The wins were amazing. Getting the Iron Bowl to Auburn was amazing. But what really helped sell the Auburn heart on Pat Dye was the access. Thanks to television, Dye was the first coach that Auburn fans felt like they truly knew.
Sure, the Auburn Football Review had been around since Shug’s days. But until Dye, it hadn’t featured sweaty locker room footage of a coach getting thrown in a shower or licking sugar off of a football or a tear-jerking speech about wrestling angels or promos for Cigar Aficionado. And then there were the commercials, Lord, the commercials…
Shug and successor Doug Barfield had some endorsement deals, sure. They posed next to products for the gameday programs and probably did a few radio spots for Chevy dealers or something. But for half an hour every fall Sunday afternoon from 1981 to 1992 — and even beyond! — there was Pat Dye, during every commercial break, downing Cokes, getting stuck on Golden Flake, cracking wise with the Yella Fella (before he was the Yella Fella) about building a fence with pressure-treated pine on Jordan-Hare’s five-yard line.
Here’s a collection of classics from Pitchman Pat…
P.S. Here’s the backstory on that 1986 Coke commercial if you’re interested.
from The War Eagle Reader https://www.thewareaglereader.com/2020/06/pat-dye-the-pitchman-a-collection-of-the-auburn-icons-best-commercials/
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