Vince Dooley

Hello All -

Sorry it has been over a month since my last update. Needless to say, October was another busy month for me and a real downer on the football field. It started with the bad call by the officials in the LSU game and, no doubt, the penalty was a major factor in the loss to LSU. I believe the emotional roller coaster loss hurt us in the Tennessee game and of course Florida, who still appears to be the number one team in the country with Tebow, made it tough for us in Jacksonville. There is no doubt that there are some problems that need to be addressed, but the immediate goal is to focus on the three big games in November. When the season is over, I know Coach Richt will focus on the problems and act accordingly.

Despite the downside of football in October, it sure was a beautiful month for Fall color. I was in Columbus, Georgia, speaking to the Columbus Botanical Garden, who was celebrating their 10th Anniversary. I am putting the final touches on the book that I am writing, entitled "Dooley's Garden: A Horticultural Journey of a Football Coach". The talented artist Steve Penley will do the illustrations, and the book should be out in the Spring. Meanwhile, I will be addressing the detailed editing work done by my mentor, the horticultural guru Dr. Michael Dirr.

With the holidays approaching, I continue to have book signings. I'll be in Blairsville and Rabun County this Thursday (11/12), and will be at the Campus Bookstore here in Athens on Saturday (11/14). There will also be book signings in two Kroger stores (Loganville 11/17 and Alpharetta 11/18) between 4-6pm. The second edition of the Playbook has been well-received and, as always, there is a lot of interest in the children's books - particularly with Christmas coming up.

Meanwhile, Barbara and I saw our son Derek play against Boise State, who is ranked in the top ten. They made a great comeback in the second half, closing to within two points, but they ended up losing 48-38. Of all things, they've got to play another top ten team, LSU, this Saturday in Baton Rouge, which is a money game. Needless to say, he's got a tough assignment. I will be at the UGA-Auburn game, and then ironically will be in Baton Rouge on Sunday night for a dinner. The next day I will be speaking to the Louisiana School of Superintendents at their annual meeting.

In response to a few questions:

Joel Martinez asks "What do you think needs to be done to drastically reduce the number of penalties the Dawgs accrue?" I like what Coach Richt is doing in substituting after a penalty, which should get the player's attention.

Steven Lefkoff asks "When you were a coach, what did you do when faced with a tough assignment - going up against a school that you thought may totally outmatch you?" My son has a really tough job - coaching a school that is new to Division 1A. However, he's doing a great job, as evidenced by them winning their first ever bowl game last year. What did I do? I never let the student athletes feel that we weren't capable to play anyone.

Kevin Sweat asks, "In my UGA Leadership class, we hear from leaders each class period. When asked what their biggest regret or mistake has been, most all respond that they held on to their friends/family as employees for too long. What has been your biggest mistake during your time as a leader at UGA?" I believe that patience is an admirable leadership quality, but it has to be balanced with decisiveness. On several occasions, I believe I was too patient and did not respond to my instincts that call for making corrective decisions.

Since we've last talked, we celebrated two birthdays in the Dooley family. Mine was September 4, and we were in Montgomery where our son Derek's team was staying and we had dinner with our three grandchildren (his three children) and his wife Allison. He has a tough job at Louisiana Tech, playing teams like Auburn and LSU, which are totally out of his league but are "money games" for the small school. I am confident he will do as well as could possibly be done at Louisiana Tech.

The great news about my birthday being on the 4th is that it reminds me that Barbara's birthday is on the 8th of September - which is much more important. She celebrated a big one by checking in to the Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta with our two daughters and they spent two days shopping and getting pampered. My son Daniel and I came over for a big birthday dinner, so it was a great, big (I won't say how many) birthday celebration.

I still find myself with speaking commitments. I was in Atlanta last Thursday speaking to the annual meeting of the Action Ministries at the Dunwoody United Methodist Church. The next night I was in Birmingham speaking to Sanford University's fundraisers. Their football coach is Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan, who we know well, and their mascot is a Bulldog. Needless to say, I felt quite at home in that regard.

I just returned from Montgomery where I spoke to their Quarterback Club, and there was a good delegation of Georgia Bulldogs that came out, including two of my former players - Lawrence Craft, who caused a big fumble on the Florida quarterback to preserve the 10-7 upset victory over Florida on the famous Appleby Washington end around pass. I think that was one of the greatest upsets we ever had over Florida. Also Randy James, a walk-on and is now a prominent attorney, was there. Prior to the meeting I visited the Alabama Archives & History Center, where I had spent some time as a student working on my Masters in History thesis. I also had a memorable time visiting the gravesite and museum of country singer Hank Williams, who was my favorite in high school and college. Many of his hits are still popular today.

Now I'm back in Athens, catching up and getting ready for the big one this weekend. Just as a reminder, I am on the Legends Poll which consists of 17 retired football coaches - most all of them in the College Football Hall of Fame. Some of the members are Lavell Edwards of BYU, John Robinson of Southern Cal, Don James at Washington, George Welsh at Virginia, Frank Broyles at Arkansas, John Cooper of Ohio State, Pat Dye at Auburn. We watch games around the country, have a conference call every Monday discussing the teams around the country, and then vote each week in what is called "The Legends Poll". The poll is picked up by Sporting News Magazine.


Ask the Coach:
Hello all! Like I said in the previous blog post, I am staring a new section of my blog where your questions will be answered by me. Please submit your questions by commenting on this post and I will try to answer them in the next edition of Dooley's Blog. I may not be able to answer some questions, but I will answer as many as I can.

