Bryant was considering the head coaching position at the University of Arkansas when World War II broke out. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and after a stint at a Georgia pre-flight school, where he coached football, Bryant was stationed in North Africa. Near the war's end Bryant was assigned to a Carolina pre-flight school, again as a coach. He received an honorable discharge as a lieutenant commander on September 23, 1945.
Days before his military service ended, Bryant signed a contract to be the head football coach the University of Maryland, at age 32. After a 6-2-1 season and a disagreement with the university president, who reinstated a player Bryant had suspended, Bryant resigned. The University of Kentucky quickly signed Bryant to coach the Wildcats, a team that included football notables George Blanda, Vito Parilli, and Jerry Claiborne. During Bryant's eight-season tenure in Lexington, the team compiled a 60-23-5 record. In 1950, Bryant led the team to a Southeastern Conference (SEC) title and a national championship. In addition, Bryant was voted SEC coach of the year and Kentucky broke the University of Oklahoma's 31-game winning streak with a victory in the Sugar Bowl. During his stint at Kentucky Bryant also coached the Wildcats to victories in the Great Lakes and Cotton bowls and a loss in the Orange Bowl.
Bryant then held the head coaching position at Texas A&M from 1954 to 1957. During the first season, Bryant bused the team to a remote agricultural station in Junction, Texas, for pre-season training camp drills during a heat wave. Nearly two-thirds of the team quit, but those who remained became known as the "Junction Boys." The team went 1-9, Bryant's only losing season. The 1956 team however, won the Southwest Conference with a 9-0-1 record and defeated archrival Texas 34-21.
Meanwhile, the mid-1950s had brought hard times for the University of Alabama's football program, and the Crimson Tide won only four games between 1955 and 1957. When the school offered Bryant the head coaching position in 1958, he said he returned to his alma mater because, "Mama called." In Bryant's first year the team went 5-4-1 and started one of the most successful tenures by any college coach. In his 25 years Alabama compiled a 232-46-9 record on its way to six national championships (1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978, and 1979) and 14 SEC titles. His teams participated in 24 consecutive bowl games, including the Sugar, Orange, Liberty, Cotton, Bluebonnet, and Gator bowls. He was national coach of the year three times and SEC coach of the year 10 times while his players received 67 All-America honors. Numerous players went on to distinguished NFL careers, including Joe Namath, Kenny Stabler, Ozzie Newsome, and Lee Roy Jordan.
Bryant's coaching life was not without challenges. Bryant and Georgia coach Wally Butts were accused in 1963 by a national magazine of manipulating the score of a game. Butts and Bryant won a court judgment against the publication including monetary compensation that led to the magazine's demise. In the late 1960s, as his team had subpar seasons, he made a bold move completely changing his offensive scheme to the wishbone system and recruiting larger players. The civil rights movement and the political landscape of the state also played out on the field of athletics as Bryant postponed recruiting African American players to conform with the social mores of the South. In 1970 however, he recruited Wilbur Jackson as the first African American football player signed as a freshman to a scholarship at Alabama. John Mitchell signed a scholarship after attending a junior college and was the first African American to play football for Alabama.
On November 28, 1981, Alabama defeated Auburn University 28-17 and Bryant passed Amos Alonzo Stagg on the all-time victory list with 315 wins. Bryant announced his retirement in 1982 and his last game was a 21-15 victory over the University of Illinois in the Liberty Bowl December 29, 1982, ending his career with 323 victories, 85 defeats, and 17 ties.
Bryant, who suffered from heart problems for many years, was admitted to Tuscaloosa's Druid City Hospital January 26, 1983, with chest pains. He passed away at 1:30 that afternoon at the age of 69 after suffering a heart attack. He was buried on January 28 at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham.
Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant remains an integral part of the Alabama football tradition. Bryant established a scholarship assistance fund to enable children of his former players to attend the University of Alabama that continues to this day. Among the buildings and structures named for Bryant on the University of Alabama campus and in Tuscaloosa are the Paul W. Bryant Museum, Paul W. Bryant High School, Bryant-Denny Stadium, Bryant Hall, Bryant Bridge, the Paul W. Bryant Conference Center, and Bryant Drive. His trademark houndstooth hat is still worn with reverence by Tide fans. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan February 23, 1983. In addition, the Paul W. Bryant Museum hosts an annual reunion for the more than 500 children who are namesakes of Coach Bryant.
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