Dye Quits as Coach at Auburn : College football: Resignation is announced on eve of game against Alabama. Pittsburgh’s Hackett also resigns.

On the eve of his team’s most important game of the season, and under a cloud of alleged NCAA rules violations, Pat Dye resigned Wednesday after 12 seasons as coach at Auburn.

The resignation was announced by Auburn President William Muse during a news conference in Birmingham, where the Tigers (5-4-1) will play No. 2 Alabama (10-0) today. It will be Dye’s last game as Auburn coach.

“This was Coach Dye’s decision,” Muse said. “This was a difficult decision for him and Auburn University.”

Dye, who was not at the conference, joined Paul Hackett, 45, among unemployed coaches. Hackett resigned under fire after three seasons at Pittsburgh and with three seasons still on his contract. He had a 13-20-1 record with the Panthers and will not coach the season finale at Hawaii.

Dye, 53, had said last week that he wasn’t planning to step down amid pressure of publicized allegations by former Auburn player Eric Ramsey 14 months ago that he received cash and other illegal benefits from boosters and coaches.

The NCAA notified the school on Nov. 5 of its investigation.

Muse said Dye initiated talks about his resignation a week ago, and an agreement was reached Wednesday afternoon.

Muse said that Dye’s resignation was in no way an admission of guilt to the NCAA charges and that Dye would would remain under contract to the school as a special assistant to the president.

Dye has an overall record of 153-61-5, 99-38-4 with four SEC championships at Auburn.