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August 10, 2006

How Auburn ended up with Pat Dye

Paul Finebaum looks back at Auburn's search to replace Doug Barfield after the 1980 season.

He talks about Dooley's near acceptance of the Auburn job as well as the other candidates involved in Auburn's search. Candidates included Bobby Bowden, Ray Perkins, Dick Sheridian, Jackie Sherrill, etc.

On the topic of odd coaching searches and Pat Due, do you remember Dye coming out of the woodwork in 2000 asking to be considered for the UGA job?

That talk scared the crap out of me because I'm pretty sure that Don Leeburn played with Dye on the 1959 SEC championship UGA team. Talk about a bullet dodged.

pwd

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

“Dye put in place the groundwork that has made the program the envy of many in college football.” I have to disagree. As long as AU insists on being at the top of the academic mountain, they will not be the envy of college football. Those high standards will continue to limit who they can recruit and who they can keep in school.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone else always play the "what if" game about Dooley leaving for Auburn and then Erk taking over beginning with the 1981 season?

It's very, very tempting.

Anonymous said...

"The envy of many in college football." Are you kidding me? I've never, ever met anyone who envied Auburn except Aubuies and, like it or not, they still suffer from a massive inferiority complex with 'Bama. How can anyone envy a program which has a "probation watch" every 10 years or so. It's like clockwork. In fact, I think I hear a bell ringing now....

Astronaut Mike Dexter said...

I envy their flying-of-the-eagle pregame ritual, which, I have to admit, is about as badass as anything in college athletics.

But I don't envy their town, their campus, their academic standards, their inferiority complex to Bama, their smug little coach, or their team. And to be honest, I've stopped envying their girls. Yeah, I went through a period where it seemed like I was dating an Auburn girl all the time, but I realized I had a problem, went through treatment, and now I'm doing fine. Sure, I'll turn my head at one every once in a while, but I've realized I don't need Auburn girls to be happy. Just lots and lots of booze.

Michael Pigott said...

There would be no Auburn Football today if Sherrill took over. They would've been hit with the death penalty in 10 years.

David Ching said...

"Georgia officials already have met with Florida State offensive coordinator Mark Richt, Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey and Green Bay Packers receivers coach Ray Sherman."

Now OPTION TWO would have been interesting

Anonymous said...

Dye instilled the "culture of winning" at Auburn. Something that the SEC East is still learning.

Unknown said...

Culture of winning at Auburn? LMAO.

You guys give us fits, but that's about it. Auburn still hasn't passed Georgia Tech on the all-time SEC titles list, and GT has been out of the SEC for 41 years.

pwd

Anonymous said...

Pat Dye paid a lot of money to make Auburn a winner. It's too bad that his little "black book" filled with the names of Auburn supporters willing to pool together fund to pay players didn't come to light until after Terry Bowden left. Wayne Hall, who also wanted the UGA job, made sure that baby never saw the light of day. But it existed. Terry said so.......

That's how a program that had won only 1 SEC title in its history wins 4 more in a span of just 6 years.

Anonymous said...

Culture of Winning???

Now i KNOW Auburn fans are the most delusional idiots as a collective on this entire little blue-green rock.

Try a Culture of "WHINING" and you'd be far more accurate.

Pat Dye solidified the notion that everything that's never happened at Auburn must be because it did happen at Alabama.

Pat Dye instilled nothing at Auburn except solidifying the school's long-standing tradition of comparing it's pee-pee to Alabama's every chance it gets, and then bragging about any dimension that they percieve to be a millimeter bigger.

He also instilled that now famous Auburn trait of acting very childishly in the face of adversity and even moreso in the face of very limited success.

Not to mention that greatest of Auburn Tradition, the "Slush Fund". Keeping it down home, Cuzz is an Auburn institution.

Hell, the Auburn nation would be a greal case study of a Collective Inferiority Complex or in Mass Penis-Envy.

Hey, I'll bet that Kenny Irons could probably get enough Sociology credits just for SAYING Penis Envy to get his master's degree overnight.

Anonymous said...

I attended Auburn when Pat Dye arrived. He did a excellent job to turn a poorly coached team by Barfield into a competitive SEC team. Auburn people do not envy Bama nor do they envy your team Georgia. No one in the SEC can compare the overall football success in titles when speaking of Bama.... not even your powerful dogs.
Every year I always hear from the Dawg nation that you are the best in the land and no team in the conference deserves to be on the field with the talented Georgia Bulldogs. I hear this every year but guess what your precious team can not consistently beat the rivals to make them the USC of the south. Check your stats: Auburn has a winning record against your team overall plus a winning record against the current coach and the Florida Gators usually hand your rear ends back to you at the end the game. Let's don't forget Tennessee. Your guys had a couple years success after being beat like a drum by Tennessee in the 90's. Looks like they are back on track again this year. Bottom line the SEC is the toughest conference to compete successfully. The top teams are close in talent so therefore most every Saturday is a tough game.
You question the classes the Auburn athletes attend. Yes we have our Sociology but lest we forget the famous basketball final exam that was posted in AJC for your fine institution. The old saying is don't throw rocks when you live in glass houses. I believe there are plenty of glass windows in the lovely town of Athens. You may hate Auburn and think we are a bunch of hicks. That's ok, because I would not want your fans to represent Auburn. A bunch of drunken goofs that have restrictions on your tailgating with family zones enforced on campus because you do not have enough class to act properly around children. You have fans that will boo your players at a drop of pin. Don't believe me then read the article in the AJC that quoted Bobo telling Joe T. that Georgia fans love you one minute and hate you the next. He said that is just the way of our fans. You can keep your fans. You do not like Auburn University, Auburn athletics or the town of Auburn? Who cares?
Sounds like you may have bit of envy yourself or else your fans would not always slam Auburn. Enjoy the rest of your season. There are a few tough games left for you. Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech. Check the Dawg nation if you lose 2 of 3 of these games. War Eagle and THWG.

 
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