Iconic, Hall of Fame former Georgia Bulldogs coach Vince Dooley has died

Iconic former University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley, who guided the Bulldogs to their 1980 national championship, died Friday at his home in Athens, Georgia.

Dooley was 90 years old.

A College Football Hall of Famer who left Auburn University and turned the Georgia football program into 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 athletics director during and after he wrapped up his 25-year-tenure as the Bulldogs’ head coach.

"Our family is heartbroken by the death of Coach Dooley," current Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, who last year guided the program to its first national championship since the days of Dooley and Walker, said. “He was one of a kind with an unmatched love for UGA!

“He and Barbara (Dooley’s wife) embraced my family from day one. He will be missed by our community, university, and in college athletics."

Georgia President Dr. Jere Morehead also offered his thoughts on the late coach.

"I join the entire Bulldog Nation in expressing our sadness over the loss of our legendary and treasured athletic leader and dear friend,” Morehead said in Georgia’s release that announced Dooley’s death. "I first had the opportunity to spend significant time with Coach Dooley when I served as Faculty Athletics Representative 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 home to tell him we planned to name Dooley Field in his honor. He will be missed by all who had the opportunity to know and learn from him. We extend our deepest sympathy to Barbara and all members of the Dooley family."

While Dooley turned Georgia into a lasting national college football brand, he also played an incredibly integral part in Atlanta’s ability to win the bid and ultimately host the 1996 Olympics.

Three years ago, Georgia officials named the playing surface inside the Bulldogs’ Sanford Stadium Dooley Field to honor their hall of fame coach.

A Mobile, Alabama, native who played both football and basketball as a scholarship athlete at Auburn University, Dooley forged his path at Georgia into the school’s record books as the program’s all-time-winningest head coach with 201 career victories that included the 1980 title win against storied Notre Dame. His teams nearly captured additional national crowns and six times won the Southeastern Conference’s football championship.

Dooley, who served in the United States Marine Corps after his graduation from Auburn, received numerous national honors for both his work in college athletics – as coach and athletics director – as well as the philanthropic work of both he and his wife, who in 2006 were joint recipients of the Wooden Award.

The couple had four children together, daughters Deanna and Denise, as well as sons Daniel and Derek. Derek Dooley played collegiately at the University of Virginia and earned a law degree before he followed his father in coaching. Derek Dooley served as head coach at Louisiana Tech and the University of Tennessee and after the 2021 season joined mentor Nick Saban’s Alabama staff as a senior analyst. They also had 11 grandchildren, many of them also athletes, and John Taylor has carved a role in the Dallas Cowboys’ scouting department.