Da Barn needs to ban Dye, period. I believe that he still has too much influence down there and he operates with the mentality of the finebaum fan base. They need to flush, scrape, de-louse and install new people from AD down.
I agree 100%
Why Is Pat Dye Still Involved In Auburn Football & Does That Pose A Danger?
It was one of the most embarrassing periods in the Auburn history.
After one of Auburn football's most successful eras, millions of people across the nation watched as the popular news show,
60 Minutes , aired
Auburn's dirty laundry for the whole nation to see.
Pat Dye was hired as Auburn's head coach on Jan. 2, 1981 at the end of one of the low points in Auburn football. Auburn had just lost nine straight games to cross-state rival Alabama and had a dismal 51-47-3 record from 1973 to 1981.
Here is that win/loss record vs. Alabama as well as Auburn's overall record during the end of the Shug Jordan era and short-lived Doug Barfield era leading into the Pat Dye era.
| 11/28/1981 | vs. | *Auburn (5-6) | W | 28 | 17 | @ Birmingham, AL |
| 11/29/1980 | vs. | *Auburn (5-6) | W | 34 | 18 | @ Birmingham, AL |
| 12/1/1979 | vs. | *Auburn (8-3) | W | 25 | 18 | @ Birmingham, AL |
| 12/2/1978 | vs. | *Auburn (6-4-1) | W | 34 | 16 | @ Birmingham, AL |
| 11/26/1977 | vs. | *Auburn (5-6) | W | 48 | 21 | @ Birmingham, AL |
| 11/27/1976 | vs. | *Auburn (3-8) | W | 38 | 7 | @ Birmingham, AL |
| 11/29/1975 | vs. | *Auburn (3-6-2) | W | 28 | 0 | @ Birmingham, AL |
| 11/29/1974 | vs. | *Auburn (10-2) | W | 17 | 13 | @ Birmingham, AL |
| 12/1/1973 | vs. | *Auburn (6-6) | W | 35 | 0 | @ Birmingham, AL |
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Pat Dye had served as an assistant coach to Paul Bryant from 1965 to 1973. From there he became head coach at East Carolina where he guided the Pirates to a 48-18-1 record over a six year period. He left East Carolina after a disagreement with new school officials. There was no mention of what this disagreement was about.
Dye then was hired by Wyoming in 1979, but after only one season was hired away from the Cowboys by Auburn. Because of an oversight, Dye had never signed his contract there, so Wyoming had no recourse but to stand aside.
Pat Dye arrived at Auburn with the normal pomp and circumstance afforded all new coaches on Jan. 2, 1981, two years prior to Bear Bryant's retirement and death. His first season was unremarkable; Dye went 5-6 and lost to Alabama 28-17 in Bryant's history-making 315th win which made Bryant the most successful coach in NCAA history. Dye led the Auburn Tigers to a 9-3 record in 1982 and defeated the Crimson Tide for the first time in 10 years by a 23-22 score.
By this point rumors of Bryant's impending retirement were running rampant and Bryant made it official by announcing he would indeed retire at the end of 1982. After Bryant's retirement, Auburn's football program entered one of its most successful periods under Dye.
In 1983, the Tigers won their second-ever SEC championship and their first since 1957, finishing 11-1 and third in the final national polls. As a result, Dye won National Coach of the Year honors.
From 1984 until 1989, Auburn had three 10-win seasons and two nine-win seasons. In a nine-year span from 1982 until 1990, Auburn's .784 winning percentage (84-22-3) was the nation's third best, and Auburn played in nine consecutive bowls, including three Sugar Bowls.
During this span, Dye received SEC Coach of the Year honors in 1983, 1987, and 1988.
Things were really coming together down on the Plains, at least that is the way it appeared.
In 1991 Auburn was blindsided when it was revealed that one of Auburn's players secretly
recorded conversations between he and assistant coaches Frank Young, Steve Dennis, and Larry Blakeney.
The recorded conversations revealed that Auburn assistant coaches were providing cash payments to Eric Ramsey and it was later revealed other players were receiving money as well.
Then it was revealed that Pat Dye himself had been caught on tape helping the same player, Eric Ramsey, obtain a loan from Colonial Bank, which was owned by Auburn benefactor and future Board of Trustee member Bobby Lowder. Keep in mind that Dye was not only Auburn's football coach, but he was also Auburn's athletic director as well.
60 Minutes aired the story which included the tape recording and an interview with Eric Ramsey in which Ramsey claimed that all Auburn players were receiving money and some of the better players were receiving thousands of dollars per year. On Oct. 6, 1991, another former player, Vincent Harris, alleged in the
Birmingham News that he had received payments from assistant coaches. However, Harris made no claims to possessing audio tapes or any other evidence. Ramsey also released another tape that incriminated former Auburn track star and booster Corky Frost. The tape indicated that Frost, a wealthy man, had paid Ramsey a sum of money as well as given Ramsey steaks to help him gain weight as a freshman. It also indicated Frost had agreed to set up a payment plan for Ramsey to receive $100 for interceptions and $500 for touchdowns.
Dye resigned at the end of the 1992 season and curiously was given a settlement of more than $1.1 million over a seven-year period.
On Aug. 18, 1993, Auburn was hit with some of the most severe penalties in the history of the NCAA (at that time). These included a two-year bowl ban, a one-year television ban (for the 1993 season), and the loss of 13 scholarships spread out over a four-year period. Dye was also banned from any appearance at an Auburn function until August 1995.
Pat Dye is still honored as one of Auburn's greatest coaches and Auburn's football field was
named in his honor in 2005.
It is common knowledge that Dye and former head coach Tommy Tuberville did not see eye to eye and Dye himself said he did not feel welcome in Tuberville's camp. Even though there was no mandate given by the NCAA for Auburn University to disassociate Dye from Auburn football permanently, I could certainly understand Tuberville's reluctance to give Dye access to his players. It is also common knowledge that Dye was very influential in the hiring of Gene Chizik and has been welcomed by Chizik to
visit and talk to current Auburn players.
Those of us that recall this period and the embarrassment it caused Auburn wonder why Dye is still not only involved with Auburn but also still employed as a "special advisor". It is not clear how influential Dye was in the hiring of new head coach Gene Chizik and it is also not clear how he is involved in the football program today. It was made clear by Dye himself that he did feel ousted by Tuberville and welcomed by Chizik.
The question I am asking is this: Considering Dye's past and the corruption and paying players that took place under his watch why is Dye still so influential in the Auburn football program and still such an important part of the Auburn family?
Why was Dye not welcomed around the football program by former coach Tommy Tuberville?
Does it serve Auburn's interest to have Dye in a position to have contact with football athletes and have input to the Auburn coaching staff?
It should be noted that Auburn landed a Top 5 recruiting class this year for the first time in decades.
As a "special advisor," what sort of advice is Dye giving to Gene Chizik and his staff?
