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Dyed in the Wool: 'Auburn Josh' Joins College and Mag Team

New contributor Josh Dowdy grew up True Blue, wrote the book on Auburn's orange decade, and rides the Gus Bus counting the miles to Arlington.

By Josh Dowdy
Dowdy and his friend John before the 2013 opener
Dowdy and his friend John before the 2013 opener

War Eagle! I'm very excited to join the team here at College and Magnolia. I've enjoyed the passionate writing and honest discussion that make this site so popular, and I'm looking forward to being a part of it.

I know many of you can relate to my Auburn background. My Dad is an Auburn graduate, so I was an Auburn fan before I knew what one was. I grew up in Gadsden, which is kinda like going to school, work—and especially church—in the middle of an Alabama pep rally. My status as other during those years is part of who I am.

I was a student in the late nineties, so I witnessed firsthand the brilliance of Dameyune Craig, and I was on campus during the Bowden downfall. I graduated in 1999—not "on time," but years before I was ready to not be an Auburn student. My last game in the student section was ten years later, against Western Virginia.

What did I do at Auburn? I was in the band one year. I played a lot of Tecmo Super Bowl, but I'm not one of these guys who's memorized the player data. If I beat you on a coverage catch, it's more luck and guts than Nix to Sanders.

I started writing about Auburn Football in 2004. In 2013 I published a book—Orange Is Our Color. It's a history of the Tuberville years, focusing on how the events of that decade still influence the Auburn Family today.

For College and Magnolia I'm planning a column called "Are We Going Back?" When our team came home from Pasadena without the crystal ball, Malzahn told us, "We're gonna go back." So that's the question for Auburn Football in 2014. Are we going back to the national championship game? I'll lay out the method to my must-win-it-all madness in a later post (sometime before we whip Arkansas).

I'll also be writing about Auburn's 2014 Soccer season. The team struggled in 2013, but finished their regular season with a three-game winning streak, and got one post-season win in the SEC Tournament. I look forward to following Auburn Soccer in 2014, and seeing what stories unfold.

Thank you to Walt Austin for giving me the chance to be part of this team. Thank you, the College and Magnolia community, for making this site the rowdiest seats on the Gus Bus.

War Eagle!

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