Georgia To Name Field At Sanford Stadium After Former Coach Vince Dooley

selmaborntidefan

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I think this honor is for Vince's overall contribution as a coach, Athletic Director and tireless supporter of all things Georgia. I think it's an honor long overdue.
And I "get" that. I don't dispute that aspect as he's probably the most influential person in UGA history.

My favorite Dooley story was one Grizzard told from when he worked for the student newspaper. In 1965, UGA hired Ken Rosemond to coach b-ball. He basically got the job because he had played on the unbeaten Tar Heels of Frank McGuire that won the 1957 championship. Rosemond showed up and basically said he couldn't win with Georgia kids and tried to build a sort of John Wooden or Frank McGuire pipeline of kids not from Georgia into the program.

He wasn't doing very well.

One day in front of some witnesses, Rosemond (allegedly) asked Dooley if he was coming to that evening's b-ball game. Dooley said, "Well that depends - who are you playing tonight?"

Let's just say Rosemond was not happy with that one.


But YES - tbf - when you think of UGA, you think of Dooley so I can understand the honor.
 

Zorak

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Exactly..We went to the Varsity Friday night & when we left I thought to myself we drove through that kinda traffic for that..I was highly disappointed..
Ditto. First meal I had in Athens was actually the Varsity (we were staying in the motel across the street from it when I came her for a job interview). I ate there because I didn't know anything about Athens at the time, and needed a quick bite. Then a couple of other times in my first year here, primarily when guests came to town, but nothing since in well over seven years now. No Athenian I know eats there. There are many far better options for dining in Athens, gameday or not.
 

TIDE-HSV

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Vince Dooley WAS a good coach - I don't dispute that overall assessment.

But subtract the four years (1980-83) of peak performance, three of which he had Herschel as an anomaly rather than the norm.
His .715 winning pct drops to .677.
Generally speaking, to be an all-timer, you're expected to have a CFB winning pct of .750 (that's 3 out of 4......or going 9-3 every year in a 12-game season).

Dooley was a lot like a Don Nehlen or Bobby Ross type of coach. He'd have a phenomenal year and follow it with mediocrity.

1966 - 10-1.....followed by 7-4, 8-1-2, 5-5-1, and 5-5.

1971 - 11-1.....followed by two 7-win seasons and a 6-win season

75 and 76 - had a 9-win and 10-win season, pretty good I must say

77 - 5-6
78 - 9-2-1 (and literally blew the SEC championship with a tie to Auburn)
79 - 6-5


So....from 1964 until 1979 (sixteen seasons), good ole Vince had ONE time (75 and 76) when he had consecutive 9-win seasons.

So then he grabs Herschel and reels off four good years. Walker leaves after the third because the USFL throws a million bucks his way (not that I blame the guy).

And Dooley follows that period with two 7-win teams and an eight-win team.....winding up his last two years with consecutive 9-3 seasons.


A good coach. Best UGA has had? Debatable. Mark Richt had a higher winning pct at UGA, and he coached during a time there was no way to avoid the toughest opponents in the league.
While I realize it's NOT Dooley's fault, the fact is that he won five of his SEC titles in years he did NOT play Alabama - during a time of extreme Tide dominance (yes, folks, Georgia is co-SEC football champions for 1966. Anyone buy that one?)

Nevertheless, I'm not a wet blanket and other than perhaps Herschel (who was the primary reason for his greatest success), the field would kind of "have" to be named after Dooley.

