Vince Dooley dies: Legendary former Georgia football coach passes away 90

Vince Dooley was a key figure in bringing Georgia football to national prominence

Former Georgia football coach Vince Dooley died at the age of 90, the school announced on Friday.

"Vince Dooley died peacefully at his home in the presence of his wife and their four children Friday afternoon," Georgia said in a statement.

An inductee to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1994, Dooley spent 26 years as Georgia's athletic director and 25 seasons as the Bulldogs' head football coach.

Dooley finished with a 201-77-10 overall record at Georgia with one national championship after the 1980 campaign.

He won six SEC championships in football and eight bowl games, finishing as the winningest head coach in Georgia football history.

Dooley was named SEC Coach of the Year seven times in his career, also earning honors as the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year, the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year, and the AFCA Coach of the Year.

A former quarterback at Auburn, the Montgomery, Ala., native spent eight years as an assistant football coach at his alma mater before landing in Georgia as the replacement for Johnny Griffiths after the 1963 season.

Georgia won 10 games in Dooley's third season in 1966 and claimed a Cotton Bowl victory, finishing at No. 4 in the AP top 25 poll that year.

Georgia went on to win nine or more games in three of the four seasons from 1974 to 1978 and finished in the top 20 three times.

Dooley's team began the legendary 1980 season as the No. 16 team in the national polls and moved to No. 1 with a dramatic win over rival Florida, the famous "Run, Lindsay! Run! Game, and stayed at the top of the rankings for the remainder of the year, winning the national championship.

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That team, highlighted by the dominant play of tailback Herschel Walker, defeated Notre Dame in the 1981 Sugar Bowl and marked Georgia's first national championship in 38 years.

Georgia came close to winning another national title in 1982, but fell to eventual champion Penn State in a four-point loss in the Sugar Bowl.

Dooley was named Georgia athletic director in 1979 and held the position after retiring as football coach for 26 years.

The school won 20 national championships in other sports during Dooley's term as AD, and was responsible for hiring Bulldogs football coach Mark Richt.

Dooley was present when Georgia won its most recent national championship, the College Football Playoff victory over Alabama to close the 2021 season, the school's first football championship since Dooley's in 1980.

Dooley is survived by Barbara, his wife of 62 years, and their four children.

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