RIP Pat Dye
Legendary Auburn coach. He was 80.
Time the killer.
Damn expanding universe, creating time!
It didn't hurt Dye to have Bo Jackson step on-campus in his 2nd year.
But Dye definitely brought a degree of parity to the Alabama/Auburn rivalry: both (1) on-the-field and (2) in terms of moving the game out of Birmingham annually.
Still not over the '84 Sugar Bowl, the very first Michigan game I remember.
RIP, Coach.
9-7. bummer
Someday, I would like re-watch that game. Brad Cochran tackles Bo Jackson in the open field. Michigan wide receiver inexplicably cuts up field rather than going out of bounds for a potential game winnnig field goal as time runs out. There was some argument as to whether they were close enough. (If I recall correctly.)
It would have been about a 45 yarder IIRC. Bergeron had the leg and was accurate -- he was 1st team AB10.
I was there, too. UM came out of the gate and scored a TD and never hit pay dirt again.
UM had a great defense that year -- Bo Jackson said they most physical he'd seen.
Our WR's got open in that game but Steve Smith might have been the worst passing QB in UM history.
Russ Rein. Chris Zurbrugg. Nick Sheridan. John O' Korn. All 4 of these guys are WAY better at throwing than I am. And yet, their names came to mind.
They were all backups, though. Smith was a multi-year starter.
I was a Junior that year at Michigan but could not make the bowl game because of work. I wanted to see the Bo vs Bo game. The 2nd half was frustrating with Auburn running that wishbone. The 2nd back (forgot his name), I think they called him little Bo got much of the yardage and broke that longer run for a last second chip shot game winning FG by Auburn.
Go for the tie, Pat Dye. He was known for settling for ties early in the season rather than going for the win. Given the SEC schedule, he felt he could make up for it at the end of the season. It paid off at least once as he won the conference by half a game.
His Auburn teams were fun to watch.
R.I.P.
I remember watching that Iron Bowl game when Dye upset the Bear in his last regular season game as Alabama HC. It was really close, something like 24-23.
Figures that ESPN would completely ignore this aspect of Dye’s career:
“And his simultaneous service as the university’s athletic director contributed to scandals that tempered his on-field successes and led to his exit in 1992. Most notably, Eric Ramsey, a defensive back, secretly recorded Auburn coaches discussing payments to players”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/obituaries/pat-dye-auburn.amp.html
Yes, there has been a lot of talk about his role in players getting paid money from various sources while at Auburn. So, his legacy has to have a big asterisk next to it.
Then, by the time Can Newton arrived, it was no longer "secretly."
Plus Les choses changent...
I met Pat Dye on Bourbon Street the day before the 84 Sugar Bowl. One of my friends asked him to sign a Michigan jersey. He wouldn’t do it, but he was nice about it.
And thus concludes my Pat Dye story.