November 19, 2005

Auburn University named the playing field at Jordan-Hare Stadium after Pat Dye, who served as football coach from 1981 to 1992. While at Auburn, Dye teams accumulated a record of 99-39-4 and went to nine straight bowl games, including three Sugar Bowls, and won four SEC championships. In 1989, Dye brought the Iron Bowl to Auburn for the first time and beat an undefeated and second-ranked Alabama team 30-20.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Pat Dye was named National Coach of the Year in 1983 and SEC Coach of the Year three times during his tenure at the helm of the Auburn Tigers football program. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, property of The Birmingham News)

University of Alabama football coaches Pat Dye, left, and Paul “Bear” Bryant converse over dinner at a hunting lodge in Greene County in 1972. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of The Doy Leale McCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of South Alabama)

Former Auburn University football coach Pat Dye at his home in Crooked Oaks near Notasulga, Macon County, in October 2002. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of The Birmingham News)

Former Auburn University football coaches Pat Dye, right, and Tommy Tuberville during a practice in December 2002. Dye retains close ties to the university and lives nearby in Notasulga, Macon County. Tuberville resigned as head coach in 2008. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of The Birmingham News)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.