Bringing the Iron Bowl home

AU Media Relations Pat Dye (left) with Pat Sullivan.

Home field advantage in the South is exactly what it claims to be: an advantage. Thousands of screaming fans are in attendance to boost their team up when it needs the rush, but can also be the visiting team's biggest obstacle.

Former Auburn head coach and athletic director Pat Dye is nothing short of a legend in the Auburn community. With a 99--39--4 overall record, Dye coached Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson and star lineman Tracy Rocker and won the Southeastern Conference four times in his 12 years on the Plains.

But perhaps his biggest accomplishment of all is giving Auburn the opportunity to take control of the fiercest rivalry game of its season.

Dye began his coaching career as an assistant at the University of Alabama under Paul "Bear" Bryant in 1965. A former Georgia lineman himself, Dye assisted on defense. He helped see the Tide through winning a national championship in '65 and going undefeated in '66.

After the 1973 season ended with another national championship, Dye took on head coaching positions at East Carolina University for six seasons and one at Wyoming in 1980.

Dye returned to his Southern roots in 1981 when he accepted the head coaching position at Auburn University. Retiring after the '92 season, Dye still lives in the area just outside Auburn city limits.

His first season saw the Tigers go 5-6 overall, including a ninth-straight loss to Alabama.

Starting in 1948, the official designated home of the Iron Bowl was Birmingham's Legion Field. At the time it was the biggest stadium in the state, and with the win in 1981, Alabama held a 24-10 series lead.

With the University of Alabama being located in Tuscaloosa, about 60 miles from the stadium, the Iron Bowl was practically a Tide home game each year.

Dye mentioned his plan to change that injustice early in his Auburn career.

"When I saw Coach Bryant that year one of the first things out of his mouth was, 'So I guess you're gonna want to take the Auburn-Alabama game to Auburn.'" Dye said. "I said, 'We're gonna take it Auburn.' He said, 'Not as long as I'm coaching.' To that I said 'Well, you ain't gonna coach forever.'"

When Bryant told him that Alabama had a contract through 1988. Dye's reply was, "We'll play it in '89 then."

Throughout the 1980s, Dye and the Tigers helped change the momentum of the Alabama-dominated Iron Bowl. The 1982 game saw Bo Jackson go "over the top" for a one-yard touchdown, giving Auburn the 23-22 victory. It was Bryant's final regular-season game, and perhaps the one that put Auburn football back on the state's map.

Ray Perkins took over Alabama football after Bryant's resignation until 1986. Like Bryant, he too said the Iron Bowl would never go to Auburn. It seemed the only ones who believed it could happen were those in The Loveliest Village.

"In the infant stages, Auburn was always struggling for funds," Dye said of the university in the early 20th century. "Through the struggles, I think, is really what created a tremendous spirit about the school. It's always had to overcome being second best."

By 1980, the renovations of Auburn's football stadium allowed it to seat 72,000 fans. Dye, knowing that a bigger stadium would help gain support to move the Iron Bowl to Auburn, pushed for the Board of Trustees to allow another expansion in time for the 1987 season. In what Dye calls the proudest moment during his Auburn tenure, the Board approved the plans. The east upper deck was built and it became an 85,000-seat facility, making it the biggest stadium in Alabama.

The new, massive Jordan-Hare Stadium dwarfed both Legion Field and the reason to have the Iron Bowl in Birmingham.

"The board of trustees supported it," Dye said. "They ultimately were the ones who made it happen."

Two years later, Dye's statement to Bryant proved to be true. The 1989 schedule listed Alabama vs. Auburn at Auburn. Finally, the Tigers would have home field advantage over Alabama.

Getting the game moved was half the battle. The other half would be sealing it with a Tiger victory.

Alabama came into Auburn that year undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the nation. Auburn was a decent team with an 11-2 record. That year was the 50th anniversary of the initial construction of Jordan-Hare Stadium, and Dye had recently celebrated his 50th birthday.

"I felt like we were going to win the football game," Dye said. "Alabama was good, but our team had gotten better and better as the year went on. We had just beaten Florida and Georgia, and with this game being at home, I wasn't worried about our players' emotions."

In what fans call the most exciting game to ever be held at Jordan-Hare, the Tigers won 30-20 -- a total of 50 points.

Although overjoyed about the rivalry win, Dye said the occasion was about more than just the result.

"The game being played in Auburn was far more important than the score," Dye said. "The score of the game just made it a perfect weekend."

Dye admits that he never was a fan of Tiger Walk, that he preferred to stay somewhere quiet and private before the game to focus on the "what ifs" of the day. But the 1989 Iron Bowl's Tiger Walk, he said, is one of his most vivid and fondest memories.

"I wouldn't take anything in the world for walking down the street that day," Dye said, explaining that the team normally walked four or three abreast, but had to walk single-file because there were so many people. "The look in peoples' eyes was unbelievable. Men, women, children, babies--they had tears in their eyes. It was a special day."

The 1989 team went on to win the Hall of Fame Bowl (now Outback Bowl) over Ohio State 31-14.

"The team struggled, they lost to Tennessee and Florida State early," Dye said. "They struggled, got knocked down, but they kept getting back up. They kept working, working, working, that's all they did. Until they came together as a team."

Dye said alternating the series' home field has had a tremendous impact on the game, the communities and universities.

"We now have the biggest social event in the state in Auburn every other year," he said, adding that because of the move, Alabama was forced to expand its football stadium to compete with Auburn.

With it being the first Iron Bowl in Auburn, most Alabama fans had never even seen the town before 1989.

"You'd have a hard time getting Alabama folks to admit it," Dye said, "But what they have in Tuscaloosa today by way of facilities were stimulated from that game being moved in '89."

Since moving the game to Auburn, the Tigers hold an overall 11-9 record, going 7-2 at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

From a financial standpoint, Dye said, athletics is the main way to keep the schools' alumni involved with their respective university.

"There are a few people that would be involved with academics," Dye said, "if they lived an academically-oriented life. (Athletics) provide entertainment, social life, a way of life. In the state of Alabama we don't have the professional teams that people can identify with. You've got Auburn and you've got Alabama, and each are building their own fan base and trying to survive."

This year's Iron Bowl has a few parallels to the one 20 years ago. Again, Alabama is coming into Auburn unbeaten and ranked No. 2 in the nation. And like the '89 Auburn team, this year's Tigers have struggled and are showing signs of improvement. Several Iron Bowls of recent history have been decided in the last few moments, and the outcome isn't always based on which team holds the best record.

"Throughout the 80s we were a missed field goal or a made field goal away from winning," Dye said.

Auburn head coach Gene Chizik has said several times since his hiring that he has the utmost respect for Dye. Dye said he is thrilled that Gene Chizik is Auburn's head coach because of his personal qualities.

"But I don't know if he is a great football coach yet," Dye said. "Time will tell. But he is a great man and he stands for the right things."