The history of Alabama football is as vast as it is triumphant, so narrowing it down to a single volume was the biggest challenge for first-time author Aaron Suttles.

Suttles, who now covers the Crimson Tide for The Athletic after several years doing so for The Tuscaloosa News, is the author of “The Program Alabama: A Curated History of the Crimson Tide.” The book was released Tuesday by Triumph Books.

“What I hope the readers get out of it is my gratitude for my career covering Alabama,” said Suttles, a Leighton native and an Alabama graduate. “How many people are fortunate enough to get to cover a program like Alabama, and when arguably the greatest run in sports history is occurring? There’s gratitude that comes along with that, and there’s a responsibility, I think, to tell the stories, to document the history. That’s what we do as journalists. And I wanted to share some of those stories.

“It was very difficult. When you’re writing a big story, you have way more information than you’ll ever use. I could have written 20 more player profiles than I did. There are just so many of them.”

Rather than a chronological narrative history of all things Alabama, Suttles chose to focus primarily on the Nick Saban era. The Crimson Tide has won six national championships and eight SEC titles since Saban took over in 2007, and has been in championship contention nearly every season.

Still, there were plenty of stories for Suttles to tell. In addition to the big names — such as Saban, Derrick Henry, Julio Jones — he also focused on lesser-known figures such as long-time assistant Burton Burns and offensive lineman Aaron Douglas, a Tennessee transfer who died from a drug overdose before he even played a game with the Crimson Tide.

“Every college football program is special to the people within it and the fan base,” Suttles said. “But Nick Saban sort of gets a rap that he’s robotic, that he’s a machine — and that’s a well-earned reputation with him. But there is also a lot of stuff that no one really knows about.

“With Aaron Douglas, he never played a game at Alabama. Both his parents are Tennessee grads. He started his career (at Tennessee), but it didn’t work out, so he goes out to junior college in Arizona and then transfers to Alabama. He was set to be the right tackle on that 2011 team, but died of a drug overdose during spring break. But the reason I wanted to write about a guy who never played a game for Alabama was because he was a really big part of that team to the people within it. The things that Nick Saban did for his family that no one knows about; they gifted the family a national championship ring for that season. Part of his ashes are spread on the practice field at Alabama. His story is really at the heart of what makes college football great, the passion that’s behind it.”

There are also callbacks to previous eras, such as a chapter comparing Saban to legendary predecessor Paul “Bear” Bryant, who won six national championships and more than 200 games as Alabama’s head coach from 1958-82. Also spotlighted is current Crimson Tide star Will Anderson and how he measures up against Derrick Thomas, the All-America Alabama linebacker from the late 1980s who went on to become a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The book also addresses one of the bigger controversies in Alabama football history, which is, exactly how many national championships does the Crimson Tide have? The school officially acknowledges 18, though its claim to 1941 in particular is extremely dubious.

“(The publisher) gave me free rein for the most part,” Suttles said. “There was a general format to what the book would look like, but within that framework I was free to do pretty much whatever I wanted. And I just felt like, because this is the time period in which I’ve been covering Alabama, when I’ve been around and had access to these players and know their inside stories, that this is what I would focus on.

“I also tackle some subjective things, like ranking Nick Saban’s teams at Alabama. Everyone’s going to have a different opinion, a different ranking, but this is what I think. And there’s a chapter on how many national championships does Alabama have, and how did they land on that number?”

“The Program Alabama: A Curated History of the Crimson Tide,” includes a foreword by Rece Davis, host of ESPN’s College GameDay and an Alabama graduate. The book retails for $28 and is available from Triumph’s website or wherever books are sold.