Former Auburn football coach Pat Dye shared his wit, wisdom and coach’s perspective with 180 members of the Selma Quarterback Club on Monday night at the Carl Morgan Convention Center.

“They’ve always had a great club here,” said Dye. “A lot of enthusiasm, a lot of fun, and I’ve always enjoyed coming here. There’s a good cross-section of Alabama and Auburn fans.”

He shared his insights on the Southeastern Conference this year. He is impressed by the number of quality coaches that the SEC now has.

“You can’t name a single school in the SEC that has a bad football coach,” said Dye.

He pegged Georgia and Florida as the two teams most likely to win the conference, and thinks Alabama has an outside shot at the winning the title. He thinks the western division champion will come down to Alabama and the LSU-Auburn winner on Saturday.

In his 11 seasons on the plains, Dye compiled a 99-39-4 record. His teams won four SEC championships, including three straight from 1987 to 1989. He also won SEC Coach of the Year honors in 1983, 1987 and 1988.

No longer on the sideline, Dye pursues different interests today.

His biggest thrill was a recent meeting with Harper Lee, author of “To Kill a Mockingbird”. He pined for a visit with Lee, and his step niece, who lives in Monroeville, arranged the visit.

“She said, ‘I don’t know why he wants to come see me. I don’t know anything about no football,’” said Dye. “I told (my niece) to tell her ‘well I don’t know nothing about no d— literature neither.’”

That was just one of several entertaining off-the-field stories Dye told, and each was greeted with raucous laughter.

In 1987, Auburn defeated Texas 31-3. Dye did not regale the crowd with a game recap, but instead told of his post-halftime difficulties. He’d forgotten to use to use the restroom, and by the time he realized his mistake, the third quarter had begun.

The Tigers quickly returned an interception for a touchdown, and Dye spotted his chance.

“I run down the sideline clapping and cheering and I just happened to be running straight for toward our locker room. I didn’t break stride,” said Dye. “I went in, took care of business, and I was standing on the sideline for the kickoff.”