Avery Johnson Recalls First Trip to Tuscaloosa in 1989

When Avery Johnson landed at Tuscaloosa Regional Airport as Alabama’s new men’s basketball coach Tuesday evening, it wasn’t his first time in his new city.

He had been to Tuscaloosa before – once – 26 years earlier.

But it wasn’t for a basketball game as a player at Southern University, or because he was simply passing through.

He came to see an Alabama football game.

“In 1989, I came here with one of my former teammates Derrick McKey,” Johnson said Wednesday. “We were teammates at the Seattle SuperSonics. He brought me here to go to a Crimson Tide Roll Tide football game and our first stop was at Dreamland. So I had a chance to eat some ribs and the white bread and the sauce, of course.

“I remember that more than the football game.”

Asked who Alabama was facing that weekend, Johnson said he needed the schedule in front of him to remember.

The Crimson Tide, still splitting home games between Bryant-Denny Stadium and Legion Field in Birmingham at the time, played three times (all wins) in Tuscaloosa that season – Kentucky on Sept. 23, Southwestern Louisiana (homecoming) on Oct. 14 and Southern Miss on Nov. 18. The 1989-90 NBA season began on Nov. 3 of that year, making it unlikely Johnson saw the Tide take on the Golden Eagles.

McKey, a forward who was selected by the Sonics as the ninth overall pick in the 1987 NBA Draft, played three seasons at Alabama (1984-87), winning SEC Player of the Year honors his junior season.

Johnson went undrafted in 1988 but had a 16-year career as an NBA point guard that ended in 2004.

Johnson had his second in-person experience with Alabama football when he spoke to the team at its afternoon practice Wednesday.

His full speech to the team:

“Hey, men. I’m really excited to be a part of The University of Alabama Crimson Tide family. And just so you know, I have a relationship with a football team on the NFL level. Back in 2006, when Sean Payton took over for the New Orleans Saints after Hurricane Katrina, he called on me because I’m from New Orleans to give the team their first speech in Jackson, Mississippi on the football field in 115 degrees.

“And you know what I told him? Seize the second of this season. They adopted that theme as a rallying cry for that season, and they finished in the NFC Championship. He brought me back in 2009 to give the team a speech in training camp and I told them, ‘I want you to go out this year and be special. I want you to compete, I want you to care more about your teammates than you care about yourself. I want you to have confidence so forth and so on. And I told them you’re going to go 14-2, and I’ll see you in Miami in the Super Bowl.’

“I was wrong. They went 13-3. I saw them that morning of Super Bowl morning, gave them part two of the speech and they ended up winning the Super Bowl.

“What is my message to you? Practice makes perfect. You really want to be good? You know this, you’ve got a Hall of Fame coach: Practice makes perfect. We’re in the pursuit of excellence on the basketball court. You should be in the pursuit of excellence on the football field.

“I’m around, I would love to have your support at the games. I’m going to be at the football games. Coach Saban has invited me to some practices. I can’t wait to see you get started, and all I can say is ‘Roll Tide.’”