One other interesting quote from Richt at today’s presser came in response to a question about the changes with the strength and conditioning coaches.
… Like something I mentioned before, and by no means am I saying it’s just the strength area that we need to improve on when it comes to winning the fourth quarter and finishing, because coaching has to do with a lot of things. I’m sure that will be a big emphasis in our program is to make sure we truly finish the drill. We say finish the drill but are we really doing it? Did we do it this year? We did not.
Interesting, because instead of the usual offseason smoke up our derrieres we tend to hear about leadership and getting after it, here we have Richt acknowledging a problem. Now whether the steps he’s taken are the right ones to correct the problem is a big unknown at this point, but one thing’s certain. You can’t fix something if you don’t first acknowledge it’s broken. I’m just hoping that it’s this year’s version of directional kicking.
Get The Picture 
I think us anti-directional kicking commentators were proven more than right this year!
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You knwo, the thing is, we still kicked directionally on occasion. They do it in the NFL, too–a LOT. Directional kicking as a strategy makes sense–using the sideline as a defender. The problem clearly was either the coach’s version of it, the personnel’s execution of it, or both–not the concept.
Clearly Fabris was a knucklehead, though, and Belin is not. Man, we did we fix THAT problem this year.
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I think the “OMG penalties are the most important problem!!!” crowd was also silenced.
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I would tend to put more faith in the fact that somebody who actually knows something, in this case Mark Richt, has decided we need to work on a specific area. It is easy to see things you think are wrong, different when your job performance depends on it.
Of course this won’t keep Bulldog Joe from claiming credit for pre-solution clarity.
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I mean I posted it on the AJC blogs everyday.
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Sigh. This is like whack-a-mole. In 2010, I feel like we addressed everything that was raised as a problem in 2010 — turnovers, directional kicking, scoring defense, etc. And, as an added bonus, two of our three biggest rivals regressed (Florida and Tech). And we still got worse.
So now the demon du jour is winning the fourth. Fine, I’m in for another round, but only ’cause I got nowhere else to be.
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Well, the post-script on this season shouldn’t be written for quite a while. We didn’t get into this mess quickly, and we (obviously) won’t get out quickly. My fervent hope is that we look back on the season as the year things started to turn back in our direction (flashes of brilliance from Murray, improved kick coverage/penalties, turnover improvement, etc.). Despite the record, there are reasons to believe if one is inclined to look for them.
After writing that, I’m not quite sure what it has to do with the post….
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In other words, 2010 = 2006.
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“You can’t fix something if you don’t first acknowledge it’s broken.”
Onward to Phase 2 in which Mark, as he starts only his second decade, will try to recognize something before it becomes truly broken.
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I understand that UGa may have an opening for an assistant strength and conditioning coach. I’m your man! I seem to be between jobs right now and I will be glad to work cheap. I really need to get out of New York soon. I am particularly good at getting guys to participate particularly while not exactly being “on the field of play” if you get my drift. I will take the hit for the head man and keep my mouth shut if that’s what it takes, too. Who do I talk to about this gig?
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Shut up Sal!!!
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Sal was acting alone.
Move along, now. Nothing to see here.
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Van Halanger was a good coach, there was nothing wrong with his first 5 teams strength and conditioning wise in fact he was hailed as a hero by the arm chair quarterback class back in those days for bringing mat drills to Athens. He didn’t forget how to coach, he is a victim of our shitty ass defense, just like our offensive players and coaches have been for the last going on 5 years. He’s such a damn good guy he probably recognized there needed to be a fall guy this year and volunteered for the job. Defense was and is our main problem, until we start playing good defense our strength guy can start castrating bulls in Butts Mehre and it won’t make a dang bit of difference.
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I think our o-line not being able to push around teams like Louisiana Lafeyette was his downfall, not the defense.
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I still don’t think know that I hang that on Van Halanger, its not like all of the offensive lines we have had since he’s been here have sucked. I don’t know, I think we’ll miss him as a team builder, say what you want too we’ve never quit in a game or in a season since Richt has been here and an awful lot of people give a lot of credit for that “brotherhood” atmosphere to Van Halanger. Like I said, he probably realized it’d be better on everybody else if someone was sacrificed to the pitch fork wielding crowd and volunteered, I’m not sure he was a bad coach like Martinez, Jancek, and Fabris were. DGD in my opinion.
