Auburn Football: Pat Dye’s 3 best seasons with the Tigers
By Dante Pryor
Sadly, Pat Dye passed away at age 80 on Monday afternoon. We take a look at three of his best seasons with Auburn football.
The late Pat Dye was destined to coach in the SEC.
Born in Georgia in 1939, Dye followed his two older brothers to Athens and played for the Georgia Bulldogs.
Dye’s first coaching job was at Alabama where he served as an assistant coach under Paul “Bear” Bryant in 1973. After successful stints with East Carolina and Wyoming, he came to Auburn in 1981.
Auburn football was in one of its most futile periods before Dye came. The Tigers had not been to a bowl game since 1974 and had an eight-game losing streak to in-state rival Alabama.
When asked how long it would take to defeat Alabama Dye replied, “60 minutes.”
In his second season, led by Vincent “Bo” Jackson, the Tigers defeated Alabama and returned to the postseason. During his time on the plains, Dye won four SEC championships and was the conference coach of the year three times.
By the time his career at Auburn ended in 1992, he was third in school history in wins and finished in the top 10 five times.
Dye had many great seasons at Auburn, here are three of his best.