July 20, 2001

Published courtesy of The Huntsville Times

PHILLIP MARSHALL

Huntsville Times

19 Jul 2001

BIRMINGHAM - Twenty years later, Patrick Nix still remembers.

He was in the fourth grade in Haleyville, where his father was the high school football coach. The day before the Auburn-Alabama football game, students were told to wear the colors of their favorite school. Nix wore blue and orange.

''We were probably outnumbered 10-1, but I fought anyway,'' Nix said. ''That was when Coach Bryant was at Alabama, and Auburn was always the underdog.''

More than a decade later, Nix would make one of the more memorable plays in Auburn history when he came off the bench to hit Frank Sanders with a 35-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-15. That play spurred Auburn to a 22-14 victory over Alabama and an unbeaten season in 1993. Two years later, he led Auburn to a 31-27 victory in his final regular-season game at Auburn.

''I did what I did for those kids in the fourth grade getting abused,'' Nix said.

The shirt Nix wears now has a Samford logo. He will coach wide receivers for the Bulldogs in the upcoming season. But his heart has never left Auburn.

''Every morning when I wake up and when I pray every night, I pray that one day God will bless me and give me the opportunity to be the head coach at Auburn University,'' Nix said here Monday. ''For me, there would be no greater honor.

At 29, Nix has already had a taste of being a head coach. He spent the past two seasons as head coach at Henderson State, a Gulf South Conference school in Arkadelphia, Ark. He learned the hard way, going 2-9 and 1-10 before leaving for Samford.

''It was hard, no doubt about it,'' Nix said. ''It was frustrating at times. The places I had been, things were done one way: You worked and you worked hard. It didn't seem that was the way it had been done there for a while and it didn't look like they had any intentions of doing it that way.

''We worked very, very hard in a limited situation. I don't regret it one bit. I think we were doing the right things, but it just didn't come together. I proved a lot of things to myself, proved to myself I can be a head coach. I also learned there are some things I'm going to have to do better.''

Nix interviewed with Clemson's Tommy Bowden and Florida State's Bobby Bowden in January. When neither worked out, he planned to stay at Henderson State for one more season.

Then, Samford head coach Pete Hurt called.

''It would have taken an opportunity like this for me to leave,'' Nix said. ''It had to be a good situation.''

Nix, whose father, Conrad, is head coach now at Northside High School in Warner Robbins, Ga., waited his turn to play quarterback at Auburn. As a fourth-year junior, he became the starter in 1994.

He was part of some memorable days.

Nix passed for more than 300 yards as Auburn stunned No. 1-ranked Florida 36-33 in ''The Swamp'' in 1994. He said the 1995 win over Alabama was the biggest of his career because it was his last game against the Tide.

But he will always be remembered for the pass to Sanders in 1993.

''I remember standing in the old interview trailer that Saturday afternoon and thinking some kid in his back yard is playing Nix to Sanders right now,'' Nix said.

Nix makes no secret that he wants to return to the big leagues in time as an offensive coordinator or head coach. But for now, he says he's happy to be at Samford.

''My mission is to be around young people and have an impact on their lives,'' Nix said.