Weekly Top 10: Best head coaches in Georgia football history
1. Vince Dooley
More from Dawn of the Dawg
- Georgia Football: Top 5 Nick Chubb Moments at Georgia
- Georgia Football: Know the enemy UAB Blazers
- Nick Chubb is America’s running back, and he will return
- Georgia Football: Should laundry list of injuries be a cause to panic?
- Georgia Football: Report cards for Week 3 game against South Carolina
Who else was going to be no. 1 on this list? Vince Dooley spent 40 years at the University of Georgia and 25 seasons as head coach. While is biggest impact was felt on the football field, he had a major impact on every sport at Georgia as athletic director.
Dooley was hired as head coach in 1964 after Johnny Griffith stepped down with a record of 10-16-3 in three seasons. In his first season, the Bulldogs finished 7-4. By 1966, the Bulldogs were SEC Champions again with a 10-1 record with a 6-0 record in SEC play.
He led Georgia to another SEC crown in 1968 with an 8-1-2 team. The Litkenhouse poll named Georgia as national champions after the season. The next two seasons were rough for Dooley’s Dawgs but in 1971, they finished 11-1 with their only loss coming to Auburn who was led by heisman winner Pat Sullivan.
Georgia won their third SEC title in 11 season in 1976. That team, led by Georgia’s first 1,000-yard rusher Kevin McLee and quarterbacks Matt Robinson and Ray Goff, finished the year 10-2, but a Sugar Bowl loss to Pittsburgh ended Georgia’s national title hopes.
The height of Vince Dooley’s career in Athens was from 1980-to-1983. Georgia had a record of 43-4-1 in those four years. They won three straight SEC Championships from 1980-to1982. Their best year was 1980, led by freshman Herschel Walker. The Bulldogs won their second consensus national title and ended the year 12-0. Walker went on to win the Heisman trophy in 1982.
In his last five years as head coach, Dooley never got closer to an SEC or national title. He retired after defeating Michigan State in the 1989 Gator Bowl. He had a career record of 201-77-10 with a 104-42-4 record in SEC play and a 8-10-2 bowl record. His Bulldogs won six SEC Championships and two national championships (one consensus and one shared).
The College Football Hall of Fame inducted Vince Dooley in 1994.