In one poll, the 1961 Alabama Team was voted as "the Best All-Time SEC football team" to ever play for the Southeastern Conference, and, in another, the third best college football team of "all time". To have turned around a decade of losing streaks from scratch and collectively outscore their opponents 297 to 25, Coach Bryant and this team have been thought to have pioneered the revolutionary turning point for the modern day University of Alabama football championship dynasty. Coach Bryant would go on to win the National Coach of the Year Award for 1961, which was his first of three, as well as his first of eight awards for the SEC Coach of the Year. This would also be his first of six NCAA Division I FBS (I-A) National Championships, which were more than any other college football coach in history, until surpassed by Nick Saban in 2021. Coach Bryant would ultimately be considered as the "greatest college football coach of all times."