Vince Dooley

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Vincent Joseph Dooley (born September 4, 1932) is the former head football coach (seasons 1964-88) and athletic director (2004 to 2004 at the University of Georgia.

Dooley had a 201-77–10 record during his 25-year teaching career at UGA.

His teams have won six Southeastern Conference titles and the 1980 national championships.

Multiple organizations, including the National Sportswriters and Sportswriters Association, named Dooley as the "Coach of the Year" in college football, including the National Sportswriters Association, have since changed the award as the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award.

Dooley's teams were known for their hardnosed defense and conservative yet fundamentally sound offenses.

Dooley was aided by his defensive coordinator, Erskine "Erk" Russell from 1964 to 1980.

Early life and education

Dooley was born in Mobile, Alabama, on September 4, 1932. He was of Irish and Italian descent. He attended the McGill Institute, which was administered by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart. He competed for McGill's athletic teams, the Yellow Jackets, in McGill's hometown. He was praised as an all-state player in both football and basketball, but said the latter was his favorite sport.

Dooley was given a football scholarship to attend Auburn University, where he played college football and later coached under Ralph "Shug" Jordan. In 1954, he obtained a bachelor's degree in business administration and was a charter member of the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity. He returned to Auburn and then obtained a master's degree in history in 1963 after serving as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps from 1954 to 1956.

Personal life

Barbara Meshad, who was born in March 1960, was married by Dooley. They met while studying at Auburn together and then married until his death. They had four children as a family. Derek Dooley, a football coach at the University of Tennessee and Louisiana Tech University, as well as a position coach for the New York Giants, was one of them.

Bill Dooley, Dooley's younger brother, served on the Georgia Bulldogs football team before becoming a nationally recognized college head coach at the University of North Carolina, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest. During the 1971 Gator Bowl, the two brothers discovered themselves on opposing sideslines in Jacksonville, Florida.

Dooley died at home in Athens, Georgia, on October 28, 2022. He was 90 and had recovered from moderate COVID-19 signs in the same month as his death.

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Coaching career

While he was completing his master's at Auburn, Dooley first worked as quarterback coach under Jordan for five years, before serving as the school's head freshman coach for three years. He was then appointed head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs in 1963, at the age of 31, even though he had no prior experience at that position. During his first season with the team, Dooley finished with a 7–3–1 record and led the Bulldogs to the Sun Bowl, defeating the Texas Tech Red Raiders. He oversaw Georgia's upset 18–17 win over Alabama, the defending national champion, in the opening game of 1965, before guiding Georgia to the 1966 Southeastern Conference (SEC) title, their first in seven seasons. The school lost only one game that year, won the Cotton Bowl Classic against the SMU Mustangs, and the finished as 4th in the final poll of the season. Two years later, Georgia won their second SEC title under Dooley, but they lost the Sugar Bowl to the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Dooley led the Bulldogs to victories in the December 1971 Gator Bowl and the Peach Bowl two years later. He won his third SEC title with the school in 1976, losing only one game in the regular season and shutting out the Alabama Crimson Tide 21–0 at home. However, UGA lost the Sugar Bowl that year 27–3 to Pittsburgh, the national champions. At the end of the season, Dooley became the first recipient of the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award. Georgia finished the 1977 season with a 5–6 record, representing the only losing season in Dooley's career as head coach. Two years later, he was appointed as Georgia's co-athletic director after Joel Eaves retired, before gaining the role exclusively in 1980 to entice him to stay at UGA after Auburn (his alma mater) offered him the position of football coach and athletic director. The Bulldogs finished the 1980 season with a perfect 12–0 record and became consensus national champions for the first time after defeating Notre Dame 17–10 in the Sugar Bowl. Dooley was consequently honored as AFCA Coach of the Year, Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, Walter Camp Coach of the Year, and Sporting News College Football Coach of the Year.

The Bulldogs won two more SEC titles during Dooley's tenure (1981 and 1982), but lost the Sugar Bowl in both those seasons. Georgia won the Cotton Bowl in 1983, the Liberty Bowl four years later, and the 1988 Gator Bowl, his final game as head coach. In his 25 seasons as Georgia's head football coach, Dooley won six SEC championships and led the school to 201 victories. He was also named SEC Coach of the Year four times (1966, 1968, 1976, and 1980). Dooley retired as head coach at the conclusion of the 1988 season. At the time, he was the second-winningest coach in SEC history, behind only Bear Bryant.

Later career

Although Dooley also intended to retire as UGA's athletic director in 1988, he agreed to remain until his successor could be appointed. However, no replacement was forthcoming and he retained his position. During his tenure as athletic director, he hired former football coach Mark Richt from Florida State University.

Dooley briefly pursued the Democratic Party nomination for Senate seat in Georgia in July 1985 while he was still Georgia's head coach, but ultimately decided against running, stating that it would be "very poor timing" for him to leave the team before the start of the season. He also considered running for governor of Georgia five years later. His wife ran in the Republican Party primary for U.S. House in 2002. Dooley resigned as Georgia's athletic director in 2004, after feuding with the university's president Michael F. Adams. He was later hired by Kennesaw State University in December 2009 to work as their consultant, as part of the school's drive to start a football program.

One of Dooley's hobbies in retirement was gardening, about which he has published a book. He also partnered with Mascot Books to publish two children's books about the UGA mascot, How 'Bout Them Dawgs! and Hairy Dawg's Journey Through the Peach State. Dooley was the chairman of the board of curators for the Georgia Historical Society from 2016 to 2018.

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