good friend.”
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Perkins was the coach at Alabama from 1983 -1986. His best season was 1986 when he led the Crimson Tide to a 10-3 record. The team also won the Sun Bowl that year and finished No. 9 in the AP and Coaches Poll. In his four seasons at Alabama, Perkins posted a 32-15-1 record and 3-0 in Bowl games.
Before landing the Alabama coaching job, Perkins was the coach for the Giants from 1979-1982. He led the team to one winning season (1997) and one playoff win. In his four seasons in New York, Perkins posted a 23-34 record. He returned to the NFL in 1987 to become the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He coached there for four seasons and won 19 games.
“I loved Ray and he was a very close friend of mine,” Bill Parcells, who was Perkins’ defensive coordinator with the Giants and succeeded him as coach in New York, said in a statement. “I was very saddened by the news. He’s the only reason I was in pro football. He’s the one who brought me into the league. He was my friend.”
After coaching in Tampa Bay, Perkins was named head coach at Arkansas State in 1992. He then became the New England Patriots offensive coordinator in 1993 and was there for four seasons. He then spent time with the Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns before taking some time off and becoming the head coach at Jones County Community College in 2012. He was there for two seasons and then became a volunteer coach at Oak Grove High School in Mississippi in 2014. Perkins was also a standout college football player as he was named SEC Player of the Year in 1966 after catching 33 passes for 490 yards and seven touchdowns as a wide receiver. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.
