LISTEN: Vince Dooley shares his thoughts on his son Derek's Tennessee tenure
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:
Well I was thinking Vince might start making excuses. Glad he did not. Doofus Dooley will go down as the worst hire in TN history for a HC and that lump Sunseri as the worst D.C. In history. I said before Saban is probably still laughing at that one. Kiffin sucks for bailing when he did but he had a great staff and probably would still be there if he managed to stay ahead of the NCAA.
What is his excuse for Derek’s tender at Louisiana Tech…
bratton,
not even wasting my time reading your article. No one cares about dooley. Quit starting crap like crist did last year
I feel bad, man. Poor Derek Dooley and the Father-Son issues with Vince. In case you didn’t know, Derek couldn’t even earn a scholarship at Georgia when his Daddy was the coach. He was a walk-on at the University of Virginia, and got a law degree there. A LAW degree!
Yeah, and Tennessee fans wholeheartedly believe that he should’ve had to pay every dime back that he was paid while in Knoxville.