Vince Dooley says losing Isaiah Crowell ‘best thing to happen’ for Bulldogs
ATHENS – Isaiah Crowell getting arrested and kicked off the team may have been a blessing in disguise for the Georgia Bulldogs.
So thinks former Georgia coach and athletic director Vince Dooley. I was interviewing Coach Dooley on Monday for another project I’m doing for the AJC when the subject of Crowell came up. Crowell, a rising sophomore and former 5-star recruit who was the Bulldogs’ leading rusher last season, was dismissed by head coach Mark Richt following Crowell’s arrest on felony weapons charges. Crowell has since transferred to Alabama State, an FCS program in Montgomery, Ala., and started classes on Monday.
That chain of events may help the Bulldogs in the long run, Dooley contends.
“I don’t want to put any pressure on them, but losing that guy may have been the best thing to happen to them,” said Dooley, who coached the Bulldogs to six SEC championships and one national title in 25 seasons. “It was a bad-apple type thing, if you ask me.”
“Bad apple” was the second term Dooley used to describe Crowell’s effect on the team. The first was more effective but he asked me not to use it.
Dooley said Crowell undoubtedly is a talented football player and probably was the Bulldogs’ best option at tailback. But the negative effects as far as being a troublemaker and a distraction far out-weighed any skills he brought to the field, Dooley said.
Now that Crowell is gone, “That kind of thing will unite a team many times,” Dooley said. “Historically when things like this have happened in the past, they tend to have a unifying effect on teams. They go on to have an even better season than they were predicted to have.”
Georgia, of course, is generally considered the favorite to repeat as the SEC Eastern Division champions and play in the SEC Championship. That is, if the Bulldogs are still able to field a team. With Crowell out and linebacker Brandon Burrows’ recent decision to transfer in search of more playing time, Georgia has dipped below 70 scholarship players heading into next season. The NCAA allows 85.
At least one person agrees with Dooley. Alabama State coach Reggie Barlow said the last three SEC teams that sent high-profile transfers to play for him — Florida, Auburn and Alabama — went on to win national championships the following season.
Dooley recalled that Georgia had a great player that left after the 1958 season and turned pro as a junior — very unusual in those days — and that rallied the rest of the team, which went on to win the 1959 SEC championship. Dooley could not immediately recall that player’s name, though I deduced it must have been center/linebacker Dave Lloyd, who was drafted in the fourth round that year by the Cleveland Browns. I couldn’t find anyone who knew for sure, but you get the point.
“This guy was a heck of a player, but he was a real problem on the football team,” Dooley said. “When he decided to leave, Coach [Wally] Butts went into a depression; he knew he had lost his best athlete. But as it turned out it unified the team. That often happens.”
Dooley also offered what I thought was one of the more insightful observations I’ve heard about Crowell as a running back last season. As we all know, Crowell’s toughness was questioned as he often pulled himself out of games or found himself sidelined with minor injuries. Dooley thought there might have been a good solution for that.
“Looking back at it, he would have been a great second-half running back,” Dooley said. “I never wanted that guy around in the fourth quarter if he started the game, because it seemed like he’d had enough by then. But I would’ve loved to have him around in the third or fourth quarter if he hadn’t played any to that point. Imagine once the defense gets tired and he comes in. He could’ve been a superstar second-half player. Herschel [Walker] got stronger in the fourth; this guy got weaker. So I would’ve waited until the second half to play him. He was pretty doggone good when he was fresh. That might’ve been a good idea looking back at it.”
Dooley has always had a great football mind.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
395 comments Add your comment
Jimmy
July 10th, 2012
1:23 am
I bet the word Dooley used was dumb***
zeke
July 10th, 2012
2:02 am
UGA might win the East, but, they will not win at The BRICE!! Lattimore will once again run all over you bums!!!
Födelsedagspresent
July 10th, 2012
2:41 am
Hi,
Nice article, thanks for sharing your thoughts, this article is very help full for me and my friends.
Thanks
Födelsedagspresent
nobody
July 10th, 2012
5:44 am
Reckon how incarceration might affect his performance.?..
chicken boy
July 10th, 2012
5:44 am
hmm—yes we all know Richt has character evalutation issues——he is picking all the wrong players———-the other problem is—the players get to UGA and see that there is a good chance with the game plans they produce for the players—-winning is a hard nut to crack——so players get discourged quickly and then of course the NFL thing is there————-Sometimes I have wondered if they should leave college totally separate from the NFL. Let players go to the NFL without going to college. They dont even need to go to school—what is the deal man———————what a circus!!
bitter "spoiled recruit"
July 10th, 2012
5:55 am
good job vince————————-hershal should should have run over crow, show him the proper way a dawg running back runs——————–like boo and samual—-hard up the middle
good luck coach dooly—————————-great writing chip
Morning Reads for Tuesday, July 10th — Peach Pundit
July 10th, 2012
6:01 am
[...] Simmons, the Braves’ rookie phenom, will miss a month due to a hand injury. – Vince Dooley weighs in on Isaiah Crowell. – The Washington Monument may be closed until 2014. – It sounds [...]
