Pat Dye

Bio

A winner at every stop of his coaching career, Pat Dye established his Hall of Fame credentials at Auburn where, in his third season, he took the Tigers to their first SEC title in 24 years. A former Georgia player, Dye began as a nine-year assistant for Bear Bryant at Alabama helping the Tide win two national titles. His first head coaching job came at East Carolina where, in his third year the Pirates won the Southern Conference crown. In six seasons at ECU he had a 48-18-1 record while building the Pirate program into one that routinely played and often defeated ACC competition. Dye then spent one year at Wyoming, leading the Cowboys to their first winning record in eight years. He came back to his SEC roots at Auburn in 1981. In 12 years he won four SEC crowns, (including three in a row), went to nine bowl games, had eight top-20 teams and five clubs that placed in the top-ten. Individually, he won three SEC Coach of the Year Awards. His best team may have been the 1983 team that went 11-1, achieved a number three national ranking and won the Sugar Bowl. Along the way Dye coached Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson and fellow Hall of Famer Tracy Rocker. In all, he coached 21 All-America and 78 All-SEC players.