Steve Sloan, an All-American quarterback at Alabama who went on to a long coaching and administrative career, died Sunday in Orlando.

Sloan, 79, passed away at Dr. P. Phillips Hospital with his wife Brenda at his side, according to his obituary. He had been in memory care for the past three months. He was married 55 years and is also survived by his son, Stephen Sloan Jr., of Lima, Peru.

A long career in the spotlight began as a player on Paul “Bear” Bryant’s Alabama football teams. As a sophomore, he was Joe Namath’s backup at quarterback, filling in for a Sugar Bowl win over Ole Miss before winning the national title in 1964. Then as a senior, the consensus All-American led the Crimson Tide to the 1965 national championship with a 39-28 win over Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

After college, Sloan was picked in the 11th round of the 1966 NFL draft to the Atlanta Falcons. He appeared in eight games over the next two seasons, starting once before returning to Bryant’s staff in 1968. His college coaching career took him all over, first as an offensive coordinator at Florida State and Georgia Tech, before taking the head coaching job at Vanderbilt in 1973 at just 27.

In Year 2, the Commodores went 7-3-1 and played in the Peach Bowl — the school’s second bowl game.

Sloan went on to coach at Texas Tech (1975-77), Ole Miss (1978-82) and Duke (1983-86).

Perhaps it was the job he didn’t get that will be remembered most in Tuscaloosa. It’s well documented that Sloan was Bryant’s choice to succeed him as Alabama’s head football coach but had already accepted the job at Ole Miss before the retirement announcement. Ray Perkins eventually got the job.

In 14 seasons as a head coach, Sloan had a 68-86-3 record with three bowl-game appearances.

Sloan eventually got back to Tuscaloosa as Alabama’s athletics director in 1987. In his two years in office, Sloan oversaw the expansion of Bryant-Denny Stadium with the east side upper deck that included a new press box and a new capacity of 70,123.

He resigned in August 1989 before holding AD positions at North Texas (1990-92), Central Florida (1993-2002) and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (2002-06). In Orlando, he led the UCF program to Division I status.

As a student at Alabama, Sloan was a founding member of the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes and did a scripture reading in Denny Stadium when Billy Graham preached there in 1965. He went on to publish two books — Calling Life’s Signals (1966) A Whole New Ballgame (1975) — based on his faith and how it applied to his football career.

Sloan and his wife Brenda retired to Orlando in 2006.

Funeral arrangements are still pending.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.