What is Pauline Love's Biggest Challenge with New Alabama WBB Job? Just a Minute

The Crimson Tide has made the NCAA touirnament five of the last six years, but it still hasn't translated over into more fan support inside Coleman Coliseum.

The University of Alabama Athletic Director Greg Byrne and The University of Alabama President Dr. Peter J. Mohler introduce Alabama Women's Basketball Head Coach Pauline Love during the New Coach Press Conference at Mal. M. Moore Athletic Facility in Tuscaloosa, AL on Thursday, Apr 2, 2026 | UA Athletics

Welcome to BamaCentral’s "Just a Minute," a video series featuring Alabama Crimson Tide on SI's beat writers. Multiple times per week, the writers will group up or film solo to provide their take on a topic concerning the Crimson Tide or the landscape of college sports.

Watch the above video as BamaCentral assistant editor Katie Windham talks about what she thinks will be one of the biggest challenges for new Alabama women's basketball head coach Pauline Love.

Alabama women's basketball has made trips to the NCAA tournament in five of the last six years. The program has also been in and out of the top-25 over the last few seasons, yet despite some of the success on the court, it still didn't translate over into a lot of fan support. Alabama averaged less than 3,000 fans per home game in 2025-26.

In order to take the program to the next level, new head coach Pauline Love will have to find ways to engage the fanbase. Crimson Tide athletics director Greg Byrne says Alabama spends more money on marketing for women's basketball than any other sport.

Love has plans to get the fans and Tuscaloosa community more connected to the program.

"I'm gonna have an open invitation to practice to make people feel like it's family, that they can come anytime," Love said after her introductory press conference. "Drop in. Bring your kids. I learned this from Mike Neighbors. You're gonna have distractions in games. So somebody wants to bring their kids and drop them off and scream and yell, and I'm gonna allow it.

"Just making fans feel like they're part of this family. So continuing what Greg is trying to build from a marketing standpoint, but also being a little bit more personal with them."

Alabama has led the nation in softball attendance for almost two decades and is consistently one of the attendance leaders for gymnastics. Crimson Tide fans will support women's sports teams. Kristy Curry didn't leave the cupboard bare, and Love will have some good talent to work with. Trying to bring along more fans can only help with that.

"Kristy built a strong foundation, and I'm just trying to lift it a little bit," Love said. "Just with talking to the players, just getting them to believe in what I'm trying to do here and sustain the success that they have already had."

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