Vince Dooley: Joy from Georgia’s rise, pain from son’s firing
Vince Dooley's joy for Georgia's resurgence took a hit with his son's firing. (Brant Sanderlin/AJC)
On Sunday, when everybody associated with Georgia football was still basking in the afterglow of the season’s 10th victory and the anticipation of a dramatic flip at the top in the BCS standings, the Dooleys of Athens received a phone call from their son, Derek.
“I knew it was going to happen,” Vince Dooley said. “I felt for sure it was going to happen. Then on Sunday when he contacted us and told us, it was difficult. You hurt for your family. You hurt for your son.”
Seldom do the extreme highs and lows of competitive athletics collide like this.
Dooley hired Mark Richt and watched him win two SEC championships in his first five seasons. He saw the program slip back for a couple of seasons and Richt try to navigate through “crises” while four other SEC schools won six national championships and so many called for the coach’s head. Now the Bulldogs are more than relevant again. A second consecutive SEC title game berth awaits, a No. 3 national ranking provides a tease for something even greater and Richt has been listed as a national coach-of-the-year candidate.
“Coaching has always been about surviving a series of crises,” Dooley said Tuesday. “In Mark’s case, he had a charmed life. He didn’t have a lot of criticism until a couple of years ago. So I’m very pleased to see how he’s responded to that. He needed to right the ship and get back to the high standards again, and he’s done that. That doesn’t mean he won’t have another series of crises to deal with again one day. He will. Because once you get up there, you’ll always have crises.”
Derek Dooley told Vince that coaching the final game would be a distraction for the team. (Brant Sanderlin/AJC)
Tennessee allowed Derek Dooley three years of crises, then they fired him. It didn’t matter that the program was in a crises when the younger Dooley was hired. Lane Kiffin had bolted, and the school pointed to a burning building and told Dooley, “Fix it. Fast.” That was too great a feat for any coach to accomplish, let alone one making the leap from Louisiana Tech to the SEC, his genes notwithstanding.
But Vince Dooley understands the reality of coaching today: A man doesn’t go 4-19 in the SEC at programs like Tennessee and survive.
“I knew the situation,” he said. “They came very close in some big ballgames that unfortunately they didn’t win. I know [Tennessee athletic director] Dave Hart personally. He anguished over this. But in light of the situation I understand the decision. Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech in his first six seasons had 24 wins and 40 losses. In his sixth year he won two games. But until this season he was one of the winningest coaches in football. Coaches don’t get that
kind of time any more.”
Dooley said he had only one question for his son: Why was he not going to coach Tennessee’s final game at Kentucky?
“Derek said he requested that because he felt he would be distraction,” Dooley said. “He said all of the speculation about his job was a distraction before the Vanderbilt game and he felt that hurt the team (a 41-18 loss), so he didn’t want that to happen again. Once he said that, I admired his decision. I felt it was important to get that out because it’s not like they didn’t want him around.”
Barbara Dooley has taken firing the hardest, Vince said. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)
Anybody close to Georgia football knows how much Vince and Barbara wanted their son to succeed. Dad would catch Tennessee’s game on television in press boxes around the SEC while traveling with the Bulldogs. Mom attended games in Knoxville, dressed in orange. When the schools met, Barbara never was conflicted.
“That’s my baby, and I’m pulling for Tennessee. If the Georgia people don’t understand that, then I just don’t get it,” she once said.
Barbara politely declined to speak Tuesday.
“It’s been difficult, especially on my wife, who takes things harder than I do,” Vince said. “That’s her baby. I told her it will take a while for the pain to go away. She’s hurting more than [Derek]. He’s handling it better than she is.”
Three more victories would heal a lot of wounds. Georgia has three games left: It’s a local rival (Georgia Tech), the SEC championship (Alabama) and a bowl game (in the Utopian experience of two more wins, it’s the BCS Championship game in Miami).
Dooley has been down this road before. He knows Richt is concerned that players’ minds might be on matters not related to the Georgia Tech game. That’s a danger, regardless of what the fans, the alumni, the media and the oddsmakers say.
Dooley, who hired Richt, happy that the coach has "righted the ship" at Georgia. (Joey Ivansco/AJC)
“Back in 1980 when we were undefeated before the Georgia Tech game, I had a player from the 1927 team talk to the players how they were in the same situation and ended up losing to Georgia Tech in the final game,” Dooley said. “It can happen — it has happened. You have people see that Tech maybe doesn’t have the direction Georgia does and you find yourself looking beyond this week, and that rubs off on players. As a coach, that worries you.”
With Vince Dooley, you always get a story. If it’s not about the Georgia team that went 9-0 in 1927 before losing to Tech 12-0, it’s about Charley Trippi coming back from World War II in 1945. Trippi was invoked when Dooley was asked about the Dogs’ early-season struggles with injuries and suspensions, even after four players returned.
