Jake Scott Headed for College Football Hall of Fame
I'm ashamed to say I forgot to renew my membership in the National Football Foundation after the initial (though not final) effort to get Erk Russell enshrined failed, so I wasn't able to vote for him, but former Georgia defensive back Jake Scott will be going into the College Football Hall of Fame in the 2011 induction class. Scott was the first of three former Bulldogs to enjoy a pro career in which he was named a Super Bowl MVP.
Go 'Dawgs!
about 1 year ago
T Kyle King
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If you have never read
this article which appeared in 2006, do yourself a favor and allow yourself the luxury. It is really a fascinating read.
I sincerely hope that the rift between Dooley and Scott has been, at least, partially healed. From the article:
Let’s start here: Legendary Georgia coach Vince Dooley says Scott is the best athlete he ever coached. Yes, better than Herschel Walker. But in 1968, after winning its final regular-season game, the team sent Scott into Dooley’s office carrying oranges as the players’ vote for an Orange Bowl bid and national title matchup. But Dooley, in a move he regrets, privately had signed already to play in a lesser Sugar Bowl.
Scott cut Dooley from his life right there. This wasn’t just a football issue to him. It went deeper. It was about loyalty and trust. College juniors weren’t eligible for the NFL draft then, so Scott left for the Canadian Football League and stayed away from Georgia until Dooley left.
Anyway, congrats to a Damn Good Dawg.
"If we score, we may win. If they never score, we'll never lose."
-Erk Russell
I hit "post" before I saw your comment.
Thanks for the clarification on what stirred up the trouble between Scott and Dooley. Surely, questionable decision-making in 1968.
by vineyarddawg on May 17, 2011 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions
If I were Scott...
I’d be royally pissed, too. How does one not play for a National Championship? I have no idea the state of the voting back in 1968, but if there were a remote chance to win it all, you play in the Orange Bowl.
It’s ironic how Jake Scott ended up playing quite a few games in Miami after that, huh?
"If we score, we may win. If they never score, we'll never lose."
-Erk Russell
by DavetheDawg on May 17, 2011 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions
Checking the polls and records from the time
I doubt it would have been a national championship. We were 8-0-2. We would’ve played 10-0 Penn St; instead we played 9-1-0 Arkansas (and lost). tOSU and USCw were 9-0 and 9-0-1 respectively, playing in the Rose Bowl.
We were number four in the final Coaches Poll, released prior to the bowl games. We were likely around that in the AP poll prior to the bowls (the AP champ being crowned after bowl games). It would’ve been highly unlikely for us to jump both tOSU or USCw after their game, even if we had played and beaten Penn State 100-0.
Bah... you and your Communist numbers.
IT WAS FOR THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.
The sexier version of history is obviously the correct one.
by vineyarddawg on May 18, 2011 2:35 AM EDT up reply actions
Thanks for the clarification, The984.
In those days, the Orange Bowl was more prestigious than the Sugar Bowl—-this was before the SEC and the Sugar Bowl had the formal agreement to send the league champion to New Orleans—-and Erk Russell wrote about the team’s disappointment, but I’d never understood that a shot at the national championship (which Georgia won anyway, according to one of the minor selectors recognized in the NCAA record book) was on the line.
I believe the correctness of your point is underscored by the fact that, in those days, Penn State was, essentially, the Boise State of the East: a program that won consistently but rarely was in the national title discussion, even when it went undefeated, because of the “they didn’t play anyone” perception. I doubt very seriously we’d have gotten more credit for beating Penn State in 1968 than we’d have gotten for beating Arkansas . . . although the team’s disappointment at the Sugar Bowl trip may help explain the Bulldogs’ poor play in the Big Easy.
Go 'Dawgs!
Lemme tell you...
Miami Beach in 1968 wasn’t quite as “happening” as it is today, but you cannot deny that it still had it’s fine points. A better bowl? Maybe. But the ladies!
"If we score, we may win. If they never score, we'll never lose."
-Erk Russell
by DavetheDawg on May 18, 2011 11:54 AM EDT up reply actions
So an incredibly long shot at a national championship aside,
The players were right to feel disappointed in playing in a less prestigious bowl. That is a valid gripe, I think.
Congratulations to Jake Scott for a well-deserved honor.
