I’ve mentioned it here before, but one of the quirks in Nick Saban’s impressive resume is that he’s never coached any of his teams to two successive years of double-digit wins. ESPN’s Chris Low notes that, and compares Saban’s track record in this area with some other SEC head coaches:
- Mark Richt has won 10 or more in six of his eight seasons at Georgia. He did it four years in a row from 2002-05 and has also won 10 or more in each of his last two seasons.
- Former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, who parted ways with the Tigers following last season, never did it. He only won 10 or more games twice in his 10 seasons at Auburn.
- Les Miles, taking over for Saban after he went to the NFL, did it three straight years at LSU from 2005-07.
- Urban Meyer did it at Utah when he won 10 in 2003 and 12 in 2004, but he’s yet to do it at Florida in four seasons.
- Steve Spurrier won 10 or more games for six straight seasons at Florida from 1993-98 and then did it again in 2000 and 2001. He’s yet to win more than eight games at South Carolina.
- Bobby Petrino, entering his second season at Arkansas, never did it at Louisville, although he won 11 or more in two of his four seasons there.
- Houston Nutt, entering his second season at Ole Miss, only won 10 or more games once during his 10 seasons at Arkansas.
- Former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer, ousted following last season, won 10 or more games for four straight seasons from 1995-98. He also did it in 2003 and 2004.
That Richt fellow’s record looks pretty good in that company, doesn’t it? I can see why there are so many idiots pundits who think we’re losing patience with the man.
By the way, that stretch for Spurrier is truly impressive, especially since it comes from the era of eleven game regular seasons.
Get The Picture 
That run Spurrier had with the Wuerrfel offense was unbelievable. They went undefeated in the SEC in 91, 95 and 96. It’s only happened three times in the SEC since (Tennessee 98, Auburn 04, and Alabama 08). It amazes me how quickly Florida fans are to brush off the accomplishments of Spurrier now that they have Meyer.
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http://www.firemarkricht.com
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Wow. Definitely put things in perspective.
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We’ve gotten spoiled, that’s for sure.
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Yet Saban and Miles continue to get all of the love from the media. I guess MNC’s speak the loudest and trump everything else.
MNC’s are the perfect cocktail of talent, depth, experience, leadership, scheduling, breaks, and a ton of luck. It will work out for UGA one day soon, I just don’t see how it can’t.
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Saban, I can understand. Miles, not so much. LSU was a trainwreck last year; four good quarters in a meaningless bowl won’t change that.
And no, Jarrett Lee doesn’t play defense. I think Moreno just scored again.
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“In five seasons at Michigan State, he only won more than seven games one time.”
How he leveraged that record into the LSU gig is his best work ever!
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Not sure I would have crossed out the idiots…
Is someone keeping a list of the writers who have floated the “hot seat” line?
I want to say Bradley and Finebaum, who else???
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Keep an eye out for the up and comer Adam Krohn, The Clark Kent of The Daily Planet in Dalton. The Krohner, who some have called a younger unbalder Paul Finebaum, can effortlessly dance just within a peach-fuzz whisker of using the “hot seat” lingo toying with us in his hard-hitting investigative style of sportswriting satire some of us enjoy around here:
“Bulldogs coach Mark Richt — known more for his humanitarian efforts, furniture commercials, and motivational tactics than for his big game success —….Ultimately, both teams are pretenders in a sea of contenders, but the Oklahoma State game is one — and perhaps the only [and then Krohner throws us Georgia fans a nasty splitter on the inside of the plate for a called strike three] — game Georgia will convincingly win this season. Adam Krohn is a sports writer for The Daily Citizen. You can write him at adamkrohn@daltoncitizen.com or follow him on Twitter @adamkrohn.” So Krohner’s got us picked for one ‘convincing’ win this year, which is about the same number that some fans thought we had last year.
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First, I am not in the fire Mark Richt camp. Second, I don’t think anyone can seriously challenge Richt’s W-L record (except maybe vs. Florida), but if anything does get Mark Richt fired or legitimately on the hot seat it will be a result of what the matter two posts earlier- handling Fabris or Martinez if they don’t improve or are too stubborn to improve.
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Mark Richt is amazing. I hope he stays at Georgia for another 20+ years.
Anything disappointed in Richt is a moron.
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er… anyone, but you get the picture. 🙂
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It is incomprehensible how any media type could write about CMR being on the hot seat and not lose all credbility. One can only assume they only read Dawgvent daily to try and understand the UGA fan mindset. Those Negative Nellies (excuse me, realists) could convince anyone the sky is falling on Athens. For the rest of us, six 10 win seasons, two SEC titles, four SEC East titles, and consistently being ranked in the Top 10 all in the last seven seasons is pretty damned impressive and will buy you a lot of security. The only way I see Mark Richt leaving anytime soon is if the fruitcake extremist fans drive him, or his family, crazy. Bradley and Finebaum….yep, two guys I rely for CFB insight.
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I Say Coach Richt Can Stay forever. For the reasons mentioned, and the ones i mention on my blog. The man is amazing. He is my coach of my team. GO DAWGS
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Another L to UF/Tech…along with 4 straight non-SECC appearence years….I can see why
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Scary, very scary. I guess there are those who feel that way out there, but I must admit I don’t know any who feel that way…guess Finebaum does. I am pretty sure those who have concerns about CMR aren’t in a position to influence a decision of that magnitude. It’s a message board thang!
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