Loved the man. Was fortunate enough to meet him a few times and his autographed photo hangs on my office wall.
I wrote this in October of 2002, I think. At the time I was a nobody (still am). Just having fun ranting once a week in a tiny weekly newspaper. It's self serving, but I want to post it here. After this ran, it got picked up by Tigerland (I think) and somehow made its way to Coach Dye's family. They sent a very nice letter and followed it with an email thanking me for remembering him. No need to thank me, he gave me some of the best memories of my life.
Alabama fans be warned, this column speaks primarily to Auburn fans. Some UA backers may find interest in this narrative if only because the topic of this column is a protegee of their beloved Bear Bryant. It is still directed to the Auburn family, primarily to make sure they never forget.
Was talking to an Auburn fan the other day -- a young man of about 24 years. He expressed his unease over the current status of his Tiger football program and his concern over the future of the team with Tommy Tuberville at the helm. "It's a shame they didn't stand up for the coach and let him get away," the Tiger fan lamented. "Things haven't been the same since he left."
"You're right," I replied, "the Tigers just haven't had the same aura since Dye."
"Dye?" he responded indignantly. "Who's talking about Dye? He almost ruined the program. He was a loser. I'm talking about Terry Bowden!"
At that moment it dawned on me. It's been a decade since Pat Dye's last season on the Plains. Nineteen years since the Auburn Tigers were the best team in the country and denied the national title they deserved thanks to a media infatuation with Howard Schnellenberger's Miami Hurricanes. The 24-year old Tiger fan was a lad of 11 the last time Dye led the Tigers to an SEC championship. He was four when Bo went over the top and broke Alabama's nine-year stranglehold on the world's greatest rivalry. The march of time is a cruel thing.
For that Tiger fan and others like him too young to remember, let me refresh your memory.
When Pat Dye came to Auburn in 1981, the Auburn Tigers were in shambles. The football program was mired in mediocrity, seven years removed from its last Top Ten ranking. The program was in a financial hole. Dye wasn't Auburn's first choice. The school courted Vince Dooley and wooed Bobby Bowden. It listened to Jackie Sherill. In the end the Tigers selected Dye. It was the best decision Auburn ever made.
In 1981 the Auburn athletic department had to borrow a million dollars a year from university administration to field baseball, softball, track, women's basketball and other non-revenue producing teams. Under Dye's guidance the Auburn athletic department made a dramatic financial turnaround. By 1991, administration no longer contributed to the athletic department. Auburn athletics, thanks in large part to football, was and remains self-supporting. In fact the athletic department provided more than a million dollars to help fund the Auburn library.
When Dye arrived at Auburn, Jordan Hare Stadium seated 72,169. Athletic facilities were out-of-date. Today, the stadium seats 86,063. It grew by 13,045 of those additional seats during Dye's tenure. Luxury suites and the entire east-side upper deck were additions pushed for and achieved under Dye's direction. Jordan-Hare Stadium became the largest stadium in the state and one of the top ten in the nation. On game day it holds more people than all but four cities in the state of Alabama. Auburn's facilities were upgraded and now rate among the nation's best. What was once a recruiting liability is now a recruiting tool.
The program Dye took over in 1981 was in tatters. Auburn won more than six games just once in the previous six years -- that an 8-3 aberration fueled by the running of James Brooks and Joe Cribbs who would both go on to NFL stardom. The Tigers hadn't been ranked in the Top Ten since 1974, hadn’t seen the Top Five in a decade. Auburn hadn't beaten cross-state rival Alabama since the Punt, Bama, Punt miracle of 1972. Hadn't really come close, truthfully. The Tigers owned one SEC title and one national title. Both were 24 years removed.
Over the next decade Dye molded Auburn into the best team in the league and one of the best in the country. His Auburn teams won four SEC championships. The Tigers were awarded the national championship in 1983 by the New York Times-Sagarin computer rankings (the same rankings that today make up a critical component of the BCS system). Auburn was a Tommy Hodson LSU earthquake away from an undefeated season and playing for the national title in 1988. Four Dye teams won ten or more games. Five others won at least eight games. Eight Dye-led teams finished the year in the Top 25, five in the Top Ten. In the history of Auburn football prior to Dye only five teams finished the year ranked in the Top Ten. Before Dye Auburn had been to a total of 14 bowl games. The Tigers went bowling nine straight times under Dye. Auburn dominated the SEC in the 80s in much the same way Steve Spurrier and the Florida Gators dominated the 90s.