Just wait until we change the name to Bryant-Denny-Saban Stadium.......
I appreciate this reply. When I was seeing all the praise for Dooley, I was thinking "What?!?" I'm practically a contemporary of his and watched his career close up. At the time, we regarded Dooley as being outstanding for two things - 1) acquiring Walker, and 2) avoiding Coach Bryant. We'd look over there and think "Yeah, but what if..." So strange that they idealize Dooley and diss Richt, who had a better record. All that said, I guess it's poetic justice that Auburn would have a field named after a UGA guy (Dye), and UGA would have a field named after an Auburn guy (Dooley)... :)
 

selmaborntidefan

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I appreciate this reply. When I was seeing all the praise for Dooley, I was thinking "What?!?" I'm practically a contemporary of his and watched his career close up. At the time, we regarded Dooley as being outstanding for two things - 1) acquiring Walker, and 2) avoiding Coach Bryant. We'd look over there and think "Yeah, but what if..." So strange that they idealize Dooley and diss Richt, who had a better record. All that said, I guess it's poetic justice that Auburn would have a field named after a UGA guy (Dye), and UGA would have a field named after an Auburn guy (Dooley)... :)
What's hilarious is that I have a cousin on my Mom's side who was raised in Georgia so naturally gravitated towards the Dawgs.

When they were full of themselves in the early 80s, they would rip on Coach Bryant and absolutely insist he ran the SEC and was "afraid" of playing Georgia and "good teams" and ran up huge win totals against "cupcakes" like Florida State when it was a girl's school.

Of course it was comical once I could check things out via the web.......Georgia played FSU more than Bryant did. In fact, Georgia played them FOUR times between 61 and 65 and LOST ALL FOUR TIMES!!!!

Dooley was coaching those last two.


I realize I don't bring your firsthand experience to the table, but I never thought of Dooley in the same solar system as Bryant. I have this thing with hard data (no doubt owing to my lab degree).
Data doesn't lie. People remember things nostalgically or differently than reality, but the data doesn't lie. That doesn't mean the data isn't subject to statistical alteration IF there's a reason to do so
(e.g. stadium advantages that inflate or deflate certain baseball stats is a good example).

Dooley's record shows him to be a GOOD coach.


And let me remind everyone of something regarding Dooley. I noted in earlier posts about his failure to post consecutive 9-win seasons until when?
1980-83

And what happened in 1981?

=====
While coordinator of Georgia’s remedial English program, Dr. Kemp was among several faculty members who had complained that officials at Georgia intervened in the fall of 1981 to enable nine football players to pass a remedial English course in which they had received failing grades. The athletes remained eligible to play for Georgia against Pittsburgh in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day 1982.

The university’s president, Dr. Fred C. Davison, announced his resignation in March 1986. The board of regents of the University System of Georgia issued a report in April implicating Dr. Davison and the Georgia athletic department, headed by Vince Dooley, who was also the football coach, in a pattern of academic abuse in the admission and advancement of student-athletes over the previous four years. Both Dr. Davison and Mr. Dooley denied improper conduct, but Georgia tightened academic standards for its athletes.

=========

Now.....I'm not gonna hack on Dooley with some boast of self-righteous purity, but it does strike me as not-so-coincidental that his highest levels of success coincide with the sudden pressure on professors to keep players eligible.


Vince Dooley was a GOOD coach. He also was one of the Southern breed of coaches that saw his team through to full integration, and those guys had it rough from the outside as well as the inside.

But he wasn't "he'd be Bear Bryant if he bought players like Bryant did" good, either. (Nor am I conceding beyond what Coach Bryant admitted to doing at Texas A/M).
 

Crimson1967

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Dooley went 201-77-10 in 25 years.
Bryant went 236-46-9 in 25 years at Alabama.
Shug Jordan went 176-83-6 in 25 years. (One win was a tie that became a win due to a forfeit).




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

selmaborntidefan

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Dooley went 201-77-10 in 25 years.
Bryant went 236-46-9 in 25 years at Alabama.
Shug Jordan went 176-83-6 in 25 years. (One win was a tie that became a win due to a forfeit).




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Bryan went 4-2 against Dooley, one of which was that joke of a touchdown on the flea flicker that won the 1965 game for UGA.
 

UAH

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Bryan went 4-2 against Dooley, one of which was that joke of a touchdown on the flea flicker that won the 1965 game for UGA.
i.e. Photos later showed that the Georgia receiver who lateraled the ball to the trailing back was actually on his knees and the ball should have been downed at that spot as the game ended 18 -17 Georgia.
 

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