UAB Blazer football coach Bill Clark remembers watching the late Auburn coach Pat Dye as a young boy and then getting to know him as a coach later in life.

Clark spoke about Dye as he prepares for his Blazers to return for practice in a few days. Dye died Monday of health complications tied to a kidney issue.

As the son of a football coach, Clark remembers attending Auburn practices, clinics and games and meeting Dye from a young age. He would later become a fan of Dye and his coaching and then got to know him after Clark started his own coaching career.

UAB football coach Bill Clark remembers the late Pat Dye from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.

“You’re just talking about a giant of the game,” Clark said.

But the ultimate measure is the way his fellow coaches and players talk about Dye to this day, Clark said.

“There are Xs and Os that’s a part of the game, but the interaction between players with the coach and coaches with the coach – did he inspire those guys to be better than they are? Did they play for a bigger purpose? I think anytime you listen to him speak in the locker room, you see that dynamic,” Clark said. “To me that’s the sign of a great coach.”