The Dooley statue

When plans were announced to honor Coach Dooley with a statue and park near the practice fields, I thought it sounded like a nice honor. I had no idea it was really a thinly veiled slap from University President Michael Adams.

Insider Advantage polled "594 Georgians - 325 of whom identified themselves as individuals who 'watch, listen to, or attend University of Georgia football games and are a fan'" and came up with this opinion split on honoring Dooley:

Add name to stadium: 48%
Name field for Dooley: 45%
Erect statue and name complex after Dooley: 7%

Personally, I like the statue and the complex, though I might have chosen to put the statue just outside of the stadium. And I might have named the student section at Sanford Stadium in Coach Dooley's honor. And for years I've wondered why we haven't renamed East Campus Road "Dooley-Walker Boulevard."

But, when it comes to renaming the stadium... I can't believe it, but I'm going to agree with President Adams for quite possibly the first time ever.

The stadium already has a name. Hyphenating stadium names is something Auburn and Alabama do. Naming the field at the stadium is something Georgia tech does.

It's not that Coach Dooley doesn't deserve just about any honor we can give him, because he does. It's just that we don't do it that way here. Let's name the park and the statue, then let's do something else for Coach Dooley as well.

But save something real big for Coach Richt, because after he wins 17 National Titles and cures cancer in the next 20 years, we're going to need to have that ready to go.