Legendary former University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley, who led the Bulldogs to their national championship in 1980, died Friday at his home in Athens, Georgia.
Dooley was 90 years old.
A College Football Hall of Famer who graduated from Auburn University and made the Georgia football program a mainstay among the sport’s most consistent winners and who coached the transcendent Herschel Walker, a former Heisman Trophy winner, Dooley also served as Georgia’s athletic director during and after the stint ending his 25-year tenure as the Bulldogs’ head coach.
“Our family is heartbroken by the passing of Coach Dooley,” said current Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, who last year led the program to its first national championship since the days of Dooley and Walker. “He was one of a kind with an unparalleled love for UGA!
“He and Barbara (Dooley’s wife) have embraced my family from day one. He will be missed by our community, the university and collegiate athletics.”
The President of Georgia, Dr. Jere Morehead also commented on the late coach.
“I join with the entire Bulldog Nation in expressing our sadness at the loss of our legendary and cherished athletic leader and dear friend,” Morehead said in Georgia’s publication announcing Dooley’s death. “I first had the opportunity to spend significant time with Coach Dooley when I was a faculty athletics rep 20 years ago.
“I have always been grateful for the many ways he worked to make the University of Georgia a stronger and better institution. My fondest memory is going to his house to tell him we were going to name Dooley Field in his honor. He will be missed by all who had the opportunity to meet and learn from him. We extend our deepest condolences to Barbara and all members of the Dooley family.”
While Dooley built Georgia into an enduring national college football brand, he also played an incredibly important role in Atlanta’s ability to win the bid and eventually host the 1996 Olympics.
Three years ago, Georgia officials named the playing surface at the Bulldogs’ Sanford Stadium after Dooley Field to honor their Hall of Fame coach.
A native of Mobile, Alabama, Dooley played both football and basketball on a scholarship to Auburn University. With 201 wins in his career, including the 1980 title, Dooley made his way into the school’s record books as the program’s most successful head coach of all time, beating the storied Notre Dame. His teams nearly captured more national crowns and won the Southeastern Conference football championship six times.
Dooley, who served in the United States Marine Corps after graduating from Auburn, has received numerous national awards both for his work in collegiate athletics — as a coach and athletics director — and for the philanthropic work he and his wife did together in 2006 awarded the Wooden Award.
The couple had four children together, daughters Deanna and Denise and sons Daniel and Derek. Derek Dooley played collegiately at the University of Virginia and earned a law degree before succeeding his father as coach. Derek Dooley served as a head coach at Louisiana Tech and the University of Tennessee and joined mentor Nick Saban’s team in Alabama as a senior analyst after the 2021 season. They also had 11 grandchildren, many of them also athletes, and John Taylor carved a role in the Dallas Cowboys’ scouting department.
