Vince Dooley, Hall of Fame coach who led Georgia Bulldogs Six Southeastern Conference titles and a 1980 national championship, have passed away at the age of 90, the school announced in a statement Friday.
Dooley worked at the University of Georgia for 41 years as head football coach and athletic director, retiring on June 30, 2004.
He took the Bulldogs to 20 flops in his 25 seasons as head coach, during which he set a 201-77-10 record. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1994.
The university honored Dooley in 2019 by adding his name to the 95,000-seat Sanford Stadium, home of the Bulldogs since 1929. Additionally, there is a statue of Dooley lifted by players from the team. 1980 national title at the entrance of Vince Dooley Sports Complex.
He was in attendance when the Bulldogs beat Alabama to win the show’s second national championship in January 2022.
Dooley, then 32, joined Georgia in 1964 after eight seasons as an assistant at Auburn, where he captained the Tigers during his playing days. He told ESPN in 2019 that hiring him was not a popular decision, especially when Georgia fans realized that their new coach by the name Vince wasn’t Vince Lombardi.
“I can’t say I’m the most well-received coach ever hired,” Dooley said in 2019. “When I look at that information, there’s no way as an administrator that I hired myself. A 31-year-old freshman coach at a rival school? Now, suppose you had to hire someone at an educational institution like Georgia and say this is the coach.”
In 1980, led by Herschel Walker, the Bulldogs began a four-year run in which they went 43-4-1 and won three consecutive SEC titles. Dooley won multiple national coach of the year awards as Georgia solidified its 1980 national championship with a 17-10 win over Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl to end the season 12-0.
Walker won the Heisman Trophy in 1982.
Dooley retired as head coach in 1988 to become athletic director, leading a program that won 18 national championships and 80 SEC titles during his 25 years in that role. He is a member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
