Legendary Georgia football coach Vince Dooley died Friday at his home in Athens, Ga., the school announced. He was 90.

Dooley coached the Bulldogs from 1964-88, winning 201 games, six SEC championships and the 1980 national championship. He was also the school’s athletics director from 1979-2004.

Dooley missed his regular book signing on the Georgia campus prior to the Oct. 8 home game vs. Auburn while he was hospitalized with COVID and pneumonia. He returned home shortly thereafter and declared himself ready to scheduled appearance at the UGA Bookstore for the Oct. 15 homecoming game vs. Vanderbilt.

A Mobile native, Dooley played quarterback at Auburn in the early 1950s. After serving in the Marine Corps, he served as an assistant at his alma mater under Ralph “Shug” Jordan from 1956-63 until he was hired at Georgia in 1964.

Dooley led the Bulldogs to SEC championships in 1966, 1968 and 1976, but had his greatest success in the early 1980s. Behind such stars as Heisman Trophy-winning running back Herschel Walker and All-America safety Terry Hoage, Georgia won three consecutive SEC championships and played for the national title each year from 1980-82.

Georgia went 12-0 and beat Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl to win the national championship in 1980 to claim its first title since 1942. The Bulldogs went 43-4-1 from 1980-83 and finished in the Top 5 each season.

Dooley was courted to be coach at his alma mater after winning the 1980 championship, but opted to remain in Athens. Auburn instead hired Pat Dye, who ironically was a former All-America guard at Georgia.

Dooley’s death comes on the eve of the Bulldogs’ rivalry game vs. Florida, held each year at a neutral site in Jacksonville, Fla. Dooley went 17-7-1 all-time in the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” and 11-13-1 against Auburn.

Last season, Georgia won its first national championship since Dooley’s Bulldogs claimed the title 41 years prior. This year’s UGA team is 7-0 and ranked No. 1 again headed into the Florida game.

Dooley’s son, Derek, was head coach at Tennessee from 2010-12 and is now a member of the Alabama football support staff. Vince Dooley’s younger brother, Bill, was also a successful college coach, leading programs at Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and North Carolina (Bill Dooley died in 2016 at age 82).

Current Georgia coach Kirby Smart released the following statement via Twitter: