Barbara Dooley to sportswriters: ‘You’ve got Mama’s rile up now, buddy!’
Barbara Dooley
Don’t mess with Mama’s baby boy.
That was the basic message Barbara Dooley delivered to Knoxville sportswriters Andrew Gribble and Dave Hooker and radio listeners who were tuning into “Newsmakers with Tim Bryant” on Athens station WGAU-AM 1340 Thursday morning.
Gribble and Hooker both cover the Tennessee Volunteers, who are coached by the youngest son of Barbara and Vince Dooley, Derek Dooley.
“At some point, one or the other speculates on Derek Dooley and the temperature of the seat beneath him,” Bryant told the AJC afterward. “Turns out Barbara Dooley was listening, and she lives right around the corner.”
So Barbara, who has her own show at the station (owned by Cox Media Group), drove in to give the writers her two cents worth. “She just about kicked the door in,” Bryant said.
Following is the exchange:
Barbara: “I want to ask you guys something. Back when I was in coaching with my husband, the press was our best friends. Now all y’all want to do is beat the coaches to hell and back.”
Hooker: “That’s not me, that’s Andrew.”[laughter]
Barbara: “I want you to listen about my baby.”
Bryant: “You have to hurry because we’ve got a congressman standing by.”
Barbara: “Well, he can just wait. Football is important. [more laughter] Let me say this: Derek Dooley walked into kind of a mess. Florida, [coach Will Muschamp] walks into talent just oozing out of their ears. Jimbo Fisher walks into FSU with talent. And y’all are telling me that Derek Dooley is on the damn hot seat? Are you crazy?”
Bryant: “Did anybody say the word hot seat?”
Barbara: “Yeah, I heard them!”
Hooker: “I didn’t say that.”
Barbara: “Oh, come on, get out of here! You’ve got Mama’s rile up now, buddy. Did you know [Derek] played 17 freshman against Florida?”
Hooker: “Absolutely.”
Barbara: “I just want you to be nice and fair and know that you probably have the best coach in the country and he’s going to be there 25 years.”
Bryant: “And they’ll probably name the stadium after him. Guys, thanks for joining us. Andrew Gribble, Dave Hooker and Barbara Dooley. Like I said, we’ve got a congressman [Tom Graves] standing by and he’s had to listen to all this.”
UPDATE: Here’s an explanation from Andrew Gribble of the Knoxville News-Sentinel, who admits to saying “hot seat” but not in the context Barbara Dooley took it.
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260 comments Add your comment
tiffany
October 6th, 2011
5:03 pm
Wonder how dear ole great American–Lewis Grizzard would spin this??? Bless his soul!
harold
October 6th, 2011
5:14 pm
TOO BAD VINCE DOESN’T SUPPORT HIS OWN SON. IF MY SON COACHED AT SLIPERRY ROCK I WOULD BE THERE AT ALL HIS GAMES. THIS IS VERY STRANGE.
Big Mike Dawg
October 6th, 2011
5:17 pm
Old Barb’s hot!!!!
Birddawg
October 6th, 2011
5:18 pm
Mom’s don’t let your babies grow up to be Head coach’s at Tennessee.
Waytown
October 6th, 2011
5:24 pm
Barbara needs to lay off the sauce—derek got all his jobs because of his old man’s name—he’s done nothing to deserve it. He’s making millions for mediocrity. South carolina will beat tennessee easy–book it!
Bobby Bobby
October 6th, 2011
5:52 pm
I do not recall Barbra being on the coaching staff do you? This woman is crazy. She runs around having everyone believing she is a southern debutant and/or daughter of the confederacy. For those that buy that crap she is not. Her family is not even from the US. She does not understand if anyone under minds Derek it is her. Who needs this crap.
Bob
October 6th, 2011
6:03 pm
Glamour photo shot for 75 year old Barbara. Dawgs win by 17 and Derek is coaching Coastal carolina in 2013.
Bob
October 6th, 2011
6:16 pm
@Still@the Bar…LOL and order me another PBR. I’m thinking Bobo will be a position coach at Thomasville, Moultrie, or Cordele.
yogi1
October 6th, 2011
6:29 pm
Easy to see why Vince and Derrick are wimps being around her. She wears the pants in the Dooley family
treytn
October 6th, 2011
6:44 pm
yogi1, you hit the nail squarely on the head. Derek was raised around a domineering mommy and he’s as wimpy as Vince was.
John
October 6th, 2011
6:45 pm
Oh my heavens, no! Barbara Dooley has the most irritating voice of anyone I’ve ever heard on the radio around here save Lois Reitzes. Whatever we have to do to keep her off the airwaves is worth it, so please, let’s just praise her son whether we mean it or not. (When WABE called for a donation once, I told them I’d send in $10,000 if they’d send me Lois Reitzes’s tongue. The caller laughed knowingly but declined my offer.)