I was very pleased to see him return to Sanford Stadium recently and take his place as an honored alumnus. I don’t know what happened between him and Vince Dooley, but it was apparently enough to keep him away from UGA for decades. I prefer to celebrate great Bulldog athletes who go on to fame and success in the pro’s.
I had never heard this story.
Apologies, I realize this is a sensitive subject to some, but it’ just another reason VD has fallen from the pillar I placed him on as a child.
"One thing I will never do as long as I’m at Georgia is lose to Florida." - Herschel Walker
Yeah...
… he still got screwed in the Adams deal, but I can echo the pedestal comment.
by vineyarddawg on May 17, 2011 3:48 PM EDT up reply actions
Once again, there's no need to apologize.
Vince Dooley is an iconic figure in Georgia lore, but that doesn’t make him above criticism. (When an off-topic commenter recently used the softball team’s success as an opportunity to launch a broadside against Mark Richt’s record over the last five years, I thought about how such an exegesis of Wally Butts’s previous ten years or of Vince Dooley’s previous six years would have looked on the eve of the 1959 and 1975 seasons, respectively.)
Coach Dooley made many good decisions, but he made some bad ones, as well, and, within the bounds of good taste and good manners (within which bounds you clearly remained), it’s fair to criticize him for them.
Go 'Dawgs!
I am still a little burned that CVD's green book was "herschel"
it got him hurt, and lacked just a little bit more creativity to get back to backs. Heck, maybe even a three peat. But I give him credit for stern leadership and fire, hiring Erk, and a few other things. But then, we almost didnt get CMR because of him, which I can’t begin to understand. Oh well. I aint hating.
"One thing I will never do as long as I’m at Georgia is lose to Florida." - Herschel Walker
For me, the summary of the good and bad of Vince Dooley's tenure . . .
. . . is contained in these two facts:
In his 25 years as head coach, Georgia won six SEC championships in football.
In his 25 years as athletic director, Georgia was investigated by the NCAA six times.
Go 'Dawgs!
I shouldnt have laughed at that, right?
"One thing I will never do as long as I’m at Georgia is lose to Florida." - Herschel Walker
And several other programs...
such as men’s basketball, baseball, pretty much everything but tennis if i’m not mistaken, went woely underfunded. Vince as a football coach, not too shabby. Vince as an AD, well he was certainly no Jeremy Foley. But the man does have an amazing garden.
http://sportsandgrits.blogspot.com/
Gotta disagree with you (strongly) there.
Georgia’s athletics programs were semi-officially known as “football, Dan Magill, and Liz Murphey” before Vince Dooley’s tenure.
As AD, he hired Suzanne Yoculan, Jeff Wallace (W Tennis), Jack Bauerle (Swimming), and Andy Landers. He also started the Equestrian, Women’s Soccer, and Softball programs, and hired Lu Harris-Champer when the softball program initially faltered.
His coaching record might have been spotty, but UGA became the diverse athletics power that it is today under his leadership.
by vineyarddawg on May 18, 2011 6:02 PM EDT up reply actions
And I forgot baseball, too.
In addition to the 1990 CWS appearance, Dooley hired David Perno, who has been responsible for all of Georgia’s subsequent CWS appearances.
by vineyarddawg on May 18, 2011 6:10 PM EDT up reply actions
Although I was talking more facilities-wise and not coaches specifically...
Foley Field is well behind others in the SEC, and Stegeman was a damned horse barn.
http://sportsandgrits.blogspot.com/
I don't think there's a strong argument to be made there, either.
The Stegosaurus was already built when Dooley got there, and you just can’t do anything with it. They keep putting lipstick on the pig, but that thing just needs to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch. I guess you can blame Dooley for not doing just that, but a new basketball/gymnastics arena could easily cost $300 Million or more, and even a tens-of-millions surplus in the budget won’t go far towards that.
Foley Field, likewise, suffers from an architectural limitation that wasn’t Dooley’s fault. The space limitation around the field means that stands simply can’t be built in the outfield or down the first-base line. The only area for expansion is down the third-base line, and that wouldn’t raise the capacity meaningfully enough to be worth the effort. Like the Steg, if they tore the whole thing down and rotated the field so that it was oriented in a different direction, it might be better, but that’s also a massive effort, though not as large as rebuilding the basketball/gymnastics arena.
As for the facilities for virtually every other sport, Georgia’s are among the best in the nation, almost to the letter.
- The Dan Magill Tennis Complex has hosted over a dozen NCAA Championships, both for indoor and outdoor tennis competitions.
