Alumnus writes history of Tuberville era

Driving along Interstate 59 toward Birmingham from his hometown of Gadsden, Josh Dowdy listened to his dad warn him that Auburn University would probably lose the 1986 Iron Bowl.
It was Dowdy's first Iron Bowl, and he was already an avid Auburn football fan.
He didn't know the University of Alabama was favored to win in that game, and he didn't care.
Late in the game, Lawyer Tillman scored on the reverse, bringing in an Auburn win to the score of 21-17.
For Dowdy, that was a big moment, and Tillman's touchdown fanned the fire of Dowdy's Auburn obsession.
Dowdy is now an author. His new book Orange Is Our Color is a history of the head football coach Tommy Tuberville era.
"Not history for history's sake," Dowdy said. "But history to answer the question of why the Tuberville era matters, mixed with something of a fan's memoir."
More than a fan, Dowdy is an Auburn graduate.
He said he attributes learning how to be an Auburn man from his father and the meaning of Auburn football from Pat Dye.
He discovered writing in sixth grade through a daily journal and has been writing ever since.
Despite a passion for writing, Dowdy chose what he considered to be a practical major, and graduated in 1999 with degree in operations management.
At Auburn, he dabbled in the marching band his freshman year, joined Auburn Christian Fellowship and played intramurals. The biggest moments of his college career, however, were football Saturdays.
Dowdy has a full-time sales job in Birmingham, where he lives with his wife and two kids. Writing about Auburn football has become a bigger part of his life in recent years, but it started small.
In 2004, before Dowdy had a full sense of what a blog was, he would send a mass email to friends and family with his thoughts about the Auburn game each week.
Later, he wrote a couple of different blogs. Now he has a website with the same name as his latest book.
Dowdy's approach encompasses Auburn culture and the identity of the Auburn Family.
Dowdy credits his writing approach to his graduate education at Baylor University, where he earned an M.A. in religion in 2012.
Originally, Dowdy planned to write a book about the succession of Auburn coaches, from Pat Dye to Gene Chizik. Each coach's early success drew him into the topic, but one caught his eye more than others.
"When I got into looking at the Tuberville years, I became curious about why it is that some people in the Auburn Family today still think so fondly of Tuberville," Dowdy said.
Another topic Dowdy became interested in inspired the title of his book.
When Tuberville asked Auburn fans to wear Auburn orange to the game, they listened.
Despite Tuberville now working at the University of Cincinnati, Auburn still asks their fans to fill the stadium with orange.
Dowdy began his research by reading newspaper articles about Auburn football from 1999-2008, old issues of the Auburn Football Illustrated game programs and anything he could get his hands on.
Besides his time in Texas, Dowdy has made it to Auburn games religiously.
He was in Auburn for opening weekend this year, and did a book signing at the Auburn Bookstore before the San Jose State game.
He is still interested in the early success of Auburn coaches, and Gus Malzahn is now added to that list.
"I'm not sure that we've all grasped the reality of how incredible he is just yet," Dowdy said. "The negativity and the problems that had turned into an infection in 2012 is so far in the past right now. I do not expect Auburn to lose a game this year."
Dowdy admits his prediction is bold.
Regardless of this season's outcome, Dowdy's 2-and 3- year-old children will be singing the fight song and the alma mater with him beside a painting in his house of the 'Reverse to Victory;' the play that started it all.