Threw on a new serpentine belt made by DriveRite/Dayco. Made sure it was aligned. Sat on nice. Only thing I loosened up was the idler pulley.
The only area where it looked funny was the alternator wheel. The belt sat a tad off the edge of it, but was flush against the inner lip of it. So I don't know what
I did wrong here. I ran the car, the edge got shredded and mangled. So I cut it out, and it still runs fine, but now it's flush on the alternator wheel, but a small gap on the harmonic balancer.

 

It sounds like the alternator is somehow out of alignment.

IIRC, when I replaced the alternator on my 97, there was a round metal tube that was pressed into something that affected the mounting position. I had to "adjust" it with my hammer to get the alternator to line up with the belt.

 

I never touched my alternator at all since I bought the car. It was never moved. Old belt wasn't shredded. I'm a little confused.

 

Retrace your steps. I bet it's the idler pulley. The bolt has a square shaft and if it's not aligned properly in the bracket, and you tighten things down thinking all is good, that would throw off the alignment for sure.

 

I understand that when you loosen it, the pulley slides down. Now I made sure the belt was aligned on the other pulleys and it was. Except for the alternator pulley. It did not seem to fit perfect on it, but was slightly hanging off the edge, yet it was flush within the inner area of it. I figured it may have been like that last time. I go to start and it got shredded. Now it sits perfect on the alternator pulley.