The man best known for replacing Bear Bryant at Alabama has died. Ray Perkins was 79.

His family reported the news to AL.com as he died this morning at his home in Northport, Alabama. Perkins coached at the pro and college levels for over 40 years. He had dealt with heart issues in recent years.

Perkins coached the Crimson Tide for 4 seasons in the mid-1980s with a record of 32-15-1, including a 3-0 record in bowl games. He eventually left Alabama following the 1986 season and signed a lucrative contract to take the head coaching job with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.

Surrounded by big names in the coaching industry, Perkins, a native of Petal, Mississippi took the Alabama job following the 1982 season he was head coach of the New York Giants.

With the Giants, he had one winning season, but he helped build the team that his successor, Bill Parcells, would win two Super Bowls with in 1986 and 1990. He hired future NFL head coaches Parcells, Bill Belicheck and Romeo Crennel as young assistants.

Perkins was a star receiver at Alabama in the 1960s. He surprised the football world twice, when he first left New York to replace Bryant then left Alabama to return to the NFL in 1986, when he took the head coaching job in Tampa Bay. He was also the coach at Arkansas State for one season, 1992.

Perkins came to Tuscaloosa in 1963 and was a star receiver on teams featuring quarterbacks Joe Namath, Steve Sloan and Ken Stabler from 1964-66. He was an All-American in 1966 when he caught 33 passes for 490 yards and seven touchdowns.

He played professionally for the Baltimore Colts under coach Don Shula from 1967-71.