It kind of blows my mind that in this day and age a major college athletic program would completely disregard the role nutrition plays in seeing to it that its student athletes are able to perform at an optimum level, but that’s where Greg McGarity says Georgia is at.
Well, we don’t have a nutritionist right now. We had an evaluation last week. There was really no training table in effect. And there were some eye-opening experiences where you say where is the training table, and it’s not there. So we just concluded a two-day consult with someone in nutrition that I respect very highly that came in and gave us a physical on our nutrition program for all our sports. And there are a lot of missing pieces there, so there’s no question that that’s going to be a huge emphasis for us as we move forward. It’s a lot of work in getting that done from a staffing perspective and from a training table perspective, but those are just the little things that mount up into big things…
Obviously, this wasn’t important to Damon Evans. You have to wonder if any of the coaches complained about the oversight. If McGarity succeeds, expect to hear a lot more about lower body fat percentages… and maybe to see some better looking physiques on the lines.
Get The Picture 
It would be wise to do the same for our fans in our concession areas.
In traveling the SEC, I know our concession areas are at the bottom in food quality.
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It is an interesting contrast, because our student food services are recognized to be the best in the country.
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I miss Poss’ Bar-B-Q at the games.
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Former alum of the univ food service/catering. Thanks for the mention. I got to sample a lot of the food that we served my freshman year and it really was excellent. Better than most restaurants I have since hired. Hard job but hard work was good for me.
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I guess everyone can now see where the AD has not been spending all that money.
Just think of them as the folks who show up to the bar-b-q with Sam’s Cola and Super Value potato chips, instead of spending the extra $5 to buy stuff that people will actually enjoy and appreciate.
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Once you cut it with bourbon, Sam’s Cola ain’t bad.
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+1
A bourbon and Sam’s to you, sir!
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Can you mix Sam’s Cola with scotch? (No, I guess not.)
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“Well, we don’t have a nutritionist right now.” Then what the hell has Rex Bradberry been doing? He was promoted last May from GA to “Sports Nutritionist”. Either AD McGarity isn’t aware he’s on the payroll or he’s not impressed by the results the past 8 months. My guess is the latter.
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“Then what the hell has Rex Bradberry been doing?”
(a.) At McDonalds working on his resume?
(b.) At Burger King working on name change petition to be Ray Bradbury?
(c.) At Wendy’s eating a Baconater Triple?
(d.) At Van Halen’s house working on menu for Team Unity Council?
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Can AD GM send that that nutritionist consultant over to Sanford Stadium to give UGA a ‘Physical’ on the food options sold to the fans on gameday?
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Not important to Evans ? And Mark Richt and Dave Van Halanger, et al just stand by and tolerate/ accept that ? Not sure this falls on Evans’s lap as much as CMR . I’ve been saying it for years , since Jeff Owens first started tweeting pictures of his Waffle House and Burger King Meals.
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If Evans wouldn’t do anything about it, what exactly do you suggest the coaches should have done?
And keep in mind, this isn’t just about the football team. It affects all the sports programs at Georgia.
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Sometimes I dont think that folks get that Damon Evans signed the checks. CMR wasnt in charge of B-M, Evans was and if Evans didnt value a say $500k budget for nutrition and only wanted to spend $100k, then CMR was either coming out of pocket for the rest or doing without. I think that everyone who works within the confines of a budget they dont set understands that sometimes you have to do without something to get something else and change your priorities based on reality.
I suspect we are going to see less of the “most profitable” articles in the future and more of the “title contender” articles.
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Senator,
My suggestion, if it is legal for him to do so, would have been (would be) for Coach Richt to PERSONALLY PAY FOR a full-time Nutrition staff. Let’s say 3 peope at $80k per…that’s a cool 4% of his income/salary. Not exactly breaking him to do this….again, if it is legal/permissable. And yes, it is THAT important, imo.
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I’m sure the NCAA wouldn’t mind that at all! Plus, going over the boss’s head would sit real well too!
