Position: Coach
Years: East Carolina (1974-79), Wyoming (1980), Auburn (1981-92)
Place of Birth: Augusta, GA
Date of Birth: Nov. 06, 1939
Place of Death: Auburn, AL
Date of Death: June 1, 2020
Coach Pat Dye's greatest success came at Auburn from 1981-92, where he posted a 99-39-4 record that tied him with fellow Hall of Famer Mike Donahue for the second most wins in program history. Prior to his arrival, the Tigers had won only one SEC title in 48 years. During Dye's 12 seasons, the Tigers captured four SEC titles, including three straight from 1987-89.
During Dye's tenure, Auburn won 10 or more games four times, finished in the top 10 nationally five times, and won six bowl games. The three-time SEC Coach of the Year and 1983 national coach of the year is one of only a handful of coaches in history to have coached a winner of the Heisman, Outland and Lombardi trophies.
While at Auburn he recruited and coached the university's second Heisman Trophy winner in College Football Hall of Fame running back Bo Jackson, who won the award in 1985. Dye also recruited and coached Hall of Famer Tracy Rocker, the first player in SEC history to win the Outland Trophy and the Lombardi Award in the same year (1988). At Auburn, he coached 21 All-Americans, 71 All-SEC players and 48 Academic All-SEC players.
Dye also served as athletics director during his tenure at Auburn, where he inherited an overall athletic program that was struggling financially and helped make major improvements. He also upgraded facilities and was the driving force for moving Auburn's home games vs. Alabama out of Legion Field in Birmingham to Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium beginning in 1989. The playing surface at Jordan-Hare Stadium was named Pat Dye Field in his honor on Nov. 19, 2005.
Dye's first head coaching position was in 1974 when he led the East Carolina Pirates to a 7-4 record. In six seasons with the program, he produced a record of 48-18-1. Dye led the Pirates to the 1976 SoCon title and a win in the 1978 Independence Bowl. He spent one season as the head coach at Wyoming in 1980 where his team finished 6-5.
He began his coaching career as an assistant at Alabama from 1965-73 where he was in charge of the linebackers and was the staff recruiting coordinator.
As a player at Georgia, Dye earned Freshman All-SEC honors in 1957 and made the league's All-Sophomore team the following year. He earned all-conference and All-America honors as a junior and senior. Dye was a two-time Academic All-American and was named the SEC's Most Valuable Lineman in 1960.
After graduating from Georgia he served in the Army for two and a half years and was discharged as a first lieutenant. He played football while in the Army and in 1964 was voted Player of the Year for all of the armed services teams and won the Timmy Award from the Washington, D.C. Touchdown Club. Dye also played two seasons as an outside linebacker for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.
Dye passed away June 1, 2020, at the age of 80. Dye had been hospitalized for complications regarding his kidney functions and had also tested positive for COVID-19.