Kathryn
October 6th, 2011
6:50 pm
I wish Derek’s mommy would come and get her baby boy from Tennessee. He can’t count and his coaching staff can’t coach. He even begged Hamilton to buy out a wimpy North Carolina team and replace them Buffalo Middle School because he knew that was the only way he’d win 6 games this year. Georgia isn’t any good this year but they will beat us.
Mills
October 6th, 2011
6:58 pm
Looks like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. She doesn’t hear well and her wittle baby boy doesn’t know that 11 players is all you can have on the field. Wittle Dewek even has that deer in the headlight look.
Football fan
October 6th, 2011
7:04 pm
I appall her and think she is right
most you clowns could not handle her everyday
those morons on the radio should be embarrassed
go SEC
Barbara Dooley to sportswriters:
October 6th, 2011
7:29 pm
[...] [...]
PT
October 6th, 2011
8:21 pm
I would think Tennessee would want some stability in their football program. I am surprised that Derek Dooley took the job in the first place, he was probably better off in Louisiana. Gribble and Hooker must be idiots because that whole athletic program is coming apart at the seams. How Tennessee could put a coach on the hot seat based on past 18 months is beyond comprehension.
Dawg89
October 6th, 2011
10:23 pm
If nothing else she made a congressman wait! Too bad more of them can’t be made to wait – in the unemployment line.
Mills
October 6th, 2011
10:50 pm
I wonder if Derek consulted with mommy dearest about teaching shower etiquette to the players. Maybe she still bathes Derek when she comes to Knoxville.
James
October 6th, 2011
10:54 pm
That’s funny as hell, Mills!
I think Derek is too busy playing Army nowadays. He thinks he’s a reincarnated Nazi officer defending the coast against the Allied invasion. He plays with little green plastic Army men on the sidelines when the team is practicing. What a doofus Tennessee hired!!!
Mills
October 6th, 2011
10:57 pm
James, I had forgot about the D-day invasion stuff that Do Litte Dooley said to the media. A friend of mine was there that day operating a camera and he said everyone looked at each other in disbelief as Do Little was getting his rocks off talking like he was a real Nazi and stuff. I think he’ll be fired after the 2012 season.
Kathryn
October 6th, 2011
11:04 pm
@Mills: “Do Little” ROFLMAO
Sky
October 7th, 2011
12:23 am
Andrew Gribble is a spaz. Just that simple. Not the hot poop he thinks he is. Glad Barbara Dooley jacked him. Natural for a weasel to elude to such and backtrack.
mommadooley
October 7th, 2011
1:06 am
I still find it funny that Dawg fans thinks Ga set the standard for the SEC and invented football.This is the most over hyped program in the country.Always picked to challenge for the east title and always ranked but never do nothing.This year is no different.Ga is 3-2 but if you talk to a mutt fan one would think they were 5-0 and ranked number 1 in the country.
Come saturday Bray will pass Ga def. to death.I dont think there is a fan in the SEC that wants to see MR get fired.If they fire Richt then Ga might get a real coach and we dont want that to happen.I live in Ga and I get to listen to all this on daily bases.
As far as Hooker and Gribble goes they are the most pathetic thing on radio or sports writters.Hooker use to hump Kiffins leg ever chance he got and Gribble well hes not for sure which side of the fence he is on.
Florida Gator Man
October 7th, 2011
8:01 am
Who cares. I hate both UGA & UT! Go GATORS. This is GATOR COUTRY
Jason
October 7th, 2011
8:19 am
Florida Gator Man, Ever have the feeling that you showed up to the wrong party, 1 day too late? Go back to the UF boards with the rest of the mouth-breathers.
joanna
October 7th, 2011
8:47 am
Every man needs a Mama who cares like this! Go Girl! Bet you critics wish that you had one,who cares and loves you as much.
RomeDawg
October 7th, 2011
9:14 am
Mama’s Boy!!!…lol
pridgen
October 7th, 2011
9:21 am
Way to go Barbara, stand up tall and keep letting these sports talk people know who they are messing with, a Bull DOG protecting their young. thanks
Tennessee Information Overload | Football Problem
October 7th, 2011
9:45 am
[...] UT Head Coach Derek Dooley’s mother, Barbara Dooley, chimes in local radio and as always is quite entertaining. [...]
Ben The Independent
October 7th, 2011
10:08 am
As an interested party that saw a ‘train wreck’ at UT, it seems to me the UT recovery has started with a fine coach. Give they guy a chance. Just because UT has a great football tradition doesn’t mean an immediate bounce back under Dooley or any other coach. Get real!!
Hear Barbara Dooley defend her son « Sports 180 with Josh Ward & Will West
October 7th, 2011
10:11 am
[...] Dooley was on the radio in Athens, Ga., on Thursday to defend her youngest son, Tennessee football coach Derek [...]
