Would Dye have survived the internet

[OnthePlains 2,014]

I will reiterate my original opinion on this OP...what we say here on the internet doesn’t get anyone fired. It simply gives voice to the fans who otherwise would be discussing these things around the water cooler at work, or at school, alumni meetings, church, family gatherings, tailgating etc...If a coach gets fired it will be the decision makers who do it regardless of what we think. Secondly, as some have stated already, context is everything here. If we’re talking about 85 then no way was Dye in trouble. He had ended the bama streak and given Auburn people hope. Now, if you’re talking bringing him into the future and giving him Gus’s record? Then yeah there would be consternation, but that changes the circumstances if you do it that way. Its not an unrealistic or unreasonable expectation for a coach in his sixth year with the recruiting and resources we have to not look inept and to have lost at least two games we shouldn’t have.

[ChltteTiger 649]

On ‎10‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 10:22 AM, aubaseball said:

That wasn’t the question asked, it was if he were coaching now.   And the answer would be yes.   Besides 83, he was trending down and auburn lost to two bad Alabama teams in a row.   

Perkins 84 squad was bad and we had no bizness losing to them. The 85 UAt lost only twice (plus a tie), hardly a bad team. They also won their bowl game over USC.

[oracle79 3,569]

Dye (and his biggest recruit Bo) ended 9 years of purgatory and put Bear in the grave.  That buys a lot of love and forgiveness thus you still see Pat Dye hanging around athletics and his name on the field.  Yeah, he would have survived the internet.

The Auburn coach that puts Saban in his grave may end up being more revered if that happens the way it did with Bear.

[OnthePlains 2,014]

1 minute ago, oracle79 said:

Dye (and his biggest recruit Bo) ended 9 years of purgatory and put Bear in the grave.  That buys a lot of love and forgiveness thus you still see Pat Dye hanging around athletics and his name on the field.  Yeah, he would have survived the internet.

The Auburn coach that puts Saban in his grave may end up being more revered if that happens the way it did with Bear.

And might I add...it won’t be Gus.

[jared52 4,354]

Thank you for a very thought provoking question. I have gone back and forth on this. Initially I was comparing it to the current situation AU is in. Then I decided to take it out of that context. I don’t think that’s the best way to approach this very good question. 

 

That said, I was a child of the 80s. I listened to all the AU games I could. We rarely went. I watched all the TV games and celebrated every victory and felt every loss. Not once was I upset with the coach , but I didn’t know the game well enough. But we always gathered with friends to watch the games and I don’t recall anyone ever being mad at Dye. 

Just a small sample size for data. 

[im4aual 487]

I'm a little surprised that no one has mentioned that what unhappiness there might have been with Coach Dye was soothed when he fired Jack Crowe and hired Pat Sullivan after the 85 season.

[Scribe Tiger 65]

I really enjoyed this thread. It was enlightening from numerous angles, not the least of which was an apparent lack of clarity in remembering the Dye era, its effect on Auburn and the changes to both society and college football over the last half century. 

I took the initial question to mean if fans had the kind of immediate and nearly anonymous means of communication the internet provides today, would Dye have kept his job after the disappointing 1984 and 1985 seasons. I didn't think that was meant to drop Dye into today's complete environment, which seemed to color some of the responses. 

I don't think Dye would have even come close to losing his job then. There were a number of salient reasons scattered throughout this thread, most being: 

-Auburn fans were just a handful of years removed from the decade-long domination of their program by Bama, a program that had its way with not only Auburn but pretty much college football in general. Imagine Auburn losing the 2010, 2013 and 2017 Iron Bowls and you have a pretty good contemporary analog but with Auburn's teams performing far worse from year to year. 

-The loss of the 1985 game wasn't a humiliation but a see-saw battle Bama won on the last play. It was widely held up as the most suspenseful and entertaining Iron Bowl for decades after it happened. 

-Dye turned Auburn around in quick fashion, nearly claiming the national title with his third team. 

-Dye's teams were hard-nosed, tough and fundamentally sound in most areas. 

-After his fifth campaign in Auburn, Dye showed a willingness to adjust. He dumped the wishbone after the 1984 season and competed the transition by changing offensive coordinators before the 1986 season. 

-Dye posted a 3-1 bowl record in those first five years. In that era, there were a fraction of the bowl games that now litter the landscape and going to one was truly a hallmark of a good season. 

-College football wasn't awash in the flood of lucre that has inevitably changed it. While college coaches were well compensated, they didn't pull in the truly obscene salaries they do now. 

-Society as a whole was more patient. Immediate gratification hadn't overwhelmed every layer of our culture yet. Plus, plenty of the same fans who sat through Shug Jordan's lackluster campaigns in the mid 1960s and a couple of them in his waning years were still alive. 

 

I recall hearing grumbling here and there about play calling or philosophy but I don't remember hearing anything close to the chorus of discontent that currently murmurs through the Auburn fan base regarding Malzahn. 

 

[AUsince72 11,084]

1 hour ago, Scribe Tiger said:

I really enjoyed this thread. It was enlightening from numerous angles, not the least of which was an apparent lack of clarity in remembering the Dye era, its effect on Auburn and the changes to both society and college football over the last half century. 

I took the initial question to mean if fans had the kind of immediate and nearly anonymous means of communication the internet provides today, would Dye have kept his job after the disappointing 1984 and 1985 seasons. I didn't think that was meant to drop Dye into today's complete environment, which seemed to color some of the responses. 

I don't think Dye would have even come close to losing his job then. There were a number of salient reasons scattered throughout this thread, most being: 

-Auburn fans were just a handful of years removed from the decade-long domination of their program by Bama, a program that had its way with not only Auburn but pretty much college football in general. Imagine Auburn losing the 2010, 2013 and 2017 Iron Bowls and you have a pretty good contemporary analog but with Auburn's teams performing far worse from year to year. 

-The loss of the 1985 game wasn't a humiliation but a see-saw battle Bama won on the last play. It was widely held up as the most suspenseful and entertaining Iron Bowl for decades after it happened. 

-Dye turned Auburn around in quick fashion, nearly claiming the national title with his third team. 

-Dye's teams were hard-nosed, tough and fundamentally sound in most areas. 

-After his fifth campaign in Auburn, Dye showed a willingness to adjust. He dumped the wishbone after the 1984 season and competed the transition by changing offensive coordinators before the 1986 season. 

-Dye posted a 3-1 bowl record in those first five years. In that era, there were a fraction of the bowl games that now litter the landscape and going to one was truly a hallmark of a good season. 

-College football wasn't awash in the flood of lucre that has inevitably changed it. While college coaches were well compensated, they didn't pull in the truly obscene salaries they do now. 

-Society as a whole was more patient. Immediate gratification hadn't overwhelmed every layer of our culture yet. Plus, there were still plenty of the same fans who sat through Shug Jordan's lackluster campaigns in the mid 1960s and a couple of them in his waning years. 

 

I recall hearing grumbling here and there about play calling or philosophy but I don't remember hearing anything close to the chorus of discontent that currently murmurs through the Auburn fan base regarding Malzahn. 

 

Solid post. 💪

[gr82b4au 5,568]

I think Dye would have been like Mike Gundy. If you have not seen his latest rant, go take a look. It is on twitter and it is another classic.