As he exits UGA, Adams should rename stadium for Dooley
Vince D. and Mike A., good buddies of long standing, share a hearty laugh. (AP photo)
Michael Adams is set to leave the University of Georgia in June 2013, which would mean he’ll have outlasted Vince Dooley by nine years. In the overheated summer of 2003, it wasn’t clear who would lose (or win, depending on your slant) the race to be last out the door.
At an institution of higher education, there was little edifying about their bitter struggle. Dooley, the athletic director, wanted to stay a little longer. Adams, who could never give a compelling reason as to why Georgia needed a new AD, wanted this one gone. Two smart and powerful men were reduced to bickering over half-years.
Dooley loyalists rallied, and such was their outrage that it seemed possible the president would be forced out before Dooley. But Adams managed to hold his job, mostly because he was, as a college president, delivering the goods. Dooley left quietly on June 30, 2004, to be succeeded by Damon Evans, and the bizarre saga reached its end.
Dooley lost his job but claimed overwhelming victory in the court of public opinion. He stamped himself as the wronged party, and when he gave the nod for his supporters to cool it — the 2003 summer convocation of the Bulldog Club of Greater Atlanta had been an embarrassment of pro-Vince overkill — he came away as statesmanlike. In the years since, Dooley has taken solace in having weakened his nemesis on campus and off. (If not for the memory of the Dooley feud, Adams might have received greater consideration to succeed Myles Brand as NCAA president.)
To say that the two men hated one another would not be overstating. Dooley considered Adams a meddler and a hothead, and Adams resented Dooley for trying to use a moment of presidential weakness — the AD asked for a contract extension not long after Adams had run off football coach Jim Donnan — as personal leverage. To suggest that either man has forgotten, much less forgiven, is a stretch.
Asked by colleague Chip Towers for a reaction to Adams’ announced departure, Dooley offered this beautifully meager kiss-off: “First of all, I commend President Adams on his retirement, his service and his contributions to the University of Georgia. I do believe it is time for a change and I look forward to the Bulldog Nation uniting under new leadership in the near future.”
Note that commendation for Adams’ “retirement” came two spots ahead of any note of his “contributions.” Note also that “time for a change” came in Sentence No. 2.
Dooley has always taken pains to note that Adams’ doctorate is in political communication, as if the only game the president had ever mastered was one that valued style over substance. But here’s where Dr. Adams can spring the ultimate bit of political jiu-jitsu: As a parting gift, he can name the football stadium after his adversary.
There were those of us who believed that should have happened a decade ago, but there was no way Adams would grant that favor at a time when Dooley’s forces were trying to get him fired. But now it’s 2012, and there could be no gesture more statesmanlike that this.
The school did affix Dooley’s name to the facilities on the southwest corner of campus in 2008, but that was thin gruel: It involved little more than transporting a statue someone had already made and holding a dedication ceremony on the morning Georgia played Tech. (Further indignity: Tech won the game.) Asked back then about naming the stadium for Dooley, Adams sniffed that the stadium “already has a name.”
But few Bulldogs fans would recoil at the notion of Sanford Stadium becoming Sanford-Dooley Stadium. (I’m of the opinion that “Dooley-Sanford Stadium” would sound funny. But maybe that’s just me.) It would be the right way to honor the greatest figure in the school’s athletic history, and it would be the right political move for a president who hasn’t always been seen as presidential.
Honoring his enemy would be a way for Adams to show that, this once if not always, he’s capable of being the bigger man. It would enhance Dooley’s legacy, but it would burnish Adams’ more. If this president left today, he’d be known as the guy who was right on academics but wrong in his handling of a popular AD. If he leaves after renaming the stadium for that AD, he’d become the guy who, in his final act, was wise enough to admit he’d gotten one big thing wrong.
That would, as even Dooley would be forced to admit, be one heck of an exit line.
By Mark Bradley
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529 comments Add your comment
Braves fan who gets annoyed with Mark Bradley
May 4th, 2012
2:43 pm
“Adams should rename stadium for Dooley”
Who is a graduate of Auburn. It took an Auburn grad to win UGA’s last national championship.