“When Charley Trippi came out of the military, all the players expected he was going to be some Superman, and when he came back the rest of the team just sort of watched him,” he said. “They played LSU, and they just annihilated Trippi. It took a while for that team to respond to crisis. But they eventually did, and so did this team. I know it was devastating playing South Carolina and laying an egg there, and then playing poorly at Kentucky, although I did that plenty of times. But going down and beating Florida was big, and now here they are. I’m really pleased for the whole program and particularly for Mark, since [hiring him] was one of my last decisions.”
He’ll try to focus on that and let time heal everything else.
By Jeff Schultz
Kick bit and pull up a blog . . .
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• Short takes: Ryan awful, defense great, win important
• Georgia’s new reality: From on the brink to BCS title possibility
• Upsets launch Georgia into BCS title picture (updated game column)
• Short takes: Murray wakes up the offense
• Weekend Predictions: Dogs, Jackets, Falcons and the lust triangles
• Falcons’ flaws aren’t worse than any other NFL team
• College hoop kings provide rare thrills for Atlanta
• Falcons’ startling admission: Ray Edwards was a blunder
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467 comments Add your comment
ARdawg
November 20th, 2012
4:39 pm
“Actually I would say we have a better chance of making a BCS game than UGA does”
No Bobby, you don’t seriously. You’ll be demn lucky to get to any bowl with a 6-7 record. Have you applied for the waiver yet? Have you sent flowers to Donna Shalala?
Patched Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
November 20th, 2012
4:40 pm
Just think
Techs National Championships came before the mid 50’s when 5 or 6 teams were awarded a national title from The Cracker Jack National Championship to the AJC national title
Count that joke UPI national title in 1990 against a #17 ranked team and yea there you have it Tech really doesnt have much to brag about
robodawg
November 20th, 2012
4:40 pm
Best wishes to Derek. He just needed a signature win or two to turn the momentum at UT. I love his passion for the game. He should get another opportunity in coaching before long. I’d welcome him as an assistant at UGA.
At least the Dooleys won’t have to cheer for that team in orange anymore.
GTBob
November 20th, 2012
4:41 pm
Tech hasnt even played a decent team all year until this Saturday
Clemson isn’t decent? They are probably going to beat the team that destroyed UGA.
GTBob
November 20th, 2012
4:45 pm
GTBob, serious question… Are you pleased with CPJ’s resume at Tech?
Yes, to this point I am. He needs to improve the defense but overall he has done a pretty good job. And yes, I am hopeful for the future with him as our coach.
Cdpridg
November 20th, 2012
4:46 pm
tech fans….pickle jar maybe??
charles
November 20th, 2012
4:46 pm
Sorry-Tenn should never lose to Vanderbilt!
GTBob
November 20th, 2012
4:48 pm
Sorry-Tenn should never lose to Vanderbilt!
Nobody should ever lose to Vandy. That is why so many coaches in the SEC are getting fired. Losing to Vandy is always the last straw.
Xiaoming "Rusty" Huang
November 20th, 2012
4:49 pm
GTBob, I just think he’s got a tough road ahead. If you and the other boosters are satisfied with a “pretty good” job then so be it.
Patched Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
November 20th, 2012
4:50 pm
Clemson
Yea thats a tough one there
GTBob
November 20th, 2012
4:54 pm
Clemson
Yea thats a tough one there
What makes Clemson so terrible? The fact that they don’t have an SEC patch on their jerseys?
Ole Big Dawg
November 20th, 2012
4:56 pm
Never pulled against Tech a day of my life.
GTBob
November 20th, 2012
4:56 pm
GTBob, I just think he’s got a tough road ahead. If you and the other boosters are satisfied with a “pretty good” job then so be it.
He has a higher winning percentage at Tech then any other coach since Bobby Dodd. He has won a conference championship and has a chance to win another. What more should we expect at GT? Should we fire every coach who doesn’t win 11 games every year?
SPURRIER IS IN GA'S HEAD
November 20th, 2012
4:56 pm
notice in the article how he says, “going down and beating FL was big”. If it ain’t about the Mighty Gators, it’s about SPURRIER. Is the saying, “GA on your mind”, or was it supposed to say, “SPURRIER/FL on your mind”
Patched Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
November 20th, 2012
4:57 pm
Nah its the fact that we beat them all the time
RunninWithTheDawgs
November 20th, 2012
4:57 pm
Good luck Derek ! Somewhere deep down inside you’re a damn good DAWG !
Ole Big Dawg
November 20th, 2012
5:00 pm
Spurrier.. Sitting on your couch…contemplating retirement. Tired of being irrelevant.