- Georgia has built a brand new Equestrian complex in Bishop that is incredibly impressive (I speak from experience… it’s 5 miles from my home.)
- The Turner Sports Complex (softball stadium and soccer field) is also incredibly impressive (again, from personal experience… it’s also 5 miles from my home.)
- The UGA Golf Course is of such high quality that it hosts an annual Nationwide Tour (the AAA to the PGA Tour’s Major League) event
- Gabrielsen Natatorium is 16 years old, but is still a very impressive facility
- And finally, the Volleyball arena is kind of “meh,” and could use some improvement.
And that’s not even counting the basketball and gymnastics dedicated training facilities, along with the Butts-Mehre facilities for the football team, which are easily among the best in the country.
Which facilities were neglected under Dooley’s watch that should have been improved more aggressively?
by vineyarddawg on May 18, 2011 9:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Just agree to disagree...
I like the unique roof on Steg, and looking at it now, it’s beautiful. We let it sit there for years, with a barn out back, as other SEC schools laughed and laughed. We could have made improvements, or at least made it not a barn, but we didn’t. We made minimal changes, once it became obvious how much we were wasting an opportunity, by removing the stables and putting in a pre-fab metal shack. As a hoops fan, the vast improvements made under Evans were long overdue imo.
And yeah, Foley has it’s limitations, but we fail to address them as you say. The Natatorium was just part and parcel with the much larger Ramsey Center. The Equestrian and other women’s sports complex were both at the end of his reign.
I guess I’ve just been hardened in my opinion, especially with regards to the neglect in basketball. Encouraging Tubby to take Kentucky’s offer, and not fighting hard with the AA to keep him? Inexcusable imo.
http://sportsandgrits.blogspot.com/
I'm glad somebody else likes the Steg, too.
Mid-Century architecture FTW!
One must travel to Seattle to find a better example of Jetsonian design.
It's unique,...
and the changes they made to the entrances and concourses cover up any cosmetic flaws. I like the uniqueness of it, and when filled, that concrete roof helps trap a lot of noise inside.
http://sportsandgrits.blogspot.com/
by Mr. Sanchez on May 19, 2011 10:55 AM EDT up reply actions
The natatorium was "just part of the Ramsey Center"...
… which was built by the administration of Clemson?
And I can assure you that a swimming and diving venue capable of hosting NCAA championships doesn’t come as part of the standard “big-ass workout center” package. If anything, that argument could be made about the Volleyball arena, which is also part of Ramsey, and is basically just a big gym with collapsible metal bleachers and a volleyball court painted on the floor.
I agree that it took a very long time for Dooley to do anything useful with the Steg, which didn’t even get air conditioning until the ‘96 Olympics. But, really, do you think anything we could have done would have kept Tubby from taking the Kentucky job? Dooley could have matched Kentucky’s offer, but at the end of the day, that’s like expecting Bear Bryant to stay at Texas A&M instead of Alabama just because aTm matched Bama’s salary offer. There were intangible issues in play about which we could do nothing.
I get that you don’t like Dooley, but you have to give the man credit where credit is due. I’m not saying he did everything right as AD, either… all I’m saying is that he deserves credit for having built Georgia athletics into a department that finished very high in the Stanford Sears Director’s Cup (or whatever it’s called now) standings regularly during his tenure.
by vineyarddawg on May 19, 2011 9:51 AM EDT up reply actions
Yes, Tubby himself has said he'd have stayed if we matched...
he knew the talent at his fingertips in state. He had one son as starting PG, and another that could have joined them on the team, as he walked on at Kentucky when daddy left while a free ride under Hope would have been available at Georgia. He had a third son who was somewhere around 5th-7th grade if my memory isn’t failing. If we matched monetarily instead of saying we can’t compete with Kentucky, or pay you more than Donnan makes, he stays and has said so himself. You’re right, there were intangible issues in play, a family situation on his side that would have kept him here and an unwillingness to be embrace basketball for the flawed fear it might somehow harm football on our end.
And I wouldn’t say I don’t like Dooley, I respect the man’s plentiful accomplishments. Because they are certainly quite plentiful. But I think there were very significant flaws that get swept under the rug, overlooked, or ignored, because OMG Herschel and a national title!
http://sportsandgrits.blogspot.com/
by Mr. Sanchez on May 19, 2011 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions
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