When he took the call, University of Alabama facilities director Thad Turnipseed was surprised to hear Director of Athletics Mal Moore on the other end, suggesting that there had been a better way to do a recent interview in which he highly praised some of the school's new projects.

"You don't need to brag," Moore told him. "At Alabama just tell them this is what we deserve."

Well, when it comes to Brant-Denny Stadium, arguably the heart and soul of the Capstone, Moore apparently felt that Alabama fans deserved a college football palace. With the $65 million expansion of the South End Zone, which will debut and be on prominent display when the reigning national champions open the 2010 season against San Jose State, they got just that.

In addition to filling in the last upper deck and adding another two rows of skyboxes along with other amenities, the new seating capacity grew to 101,821, making it the fifth-largest home venue in college football behind Michigan (109,901), Penn State (107,282), Tennessee (102,459), and Ohio State (102,329). It also increased the number of student tickets by 2,000, up to 17,000, giving Alabama the highest percentage of student-available seating among major programs at 59 percent.

For a program s that not too long ago scheduled its biggest home games for Legion Field in Birmingham, it's a remarkable upgrade that serves as both a monument to a new era for the program and school while simultaneously adding to an already rich legacy.

"We're very, very proud," Moore said. "After Coach (Nick) Saban arrived and with his success, that I think people anticipated, it led to a huge waiting list for tickets, way over 10,000, people who absolutely had no tickets. I would think that at a minimum each would buy two. The president had asked for additional tickets for our students because the university was growing so aggressively and students were upset about their tickets. There was close to 50 on the waiting list for skyboxes.

"All of this said build the stadium bigger."

But in addition to bigger, it got better despite the ongoing economic downtown, which is what truly makes it a one-of-kind facility.

For starters, while the decision was made early on to essentially make the South expansion a twin of the North End Zone project that was completed just a few years ago, it couldn't affect bordering Paul W. Bryant Drive or interfere with Evergreen Cemetery across the street. That made a thinner, wider structure necessary to go with the accompanying logistical nightmare in planning.

Under normal circumstances such a massive undertaking would have required 20 months to complete, but in order to be ready for the academic year crews had just 16. They logged 197,000 man hours on the eight-story structure, 750,000 including subcontractors , and at the peak of construction workers were on site 120 hours a week as the work went on round-the-clock.

It added up to 22,380 cubic yards of concrete, of which over 4,500 cubic yards were below ground to help set the foundation. At the top, 14 massive raker beams essentially had to be custom cast and set, with the control lines set within an eighth of an inch of where they were intended.

"I've told people on numerous occasions that it's hard to expect I'll have an opportunity to work on a project this complex and in such a setting," said Stephen Franklin, the operations manager from Brasfield & Gorrie General Contractors. "I hope I do, but this is one of those that doesn't come along very often."

Or like nearly ever. Along with the 34 added skyboxes, bringing the stadium total to 157, another Zone club just like the original on the North side was added along with a new Stadium Club just below. Although it doesn't overlook the playing field, the relaxed setting offers fans a meeting place before going to their seats and school officials decided to offer 1,000 spots to the public as sort of a test run even though capacity is actually 1,500.

"It sold out in two weeks," Moore said.

Fans in all sections will also notice four new scoreboards, all digital, leaving no fixed signs except near the ground entryways, renovated bathrooms and a new surround-sound system. An upgraded irrigation system was installed along with iron fencing surrounding the field along with brick flooring. Away from the field, the outer façade is in tune with the look and feel of the rest of campus and stores along Bryant Drive will help make the stadium a year-round destination.

Bryant-Denny will also become a main hub for recruiting, both students and student-athletes in addition to fund-raising. The front entryway features the Donor Hall of Recognition, where the names of the of the biggest supporters line the walls and the main rotunda will feature oil-painted murals of those who donated $1 million or more over the years (thus far there are seven).

About the only thing the project didn't do was connect the upper decks because they can't - the decks don't match up. The upper deck in the south end zone is four rows taller than its northern counterpart, while the west side of the stadium is six feet taller than the east side. Additionally, site studies found that roughly 800 seats per corner would not be able to see roughly a third of the field, which Moore found completely unacceptable.

"I'm sure there's always an opportunity to find some seats and I'm sure Alabama will in the coming years," said Courtney Pittman, principal architect and project manager. "But I'm sure this was meant to be the final touch to this stadium, the final statement of Bryant-Denny and Crimson Tide football."

For now, the only expected change is to put television studios for the communications department in the northern part of the stadium within a couple of years. Besides, the two end zone projects cost more than $100 million combined.

"I think we had one of the best college football stadiums before they made the addition of the end zone, and now we're over 101,000 people we may be in the top two or three venues in terms of places to play college football anywhere in the country," Saban said. "I think it's a beautiful stadium, a great place to watch a game.

"We have tremendous enthusiasm from our fans there and I know our players are always excited about playing at home. All those things are positives for the program and the future."

Nothing like the stadium that originally sat 12,000 when it opened in 1929, Alabama finally has a campus facility that matches the success on the field, and to Moore is worthy of the name Crimson Tide.

"Mal wanted to finish the stadium this time," chief financial officer Finus Gaston said. "I think he did a great job."