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In 1954, Bryant accepted the head coaching job at Texas A&M University. He also served as athletic director while at A&M.
The Aggies suffered through a grueling 1-9 initial season which began with the infamous training camp in Junction, Texas. The “survivors” were given the name “Junction Boys.”
Two years later, Bryant led the team to the Southwest Conference championship with a 34–21 victory over the University of Texas at Austin. The following year, 1957, Bryant's star back John David Crow won the Heisman Trophy (the only Bryant player to ever earn that award), and the Aggies were in title contention until they lost to the #20 Rice Owls in Houston, amid rumors that Alabama would be going after Bryant.
Again, as at Kentucky, Bryant attempted to integrate the Texas A&M squad. "We'll be the last football team in the Southwest Conference to integrate," he was told by a Texas A&M official. "Well," Bryant replied, "then that's where we're going to finish in football."[9]
At the close of the 1957 season, having compiled an overall 25–14–2 record at Texas A&M, Bryant returned to Tuscaloosa to take the head coaching position, succeeding J.B. "Ears" Whitworth, as well as the athletic director job at Alabama.
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Many of Bryant's former players and assistant coaches went on to become head coaches at the collegiate level and/or in the National Football League. Danny Ford, Howard Schnellenberger, and Gene Stallings all won national championships as head coaches for NCAA programs while Joey Jones, Mike Riley, and David Cutcliffe are active head coaches in the NCAA. Charles McClendon, Sylvester Croom, Jim Owens, Jackie Sherrill, and Pat Dye were also notable NCAA head coaches. Ozzie Newsome is active as the general manager of the Baltimore Ravens. Jack Pardee was a college head coach at the University of Houston and an NFL head coach with Chicago, Washington and Houston.