It's been 12 years since Vince Dooley was Georgia's athletic director and 27 years since he roamed the sideline for the Bulldogs, yet he remains well-versed in the changing landscape of college football.
Dooley was a guest Tuesday on "Press Row" on Chattanooga's ESPN 105.1 FM.
Former Georgia football coach Vince Dooley guided the Bulldogs to 201 victories and six SEC titles in 25 seasons, but his most lopsided defeat came to Nebraska in the 1969 Sun Bowl.
UT coach Derek Dooley talks to the media in 2011 after an Orange and White game at Neyland Stadium.Q: Georgia now knows where its indoor practice facility is going but will be the last school in the SEC to have one. Has that hindered the program?
A: "I don't think so, but I think it would if you were not moving forward with one. I had plans drawn up, ironically, that are being drawn up right now in the same location. The only problem with the plans I had was that the building was a little too high and obtrusive, and that was an issue. My next move was to move it to the baseball field and move the baseball field out somewhere else.
"What is being done to solve that issue is to lower the size of the building so it won't be as obtrusive, but it is absolutely in the same place that we had plans for it."
Q: There is discussion this week at the SEC meetings about cost of attendance. Where do you see this taking college sports down the road?
A: "I think it was important that the big five (conferences) would have the authority to make some decisions that were compatible to that group. It's a way for players to keep their amateur status yet compensate them additionally, and it first started out as a proposed cap to where everyone would be in the same boat at about $3,000.
"As you know now, that's not the way it ended up and that legally it couldn't be that way. So it had to be thrown back to the schools for them to determine their own cost of attendance, and that's where the problem is today. You have Auburn around $5,600 and Georgia around $3,000, and that is a real serious recruiting problem in this league."
Q: You retired from coaching at 56, but today's SEC has Nick Saban and Les Miles in their 60s and Steve Spurrier at 70. Do you regret leaving when you did?
A: "No, I never have. I was very fortunate to do everything I wanted to do at a young age and to leave how I wanted to leave, and I also got to phase in another part of my life, which was to be a full-time athletic director. I wanted to develop a broad athletic program in all sports, and spending those 15 years as athletic director probably replaced the down side from coaching.
"I still miss some challenges in coaching. I miss the team building and the close association of the players, and I miss being in the locker room after a great victory. I do not miss the agony of defeat, but I was fortunate to be at one place for a long time and do everything I wanted to do."
Q: Are you glad your son Derek went through his three-year experience coaching Tennessee, or do you wish that had never happened?
A: "I had some reservations about it because of the timing, but at the same time, when you get an opportunity like that, you have to seize the moment. In today's time, the patience is thin, and it's a lot thinner now than ever before. The salaries are different, too, and he made more money in three years as a coach than I did in 25. They made a decision after three years that they wanted to go in another direction, and I can understand that. I don't agree with it, but I can understand it.
"His timing was not good, as opposed to my timing here at Georgia was very good. I came at an opportune time, and things fell in place. It was a great learning experience, and we had a wonderful time going to Knoxville and getting to know a lot of fine Tennessee people. It was a good experience for us and a good experience for Derek."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.