BobbyDawg
July 10th, 2012
6:06 am
Running backs like Hershel Walker and Knowshon Moreno don’t come along that often. Crowell doesn’t even come close to these guys. They came to play the WHOLE game. GO DAWGS !
tenn.DAWG
July 10th, 2012
6:17 am
IC was no different than DaRick is here at utk, very talented,but has become a big distraction.Sometimes you have no choice but to cull them out.
BobDawg
July 10th, 2012
6:35 am
LAGRANGE1975…. Dude, remember Sylvester Boler during your years??? Fired a gun and was kicked off the team by Dooley also… Starting MLB…..IC needed to go… I’m more worried about the Frosh who were in the car with him… Hope they were scared straight…
BobDawg
July 10th, 2012
6:37 am
LAGRANGE 1975.. I read your comments from the 1st page and remember the ol gun incident with Mr Boler in the 70’s??? Yeah, fired a gun around the jock dorm and was kicked off the team….. Starting MLB… stuff happens like this and you have to “weed” the bad ones out!
Rock
July 10th, 2012
7:08 am
Ok…..Isaiah Crowell may have been a troubled kid in certain ways and he will not be the last. I believe in desipline for doing the wrong thing, especially in a team environment. But as a coach or even a AD, don’t sit their and slam a troubled student that is or was going through something. That guy, bad apple! Yes Coach Dooley, you have a good history @ UGA and you should know better then to slam a troubled student in the media. Your tenure doesn’t give you the right to just say or do as you please. Lead by example and show fellow student athletes how it should be done. Is this to much to ask for? Just my opinion.
phil
July 10th, 2012
7:09 am
Get a life people….
Yolodohu
July 10th, 2012
7:19 am
I am surprised, (but should I be?) that a man, who made his living “coaching” young men, would weigh in with such negative thoughts on a troubled young man. Judge not that ye be judged. If the coach could not have found anything nice to say, then be quiet. Leaders know better.
mike
July 10th, 2012
7:43 am
Word has it that the reason Crowell always seemed to take himself out of games every three or four plays is that he couldn’t catch his breath. He’s a cigarette smoker and you just can’t smoke and play football at that level.
Evanston
July 10th, 2012
7:47 am
Keep in mind that this is the same Vince Dooley who caused Jan Kemp to be fired when she exposed Dooley’s “Remedial Studies,” where athletes could play for UGA for four years while never passing a single college course.
The old fart literally oozes slime.
Taylor Wooten
July 10th, 2012
7:48 am
Nice spin….guess it makes Bulldog fans feel better.
Remember now….we were being told just a month or two ago how great Crowell was going to be, that he was really committed to being a good Bulldog, had really turned over a new leaf, yada yada yada.
The Bulldog Athletic program is so full of propaganda, spin, etc. Got to get those donations coming in.
GT
July 10th, 2012
7:53 am
I love Dooley, but he is leaving one part of this equation out of the formula. Georgia loses someone every year, if that was a real theory they would be Alabama. I think if Dooley was still coaching this same group with Erk on defense they would be Alabama. They got the talent but have very immature ooaches who think showing up looking good getting off the bus or highlight films are more important than winning.
Email Profiling Is Wrong
July 10th, 2012
7:56 am
I’d like to see college football (D1) institute a comprehensive oversight program for incoming freshman. They need a strictly-supervised and regimented routine where their daily on campus activities – in season and off – are laid out for them. This is when you get up, this is when you go to bed, this is what you do in the time in between.
They need a mentor/chaperone/daddy/drill sergeant watching their every move and telling them what to do. Outside of training, practice and games, they need to stay away from upper classmen/teammates – at least until the upperclassmen are graduates of this new freshman oversight program.
Too many young men coming in as big-time recruits don’t pack the gear to make sound judgements about non-football related issues.
If a kid is willing to commit armed robbery or assault a woman, or burglarize dorm rooms, this program won’t help.
