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AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2006 > December > 27
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Catching up with Coach Dooley
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“I don’t think you can call it retirement.”
That’s how Vince Dooley, chatting with me one recent afternoon, described his very busy life since he stepped down as UGA athletic director. Between traveling for book signings and other public appearances, serving on various boards and continuing to promote the University of Georgia, the 74-year-old former coach barely has time for his famous garden.
I had e-mailed Coach Dooley to let him know I was writing up his recent children’s book, “How ’Bout Them Dawgs,” for the AJC’s News for Kids page (the article ran Tuesday), and he suggested I give him a call if I wanted to talk more. I did, and I found him as gracious, affable, charming and articulate as he was during his decades at UGA — among the reasons I was always extremely proud that Dooley was our coach and then AD.
Since the children’s book — dedicated to his 11 grandkids (he got Barbara to double-check that he spelled all the names correctly!) — was the original reason for contacting him, we started out talking about his career as an author, which actually dates back to 1969, when his “Developing a Superior Football-Control Attack,” a book aimed primarily at football coaches, was published.
“It’s long out of print, but I still hear from folks who want me to sign a copy,” he said.
When he retired as a football coach, he and Loran Smith did the “Dooley’s Dogs” coffeetable book, which covered his years at Georgia. And when he retired as athletic director they updated “Dooley’s Dogs.”
In 2005, the silver anniversary of the national championship team, Dooley teamed up with longtime Athens sportswriter Blake Giles on “Vince Dooley’s Tales of the 1980 Georgia Bulldogs,” which went through the entire season, game by game, including, he said, “the so-called purloined pig party that ended up sort of bonding that team together.”
Last year he also did another book with the AJC’s Tony Barnhart, “Dooley: My 40 Years at Georgia,” which he characterized as “a rehash of my career in a different way from ‘Dooley’s Dogs.’”
The hardest thing about that book, Dooley said, “was Chapter 11, dealing with the Adams situation. That was the toughest part to write. While I had some opinions, some things I would have liked to say … I had to do what I thought was in the best interests of the university. So I had to be a little more diplomatic. But my wife, who did the foreword, made a few comments that I probably wouldn’t have made.”
(Barbara said in the foreword that she thought President Michael Adams came to UGA “with the idea of getting rid of Vincent,” and she said she couldn’t understand why “nobody in a position of authority,” including the governor, a former Dooley player, stood up for her husband.)
The books have been well received, Dooley said, and he’s enjoyed doing a lot of book signings.
Since Dooley, who got his undergraduate degree in business management, earned a masters degree in history and has been known to audit history courses at UGA, I wondered whether he might tackle a straight history book of some sort.
“I’ve had people ask me that, and also am I going to do a gardening book,” he said, referring to his hobby developing his “semi-botanical” garden at his longtime home on Milledge Circle in Athens. Another suggested book, he said, is “one about Georgia’s greatest [football] plays.”
“I wish I could,” Dooley said. “I wish I had the time. I’m as busy or busier as I’ve ever been. I guess by being at one place as long as I have, in order not to be [continually busy] you’d almost have to move away to California or someplace. I get a lot of requests, and I don’t have as many excuses as I used to.”
I asked what a typical week is like for him, and he said there really isn’t one, but he flipped through his appointments calendar for late November and early December. “I spoke to the Tallahassee Quarterback Club. Then I went to Boise, Idaho, to participate in the Humanitarian Awards. Then to New York for the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame. Then I did the ‘Allen Hunt Show’ Luncheon. Then I did a book signing. And I had a board meeting. I’m on the board of a bank and on the board of Athens Technical College, where I’ve learned a lot. Then I did another book signing. And did the [UGA football] senior banquet. And next week I’m doing book signings in Tifton and Valdosta.”
Dooley doesn’t play golf and he gave up tennis “five or six years ago when I had a knee replaced,” but, he said, “I’ve got plenty of things to keep me busy. I’m also on the board of the Southeastern Flower Show. I’m still involved in the National Association of Athletic Directors, and the American Football Coaches Association, which I was president of.”
And he does those previews of the Dawgs’ upcoming opponents on the UGA football radio broadcasts, I noted. He chuckled. “I think they were just looking for a way to keep me involved, but I’ve enjoyed doing it. I’m getting to be a living, walking history [of Georgia football].”
Along those lines, I asked Coach Dooley to handicap the upcoming bowl game in Atlanta. “I think it’ll be a good matchup,” he said. “Virginia Tech’s defense is very good. Of course, the ACC is definitely not as strong, particularly this year, so we don’t know [how good].” And the Dawgs wound up the year in a strong way, he noted, “whipping two ranked oponents and strong rivals. It was a good ending after some disappointments this season, but that was mainly the quarterback situation.” On Matthew Stafford, though, Dooley said: “He’s going to be a good one.”
Dooley also takes great pride in the Bulldogs’ MVP award being named after him. “At the senior banquet, I presented the Most Valuable Player award, which is in my name. It was won by Tony Taylor, the linebacker. I expecially was pleased because I coached his dad [Nate], who was on our 1980 team. We called him the ‘Tifton Termite.’”
I asked Coach Dooley whether he gets to talk to the players these days. “Every once in a while they’ll ask me to say something to the team,” he said. “I still go to practice when I can and drop by the dressing room afterward. But I don’t want to get in the way.”
No matter what Adams or anyone else might think, there’s no way Vincent J. Dooley could ever be “in the way” at UGA. Like he said, he’s a “living” history of Georgia football. He should be treasured and appreciated as such.
Whether it’s by putting his name on the field or hyphenating Sanford Stadium or erecting a statue or whatever, it’s high time the University of Georgia honored the man.
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