Former ECU coach Dye selected for Hall

The Daily Reflector

May 19, 2005

Pat Dye won his first three games at East Carolina. And also his last four, and also sandwiched six winning football seasons in between.

That alone endeared the man to eastern North Carolina, but ECU turned out to be only the beginning for the man recently named as a 2005 inductee of the College Football Hall of Fame.

And while Dye's Auburn teams might have gained Dye his national recognition, the coach himself still clings to many memories of Greenville, where Dye never lost more than four games in a season while racking up a total of 48 victories from 1974 to 1979.

Dye, who went on to become a three-time Southeastern Conference coach of the year at Auburn, played a critical role at ECU, serving up six winning campaigns that followed consecutive 9-2 seasons under predecessor Sonny Randle and led into memorable stints from Ed Emory and later Art Baker.

Dye guided the Pirates to victory in the 1978 Independence Bowl over Louisiana Tech, a season in which ECU rattled off eight victories in its last nine games.

The following season, Dye's last at ECU, the Pirates closed the season with consecutive wins over Appalachian State, Richmond, North Texas and William & Mary.

From ECU, Dye went to Wyoming for a year before joining the Auburn program, where he and the Tigers enjoyed 99 victories together, nine bowl appearances and a total of five SEC crowns.

Much of that winning philosophy was fine-tuned with his Pirate teams at Ficklen Field, where Dye's teams were an incredible 26-2 in his coaching tenure.

Dye is not currently in the ECU Sports Hall of Fame.

Joining Dye in the 2005 College Football Hall of Fame is just one other former coach – Don Nehlen of West Virginia fame – and 11 former players, led by ex-Pitt star Mark May and Alabama legend Cornelius Bennett.

The selections will be honored Dec. 6 at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, before being officially enshrined into the hall in August 2006 in South Bend, Ind.

According to a release from the College Football Hall of Fame, about 4.4 million people have played college football in America in the last 137 years, and just 781 of those players and 166 coaches have been inducted.

Coaches become eligible for the hall three years after retirement, must have a minimum 10 years experience or 100 games coached and must hold an overall winning percentage of .600 or better to qualify.

Other players being inducted in the 2005 class include Anthony Davis (RB, Southern Cal), Joe Washington (RB, Oklahoma), John Huarte (QB, Notre Dame), Roosevelt Leaks (FB, Texas), David Williams (WR, Illinois), Keith Dorney (T, Penn State), Tom Curtis (DB, Michigan), Jim Houston (DE, Ohio State) and Paul Wiggin (DT, Stanford).