By: Kipp Branch

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The University of Georgia is going to name the playing field at Sanford Stadium after long time head coach and athletic director Vince Dooley.

A ceremony has been planned for Georgia’s 2019 opening game on Sept. 7 against Murray State to dedicate Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium.

“I was very pleased for the family and pleased for all the ballplayers who have been so loyal and for all the friends and supporters,” Dooley told The Associated Press.

The plan, announced Thursday by University of Georgia president Jere Morehead and athletic director Greg McGarity, must be approved by the university and the board of regents, which is expected later this month.

Morehead said Dooley’s impact on the university carried beyond athletics.

“Coach Dooley’s many contributions to this university can be seen across campus, from Georgia athletics, where he achieved unrivaled success, to the learning environment, where today many academic programs and initiatives bear his name,” Morehead said in a statement. “The university community will continue to benefit from his service and dedication for generations to come.”

Personally, this is great news for long time Georgia fans. Coach Dooley was and is Georgia football to me. I attended Vince Dooley football camps as a youth and had some of the best times of my life with friendships I still cherish to this day.

Coach Dooley’s brand of football, which was the power run game, solid defense, and exceptional special teams is the brand Kirby Smart brought back to the program when he was hired in 2016 and you know those results over the past couple of years.

Dooley went 201-77-10 in his 25 years as head coach of UGA. That included 6 SEC Titles and the 1980 National Championship.

Coach Dooley is one of the top 5 coaches in SEC History, and the greatest head coach in UGA football history.

Once Dooley arrived at UGA in 1964 he did two things that made him the legend he is in Athens and that was he owned the Florida and Georgia Tech series.

The Yellow Jackets still haven’t recovered from the dominating Dooley years, and Florida was beaten in Dooley fashion over the past two seasons under Kirby Smart to the point to where their head coach takes veiled shots at UGA in the press consistently nowadays.

I still have UF friends that suffer from the “Vince Dooley Effect” to this day and I have one friend that still deals with that trauma by taking shots at UGA fans on social just this past week. Vince “The Gator Slayer” Dooley was 17-7-1 against those Gators in Jacksonville.

Eventually Sanford Stadium is going to become Sanford-Dooley Stadium, but this is a great first step.

I’m going to get chills when Notre Dame runs out onto Dooley Field this upcoming September.

And yes, long time Gators, it has been 39 years and counting since the last National Championship, but the Vince Dooley effect still controls you.

Coach Dooley is now 86 years old, and is a treasured person in our great state. He will always be my first and most cherished memory of Georgia Football.