Here we go:

Kathy Farmer Hobgood writes, "Any new books for the 09 Christmas Season?" Kathy - The answer is no, but the good news is that the second edition of the newest book, Dooley's Playbook: 34 of Georgia's Most Memorable Plays, will be available in bookstores by next week. Just as a reminder, I am working with Steve Penley, the talented artist, on a gardening book entitled In Dooley's Garden, a Horticultural Journey of a Football Coach that will be out this Spring.

Wade Alford asks, "You enjoyed a lot of success in Jacksonville, but what is your personal opinion about potentially moving the Florida game to a home and home? Do you feel UF has an advantage playing there?" Well Wade, we were fortunate to have a lot of success in Jacksonville, so if there is a home field advantage, it didn't bother us. We always felt that Jacksonville was just an extension of South Georgia. Nevertheless, the fact remains that we have not done well in Jacksonville in the last 2 decades. While I have some personal opinions in that regard, I don't think it would be appropriate for me to state publicly my feelings about the future of the game in Jacksonville. I do know the game has been a great tradition for over 70 years and has been very important to the Bulldog Nation.

From Aaron Jones, "Everyone talks about all the great games (1980 Florida, '78 Tech, '76 Bama) and great plays like the Shoestring play at Vandy. Any vivid memories from games that people don't talk about? For example, what was it like taking the Dawgs to VMI in 1966?" Well to start with, 1966 was a generation ago. However, it was special to those that remember since it was the first SEC Championship that I was associated with that took place in my 3rd year at Georgia. I recall that the game against VMI, which was played at Roanoke and maybe was given a promotion name of "The Harvest Bowl", was not the best experience that the team had that year. I recall that VMI took the opening kickoff, drove for a touchdown, missed the extra point, and the 6-0 lead lasted exactly 9.4 seconds. That was the amount of time it took Kent Lawrence to return their kickoff for a touchdown, which (after the extra point) put us up 7-6. We won the game easily, despite the fact that the lighting was not too good in the stadium which probably helped us on certain plays since the ball was hard to find. I also remember the locker room being less than adequate, and on a cool night in October, it was tough on the team taking a shower with no hot water. Suffice it is to say, that was the last Harvest Bowl that we ever played in. While talking about a generation ago I should add to the special highlights the flea-flicker, which we called it at the time, was the play that upset Alabama, the national champions, in the first game of 1965. That play is better described today as a "hook and lateral" from Kirby Moore to Pat Hodgson to Bob Taylor. Come to think of it, that play didn't win the game but put us in position to win the game with a two-point play from Moore to Hodgson in a victory 18-17.

Drew Garverick and Janet Davis sent questions about the defense after the first couple of games of this season. There is no question that there is a real concern with the defense, and there are a lot of corrections and improvement that need to be made. But one correction that does not need to be made is the fighting spirit of the team and the defensive unit. They have hung tough in the last 2 games, particularly around the goal line, and actually dominated the fourth quarter in the Arkansas game - twice sacking the very talented Arkansas quarterback, Mallett, who had been unstoppable for 3 quarters.

So college football season is starting and there's tremendous excitement. We're going to watch our son's team, Louisiana Tech, play Auburn in Auburn. As an Auburn graduate, people have asked me "who are you pulling for?" My response is that in order to maintain domestic tranquility with Barbara, there's no question we're pulling for Derek and Louisiana Tech. Incidentally, Derek is the only Head Football Coach & Athletic Director in Division IA (Bowl Championship Subdivision) Football. The good news is that his game is at night, so that afternoon I will be at a friend's house watching the Georgia Bulldogs (LA Tech is also Bulldogs). I'll be at all of the UGA home games and when the Georgia Bulldogs are away, I'll go see the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs play.

I look out the window of my office at the Georgia football team practices all the time. With my coaching background, I can evaluate practice while sitting in an air-conditioned room. What stands out about the team more than anything else is the unity of "purpose" among the coaches and the players. There are no superstars on this team, and every player has a real commitment to one-another. I don't know what kind of record that will produce, but I do know from experience that Coach Richt will enjoy coaching this team as much as any that he has ever had.

A good portion of my summer has been devoted to working on a new book, of all things a gardening book. The title is "In Dooley's Garden - A Horticultural Journey of a Football Coach". The talented artist Steve Penley, a Georgia grad, who did the illustration for Dooley's Playbook, is also doing to the illustration for the gardening book. He is an incredibly talented artist. The book is scheduled to be out this Spring, at the start of the gardening season.

I'm starting my seventh year doing a radio show with 790 The Zone in Atlanta that I do live every Thursday shortly after 10:00AM est. We discuss college football generally each time. Meanwhile, three time all-america David Pollack was at my house yesterday broadcasting his show from 4-6PM. He is in amazing shape, just like Herschel, and I believe both of them could play 60 minutes. They are the only 2 Georgia football players to be 3-time consensus All-Americans.

I'm also starting my fifth year on the Legends Poll. The Poll is made up of seventeen retired football coaches, most all of whom are in the College Hall of Fame. All have a great love for college football and this enables us to stay in touch as we have a conference call each week discussing the teams from around the country. The following are a few members of the poll - On the west coast, Don James (Washington), John Robinson (Southern Cal), Lavell Edwards (BYU); Midwest, John Cooper (Ohio State); Deep South, Pat Dye and myself.

Starting this year, I want to interact with my "friends" on Facebook by answering a question or two on each of these updates. Send me your questions via a facebook message or in response to this note. Please include your name, and where you're from. I'll pick out a couple of questions to answer each time.