I dropped my fried twinkie
May 4th, 2012
2:43 pm
Billy Payne? You are kidding right? Billy Payne get paid and doesn’t have to work that hard right now. Like he would want to run a college with all those headaches. Billy plays golf, makes big money backroom deals and no headaches so I don’t see him wanting to changes jobs.
Junior Samples
May 4th, 2012
2:43 pm
leave it as Sanford Stadium…the best name for the best stadium.
Braves fan who gets annoyed with Mark Bradley
May 4th, 2012
2:44 pm
UGA stadium names:
1: Red Panty Stadium.
2: UGA county prison stadium
3: Fulmer Cup Stadium
4: Donnan of a new era stadium
Braves fan who gets annoyed with Mark Bradley
May 4th, 2012
2:45 pm
“Could it be that Vince Dooley was just a tad overrated?”
Just a little.
flagboy?
May 4th, 2012
2:46 pm
leave it as it is.
Done
May 4th, 2012
2:50 pm
Ray Goof Field at Jim Donnan Ponzi Stadium
John
May 4th, 2012
2:51 pm
This is stupid. Mark, you just made it abundantly clear you don’t get the Bulldog nation. Then again, you’ve made that clear time and time again.
No real Bulldog wants that. Maybe a Dooley field, but not a Sanford-Dooley Stadium.
The thing is, Michael Adams might actually do this. Not as a gesture of graciousness, but as one more dig at the Bulldog football faithful.
I dropped my fried twinkie
May 4th, 2012
2:56 pm
Vince won 3 SEC titles in 25 years if he doesn’t have Herschel. Vince is not some mastermind football coach.
We know the playbook
Herschel run left
Herschel run right
Herschel run middle
Buck try a pass
Butler kick
Reminds you of the complexity of the West Coast or the Run-n-shoot offenses kinda don’t it?
DogTheMan
May 4th, 2012
2:57 pm
Before Hershal how many conference titles did Vince win?? 1 maybe two? After Hershal hwo many did he win. 1 maybe 2. Yeah that is the justification for naming a stadium.
DogTheMan
May 4th, 2012
2:58 pm
@ Dawg with long Memory.. You could not have said it better!!!!!
Ebenezer Snerdberg
May 4th, 2012
3:00 pm
I love Vince, but there are others things. Adams was a high school classmate. If he does this I’m gonna have to yell at him!
fried twinkies make you fat
May 4th, 2012
3:00 pm
It’s a football field.
Vince coahced there 25 years
Won 201 games
Won 6 SEc titles
Won a national title and played for another one
Who else you gonna name the field after??
Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium
Larry Munson Press box
VA Dawg
May 4th, 2012
3:01 pm
While we’re hashing this out, why not Herschel Walker Field @ S-DS?
Nothing will probably come of all this, but it’s a slow day at the office so makes for fun banter.
DawginLex
May 4th, 2012
3:02 pm
You idiots excluding Herschel from Dooley’s tenure:
You gonna exclude Archie Griffin from Ohio State?
Cam Newton from Auburn?
Tim Tebow from Florida?
Herschel played for Georgia and Dooley coached him so the games count
Pat
May 4th, 2012
3:03 pm
He should name the stadium for Dooley and he should move the statue of Dooley from the backside of campus to the stadium and he should apologize to Dooley for how he treated him and to Dawg fans for dumping Dooley and putting a young man in the AD spot who wasn’t ready for it therefore messing up his life too and Adams should retire now and stop his insane building of meaningless monuments to himself, huge empty buildings we don’t need!
But he won’t.
Dawg Doo
May 4th, 2012
3:04 pm
Dooley’s 22 years without Hershel: 168-74 (69% winning percentage); 3 SEC titles; 0 National Titles.
He had 3 great years with Hershel, but not so much during those other 22 seasons.
gdawginkalamazoo
May 4th, 2012
3:06 pm
Thank You DawginLex. You can remove player X from any program and see how successful they might have been. Dooley recruited Herschel.
I dropped my fried twinkie
May 4th, 2012
3:11 pm
gdawginkalamazoo
May 4th, 2012
3:06 pm
Thank You DawginLex. You can remove player X from any program and see how successful they might have been. Dooley recruited Herschel.
