Georgia Football: How other coaches fared in their second year at Georgia

1965: Vince Dooley, 6-4

Georgia had fallen on hard times after Wally Butts retired following the 1960 season. Butts led the Bulldogs to a 10-1 season and an SEC Championship in 1951 but the Bulldogs fell to 6-4 in his final season.

Johnny Griffith, a former played for Georgia under Butts, was named to new head coach. Griffith failed to pass four wins in all of his three seasons in Athens. Georgia went 3-7 in 1961, 3-4-3 in 1962 and 4-5-1 in 1963. Griffith stepped down after the 1963 season to make way for a new head coach.

That new head coach was Vince Dooley and Georgia’s fortunes turned around instantly, going 7-3-1 in 1964 and beating Texas Tech in the Sun Bowl.

Dooley’s second year however, was not exactly his best. Despite starting the year 4-0 with surprising upsets over Michigan in Ann Arbor and Alabama with the “flea flicker” play, The Bulldogs lost four of their last six games to fall to 6-4.

But such a season was not commonplace for the Vince Dooley era. In 1966, Georgia finished 10-1, shared the SEC Championship with Alabama and defeated Southern Methodist in the Cotton Bowl. They dropped to 7-4 in 1967. But Georgia finished 8-1-2 in 1968, won the SEC Championship and was awarded the National Championship by the Litkenhous Poll.