For all the Coach Prime fans …

[auburnatl1 4,935]

The national media have discussed the auburn/prime thing for 24hrs. Espn all the time. People in friggin Poland are probably googling what/where the hell auburn is. 

[AU_Tiger_88 417]

4 minutes ago, auburnatl1 said:

The national media have discussed the auburn/prime thing for 24hrs. Espn all the time. People in friggin Poland are probably googling what/where the hell auburn is. 

And that is killer pub.  Remember when Pearl was all over pumping up AU?  You can't buy that.  We will have media 24/7 coverage and it can be contagious

[WarEagleT 122]

On 10/31/2022 at 6:21 PM, autan said:

Most everyone thought Pat Dye was a home run hire, but that was probably way before your time.

You are very wrong, in a condescending way. Dye’s hiring was a very split decision. Ala Gov. Fob James wanted Vince Dooley and they made him an offer- Dooley turned them down when Ga promised to make him athletic director. Dye was then voted in by the BOT in a 3/2 vote. At the time he had only coached at East Carolina and Wyoming, the doubters wanted a more established big name coach- Dooley, Sherrie, and several others. It was only over time that the naysayers came around, after he began winning. 

[WarEagleT 122]

23 hours ago, Mikey said:

Back when Dye was hired I was still plugged in very well on campus and with "people that did things". Several coaching prospects were interviewed and the committee was unanimous that Dye was the best of the lot. He simply blew the competition away. That surprised a number of people but in the end everybody that mattered was in agreement.

Nope- Dye did not initially blow everyone away. The Board of Trustees was split. The vote was 3/2. The doubters wanted a bigger name coach than Dye from Wyoming, and several were serious candidates. Vince Dooley had been offered the job by a contingent led by Ala Gov. Fob James- before Dye.  They thought Dooley was in,  but Dooley turned it down when UGA signaled they would make him AD.  I’ve already corrected another revisionist who said Coach Dye was a universal choice. You’re welcome!

[Taker 494]

21 minutes ago, WarEagleT said:

Nope- Dye did not initially blow everyone away. The Board of Trustees was split. The vote was 3/2. The doubters wanted a bigger name coach than Dye from Wyoming, and several were serious candidates. Vince Dooley had been offered the job by a contingent led by Ala Gov. Fob James- before Dye.  They thought Dooley was in,  but Dooley turned it down when UGA signaled they would make him AD.  I’ve already corrected another revisionist who said Coach Dye was a universal choice. You’re welcome!

Not saying you're wrong but just how do you know this information that would not be made into public knowledge but would just be fodder for fans to talk about?

[Mikey 16,605]

1 hour ago, WarEagleT said:

Nope- Dye did not initially blow everyone away. The Board of Trustees was split. The vote was 3/2. The doubters wanted a bigger name coach than Dye from Wyoming, and several were serious candidates. Vince Dooley had been offered the job by a contingent led by Ala Gov. Fob James- before Dye.  They thought Dooley was in,  but Dooley turned it down when UGA signaled they would make him AD.  I’ve already corrected another revisionist who said Coach Dye was a universal choice. You’re welcome!

My recollection is different. Dooley simply used Auburn to pry more out of UGA, he was never coming here. You're perfectly welcome to be wrong about the rest of it.

[Maverick.AU 13,281]

 

[AU_Tiger_88 417]

Lot of respect to Prime for how he handled this...

 

[autan 737]

2 hours ago, WarEagleT said:

You are very wrong, in a condescending way. Dye’s hiring was a very split decision. Ala Gov. Fob James wanted Vince Dooley and they made him an offer- Dooley turned them down when Ga promised to make him athletic director. Dye was then voted in by the BOT in a 3/2 vote. At the time he had only coached at East Carolina and Wyoming, the doubters wanted a more established big name coach- Dooley, Sherrie, and several others. It was only over time that the naysayers came around, after he began winning. 

I was not referring to opinions of BOT, PTB, politicians,etc. I was talking about plain old Auburn fans including myself.  But I do yield to your far superior knowledge of the history. Obviously you did not consider Dye a home run hire, although you didn't say it outright. I do think everyone is entitled to his or her opinion on this and I respect yours.

[WarEagleT 122]

14 hours ago, Taker said:

Not saying you're wrong but just how do you know this information that would not be made into public knowledge but would just be fodder for fans to talk about?

I grew up just outside Opelika, and attended AU during some of the Dye years.   But the info on the circumstances around his hiring is easily accessible. Gov. Fob James, Bobby Lowder, etc.  Google is your friend!

