The Sidelines : Pat Dye Scoffs at Illness Reports

Auburn Coach Pat Dye says he’s amused by reports that he’s terminally ill and ready to leave the Tiger sideline.

“It’s been a strange year in college football,” Dye said Monday night. “I’ve come back from the dead, been fired, rehired and resigned and whatever.”

Dye made the comment in a talk to the Birmingham Touchdown Club. On the drive to the meeting, he heard a radio call-in show host pass along a rumor that Dye’s health is worse than acknowledged, that he has a “nervous disorder” that led to recent stomach ailments, and that he is ready to quit.

“There’s just nothing to it,” said Dye, 51, who earlier this season was hospitalized briefly for treatment of what was described as a “pre-ulcerous” condition. “It’s amusing to me. I’m in better health than I’ve been in for 10 years.”

“I feel better about my health because they ran me through every kind of test known to man,” he said. “I don’t have cancer. I don’t have leukemia and I don’t have AIDS.”