Buckeye
November 20th, 2012
5:00 pm
patched,
I am a traditionalist. I was not crazy about Penn St. joining. I have no use for Maryland even if the second coming of Boomer Esaiason arrives. I did like the Rutgers coach that bolted for the Bucs. The guy that plays balls out of D during the Victory Formation. Come to think of it, that tactic would fire uo the dogs in the waning seconds of the Dogs Destoyed in the Dome Classic!
UGA Dawg
November 20th, 2012
5:00 pm
Ms. Barbara you pull for your baby it will always be ok with UGA fans even if he ends up at Florida! We know every week but that one you will be in Black and Red!
Patched Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
November 20th, 2012
5:01 pm
Bob writes
What more should we expect at GT
Wait a minute; you Tech fans want to come on here and brag about your National Titles that you won when the Model T was being driven around Atlanta but now your saying what more should we expect from a coach
Give me a break Bob you cant come on here and brag then claim Tech shouldnt expect much
Buckeye
November 20th, 2012
5:01 pm
I’m a Georgia fan, It’s a license to be stupid for President!!!!!!!
Put in Timeout by Ken Suguira,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned by Bill King, Chip Towers & only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
November 20th, 2012
5:02 pm
I would still rather have STUDENT athletes than football players that can’t get a job after college. If the NFL is not calling or even if it is after 3.3 years most of these GODS of college football are not helping the US Economy other than BLOWING their NFL money to head to bankruptcy.
Do I want my team to win a MNC? Yes, but I would rather have College graduates that can read and live good productive lives after the Saturday games are over.
Many of the people on here that are in a position to hire some of theses players know you love them on Saturday but wouldn’t give them a job with any responsibility if your job was riding on it.
Steve
November 20th, 2012
5:02 pm
Johnson has won an ACC Championship at Tech huh? More false posts. Do you need a reminder that it was taken away from you? Moron.
Buckeye
November 20th, 2012
5:03 pm
tom brown,
On the road tomorrow. Until we meet again, tom brown
Kisses
wcat
November 20th, 2012
5:03 pm
Vince needs to slap Barbara. No way in hell is that his son!
Patched Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
November 20th, 2012
5:04 pm
Buckeye
Just do this blog a favor and dont come on here and brag about your program which hasnt done anymore than UGA has in 40 yrs
Come to think of it
I think UGA has done more at least we beat SEC teams oh and we beat you
Buckeye
November 20th, 2012
5:05 pm
Put in,
And let’s start with learning to speak in complete sentences in lieu of yo homey he ain’t give respect and i got me street cred.
cdpridg
November 20th, 2012
5:07 pm
tech fans….the jar is open
Buckeye
November 20th, 2012
5:10 pm
Sorry guys. I just have no life so I like to play on UGA blogs. Any guys free for a little game of tickle tonight? My place works.
GTBob
November 20th, 2012
5:13 pm
Johnson has won an ACC Championship at Tech huh? More false posts. Do you need a reminder that it was taken away from you? Moron.
I don’t really care if it was taken away or not. The NCAA’s random rulings don’t mean much to me. It doesn’t change the fact that CPJ won it.
rhbDAWG1
November 20th, 2012
5:15 pm
How about Derek Dooley to Ga Tek?
GTBob
November 20th, 2012
5:16 pm
Give me a break Bob you cant come on here and brag then claim Tech shouldnt expect much
Ive never been one of those posters. I don’t care at all about championships from more than 10 years ago. What I know is that Tech hasn’t been very good since the 1950’s so when a coach comes along and has a little success, im fine keeping him around for a while.
After further review
November 20th, 2012
5:16 pm
Georgia fan; Where UGA winds up for a bowl depends on several factors, at least in my opinion.
FIrst, they need to get past Tech, which I assume they will. And Alabam mus tbeat Auburn, which I also assume will happen. Rivalry games are often tricky, and the records may not count for much, but the odds are in Goergia and Alabama’s favor.
Second, it will matter what happens between Florida and Florida State. If FSU beates Florida, then UGA can win and go to the BCS Championship game, or lose and go to the Sugar Bowl. However, if Florida beats FSU, then the winner of Alabama-Georgia in the SEC Champinoship game goes to the BCS Champinonship game, and the loser probably gets the Outback while Florida winds up in the Sugar.
All this, of course, assumes ND beats Southern Cal, which I do believe will happen, especially if Barkley does not play, and aside from the rivalry factor he may decide to sit out and protect his NFL draft status. Again, it’s a rivalry game, and stgrange things can happen.
Bob
November 20th, 2012
5:18 pm
What genius gave DD a quad raise in salary and a $5M buyout for a coach with a losing record at a small college? And what is UT doing with the $20M they get each year from the SEC? Maybe Tennessee’s problems are deeper than coaching…just saying.
