IIRC in 1971 he introduced the Wishbone, and that’s what led to their success in the 70s.
Yep, and I think Bear used the wishbone for the first time against USC the next year, and they’d managed to keep it a secret. That was still a few years before so many games were on TV, and the rematch in LA was not televised.
I and several others were in an apartment in Tuscaloosa when the game started and Bama lined up in the Wishbone formation, everybody went nuts including the radio announcer. Bama won that one 17-10, and we still had only two black players as I recall.
Here’s a write-up about a documentary that tells the story, but I think the racial angle has been overemphasized as Bama had already recruited its first black players before that game in Birmingham with USC.
https://www.al.com/entertainment/2013/11/historic_1970_alabama-usc_foot.html