Staying focused: Proud mama Barbara Dooley's game plan

Athens Banner-Herald

Barbara and Vince Dooley are shown in their home in this 2006 file photo.

Athens Banner-Herald

Barbara and Vince Dooley are shown in their home in this 2006 file photo.

If you look up the adage, "Behind every successful man is a strong woman," you'll likely see Barbara Dooley's picture next to it. The wife of Georgia coaching legend Vince Dooley and mother of the UT Vol's new head football coach, Derek Dooley, is one tough cookie. "A coach's wife is everything — a mother, father, friend, wife, husband," she attests. "She has to pick up the slack. She has to be a strong woman, or she won't survive." She knows. She's walked the walk.

Synonymous with Southern charm and sporting a larger-than-life personality, Barbara admits her secret goal when she was young was to be a comedian. Many would say with her quick wit and infectious sense of humor, she unquestionably succeeded. She disagrees. "I blew it. I started having babies."

She met Vince when she was a freshman at Auburn, and he was a coach. After dating four years, they got married, but not before she admits having little interest in him at first and isn't sure why they even kept dating. What turned the tide and made her finally decide to take the plunge? "I don't know why. He said I finally grew up." They will soon celebrate 50 years together.

But now the Coldwell Banker realtor, motivational speaker and media personality says that after her children were grown, she "sprouted her wings." "I was tickled to death to raise my (four) children. I loved every stage." And while she doesn't skip a beat when it comes to supporting her kids now, she has taken her own advice and coaching strategy on life: "Follow through with your goals and don't get side-railed. Stay focused."

She ran for the Georgia state legislature and lost.

She ran for the U.S. House of Representatives and lost.

She started two businesses that are "no longer."

She was diagnosed with breast cancer...and won. She'll hit her five year survivor mark in November.

And through it all her remedy has been to laugh a lot. That's one thing she always told Derek. She also taught him self-discipline, advice she feels he is passing on and teaching his players and something she hopes to see translated to the football field when watching the Vols on game day.

Upon learning her son would be the University of Tennessee's next head football coach, she says, "You've got to be ecstatic about it. I never thought in my wildest dreams I'd be singin' "Rocky Top," but here I am buying orange and planning to be the orangest in the stadium. It's amazing what your children will do to you."

She also showed up in Atlanta to surprise "Precious," her well-known and endearing nickname for Derek, her "baby boy," during a media blitz wearing an orange feather boa. "Of course I wanted a reaction," she laughs, but all Derek was able to say was, "I wouldn't have expected anything less." He's obviously used to her practical jokes and "crazy brain" as she describes herself. Like the time she had bumper stickers made and mailed them to his college roommate that read "Give the Ball to Precious."

Barbara does admit being a bit of a "nervous Nelly" on game days. "If I start making myself physically sick, I'll quit," she said, reflecting on the days when Vince was coaching, and she spent most of the game throwing up in the bathroom. She was also known for walking the corridors of the stadium praying when she got nervous. On one particular Saturday years ago, during a UT-Georgia game, a Big Orange omen may have occurred when Barbara was pacing the stadium halls. All of a sudden she looked up and JoAnne Dickey, whose husband, Doug Dickey, was UT's coach at the time, was walking the other way, also praying.

Barbara and JoAnne, along with millions of other women, can relate to the saying, "This marriage has been temporarily interrupted for football season." "It's so true," Barbara concurs. "I have that on a pillow in my house." But for new coaches' wives who are just now coming up through the ranks and learning the ropes, she optimistically warns, "Buckle up lady. You're goin' on the ride of your life — except, of course, when you lose."

Through it all, whether it's her role as a wife, mother, speaker, realtor, or Athens, Georgia's No. 1 funny lady, Barbara stays true to herself. "I want to be true to who I am, and don't want the influence of money and power," she says. "I want to be the person God created me to be"

For now, and hopefully for a long while, that person is the Vols' newest No. 1 fan.

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