Barbara Dooley was once a regular guest on the Paul Finebaum Show, which is one of the most popular SEC radio shows in the country. Although her husband is a Georgia Hall of Fame coach and her son is the head coach at the University of Tennessee, Barbara’s weekly appearances were highly anticipated by fans from all regions within the SEC. Her hilarious sense of humor and warm southern charm have made her into one of the most popular women in Tennessee.
Now that Derek Dooley has forbidden her from appearing on Finebaum’s show, SEC fans will be missing out. Barbara confirmed to Outkicking the Coverage on Monday that Derek had banned her from the show because he doesn’t like that she speaks without a filter and believes she is hurting Tennessee’s recruiting.
The real question is whether or not Barbara could actually be hurting the Vols’ recruiting process or her son is just embarrassed. Keep in mind this is the woman who shared with the public that she once answered the door for her husband in the nude and told him, “Play me or trade me, coach.” She also let listeners know that her nickname for Derek is “Precious.” Derek was a tight end in college at Virginia and his mother once made up bumper stickers that read “Throw the ball to Precious” and sent them to the starting quarterback who was also Derek’s roommate.
In a way, I can’t say I blame Derek Dooley. We are entering an extremely sensitive era in college athletics — one in which people will look for a way to call anything a recruiting violation or accuse a program of cheating. It is not out of the realm of possibility that Derek’s loose-lipped mother would say something that could land his program in hot water. It’s just too bad he can’t put a muzzle on Renaldo Woolridge.