“No coach, we’re not going to hire a nutritionist”.
“Oh, well then I will just write a check on my own and get one. I don’t care what you say, you know it’s ONLY 4% of my salary!”.
Can Richt do anything right???? Jeez.
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What percentage of his salary should CMR have dedicated to an indoor practice facility?
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depends on how important it is to him…I’m not suggesting CMR is a slacker for not doing it…what I’m suggesting is that as the CEO or President of a company (as he is for the football program)….he could have said, “i understand this is not in the entire organizations budget, so we’ll take it from XXX in our budget”.
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CMR isn’t the CEO in charge of a budget. That’s the AD’s job.
Also, you may believe that CMR is paid an unlimited sum, but that’s not true. He is paid an average salary for an SEC head coach. And UGA spends an average amount on football for an SEC team. For CMR to personally make up the difference between what we spend and what he would like us to spend, he would first need a 1,000% raise.
Other than that, I agree with you analysis.
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Good Point HackerDog, I have heard CMR constantly whine about the lack of an indoor practice facility, but never a word about S&C facilities or nutrition .
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You should be in congress.
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+1.
Soak the Richt.
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Tee Hee.
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Also, if I’m not mistaken, the S&C staff are employed by the state and not the athletic department, or possibly employed by the athletic department at large and not just the football section. At any rate, there’s a division of labor, and I don’t think CMR has as much authority over this area as is conventionally believed.
Furthermore, I wonder if some of the things that McGarity took off of Richt’s plate were things that McGarity had been handling as Associate AD at UF and that Evans probably should have already been doing at UGA.
Anyone have any insights here?
I’ll hang up and listen to your response
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… responses.
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D’OH!
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Yesterday’s Butts-Mehre tour video made a lot of references to these post-workout recovery smoothies the guys have to drink. Now I’m wondering what was in those? Were they just running Icees over from the Kangaroo?
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I think those shakes are a new thing that coach T is making them drink. At least that is the way I took it. They are probably high protein shakes/smoothies they will be made to drink until they get some other things available.
I was watching a video of LSU’s training facility lead by a offensive lineman. One of the things he showed was a glass front refrigerator with about 100 Muscle Milk shakes in it. He said it is full all the time and the boys can get one at any time. I drink those some and they are about $1-1.25 for one 8 oz pre-made shake so that is a nice little perk for them.
Anybody that discounts nutrition as a vital ingredient for gaining atheltic prowless is crazy. Not that I am a “Goal-Line Stalker” or anything but I have tried it both ways and my overall fitness level, muscle-fat ratio and physical look is always better when I take in more proteins & veggies versus the Burger King whopper & fries and pizza.
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Tenn_Dawg is correct. In the video, I think the guy leading the tour said that it had been added and that now they had to stand and finish the smoothie under the watchful eyes of one of the nutritional staff.
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I lived in McWhorter Hall my sophomore year, the first year they opened it up to non-athletes. I remember there being some sort of “training table” dining hall there that was reserved strictly for the athletes. Did we do away with that? Or did it just start serving onion rings and Cinnabons like the other dining halls?
Either way, I’ve got a rare point of agreement with Original Cynical on this one — it looks like an area in which the university’s recent cost-cutting has been coming home to roost. I’m just as proud as anyone to see Georgia make regular appearances on the list of most profitable athletic departments/football programs in the country, but I’d much rather see us on the list of the AP top 25.
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Sadly, most of the nutritional profession is full of bunk, so the Dawgs are probably better off without it. “Good Calories, Bad Calories” by Gary Taubes is a real eye opener for those interested in diet, nutrition and science. http://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Controversial-Science/dp/1400033462/ref=tmm_pap_title_0
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I am pretty sure they can find someone that will have a positive impact. Good nutrition is important and food today is so full of hidden c@#% that people you aren’t aware don’t have a chance. They think it is good b/c the commercial says so.
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As others have pointed out nutrition for all sports is an AD function, not that of the football coach. I don’t know how much difference this actually made on the field, but it certainly would not hurt to look closely at it, which is what appears to be going on.
