For all of the good things that Bobby Dodd did for us as coach, his decision to leave the SEC has haunted us ever since 1964. The sad part about this story is that the feud between the Bear and Dodd ended in the 70's and Bear tried to help bring us back in the conference. Back in 1964 after we left, the ACC immediately tendered an offer to join, but we refused, feeling that being an independent was the key to financial success. That changed in the 70's with TV contracts and bowl tie-ins. If you weren't in a conference you weren't getting either of those. Around 1976 or so, Bear Bryant asked Bobby Dodd to consider rejoining. Dodd agreed and Bear sponsored the initiative within the conference. They scheduled a 6-game home-home as a down payment on the plan.
That led to the fateful vote in 1978. Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Vandy, LSU, and Florida all voted yes to readmit us. Auburn, Ole Miss, and Miss St. voted no. We had to have seven yes votes in order to get back in. The deciding vote fell to of course, UGA. If UGA voted yes, we were back in. However, instead of voting yes or no, they chose to abstain. Georgia wanted to vote "no" in 1978, but was told to abstain instead by influential members of the Georgia legislature. Of course, it was the same as a "no" vote. UGA just turned their back on their sister school in-state. We were bankrupt and Dooley wanted us dead and out of the way. He had so much sway over their President Davison that he wasn't about to break lockstep with Dooley.
As soon as they turned us down, the ACC called with a unanimous pre-vote already in hand. We joined immediately.