Legendary Georgia coach, Auburn alum Vince Dooley hospitalized with pneumonia, COVID

Legendary Georgia football coach Vince Dooley is hospitalized in Athens, Ga., with pneumonia and what is described as a “mild case” of COVID, the school’s athletics department announced Saturday.

Dooley, who turned 90 in September, was scheduled to make an appearance at a campus-area bookstore prior to Saturday’s Georgia-Auburn game at Sanford Stadium. He was unable to do so due to his illness, which the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported is expected to hospitalize him “briefly.”

“He’s better off having the meds through an IV at the hospital,” Dooley’s daughter Deanna told the AJC. “He sure hates missing the game, but he has a great setup to watch all the games all day.”

Dooley, a Mobile native and Auburn graduate, was Georgia’s head football coach from 1964-88 and its athletics director from 1979-2004. He coached the Bulldogs to 201 victories, six Southeastern Conference titles and the 1980 national championship.

Dooley played football at Auburn under Ralph “Shug” Jordan in the early 1950s, and was Jordan’s offensive coordinator from 1956-63. He was considered the leading candidate to take over as head coach at his alma mater in 1981, but elected to stay at Georgia and Auburn hired Pat Dye instead.

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