Geez K, you are better and smarter than that. Don't agree with this guy. He hates Dye in any capacity. Of course its not good to do it that way now. Nobody says we are going to. I agree though - doing it that way in 1981 was almost a MUST to get equal footing with Bama and national recognition - and it worked. What is our record since 1983 overall and against Bama? GreasyPenis would have us go back to the Barfield years since they were "clean". We owe a debt of gratitude to Dye. He stood toe to toe with Bear and basically told him that Auburn wasn't going to be scared of Bama anymore. Now - tell me it didnt work. No one else had EVER done that. EVER. Not Shug, Not Majors, Not Dooley - no one.
As for the list of Bear proteges that stick out to me with serious NCAA troubles:
Dye
Sherrill
Dubose
Ford - in 2 places!
I guess Croom is one who stayed clean. I actually like Sly. Maybe not the BEST coach in the world, but nice guy nonetheless and he didnt put up with crap at MSU like Sherrill did.
I'm not saying I agree with him, just that I can see where somebody could form that opinion.
I love Coach Dye. He's one of my all time favorite people. But I have to admit that the thought of him prowling the athletic complex doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Don't know that he is, but that's the vision GW has, anyway.
If it were up to me, Dye would be retiring this season or next with 30 years in, the 1993 national championship and probably a couple of others and the most wins -- by far -- in Auburn history and probably among the top win totals in NCAA history. Might even have pushed Bear off his pedestal.
But you know what? The bama people were scared of just that possibility. They could see the momentum he built and the continued success. So they pulled their shit. Donald Watkins was paid by their boosters to spin all that Eric Ramsey shit -- which really didn't amount to a damn thing when compared to what Bama has done and doing and what USC is doing, etc. It was the tickiest of tack bullshit, but they got to us. They set out to ruin Dye, kill Auburn and bury us forever.
And that's what they want again. They were scared of what Tuberville could do. The 2004 season frightened them to no end, because if we won a NC, there goes everything they have to justify their existence and their self-delusion of superiority. But we didn't wait for them to kill us, we just jumped out there on the sword ourselves.
I certainly don't hate Dye. Not by any stretch. Pat Dye gave me hope when I had none and for that, I can forgive and forget a lot.