Dooley's pedigree, success has made him hot commodity

Jay Jacobs had Derek Dooley sized up long before he became one of the hottest names in the coaching business.

“Well, his mom and dad are Auburn graduates,” Jacobs said, “so you know he’s a good guy.”

The criteria obviously aren’t that simple for the Auburn athletic director, especially when it’s for filling the highest-paid position at the university.

But Dooley easily made the grade for Jacobs, who sought out the Louisiana Tech coach and son of SEC coaching legend Vince Dooley when the Auburn position opened last year.

“He’s a dynamic coach,” Jacobs said. “The intensity and the quality of the character of his players reflects him and his dad’s style of player — much like the Auburn style of player, Auburn characteristics that we try to have here and the value of our players.”

Now in his third year at Louisiana Tech, Dooley has transformed both the success and culture surrounding both Bulldog football and the athletic department as a whole.

Dooley, who came to La. Tech after following Nick Saban from LSU to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, inherited both a 3-10 football team and an athletic department that had been pinching pennies.

As a coach, he’s since gone 13-12, including an 8-5 season that ended with an Independence Bowl victory over Northern Illinois. As an athletic director, he’s spearheaded projects that have given the university eight new tennis courts, a bowling alley, renovated tailgate areas and a new scoreboard and press box at the baseball stadium.

The additions to the football program have raised the biggest eyebrows, especially among his Western Athletic Conference counterparts. The Bulldogs boast the largest scoreboard in the WAC, a $1.6 million monstrosity, play on freshly laid FieldTurf and return to renovated locker rooms.

“Derek is a progressive thinker and he’s a competitor,” Jacobs said. “He’s always looking for a way to win athletically and academically.”

That’s what made Jacobs so interested in Dooley when Tommy Tuberville tendered his resignation.

Dooley’s name surfaced during Mississippi State’s search for a new head coach, but he was quick to refute the speculation, immediately releasing a statement that said he was happy in Ruston, La. But while in New York for National Football Foundation event last December,
Dooley was one of a handful of coaches Jacobs interviewed for the position.

Though Jacobs considered Dooley a bona fide candidate, Dooley downplayed the talks. He pulled his name out of the running about eight hours before Gene Chizik was officially hired.

“I’m not sure I’d really call it an interview process,” Dooley said in a teleconference Monday. “It was really some early discussions that Jay had with many coaches around the country. I’ve known Jay and I have a lot of respect for what he does. I think he has made a great decision on the new head coach.”

The respect Jacobs and others around the league have for Dooley start with who his father is.

Vince Dooley graduated from Auburn after playing under Ralph “Shug” Jordan. He got his coaching career started under Jordan before moving on to Georgia, where he won six SEC titles. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1994.

Vince Dooley nearly returned to Auburn in 1981, but declined the offer. Auburn hired Pat Dye instead, and Dooley remained at Georgia until 2004 as the program’s athletic director.

Derek Dooley has definitely taken pages out of his father’s coaching arsenal, but he’s added to his repertoire with each step up the ladder.

“Certainly my father was influence for the first 18 years of my life and played an important role,” the son said. “Of course, Nick Saban. I learned a lot from Nick Saban. I wouldn’t be here without him. I’ve learned a lot from everybody. I keep tinkering each year and try to make it better.”

Dooley’s mother, Barbara, is also an Auburn graduate and so are both his wife’s parents.

All will be in attendance to watch Saturday.

“I’m having a hard time finding some allies this week,” Dooley said.

agribble@oanow.com | 334-737-2561