LISTEN: Vince Dooley shares his thoughts on his son Derek’s Tennessee tenure
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In case you missed it, legendary Georgia coach Vince Dooley served as the most recent guest on the Saturday Down South podcast. The coach of Georgia’s last national championship team discussed many topics during his episode, most of which focused on his tenure in Athens and Herschel Walker, but he was also gracious enough to discuss his son’s three-year run as head coach in Knoxville.
Dooley didn’t shy away from calling like he saw it, Derek simply didn’t lead Tennessee to enough wins during his stay on Rocky Top.
Here’s what Dooley said when asked how he digested the end of his son’s career at Tennessee.
“Well, I digested it a lot better than his mother did, I can assure you that,” Dooley said. “I can tell you I thought his timing was bad at Tennessee. Timing is so important in anything, and while my timing was good here at Georgia when I came, I thought his timing was bad. Recruiting had gone down the last couple of years under Coach Fulmer. Then, you had the coach that came that ended up at Southern Cal that stayed for one year (Lane Kiffin), who is down in Florida. So, the program was kind of a mess.
“But given all of that, still, it was Derek’s responsibility to win. That’s what the expectations are. And as you pointed out in three years, he didn’t. He went to a bowl game the first year and the last two years, it was not good. So, in this day and time — that’s why he’s not at Tennessee anymore. That’s why he’s in Dallas as the receiver coach.
While most view Derek Dooley’s run at Tennessee as a complete failure, Vince sees a silver lining in the events for he and his family.
“But I can assure you this — that in the three years at Tennessee, he made more money in three years than I did in 25 years at Georgia,” Dooley said. “So, while his timing wasn’t good on the football field, it was good in the pocket book.”
The entire Vince Dooley podcast can be listened to below:
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
