Vince Dooley

by Kavin Caruso
(Georgia)

I met Vince Dooley back in 2006 when I worked at Home Depot. He was a nice fellow, I shook his hand and talked about Bulldogs history. He was impressed that I knew when his birthday was. I told him his birthday is the day after mine.
Vince was signing books that day, but I was working so I couldn't buy a book and get it autographed.

In the 24 or 25 years of coaching Georgia, he had ONE Losing season! That was in 1977, Georgia finished 5-6. He had three .500 seasons, the rest were winning seasons. Incredible, one of the reasons Georgia was so good over the years. He came from Auburn, and turned the program around in 1964. In 1964, Georgia went to the Sun Bowl and beat Texas Tech. It was Georgia's first bowl since the 1960 Orange Bowl. It was actually the 1959 SEC Champs, played the Jan 1, 1960 Orange Bowl against Missouri.

Vince Dooley won only 1 National Championship, he had several other chances of winning Natl Championship. Georgia won their first SEC championship under Dooley in 1966. Georgia played SMU in the Cotton Bowl. Georgia won that game.

In these days, Vince Dooley might not have been a football coach for one school for more than 4 yrs. With so many coaches getting the ax because they couldn't win many games, Dooley was fortunate that the athletic department wasn't on his heels. I think in college football today, everyone expects their team to WIN all the time. It just doesn't happen that way. Vince Dooley won 201 games, he will always be a Bulldog even though he played for Auburn. Dooley also brought that G logo on the helmet. He asked the Packers for their permission to use it. The Packers permitted it.

Part of the reason Dooley got that G logo, was that the Packers in the 60's were winning.