Kathryn
October 7th, 2011
10:25 am
The biggest train wreck I’ve ever seen was last year at LSU when none of our coaches knew how to count. I’ve never seen a coaching staff snatch defeat from the jaws of victory the way “Do Little” and his staff did.
How funny it is that Saban and Chizik and Meyer and took over down programs and won a National Championship within a couple of years, and some of you fans are going to be thrilled if Tennessee wins 7 games this year. Surely it couldn’t be recruting and coaching? Nahhhh.
aw
October 7th, 2011
10:28 am
Marlon Brown should leave after this semester. Transfer to Tennessee and sit out next season and play in 2013.
obama sin laden
October 7th, 2011
11:06 am
If vince had balls he’d tell his big mouth wife to stfu and let the grown man(Derek) handle his grown man business.
Florida Gator Man
October 7th, 2011
11:21 am
To Jason: You know. You want to be a GATOR FAN! Stop crying.
Florida Gator Man
October 7th, 2011
11:25 am
3 National Championships. Plenty of SEC Football Titles. When, “Gator Fan” speaks. You Mutts (Georgia Dogs) listen. Take your medicine like a man, Saturday Night in Knoxsville. It’s coming……..wait for it. Wait for it…………………
GT
October 7th, 2011
11:28 am
Love that woman, ain’t a damn thing wrong with sticking up for your kids. Go girl….
REAL DAWG'S N FALCONS FAN
October 7th, 2011
11:42 am
you go mama D. I KNOW DEREK D. HAS DONE A GREAT JOB AND I WISH HIM WELL ALL BUT 1 WEEK A YEAR,I THINK IT IS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR (THE TRUTH ) SPORTS WRITERS RADIO PEOPLE HAVE NO CLASS WHATSOEVER!
19DAWGFAN59
October 7th, 2011
11:55 am
SO WHAT ? GO DAWGS … CRUSH the big orange !!!
Headlinin’: ‘Panicked’ LaMichael James took his dislocated elbow into his own hands | Everything Fun
October 7th, 2011
12:07 pm
[...] Quickly… Cliff Harris briefly breaks his media silence to apologize to Oregon fans. … Indiana bids adieu to two tailbacks and a defensive tackle, and suspends a backup cornerback for drunk driving and possession of marijuana. … Point: Of course TCU is a great fit in the Big 12. … Counterpoint: TCU should have stuck with the Big East. … Forget the standings: Texas-Oklahoma is a big day for recruiting, too. … And Derek Dooley’s mom thinks his orange pants are “awful.” I still like them, coach, but then, I’m not going to hijack a radio show on your behalf. [...]
James
October 7th, 2011
12:31 pm
Kathryn, Do Little has proven he can’t count. Last years clusterfu*k at LSU, then saying a few weeks ago that this was year 1 for him at Tennessee. I wonder who cashed those checks in year 0 as head coach?
The man is in way over his head and Hart won’t put up with Do Little’s mediocrity and excuses.
FIRERICHT
October 7th, 2011
1:10 pm
They can have RICHT!
We will take Dooley in a HEARTBEAT!!!
Ramblin Wreck
October 7th, 2011
4:24 pm
Dont ever bad mouth a son to their momma…..damn those Tenn mouth- breathers are dumb! Go Jackets!
gt4ever
October 7th, 2011
4:43 pm
He should have asked mommy dooley if her son was as dirty as daddy…. ? Give me a break! This lady is out of control!
NA
October 7th, 2011
5:28 pm
I think Barbara Dooley is great
standing up for her son
taking on the media
however when it comes to this weekend
Go Dawgs.
Brickyard Nelson
October 7th, 2011
6:47 pm
Good for Barbara…………………What mother worth her salt would not do the same?? Dereck walked into that TN job with so much mess up there. Give the man time to build the Vols program you bunch of whiney broadcasters!
Florida Guy
October 7th, 2011
7:43 pm
Hey Mama,
If you don’t want your baby criticized, then tell him to get out of the SEC. He’s paid a hefty salary to produce, and in the SEC, if you don’t produce pretty much right away, you start taking heat. If you, he, or the both of you don’t like it, there’s a hundred assistants waiting to take his job. And oh, by the way, they made it there based on merit, not on their last name which probably makes them better qualified. You have had your butt kissed way to long, and obviously think you are still of some importance, if you ever were to begin with. Nobody is shaking in their boots because Barbara Dooley is upset—quite the opposite, because you just succeeded in making him the laughing stock of college football. Way to go sport–go back to Athens, walk in the local cracker barrel, and impress the local redneck populace. Nobody else cares!!
UnkemptDawg
October 7th, 2011
7:48 pm
Don’t mess with my mamma or I will beat you like a bass player.
BoonesFarmDawg
October 7th, 2011
7:50 pm
Thank God for cheap liquor!
Rick
October 7th, 2011
7:52 pm
This is exactly like a script from “Everybody Loves Raymond”…………