When Dye took the Tiger reins, Bear Bryant and Alabama ruled the state. Dye and the Tigers broke Alabama 23-22 in 1982, spoiling what was to be Bryant’s final regular season game. The win was and remains to many the greatest win in the history of Auburn football. It was certainly one of the most pivotal. Daniel Moore captured the seminal moment on canvas. Those who were there will never forget.
It wasn't a fluke. Auburn ran off a string of four consecutive wins over the Tide in the mid-80s, a feat the Tigers hadn't accomplished since a five-win string in the early 50s. Dye finished his career 6-6 against Alabama. Ralph Shug Jordan, one of the finest gentlemen to ever grace the sidelines and the Auburn coaching legend for whom the stadium is named, was a dismal 7-18 in 25 meetings against UA. If he did nothing else, Dye brought Auburn to equal footing with its chief rival.
As proof of that equality , Dye brought the Alabama game to Auburn for the first time in 1989. Dye won more recruiting battles as he lost. He brought Auburn legends Bo Jackson, Tracy Rocker, Lawyer Tillman,Patrick Nix, Frank Sanders, Steven Davis, Aundray Bruce, and Jeff Burger, among others, to the Plains. Jackson won a Heisman, Rocker the Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award. Dye coached 21 All Americans, 75 First Team All SEC performers, four SEC linemen of the year, three SEC backs of the year, two SEC Most Valuable Players and 55 Academic All SEC players. He was named SEC Coach of the Year three times and national Coach of the Year once.
Dye's Auburn career ended in a way he could not have foreseen. Flimsy accusations by a disgruntled former player dragged out over two years, two years during which Dye was battling a liver ailment that threatened his life. His personal struggles and the public spectacle created by former player Eric Ramsey, Ramsey's wife Twilitta and celebrity lawyer Donald Watkins hurt Dye's ability to recruit and affected his concentration. Two sub-par seasons and a dogged NCAA probe were followed by his surprise resignation after the 1992 campaign. Dye said then he personally did nothing wrong. Nothing was ever presented to conclusively prove otherwise. It was the only time he was accused of NCAA improprieties in a career that spanned stops at East Carolina, Wyoming and Auburn.
In the weeks prior to resigning, Dye told many privately that he was looking forward to 1993. He said then he thought it might be his best team since the 1983 squad, one that could challenge for SEC and even national honors. He never got the chance to find out.
Dye was right, though. Auburn went undefeated in 1993. It may well have been the best assemblage of talent since the 1983 team. Unfortunately the Tigers were on probation. With no televised games, the nation did not get to see what Auburn achieved. Instead of Dye, Terry Bowden strolled the Auburn sidelines. But Dye's fingerprints were all over that team. Game heroes Patrick Nix and James Bostic were Dye recruits.
In a perfect world, Pat Dye would still be on the Auburn sidelines guiding the Tigers. Assuming he continued to win at the .711 clip he established during his Auburn run, Dye would this year stand on the verge of passing Jordan’s record 176 wins at Auburn. That should be his legacy. Instead Dye does occasional guest shots on the Paul Finebaum radio show and worries about his hunting and fishing. It's a good life but there should have been a different ending for both Dye and Auburn.
The spirit of the Auburn family is a magical, mystical thing. It defies explanation. It transcends wins and losses on a football field. It imprints itself on your character and can never be extinguished. Being an Auburn fan defines part of who and what you are. Auburn fans would love Auburn just as much had Dye never coached the first game on the Plains. That said, Dye is an integral part of what makes Auburn football great today. Much of what the Auburn Tigers are today and aspire to be tomorrow is a direct result of the blood, sweat, tears, heart and soul he pourd into to the program. Auburn fans owe Dye a debt of gratitude. It’s something they should never forget.
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