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Dooley's UGA days waning

ATHENS, Ga. - Longtime Georgia athletic director Vince Dooley will lose his job next year after university president Michael Adams said Thursday he rejected Dooley's request for a contract extension.

Adams, who has feuded with Dooley often since coming to the school in 1997, insisted they stick to a 2001 deal that ends Dooley's 25-year reign as athletic director June 30, 2004.

Adams said the 70-year-old Dooley could stay on a year as a fund-raising consultant, with no change in his $300,000 salary.

Dooley and Adams publicly disagreed over the firing of football coach Jim Donnan in 2000; Dooley thought he should stay. A year earlier, they were at odds over the selection of Jim Harrick as basketball coach.

This season, after accusations of payoffs and academic fraud under Harrick and his son, assistant Jim Jr., both were forced out. This spring, several football players were disciplined for various violations, including marijuana possession and selling their 2002 SEC championship rings.

Adams issued a stern warning to the athletic program, saying his patience "is exhausted over this continuing improper behavior by athletes."

Dooley said he was not bitter. "I have had a wonderful, wonderful relationship with the University of Georgia," he said. "I have grown to love the people of this state. I am not going to let a decision spoil that." Dooley is a beloved sports figure at the school, coaching the football team from 1964-88. He led the Bulldogs to six SEC titles and the 1980 national title.

Florida A&M signed a cable TV contract with the Urban Broadcasting Company that will put as many as nine games on TV this year as it tries to elevate its football program to Division I-A from I-AA. The five-year deal includes televising some basketball games.Interim athletic director J.R.E. Lee III said the school filed an application to make the move in 2004 and the NCAAshould receive it today.

Lee said the yearly $1.5-million the deal will generate will pay for renovation of Bragg Stadium starting this year and help in the construction of an 11,000 seat basketball arena.