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DGD, indeed. The guy does have serious health issues and I’m of the belief they have had an effect on his ability to do the job full-time. It’s a job that ususally full on energy guys do. I don’t think Van Halanger has that kind of energy at this point in his life.
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Quite possible, I’m much more willing to buy that than the bad coach meme, we’ve had a lot of teams where strength and conditioning have been a problem but the perception of it has gone down since our defensive problems became full blown. What Willie hath wrought.
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I meant to say where strength and condition HAVEN’T been a problem, like I said he was almost universally praised for his first 6-7 years on the job.
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For the record I don’t think he was a bad coach. I’ve watched a few interviews with him and he seems like one of the most good human beings I’ve ever seen. And for that I think he can hopefully make a great character/leader program, or whatever it is that Richt wants him to do.
I do think his health issues crept into work (which happens to everyone, I mean we are humans after all). I just think the diminishing play in the trenches due to falterings within the strength and conditioning program over the past few seasons may have happened at the same time Willie imploded, not that he necessarily took a fall for our bad defense.
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Never quit in a game? You must be watching some other team.
Tennessee 2007, 2009
Tech 2008
Florida 2008, 2009
I guess you can’t quit if you don’t even bother showing up, so perhaps you’re right. Other absolute whippings include:
Alabama 2008
South Carolina 2010
Funny, I don’t remember too many games from ’01 to ’04 when the team decided to take a half off…
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Getting your ##% whipped is different from not trying, there was effort in all of those games. You see “quitting” where I see crappy defense.
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Richt’s Motto: Finish the Pill
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So it took the head football coach 12 games and a entire season to figure this out. Pathetic
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This is exactly what I want to hear. No more congratulating the seniors for not quitting and talking about how great we did after the 1-4 start. This makes me think there is hope for Richt as the coach of this team. There is a mentality right now that is different with this team compared to the teams he coached when he first got here. He’s acknowledging this finally and that gives me hope something can be done to change it.
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I believe he turned a corner firing Willie, if he’s willing to fire his best friend for getting the job done, he’ll fire anybody.
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That’s “not” getting the job done. Typing…too…fast.
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Willie was a friend but not his best friend. His best friend was the S and C coordinator. And I’ve heard from some people who should know these kinds of things that our guys were not doing what they needed to do in the weight room. Supposedly Ellerbe hardly darkened the weight room door. I’m sure there were others like Rennie who you couldn’t keep out of there. But I don’t think they were training like they were at the beginning of the decade.
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Heard much the same.
Which is why I don’t get a lot of the grumbling about this move. You can talk all you want about using state of the art techniques, but if the players aren’t showing up to train, it hardly matters.
The biggest problem with S&C has been accountability, warm stories about how hard everyone worked over the summer notwithstanding. If CJT addresses that, it’ll be a damned good start.
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“The biggest problem with S&C has been accountability”
I thought it was telling when JT2 said workouts would henceforth be taped. I suspected it had more to do with players half-assing or skipping their workouts than making sure they had good form with their lifts.
I think Richt shouldn’t be afraid to pull a schollie if a player simply isn’t trying. Do it a couple of times, and to the right players, and effort would not be an issue on this team.
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The basics are lacking: Discipline and Conditioning. All teams, regardless of talent, if well-coached, will be disciplined and in great shape. Not so with our righteous coach. The effing basics are lacking, and someone still supports him? With the talent in the state, if a head coach insured nothing but discipline and conditioning, we’d be 8-4. What, exactly, was Richt monitoring?
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I think there is still a mental hangover from all the preseason injuries a few years ago. Coach admitted he took it easier on them and it carried over onto the field. A couple of bad losses later, a few recruiting misses and early departures, growing each year, all is leading to a bad spiral that needs to be stopped somehow. Not necessarily coaches fault (by that I mean some stuff is out of his control like injuries, a 17 yr old’s choices) but it’s his Job to set things back on track. EVERY coach goes trough it. But can richt bring it back and do we the fans have the fortitude to let him do it?
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