[Taker 494]

9 minutes ago, WarEagleT said:

I grew up just outside Opelika, and attended AU during some of the Dye years.   But the info on the circumstances around his hiring is easily accessible. Gov. Fob James, Bobby Lowder, etc.  Google is your friend!

Gotcha, I have just become skeptical of what is on the ol' interwebs... 

Thanks bud

[WarEagleT 122]

13 hours ago, Mikey said:

My recollection is different. Dooley simply used Auburn to pry more out of UGA, he was never coming here. You're perfectly welcome to be wrong about the rest of it.

Nope I'm not wrong about any of it, Mr. smart ___.  Details were pretty much public knowedge soon after the hiring. Coach Dye was very strong in his pitch to the BOT and as a result won enough of them over, but it was still a 3/2 decision. They did go after Dooley first, who signed an agreement in a meeting in Birmingham, but backed out 24 hrs later due to the leverage applied by UGA with the AD position. Lowder and Gov. James (Dooley's teammate and roomate at AU) thought they had a good shot at him with those strong AU connections, and Coach Dooley did take their offer seriously enough to sign that  agreement to come to AU. Coach Dye's hiring was a  surprise when it happened because the conventional wisdom was the Auburn wanted a bigger name coach with more established success at bigger schools.  Some, like Jackie Sherrell (then at Pitt)  overtly campaigned for it.  Auburn also interviwed Bobby Bowden, Dan Reeves, and Billy Atkins (much success at Troy). We got our best coach to date in the end, but it was most certainly not a slam dunk, all in decision. Coach Dye turned it around quickly enough to shush all the initial prominent naysayers. 

None of this is interesting because you are wrong, but rather, in the context of consideration of the next AU coach. Some have big school head coaching cred (Kiffin, Freeze) others not (Sanders, Grimes). A lot of people on here would have looked at Coach Dye's coaching tree back then and said nope. 

Prime (no big school exp.) would immediately take AU to another level on the national conversation stage, and two minutes on social media reveals blue chip recruits would flip/follow him here. His connections for assistants are as good as anyone out there, due to his HOF days at FSU and NFL. 

[AUinMS9528 1,086]

Yes.   The one big concern about Coach Prime is his lack of HC experience at this level!   AU is an astronomical leap from JSU in terms of budget, number of responsibilities, level of competition, and thousands of other things.  
The 3 things I think that will help him bridge that gap are….

A.   He will certainly bring in the level of talent to compete with bama, uga, and the rest of the SEC very soon!   You’ve got to have the talent in order to compete, plain and simple.  Recruiting might be the number one factor overall, and no one would be able to do it better than Deion.  
B.  He’s smart.   He has been around football at its highest levels.   He knows he needs a top notch coaching staff, a top notch support staff, and other top level people around him in order to be successful at this level.  He will surround himself with the right people!

C.  He’s a winner.   If he finds an area where we’re weak or need improvement, he will find a way to improve it.   It may take a few years to adjust to coaching and leading at this level.   But I believe he will and he’ll already have the talent stockpiled when he does.  
 

Now let’s go call Deion.  

[auburnatl1 4,935]

 

[Auburn Tiger 1,340]

8 minutes ago, auburnatl1 said:

 

WDD—war damn deion 

[WarEagleT 122]

14 hours ago, autan said:

I was not referring to opinions of BOT, PTB, politicians,etc. I was talking about plain old Auburn fans including myself.  But I do yield to your far superior knowledge of the history. Obviously you did not consider Dye a home run hire, although you didn't say it outright. I do think everyone is entitled to his or her opinion on this and I respect yours.

Most everyday Auburn fans back then didn't know much about Coach Dye. The big news and speculation among most Auburn followers back then (similar to now) was which of the big name candidates that we rumored to be interviewing, would be hired. I did consider him a home run hire, as I've posted elsewhere- our best coach ever above Shug and Trumper Tuberville. But no one knew it then. Just clarifying for those that are saying Coach Dye's hiring was a sure thing. It was an upset surprise hire, almost derailed by deciders who weren't impressed with his head coaching experience. He continued to weather criticism throughout that first season when AU ended up with a losing record. And he played at UGA and coached under Bryant at Bammer! He had been very successful at East Carolina averaging about 8 wins every year there, but then he spent a single year at Wyoming and struggled to 6 wins. Soon as he starting winning in that second year, it shut everyone up. 

