Report: Former Alabama coach Gene Stallings recovering from third stroke

Former Alabama football head coach Gene Stallings is recovering from his third stroke, which he suffered just weeks after battling COVID-19, according to WVTM 13 in Birmingham, Alabama. The 87-year old has dealt with multiple health scares in the past, with his two previous strokes and a heart attack coming in 2017.

Despite suffering the stroke, Gene Stallings does not have any paralysis and showcased that he is functioning just fine with a recent example.

“I have no paralysis,” Stallings said, via WVTM 13’s Rick Karle. “In fact, I boarded a plane and flew to Alabama for a board meeting. … I’ll be fine. Tell your followers I sure do appreciate them.”

Stallings is known fondly in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he won a national championship in 1992 as head coach. Before that, he won two national championships as an assistant under Bear Bryant in 1961 and 1964.

Paul Finebaum shares memory of Bear Bryant

College football analyst Paul Finebaum is a seasoned veteran in the sports journalism industry. Finebaum was recently a guest on Always College Football hosted by Greg McElroy, where the two talked in depth about the past, present, and future of the college football landscape.

The two reminisced about Finebaum’s infamous back and forth with Alabama head coach Nick Saban at SEC Media days in 2016, and talked about asking the tough questions. McElroy asked Finebaum about some of the “softball” questions that were asked to SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and coaches at media day, and asked Finebaum what he would’ve wanted answered at this years media days, where he shared an anecdote and lesson learned from legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant.

“I don’t know because Greg, the media is so different.” Finebaum said. “I asked coach Bryant three questions at his retirement announcement and I’m embarrassed about it to this day, because they were tough questions. One of them was ‘coach Bryant do you regret after winning your 315th game that you came back for another year,’ because he lost three of his last four games, including for the first time at home in 25 years to Southern Miss and to Auburn. So I learned at an early age that if you’re going to ask a tough question, you’re almost better off doing it in a different setting, because otherwise it looks like you’re just grandstanding, like I was with Saban that day.”