GTBob
November 20th, 2012
5:19 pm
If FSU beates Florida, then UGA can win and go to the BCS Championship game, or lose and go to the Sugar Bowl.
If FSU beats Florida and UGA loses to Alabama then LSU is more than likely going to the Sugar Bowl.
Put in Timeout by Ken Suguira,Filtered by Mark Bradley, Banned by Bill King, Chip Towers & only slightly loved by Jeff Schultz.
November 20th, 2012
5:19 pm
Steve
November 20th, 2012
5:02 pm
Johnson has won an ACC Championship at Tech huh? More false posts. Do you need a reminder that it was taken away from you? Moron.
THE GAME PLAYED on the Field was won by TECH……..If you think that was a GOOD decision by the NCAA you are crazy.
I guess you think AJ getting 4 games was a good decision too.
Steve
November 20th, 2012
5:22 pm
I just go by the facts little man. Tech does not have a recent ACC Championship. Deal with it.
Buckeye
November 20th, 2012
5:26 pm
patched,
get to 4-10 since 2008 vs. ranked SEC! SEC! teams and i’ll consider your suggestion.
GTBob
November 20th, 2012
5:26 pm
I just go by the facts little man. Tech does not have a recent ACC Championship. Deal with it.
I never said they have one now, I said that CPJ won one.
Steve
November 20th, 2012
5:30 pm
Maybe I should put on my bullet-proof vest and visit Tech’s campus and checkout that ACC Championship trophy. Oh wait, they don’t have one. Saddddd. GTBob enjoy your night playing on the computer from now until 1AM or so when mommy comes down to tuck you in. I have that weird thing called a life and must go.
BILLY JACK
November 20th, 2012
5:32 pm
Buckeye-nobody in the history of college football has been beat up on by sec teams than Ohio State-you even being on this blog is absurd-you are dismissed.
Patched Tire On I-95 in Jacksonville
November 20th, 2012
5:32 pm
Buckeye
Hey We have 4 wins
What does Ohio St have
oh when have Rugters and Maryland ever played any football
Buckeye
November 20th, 2012
5:33 pm
Tech shocks the dogs, goes to the Orange.
Bama continues to expose the dogs
dogs go back to the Dome for the Peach
HA!
Buckeye
November 20th, 2012
5:35 pm
See. I really am stupid. I think if Tech beats UGA they will be in the Orange Bowl. Any offers yet on a game of tickle yet?
BILLY JACK
November 20th, 2012
5:36 pm
GT Bob-if tech had any honor they wouldnt show up for the ACC championship game-I dont even know where its being played-maybe Greensboro NC or somewhere-a 5 or 6 loss team needs to be at home watching-oh by the way Vandy would take tech to the woodshed.To play a championship game with a half empty stadium is really pathetic.
Rick James
November 20th, 2012
5:40 pm
@GTBob
He has a higher winning percentage at Tech then any other coach since Bobby Dodd. He has won a conference championship and has a chance to win another. What more should we expect at GT? Should we fire every coach who doesn’t win 11 games every year?
—————————————————————————————————————————-
Not great accomplishments since Tech plays in one of the weakest football conferences in America.
GTBob
November 20th, 2012
5:42 pm
GT Bob-if tech had any honor they wouldnt show up for the ACC championship game
Who should FSU play then? Its either us, or Duke. Which one do you want to see?
GTBob
November 20th, 2012
5:47 pm
Not great accomplishments since Tech plays in one of the weakest football conferences in America.
So because we play in the ACC there is nothing CPJ can do that would be considered an accomplishment? Is that what you are getting at?
Rick James
November 20th, 2012
5:49 pm
@GTBob
There is no chance CPJ would be fired even if his contract was up this year. Sure we don’t want to pay him 10 million not to coach but if we had to then we would find a way.
———————————————————————————————————————
No Bob..He will not be fired because because there is no money to pay him off.You’ve stated this yourself.The only chance Tech will find a way to fire him is if he does something to embarrass the school.Losing to Middle Tennesee St and BYU at homecoming is not enough..Just keep repeating to yourself that his winning percentage is higher than Bobby Dodd’s while you watch Tech in the Mucadine Bowl..
Wet Willie...keep on smiling
November 20th, 2012
5:50 pm
Derek is a decent football coach but he made a mistake with himself by allowing Bray to stay at UT! Derek needed to establish that he meant business with the UT players instead they saw how he handled both #84 and Bray and the snowball only grew. The next coach that goes to UT better be one hell of a SOB for he will have to clear the deck of some of the trash still at UT including Bray and Patterson. Most folks understand a loss when you’re doing what it takes to get the program better with disciplined players but no so much when you see that actions of Bray and Patterson. JMO