Former College Football Coach Derek Dooley Is Running For U.S. Senate

Former College Football Coach Derek Dooley Is Running For U.S. Senate

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Former College Football Coach Derek Dooley Is Running For U.S. Senate

It's been nearly 15 years since Derek Dooley was a head coach and a couple of years since he was a football coach anywhere. As the midterms approach, Dooley is now emerging as a candidate for U.S. Senate.

Last August, Dooley announced his intentions to run for Senate in the state of Georgia as a member of the Republican party. He is seeking to unseat incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff and will be on the primary ballot on May 19.

Dooley isn't alone in the race for the Republican nomination though. He is opposed by two sitting Congressmen in Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, along with former Senate candidate Jonathan McColumn and businessman John F. Coyne III.

High-profile endorsements have been hard to come by for Dooley too. While he does have the official endorsement of Georgia governor Brian Kemp, Collins has secured crucial support from multiple Congresspeople across the country, no less than 18 state legislators, CPAC, Turning Point USA and other major Republican-supporting organizations.

The polling also shows that Dooley might have a bit of an uphill climb just to take down Collins, let alone Ossoff. Polls from RealClearPolitics, Rasmussen Reports, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and even the University of Georgia all show Collins leading the Senate primary race by double digits.

Suffice it to say, Dooley will need to pull off a pretty substantial comeback to find himself on the ballot in November.

Dooley's College Career

Dooley's father, the late-great Vince Dooley, was a legend at the University of Georgia, leading the team to a national title in 1980 during a 25-year run in Athens. He got hired as a graduate assistant at Georgia when his father was the school's athletic director in 1996 and parlayed that opportunity into a successful run as an assistant across college football.

Dooley's big break came with Nick Saban at LSU in 2003, when he was promoted from tight ends coach to assistant head coach and helped the team win a national championship. He would then follow Saban to the Miami Dolphins in 2005 as his tight ends coach again but parted ways with Saban in 2007 to become the head coach at Louisiana Tech.

Dooley had a solid 2008 season with the Bulldogs, going 8-5 and winning the Independence Bowl, but went just 17-20 overall. Nevertheless, the Tennessee Volunteers gave him a shot as head coach in 2010.

Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley wears the trophy helmet while celebrating with his players at the conclusion of winning the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game Friday, Aug. 31, 2012 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. 0901 Kcsp Football30 Mp© Michael Patrick, MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL

As head coach of the Vols, Dooley was mediocre at best and run out of town after a blowout loss to Vanderbilt in 2012. He went 15-21 overall and was never a head coach anywhere else.

Dooley spent the next decade bouncing around the NFL and college ranks as an assistant, with his final role coming as a senior offensive analyst for Saban at Alabama from 2022 to 2023.

This story was originally published by The Spun on May 7, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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