[80Tiger 899]

17 hours ago, WarEagleT said:

You are very wrong, in a condescending way. Dye’s hiring was a very split decision. Ala Gov. Fob James wanted Vince Dooley and they made him an offer- Dooley turned them down when Ga promised to make him athletic director. Dye was then voted in by the BOT in a 3/2 vote. At the time he had only coached at East Carolina and Wyoming, the doubters wanted a more established big name coach- Dooley, Sherrie, and several others. It was only over time that the naysayers came around, after he began winning. 

You are correct, that Dooley was supposed to be the choice and in fact most thought he was coming. The only correction I would make was that Dooley was already AD at UGA. They made him AD in 1979. Saw that during the GA/FL game this past weekend and did a quick Google search to confirm.

[WarEagleT 122]

19 minutes ago, 80Tiger said:

You are correct, that Dooley was supposed to be the choice and in fact most thought he was coming. The only correction I would make was that Dooley was already AD at UGA. They made him AD in 1979. Saw that during the GA/FL game this past weekend and did a quick Google search to confirm.

Yep as I recall they gave him more money when Auburn came after him and also pledged to provide more for some of their facilities improvements....

 

[VegasEagle 202]

 

[VegasEagle 202]

Although Kiffin said he’s not interested in the job, he did mention Sanders as a potential fit for the Tigers.

“I think he’d [Deion Sanders] do great,” Kiffin said. “I think that’s a great name, and I think they should hire him. Great recruiter, great name. … Now you have the portal. You can change a roster faster than you ever could before, and you can lose a roster faster than ever before. The ability to hire Deion and have that name right away, you can get portal players to come play for him.”

[Auburn93 540]

3 hours ago, WarEagleT said:

Most everyday Auburn fans back then didn't know much about Coach Dye. The big news and speculation among most Auburn followers back then (similar to now) was which of the big name candidates that we rumored to be interviewing, would be hired. I did consider him a home run hire, as I've posted elsewhere- our best coach ever above Shug and Trumper Tuberville. But no one knew it then. Just clarifying for those that are saying Coach Dye's hiring was a sure thing. It was an upset surprise hire, almost derailed by deciders who weren't impressed with his head coaching experience. He continued to weather criticism throughout that first season when AU ended up with a losing record. And he played at UGA and coached under Bryant at Bammer! He had been very successful at East Carolina averaging about 8 wins every year there, but then he spent a single year at Wyoming and struggled to 6 wins. Soon as he starting winning in that second year, it shut everyone up. 

I have to disagree. The Montgomery Advertiser, Street and Smith recruiting mag, the budding afternoon talk show with Jim Fyfe got us excited for Dye.  We knew of his pedigree.  Back then if you coached for Bryant, you were the bomb.  We were excited in my family.   

The afternoon talk show after the game with Phil (Phil's finals)Auburn fans we called in and expressed how proud we were to battle UT and MSU.  The Wake Forest loss was probably the most disappointing one.  Auburn fans called dialing Dye.  We had the Auburn Review.  Everyone expressed enthusiasm.  They would ask coach why didn't we do this or didn't do that, but every call ended with coach WE ARE SO PROUD! 

No one in the Montgomery circles criticized Dye.  My uncle was pretty connected and grew up with Jimmy Ranes.  We were loving what Dye was doing. I was only 11, but I could see and hear the difference.

[WarEagleT 122]

2 hours ago, Auburn93 said:

I have to disagree. The Montgomery Advertiser, Street and Smith recruiting mag, the budding afternoon talk show with Jim Fyfe got us excited for Dye.  We knew of his pedigree.  Back then if you coached for Bryant, you were the bomb.  We were excited in my family.   

The afternoon talk show after the game with Phil (Phil's finals)Auburn fans we called in and expressed how proud we were to battle UT and MSU.  The Wake Forest loss was probably the most disappointing one.  Auburn fans called dialing Dye.  We had the Auburn Review.  Everyone expressed enthusiasm.  They would ask coach why didn't we do this or didn't do that, but every call ended with coach WE ARE SO PROUD! 

No one in the Montgomery circles criticized Dye.  My uncle was pretty connected and grew up with Jimmy Ranes.  We were loving what Dye was doing. I was only 11, but I could see and hear the difference.

Yep agreed there was a lot of enthusiasm but it was no way universal, especially that first season. Of course the doubters back then in simpler times did not have social media to spew stuff into a frenzy the way we do now.

 

 

[VegasEagle 202]

[VegasEagle 202]

 

 

[Taker 494]

36 minutes ago, VegasEagle said:

 

 

Do I not need to be doing this?