By Dave Sargent
MaxPreps.com
Profiled Guest: Mr. Pat Dye, Hall of Fame College Football Coach, Auburn University (1981-1992), University of Wyoming (1980), East Carolina University (1974-1979)
Pretend for a moment that, after an illustrious and successful career as a college football coach, you have just been notified that you have been selected to receive the highest honor in your profession. You have been chosen for enshrinement in the College Football Hall of Fame.
After family, who would be the first person you called to share the good news? Legendary Auburn University football coach, Pat Dye, had that choice to make when he was selected for membership in the College Football Hall of Fame in May of 2005 (He was inducted in a ceremony last December). For Coach Dye, the decision was an easy one. He immediately called his high school football coach, Frank Inman, in tribute to the lifelong influence and personal lessons he provided for Coach Dye throughout his teen and adult life.
Personal qualities and traits developed under the tutelage of Coach Inman proved to be valued truths that guide Dye even today. He feels indebted to Inman for teaching both the "mental and the physical part of athletics," Dye related in a recent interview. Dye continues to share those lessons learned for the benefit of others.
By any measure, Dye had an outstanding coaching career. Beginning in 1965, after leaving military service and a playing career in the Canadian Football League, Dye spent nine years as an assistant coach at the University of Alabama with Paul "Bear" Bryant, a fellow Hall of Fame inductee, as a mentor. In 1974, he took his first head coaching position at East Carolina University. In 1980, he moved to the University of Wyoming for one year after which he was offered the position at Auburn.
The Tigers' had only captured one Southeastern Conference title in the previous 48 years prior to Dye's hiring. During his 12 seasons patrolling the sidelines at Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn took home four SEC titles, including three-straight from 1987-89. He was selected National Coach of the Year in 1983, and according to the College Football Hall of Fame "is one of only seven coaches in college football history to have coached a winner of the Heisman Trophy, Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award." Under Dye's direction, Auburn went to nine bowl games, winning six of them. Overall, his teams amassed a winning percentage of .707 with 153 victories and just 62 losses.
Recalling his high school athletic experiences in football and track & field at The Academy of Richmond County in Augusta, Ga., Dye firmly states that his experiences there helped mold "all that I've ever done-in my career and in life." In a wide-ranging discussion, a clear picture of those positive values that were learned in high school emerged. Those lessons mirror the potential for positive influence that is always present for youth participating in sports.
The Power of Team
Above all else, Dye repeatedly emphasized the need to subjugate a self-centered, selfish, "me-first" attitude to the mission and goals of something larger than self-The Team. When all members of a team believe wholeheartedly in its goals, self-sacrifice, hard work, and desire create "something that is miraculous to see," according to Dye. They combine to create a force that cannot be denied-a perfect example of the whole being more than the sum of its individual parts. A powerful, unstated sense of confidence infuses the group and trust in both the team's direction and the sincerity of commitment of all teammates to that direction becomes unquestioned and unshakeable.
Dye has both coached and been a member of teams that achieved that unity of belief and purpose. He says, from a coach's perspective, unity is clearly observable in all that the team does. In his experience, teams that reached that mental plateau achieved more success than teams with far more athletic talent or better physical preparation. He has seen that true teams relentlessly "seek ways to win games rather than expend energy trying to prevent a loss."
"It all goes back to mind set. There is always a turning point in a game or season," Dye said. At that turning point, there can be no negative thoughts by any team member. "There is not room in your mind for both types of thought," Dye continued. One trait that Coach Dye believes athletics can provide is the skill to focus unerringly on an agreed upon goal or outcome and to extinguish all thoughts, worries, or concerns that might deter from achievement of that goal. The mental part of accomplishing a worthwhile task is both the most difficult, memorable, and rewarding part of any achievement.
Individual Growth
From the committed concentration of a unified team flow personal characteristics and habits of mind that guide former athletes throughout their lives. Dye believes that all athletes "want to be involved in a demanding, disciplined, organized program." Lifetime skills such as careful listening, taking direction, sacrificing ego for the good of the group, thoroughness, and the translation of intent into performance are all developed in the preparation for athletic competition.
In high school, he felt he could rely on his coach who clearly communicated the short and long-term goals of the football program to the team. Asked if his coach was understanding, Dye's smiling response was, "Yes, if you did things his way, everything was fine." His coach created closeness by communicating a common purpose for all team members to adopt. Setting high expectations, being demanding of self, preparing thoroughly for all possible contingencies, and performance under pressure, are lifelong lessons all participants can carry away from involvement in athletics. These lessons continue to influence Dye today.
Resiliency, the ability to "bounce back" from an unanticipated and undesired outcome, is also a practice that is honed in athletic competition. Like many other qualities, it starts with a positive mental approach. After losing a semifinal game in the Georgia state high school football playoffs his junior year, Dye remembers addressing all of the juniors on the team and immediately rededicating to the goal of winning the state championship. Dye and his teammates achieved that goal as seniors. In this instructive case, the power of a loss did not provide discouragement. Instead, the pain of that loss provided the springboard for future accomplishment of a common goal. That is resiliency defined.
Hall of Fame coach Pat Dye expressed his ultimate respect for the work done by high school coaches. In fact, he indicated that he regretted "not coaching at the high school level. Some of the greatest coaching that is being done anywhere is being done at that level." As a college coach, he was grateful to high school coaches for their preparation of student-athletes both mentally and physically for the rigors of college and college athletics. "It's a great responsibility to create a team from all who are interested. High school coaches are quality people," Dye concluded.
Ultimately, the lesson to be learned from athletic leaders like Pat Dye is that if you choose to be associated with high quality people and leaders, you have a great chance to become a quality person who accomplishes your goals.
Dave Sargent: dave@maxpreps.com