The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Keeping up with coach
“Retired” is a misnomer for Vince Dooley. There was the late-april trip to Italy with his wife, Barbara, which was very retirement-like. But then there was also the last half of this past week:
A speaking gig at a “Planned Giving” luncheon at the Buckhead Club in Atlanta on Wednesday; a consulting appointment at Kennesaw State on Wednesday afternoon; the Athletes for a Better World awards gala at the Fox Theatre on Wednesday night; a Thursday trip to East Lansing, Mich., to accept the Duffy Daugherty Award for lifetime achievement; a Friday drive to Anniston, Ala., to speak at the Anniston Botanical Gardens and Museum; a Saturday book signing followed by attending the UGA Terry College of Business alumni gala. Then, today, Dooley will appear at the Braves game for the annual presentation of the Vince Dooley awards and scholarships.
So while Dooley is retired from his 40-year vocation as UGA’S football coach and athletic director, simply being Vince Dooley remains a fulltime job.
Dooley spoke with The Atlanta Journal-constitution as he drove through Atlanta between appointments earlier this week and offered his feelings on the Daugherty Award — named for the late Michigan State coach, it is presented annually to individuals making outstanding contributions to amateur football — and his thoughts on current events in college athletics. Q: Congratulations on winning the Daugherty Award. How do you feel about that? A: I knew Duffy well. He was a wonderful coach and a wonderful Irishman, somebody you truly enjoyed being around. One of the trips I made as a young coach was up to East Lansing to watch Michigan State practice after they won a national championship. He and Bud Wilkinson used to give the Coach of the Year coaching clinics every year. If you were named Coach of the Year, which I was fortunate to do a couple of times, they would get you to travel around with them to give clinics at different schools across the country. As a reward they’d take you on a trip overseas. We went to Scotland one year and went to the Far East an- other time. We played golf and just had a good time. He was such a pleasure to be around. Q: Why do you stay so busy? A: The thing is, I don’t have the excuses that I used to have [laughs]. It’s been an adjustment, but it’s been a fun adjustment. I had a driver for 40 years while I was coaching and athletic director. Now I do my own driving, so I’ve learned more about the state of Georgia driving around these last six years than I did in the previous 40. Q: It looks like there is a lot of momentum nationally for a “plus-one” format to decide a national champion in football. What are your feelings on the subject? A: I have always advocated that model. The “plusone” is just a new name they’ve given it. I just called it “a national championship game after the bowl games.” I tried to introduce that, but it didn’t go anywhere. It just got so much resistance back in those days from the Big Ten and the Pac-10. I think it can solve 85 percent of the BCS problems just by having that game alone. Q: Are you concerned by all the major conferences moving toward expansion, which has resulted in some leagues dismantling and others being reconfigured and such? A: Well, I think it’s just a marketplace that has to adjust itself as it goes along. I came on at a time when we had 12 teams in the SEC, which included Georgia Tech and Tulane. So I saw the SEC go from 12 to 10 and then back up to 12 and now up to 14. Even back at that time we had conversations with Texas and Texas A&M. A&M was very interested but wouldn’t do it unless Texas would be a part of it, which it would not. Q: So are you happy see your vision finally coming to fruition? A: Sometimes the NCAA works very, very slowly, which is good in a lot of cases, but sometimes they should speed up a little bit. Something’s going to happen soon. I think they realized the BCS always is going to have some problems, and sometimes it’s a major problem. Auburn certainly deserved to have a shot a couple of years ago, and they certainly would have if we had a plus-one back then. Georgia might have had a shot in 2002 or ’07. But if you have an undefeated team you should definite-