BS……….Try USC, Notre Dame, Michigan, FSU Nebraska, Texas or Bama with coaches that had 15 or more years and you will not see 1 player making a coaches “Career” like Walker did for Dooley.
Andrew
May 4th, 2012
3:12 pm
Don’t put Dooley’s name on the stadium. He was a good coach but not stadium naming worthy.
Elvis
May 4th, 2012
3:12 pm
Jeff, If I thought it would shut up Dooley AND his wife, and they would stay FAR away from UGA, I would be would be the first to start a campaign to name it the “We were so lucky to have Dooley, and what would we have done without him” stadium. But they BOTH would have to guarantee we would not see or hear from them again. But that would never happen, because they are way too self promoting and self absorbed! People want to talk about Adams being an as& (and he is), he was just a t-ball league level player compared to Dooley!
judd
May 4th, 2012
3:12 pm
no way. dooley appeals to the lowest common element (the entire “dawg nation”) and relishes the attention given to him by these slobs
Doug
May 4th, 2012
3:13 pm
HELL NO
TNDawggie
May 4th, 2012
3:14 pm
No one is pretending that 1980-82 didn’t happen. But if Herschel had been born in Oklahoma instead of Georgia, Dooley’s tenure would look quite different. He won 10+ games each season with Herschel. He accomplished that feat only 4 times in 22 years without Herschel. It’s not as if those three years with Herschel are representative of his 25 years in Athens.
fuzzybee
May 4th, 2012
3:16 pm
How about honoring Uga by naming it Drooley Stadium?
LT
May 4th, 2012
3:16 pm
LOUSY IDEA!!!! Dooley was an extremely arrogant, selfish person with the morals of an alley cat. He name would absolutely besmirch that otherwise wonderful stadium.
disbot3000
May 4th, 2012
3:17 pm
I really like the sound of Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium. That’s a much better suggestion than Sanford-Dooley Stadium.
Oh, and he’ll never do it, but it’s sly of you to suggest it like it’s something he can do to fix his PR. However, I really don’t think he’s stupid enough to fall for that trick. Nice try, though.
DDPO
May 4th, 2012
3:22 pm
They should put Ed Tolley’s name on that stadium. Without him representing ThUGA, they would not have been able to field a team for the past 25 years!
DawginLex
May 4th, 2012
3:25 pm
Again, show me where another school excludes great players during the tenure of a coach
Buckeye
May 4th, 2012
3:26 pm
So all y’all dogs know, it’s called Ohio Stadium offically, The Horeshoe by nickname and the ‘Shoe for short.
And, I’ve always wondered, why is Jordon Haire pronounced “jerdan”. In any case, it sounds like a pesty rabbit.
gdawginkalamazoo
May 4th, 2012
3:27 pm
Twinkie, you can remove player X from anyone of those programs that you mentioned and they would (might) not have won their NC. Reggie Bush, Joe Montana, and I won’t bother to look any more up because I am right.
So we should play some idiotic “what if” game with Dooley’s legacy because he was the one who recruited the greatest RB to ever play college football. He did he won and its history.
Braves fan who gets annoyed with Mark Bradley
May 4th, 2012
3:31 pm
“Herschel played for Georgia and Dooley coached him so the games count”
ABSOLUTELY! And since then, nothing has happened at UGA. Some good years but nothing great like 1980.
DP
May 4th, 2012
3:31 pm
Not many cheaper ways for a sportswriter or broadcaster to play to the crowd than by telling a university who it should name a field or gymnasium for when he didn’t even go to school there. It is one of Dick Vitale’s regular bits during college basketball season.
Braves fan who gets annoyed with Mark Bradley
May 4th, 2012
3:32 pm
“And, I’ve always wondered, why is Jordon Haire pronounced “jerdan”. In any case, it sounds like a pesty rabbit.”
Because that’s how you pronounce Shug’s last name, Buck.
Braves fan who gets annoyed with Mark Bradley
May 4th, 2012
3:32 pm
What’s a buckeye?