But if it keeps numb-nut 18 year olds from smoking dope, driving drunk, driving without a license, driving with a license under suspension, driving without insurance and getting in scuffles in bars, then it could be worth it. The football program retains a valued recruit, the recruit gains some valuable discipline and the police blotter is refreshingly void of arrests involving football players.
It’s all well and good to offer a kid the opportunity to play SEC football (for example) and (wink-wink) get an education. But it’s all-to-often a crap-shoot as to whether that same kid comes in with the maturity and attitude and basic skill set to take advantage of what his athletic talents have made available to him.
Occasional lectures on the pitfalls of straying from the rules clearly isn’t enough. The guys who don’t need to hear it, don’t need to hear it. The ones who do, need to live it 24/7/365.
Delbert D.
July 10th, 2012
7:59 am
Part of the problem is that juvenile records are sealed. Can’t do much of a background check.
Go Jackets
July 10th, 2012
8:08 am
EVERYONE needs to go on Facebook and look up the response to Washingtons facebook rant by Bobby Nettles called “the Entitled diaries”. Kind of puts things in perspective. BTW Dooley IS a class act and well respected on the Flats!
Obama Sin Laden
July 10th, 2012
8:12 am
dit…the same reason politicians call one another names
GT
July 10th, 2012
8:14 am
I bet if Richt went to the Athens Police and said I need a heads up on some of these guys he would get it. That force would probably love a little less excitment.
Fair and Balanced
July 10th, 2012
8:23 am
I’m just glad he is gone. Lets stop talking about him. Move on. We have games to win. Lets get behind this team and have a good time pulling them through to a good season.
Vince Dooley: losing Crowell was ‘the best thing’ for UGA | CollegeFootballTalk
July 10th, 2012
8:30 am
[...] don’t want to put any pressure on them, but losing that guy may have been the best thing to happen to them,” former UGA coach and athletic director Vince Dooley told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. [...]
GT
July 10th, 2012
8:31 am
One other thing this is why Dooley was a better athletic director. People in Athens would come to him with information and he would know how to handle these kids. Bobby Dodd could do the same thing and had community support. They were high school principals on steroids and when you got call into the office it was not fun. This innate intelligence about them is what is different from Rich who is like some worn out space cadet who players and assistant coaches recognize they can play. Bear had that same street sense, like Marlon Brando, in Godfather. You wouldn’t dream of gaming those guys.
BD
July 10th, 2012
8:56 am
The almighty Vince Dooley has spoken. His opinion is the ultimate truth. Just to be in his presence and hear his voice is the most wonderful thing ever. Everyone should aspire to be like him and gain a fulfilling life courtesy of the sweat of others.
Carly
July 10th, 2012
9:11 am
Another felon escapes the Clarke County Jail!!!!
kingdaddy
July 10th, 2012
9:17 am
That was some really useless prose…
kingdaddy
July 10th, 2012
9:20 am
They finally let your mom outa jail???
Vince
July 10th, 2012
9:40 am
Coach Dooley knows how to handle young men. His wisdom concerning the human psyche is quite amazing. Wish he were still AD..GO DAWGS
Ray
July 10th, 2012
9:40 am
Yep Georgia is not winning no National Championship games this year or next year.
Not against the like of Alabama, LSU, or South Carolina.
Why because Offense defense wins championships, but if you don’t even have a good offense it won’t matter cause you won’t be seeing the National Championship.
Book it Lose to Mizzou and South Carolina throw in a loss at to Vanderbilt with that too.
UGA Fun THIS weekend
July 10th, 2012
9:41 am
Countdown to Kickoff Fan Festival
Where: UGA Football Practice Fields (Athens, Ga) (More Pics)
When: July 14th 3pm – 6 pm
Individual Tickets are $25
Family Packages are $75 and include 4 tickets and a Countdown to Kickoff Pennant for autographs . http://ugakickoff.com/2012/fanday/
Ray
July 10th, 2012
9:42 am
Plus for the love of all that is holy go get us a Head Coach that is at least Feared you know.
I still feel like that’s Mark Richt’s biggest problem toooooo DAMN NICE!
When people look at Nick Saban say what you will, but those players fear him or he strikes fear in them, and he never smiles.
Ray
July 10th, 2012
9:43 am
Aaron Murray still isn’t a great QB got exposed by Boise and LSU mostly.
LogicalUS
July 10th, 2012
9:47 am
Not the greatest logic there , Vince.
For that thinking now if only UGA could lose Murray, Jenkins and Mitchell they would really be ready to roll.
