Pat Dye, Auburn football coach, quit as...

Pat Dye, Auburn football coach, quit as the school’s athletic director, saying he decided to resign before former player Eric Ramsey alleged possible NCAA violations.

“That doesn’t bother me a bit,” Dye said of suggestions that his timing might appear to stem from Ramsey’s charges of improper payments by Auburn boosters and assistant coaches. “People can speculate and say what they want to say.”

Dye, who has held the dual roles since he arrived at Auburn in 1981, said he told then-President James Martin last April that he wanted to give up the athletic director’s role. Ramsey went public with his claims in late summer.

Dye’s $146,500 annual salary will not change.