Buckeye
May 4th, 2012
3:32 pm
AP,
A thousand votes yes?? Seriously? Are you with ACORN? The SEIU? OWS?
kingdaddy
May 4th, 2012
3:33 pm
If you don’t like Vince then you are probably to young to remember him and your opinion doesn’t count, or you’re a douchebag troll and your opinion stinks, but you smell really nice. Either way, it’ll be a long time before anyone does what Vince Dooley has done for this University. I love CMR, but he’s got a long way to go. Speaking of go, GOOOO DOGGGGSSSSSS!!!
Dawgmom
May 4th, 2012
3:33 pm
Lifelong Dawg fan here, UGA alum and mother of a daughter in the Redcoat Band. I remember the Vince Dooley years. They were ok but not great until Herschel – I was there during the Herschel years. His record is definitely not worthy of changing the name of the stadium or of the field. What are we going to say on Saturdays? “It’s time to tee it up ‘tween the hedges here at Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium!” Sounds ridiculous. Just let the team play ‘Tween the Hedges at Sanford Stadium. I mean, if it’s not broke – don’t fix it.
Braves fan who gets annoyed with Mark Bradley
May 4th, 2012
3:33 pm
“Try USC, Notre Dame, Michigan, FSU Nebraska, Texas or Bama with coaches that had 15 or more years and you will not see 1 player making a coaches “Career” like Walker did for Dooley.”
Take away Richardson and Bama has no 2011 Title. Take away Bush or Leinart and USC is without one…oh wait, they are. Notre Dame? Who????????????????????
Hoopster
May 4th, 2012
3:34 pm
How about Jan Kemp Field at Sanford Stadium? Crooked is as crooked does.
mdr
May 4th, 2012
3:36 pm
Ludicrous suggestion. I love Dooley, but the stadium is already named for the right man. Honor Dooley all you want, but don’t forget about Sanford and others.
wallydawg
May 4th, 2012
3:36 pm
Count the money before he leaves. He sucked out of UGA what he could. Good riddance. Wish he was leaving this June.
kingdaddy
May 4th, 2012
3:36 pm
Buckeye
“I hates those wrasklely wrabbits! “
Dawgmom
May 4th, 2012
3:38 pm
Enter your comments here
Buckeye
May 4th, 2012
3:39 pm
Curious, why is bulldogs spelled bulldogs in the end zone at your (to be re-named later) stadium yet everywere else dogs, bulldog or bulldogs are referenced you dogs mispell the word?
Buckeye
May 4th, 2012
3:41 pm
Hmmm, is that it? Auburn pronounces Jordan “Jerdan” and dogs spell “dogs” “dawgs”.
SEC! SEC! SEC!
I dropped my fried twinkie
May 4th, 2012
3:42 pm
Dooley recruited Herschel’s sister with a track scholarship, told Buck to hand the ball to Herschel and Erk’s Defense. Dooley did Nothing special to make Herschel a better player. 3 SEC titles without Herschel 3 7 MNC with Herschel in 25 years. Dawg fans live off being in the SEC like Dooley has to live off Herschel.
Braves fan who gets annoyed with Mark Bradley
Bama, USC, Notre Dame and USC have HISTORY of winning Championships UGa doesn’t. I also said compare YEARS (22) of Dooley without Herschel. Compare those schools coaches over a period of time. Those coaches won with new players all the time Dooley didn’t.
mambo
May 4th, 2012
3:45 pm
Dooley-Sanford. I love it!
Braves fan who gets annoyed with Mark Bradley
May 4th, 2012
3:46 pm
“Hmmm, is that it? Auburn pronounces Jordan “Jerdan” and dogs spell “dogs” “dawgs”.”
Ok Buck, let me put it to you this way since you seem to have a low IQ.
Bass and bass are spelled the same yet you can pronounce it two different ways.
Bass – fish
Bass- musical instrument.
Make sense, troglodyte?
gdawginkalamazoo
May 4th, 2012
3:47 pm
Sine he won his NC in 1980 Vince Dooley has more NC’s than USC does and he is tied with Texas. Bo Schembechler never won and NC.