Look
RxDawg
July 10th, 2012
9:50 am
Heck of an article Chip. I sure would like to know what that first term was lol. Guess I can use my imagination for that one. It looks like Dooley still keeps up with the team regularly. Good for him. This is also the first article I’ve read that actually makes me feel a little bit better about losing Crowell.
LogicalUS
July 10th, 2012
9:56 am
Not very convincing spin there Vince.
Following that “logic” now if UGA could just lose Murray, Jenkins, & Mitchell they would really be ready to roll.
Look Crowell was undependable and lazy but he was UGAs only SEC quality option at RB for 2012. So UGA is back at square one…no dependable running game putting more pressure on the interception machine QB, Aaron Murray, to force the passing game. That will lead to the same as last season with periods of 3 and outs each game which will lead to more second half collapses by Grantham’s defenses.
So UGA will skate by most of the candies on their schedule but will again struggle against any solid teams they play. UGA fans will once again be SEC West fans hoping for someone to knock off SC so they can back into the SECCG.
Since Vince
July 10th, 2012
9:58 am
Now if we could lose Bobo I would feel much much better.
ugab
July 10th, 2012
9:59 am
Dooley makes a great point.. IC needed to go. I wish the best for the young man.. As for Uga winning a NC??? Not likely! New kicking game, No OL, Suspended players. ETC will cost the dawgs several games.. I am still ready for the season to begin.. I hope the offseason workouts are better than all the other crap that is going on.
Homepage | MrSEC
July 10th, 2012
10:01 am
[...] The University of Georgia football team may be hemorrhaging scholarship players — it’s now right at about 70 — but ex-coach Vince Dooley has no problems with one recent, high-profile departure. In fact, Dooley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the dismissal of troubled tailback Isaiah Crowell might just be a good thing for the squad as a whole: [...]
old dog
July 10th, 2012
10:05 am
There were character issues (not to be confused with freshman mistakes) from the get-go. He patted his head (to come out) after every decent tackle, pounded his chest after a fair to middlin’ gain on a lesser team, and was disrespectful to fellow players and coaches. Some folks think he will be really great…..he has the talent but CANNOT take contact, something he did not have to do too often in high school. There is a difference between writing off a kid, and finally realizing that you just ain’t brought in a decent fellow…..the latter is applicable. We will move on, and Dooley was right!
Taylor Wooten
July 10th, 2012
10:06 am
Always DRAMA with UGA football…..
Would make a great tv reality show……the REAL Coaches of UGA football.
DirtyDawg
July 10th, 2012
10:17 am
I still say that if those that claim to be ‘leaders’ on this team – like Mr Washington – had stepped up and ‘explained’ to Crowell how he’s supposed to act and deport himself from the ‘get go’ we wouldn’t be going through this now. It’s amazing how throwing a ‘blanket party’ or two can ‘get minds right’. Of course every now and then you get a ‘Private Pyle’ (Full Metal Jacket) response, but that’s a movie, and peer pressure in the right direction can do wonders.
bob from smyrna
July 10th, 2012
10:19 am
Tech fan here, but an admirer of Dooley (and Richt): hope VD is right…would be a good lesson to other “hot dog” players for all teams. I remember when Peyton Manning left the Vols and then they became national champs. Something they didn’t do with that Manning All the other UT players stepped up, and they became the national champions.
Ed
July 10th, 2012
10:28 am
Does anyone really care about UGA or Crowell? I think not. Enough of this useless information.
Tom Dial
July 10th, 2012
10:33 am
Yes, that player booted in 1958 was Dave Lloyd, a great center and linebacker, but a constant 15-yard penalty. He led the universe in penalties and hostility. Just a nasty player. So sophomore Francis Tarkenton comes along and leads the ‘Dogs to the SEC championship and their last trip to the Orange Bowl, where they beat Missouri. Now we’ve got Missouri coming up in game 2 this season, playing their first game at home as an SEC member. Go ‘Dawgs!!!
Wayne
July 10th, 2012
10:39 am
Who cares what that goofy old man thinks? If CMR lost as many games as Dooley did, he would have been run out of town a long time ago.
Wayne
July 10th, 2012
10:41 am
Dooley a good athletic director??? He hired Ray Goff!! Nuff said…
kingdaddy
July 10th, 2012
10:47 am
Got to love all of these anti UGA posters on a UGA BLOG. I would never think about waking up in the morning, just so I could go make negative post about any other team on their blog site. Same losers all the time with the same complaints and gripes, no matter what the article is about. UGA must scare the trolls pretty bad this year. I’ve never heard so many crybabies in one place since my kids were in day care, lol…