AUBURN, Ala. – For the first time since the Bicentennial, Don Dunn is a coach without a team.
"It really bothered me the first game week," said Dunn, who retired in March after more than four decades of coaching. "I really missed the preparation. It bothered me a little bit when fall practice started in August.
"It really got to me on Friday. I missed going to the hotel. I missed the team meetings. The togetherness of the team up to kickoff. And then it got a little easier the next weekend, but I still miss it. I really do."Dunn coached at Auburn from 1999-2008.
Photo: Todd Van Emst/Auburn Athletics
Dunn began his career in 1976 at David Crockett High School in Jonesboro, Tennessee. He ended it after the 2018 signing day as Purdue's director of player personnel.
Auburn was his longest stop, 10 years coaching defensive tackles and nose guards from 1999-2008.
"We said we always wanted to retire back in Auburn," Dunn said. "We liked it. Loved the people, we loved the community. It's really been home to us. We were very fortunate. It's almost unheard of to be at a school 10 years, anymore."
Football coaches are notorious for early wake-up calls. In retirement, Dunn arises even earlier now than when he was coaching. The alarm goes off each day at 2:15 a.m. His destination is not a faraway golf course or a secret fishing spot.
It's a pit behind Country's Barbecue on Opelika Road.
Coach Don Dunn, the Dean of the D-line, is now the Guardian of the Grill.
When Tommy Tuberville resigned as Auburn's head coach in 2008, Dunn worked for four months at Country's, learning how to run the barbecue pit, before coaching in 2009 at Auburn High School.
The owner, Larry Wilson, always told Dunn to come back once he retired, saying, "'I'm going to buy a new smoker. I want you to be the pit boss.'"
Dunn's "retirement" lasted five weeks. In May, he started running that new smoker, a three-door model from Texas, so large it requires its own shed out back.
Five days a week, six when the Tigers are playing at home, you'll find Dunn overseeing an assortment of meats.Don Dunn wakes up at 2:15 a.m and starts cooking by 3 a.m. Photo: Todd Van Emst/Auburn Athletics
"I start the pit up no later than 3 a.m.," Dunn said. "We have all the meat on, the fresh pork, the ribs, the turkey, hams. I worked all night Friday night because we had so much business for the game.
"I don't want to just sit around. I've always worked. I've always gotten up early. I've been working since I was 14. I started in a grocery store. It's really a unique thing, and I'm learning a lot about being a pit master."
Don and Dona, a dental hygienist, will celebrate their 41stanniversary in December.
'You don't want your fire to go out': Don Dunn says coaching and cooking have things in common. Photo: Todd Van Emst/Auburn Athletics
"I enjoy it. It gives me something to do. I don't think I would be happy just sitting at home all day and I know Dona would probably kill me, if we didn't kill each other," Dunn said, breaking into a big laugh.
Cooking, he says, is a family tradition.
"I got that from my grandfather," Dunn said. "Every Sunday growing up, he'd have the old grill going. An old barrel in the backyard. We'd come home from church and have chicken and ribs every Sunday. That was kind of my hobby."
Throughout his coaching career, the Dunns would host Don's linemen for dinner on Thursdays. When the NCAA limited the practice to an occasional meal for student-athletes, Don and Dona continued their custom, cooking for graduate assistants and student coaches.
Investing in the next generation, one meal at a time.
Throughout his coaching career, Don Dunn enjoyed cooking for his players and fellow coaches. Photo: Todd Van Emst/Auburn Athletics
"The ability to work with young men and try to help them, not only in football but in life," he said. "I really enjoyed that. I enjoyed the grind, the competition, the pressure, the good and bad. A lot more good than bad. I was very fortunate."
Dunn, who turns 65 this month, remains open to coaching again.
"It's a tough job but it's so rewarding," he said. "If the opportunity came again, and someone that I knew and I felt comfortable with, I may get back in it. I do miss it. I miss the kids. That's the main thing. I was very fortunate. I worked for good people, good administrations, great fans. I've just been very lucky."
During Dunn's decade at Auburn, the Tigers won the 2004 SEC championship and won six straight Iron Bowls.
"I just had so many great defensive linemen," said Dunn. "I loved every one of them. About seven of them played in the pros from Auburn.
"Beating Alabama six in a row. I'll never forget the first year we went up there and beat them in the sleet, I think it was 9-0 [in 2000, the first time the Iron Bowl was played in Auburn's rival's stadium]."
One of Dunn's most memorable Auburn games, one fans won't find among lists of college football's classics, recently marked its 10-year anniversary.
"A lot of people hate it, but one of the other great games that I'll never forget is 3-2 at Mississippi State," he said.
You liked that game, a visitor wondered?
"Heck yeah. A defensive line coach, winning 3-2. I know the fans probably didn't like it, but there will probably never be another one of those. That was pretty exciting."
Cooking and coaching, Dunn says, share similarities.
Don Dunn traces his love of cooking to his grandfather, who barbecued for his family every Sunday. Photo: Todd Van Emst/Auburn Athletics
"You've got to do both of them with enthusiasm," he said. "You can't just mope around.
"Every day is different. You don't want your fire to go out, and you don't want your players to not hustle. It's a lot easier cooking barbecue, I'll tell you that.
"And I don't have anybody looking over my shoulder too much because I'm the only one here at 3 o'clock in the morning. I don't have to worry about social media, the internet or talk shows."
With a work ethic that served him well throughout 42 football seasons, whether stoking flames on the smoker or coaching student-athletes about pad level and gap control, Don Dunn's fire still burns.
"Auburn is just a special place for my family and me," he said. "My son is an Auburn graduate. I think it says a lot about us moving back here to finish our time."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer