do you remember before Pat Dye?

[CleCoTiger 1,957]

I'm an old timer. Going through the darkness (nine straight losses, most not at all close) to bammer in the last years of Jordan and the dark days of Barfield shaped my perceptions of AU football. So with the way the forum is going, I'm curious about how many here remember the days before Dye? Bowden? Tuberville?

[DAG 33,973]

2 minutes ago, CleCoTiger said:

I'm an old timer. Going through the darkness (nine straight losses, most not at all close) to bammer in the last years of Jordan and the dark days of Barfield shaped my perceptions of AU football. So with the way the forum is going, I'm curious about how many here remember the days before Dye? Bowden? Tuberville?

Were any of them getting paid top 5 or 6 pay to escape against a team like Arkansas? I don’t know where you are going with this 

[AUBourne 425]

Just now, CleCoTiger said:

I'm an old timer. Going through the darkness (nine straight losses, most not at all close) to bammer in the last years of Jordan and the dark days of Barfield shaped my perceptions of AU football. So with the way the forum is going, I'm curious about how many here remember the days before Dye? Bowden? Tuberville?

Yep a 2nd tier program that had one SEC title ever in 1957. He then transformed Auburn into one of the SEC's Big 6. 

AU is no longer a top tier program. We need another Patrick Fain Dye. 

[AUwent 3,748]

If we slip back into that rut of the 1970s, can we at least get the same quality of movies and music we had then?

[Grimnir 188]

Born in the late seventies so Pat Dye is as far back as I can remember. But my dad made sure I was well educated on the Barfield years. He really hated the way that man coached.

[AuburnEagle79 2,165]

Wasn't alive for Barfield years. My family suffered through it. They still want Gus gone. Not sure where this thread is trying to go. 

[casatiger 513]

I was 12 before I witnessed an Auburn win over bama.  

[Win4AU 4,052]

Did Auburn throw to TEs prior to Dye?

[gr82be 14,423]

I remember back to 1971. Different game back then and teams could sign as many as they wanted. Hard for anyone to beat Bear in the 70's. We pay Gus top 6 money, 4th in SEC and we are not the 4th best team in the SEC nor top 6 in the country. He isn't delivering at all. Look, nobody hates Gus but we hate the value we are getting on Saturdays. 

[jAUSon 2,836]

I came to Auburn when Bo Jackson signed my rubber football. I was 7. So no.

[nixtosanders94 2,180]

Tea...China...price...? 

[Tigerpro2a 5,650]

I started watching as a kid in the late 80s. I really only remember from Bowden on. 

[Eagle-1 3,821]

Yep I do. 

I also remember when Clemson couldn't beat Wofford. 

What's your point?

[AURealist 2,185]

Yeah.  I remember Barfield.  And I don't want to go back there ever.  

I'm disappointed, but not surprised, that there are so many here who are embracing mediocrity. 

Not only embracing it, but actively speaking out against changing anything.

[fredst 9,064]

15 hours ago, CleCoTiger said:

I'm an old timer. Going through the darkness (nine straight losses, most not at all close) to bammer in the last years of Jordan and the dark days of Barfield shaped my perceptions of AU football. So with the way the forum is going, I'm curious about how many here remember the days before Dye? Bowden? Tuberville?

Yes, I remember it vividly. I think we are headed that direction. Gus is Barfield all over again.....maybe slightly better, but the difference is negligible. He is putting us in a hole that will take awhile to climb out of. Will need a Dye-like hire after the nose-picker is finally gone. Actually, Gus is worse than Barfield because of the financial millstone he is to the university. Can’t wait to hear the Gus apologists going forward, will be entertaining 

[SaltyTiger 7,789]

23 minutes ago, AUBourne said:

We need another Patrick Fain Dye. 

Do not think they make like that anymore Bourne. I go back to faint memories of Fredrickson and Sidle......things have changed for the worse for college football IMO. Coaches salaries are obnoxious and several schools have proven that money does not necessarily equate to guaranteed winning. 

[weagl1 1,782]

I started going to Auburn games in the early 1960’s.  Saw several games when we had Jimmy Sidle he Tucker Fredrickson.  Saw many games when we had Pat Sullivan and Terry Beasley.  My first year as a student was 1972 and I was at Legion Field for the Punt Bama Punt game.  I was there when Shug retired and was there for part of the Barfield era.  Doug was a super nice guy but his teams were mediocre, kinda like Gus.  You could tell an immediate difference when Pat Dye took over.  He brought toughness back, which is what we need now.  

[Swamp Eagle 5,131]

33 minutes ago, CleCoTiger said:

I'm an old timer. Going through the darkness (nine straight losses, most not at all close) to bammer in the last years of Jordan and the dark days of Barfield shaped my perceptions of AU football. So with the way the forum is going, I'm curious about how many here remember the days before Dye? Bowden? Tuberville?

I do. From the 4th grade until I graduated without a victory over bammer. Even though Barfield had some bad years, his teams never looked inept as Gus’ can look.

[Imfignavommick 10]

I go back to Shug’s latter years.  We hung on to him too long, but he was a true legend.  A badass in every sense of the tough.  A real tough son of a gun.  Dye was tougher.  I was very lucky to have been at some of the practices with Dye.  Oh my.  What stories I have to tell.  We all thought he was crazy until we ended up in that Tangerine bowl.  Only 32 on the roster survived.

[gr82be 14,423]

I understand CleCo's point. He's saying this is Auburn football. 

I'm saying it doesn't have to be. 

[AUght2win 6,832]

37 minutes ago, AUBourne said:

Yep a 2nd tier program that had one SEC title ever in 1957. He then transformed Auburn into one of the SEC's Big 6. 

AU is no longer a top tier program. We need another Patrick Fain Dye. 

Imagine thinking Pat Dye invented Auburn football. Auburn is a historic power. You not of which you speak.

[au1985 55]

First game I remember was listening to the 33 AU-28 UA game on the radio.  First game I went to was in 1971.    

[AUght2win 6,832]

3 minutes ago, gr82be said:

I understand CleCo's point. He's saying this is Auburn football. 

I'm saying it doesn't have to be. 

It's also a bizarre way to view athletics. Sports are constantly changing. The games themselves go through different "eras", with wildly different styles and rules.

Year to year, week to week, things change. Randomly deciding that the Barfield years define Auburn is silly. Why not the 2004 team? Or the early Bowden years? Or the dominant 50s teams? Or the Amazins?

Trying to define a 130 year program with a small snippet just means nothing at all. Not to the current players, the current reality, or the future. It just means nothing.

[Sully to Beasley 643]

Yes I go all the way back to the Shug Jordan years. I can tell you firsthand that the coaching has not been this bad since the days of Shug's successor Doug Barfield.

[AUBourne 425]

4 minutes ago, AUght2win said:

Imagine thinking Pat Dye invented Auburn football. Auburn is a historic power. You not of which you speak.

 

Would you call Minnesota a national power now just because they have some titles from the 30 and 40s? 

What AU did under Iron Mike doesn't change the fact that Auburn was not a power in the decades before Pat Dye. An occasional good season doesn't make a program a power.. AU didn't even win a conference title from 58 to 82. Almost every other team in the SEC did.