I would assume this is part of McGarity’s fine tuning of the athletic department, filing in some of Damon’s blanks.
McGarity’s long term exposure to a very successful program gives him some distinct advantages.
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Anyone who follows some of the ballplayers on Twitter can see this hasn’t really changed this offseason. I remember that I ate like crap in college, too, but I was just a regular student who worked at job to have cash to spend.
The emphasis on healthy eating needs to be there; I truly can’t understand how this hasn’t been there all along. More and more it seems like Evans wasn’t really that great at his job anyway. He seems more like those team owners who worry about making profit instead of winning titles;. I’m glad there’s a guy there now who wants to win titles.
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Every day now there seems to be another revelation about how bad Damon Evans was as Athletic Director. The swan dive of the football team coincides with him becoming AD, too. We got lucky when he got fired or else he probably would have totally destroyed the football team and maybe every other UGA sports program. Thank goodness for red panties!
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“where is the training table, and it’s not there”
We need some Magic Victory Meals like Vanderbilt has in its Jimi Hendrix Room.
http://vucommodores.cstv.com/facilities/hendrix-room.html
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Guess I stand corrected , then, if this fell on the AD . Damon did do a good job of running a profitable program, but apparently it has come at the expense of us being competitive.
When they did away with the dining hall at McWhorter, that was a signal that the coaching staff needed to be more vigilant as far as what these guys put in their bodies. Sounds like we have failed them , this is a no-brainer for McGarrity.
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Coaches are limited in their contact with players during the week. Time spent discussing nutrition is time that can’t be spent teaching football.
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Wasn’t Evans’ degree in Finance? Not bashing finance majors (I went to b-school as well), but I can see how his bottom line was literally the line at the bottom of the income statement, not the trophy case.
I know I’ve been harping on this for four years, but I feel like an LA Clippers fan, a franchise that is run strictly for cash without seriously investing for championships. Dawg fans who take pride in these profitability stories are, I’m sorry, suckers. Half of your contributions have been sitting in the bank while one of the country’s top-grossing teams wobbled (literally in many players’ cases) to 6-7. You should be incensed, not proud.
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First world problems. Last week it was the weight room, this week it is the nutritionist.
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Nutrition goes hand in hand with strength and conditioning; if the players aren’t properly fueled, they’re not going to get through their workouts.
I honestly thought all D1 programs had something like this, I guess not. That explains Mark Mangino’s and Charlie Weis’s waistlines.
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The least the Ath Dept can do is go to GNC and buy the players some Creatine and Protein powder. Both are legal and both work.
To say I am apalled at the mickey-mouse manner in which Evans ran this program is an understatement.
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+1000.
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This is hard to take-we were working out in trailers and don’t have somebody watching what these kids eat? Yeah I am mad at Richt for not taking this to the media-Dog Nation would have gone nuts over lack of spending when we know we have the money.People thinking CMR should have paid out of pocket-are you kidding??
Way to go new AD I do feel we are about to get much better just can’t believe in this day and time this happened.
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McGarity is a complete culture change from Evans. I’ve said this on the ‘vent many times, Evans was an absentee AD on many issues. He simply delegated reporting to the Associate AD’s and requests for stuff went through them, not Evans. A lot of stuff was not approved and Evans wouldn’t get involved in face to face meetings about what coaches were requesting. That’s fact.
McGarity expects this stuff to be brought to HIM, not an underling. That’s a big change and why this stuff is starting to come to light.
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Sure is nice to have a real A.D.
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winner winner chicken dinner
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Maybe the best AD in D-IA.
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Lets blame all the bad on Evans, move on and get our program back to a winning program. And from all appearances McGarity is steering the ship in that direction. From all that I am hearing things seem promising, I just hope that its not all false promises!
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are we to glean from all this that at florida they don’t have the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent training tables?
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What was Charlie Strong taking at Florida? Whatever it was, give that to the kids; that guy is built like a truck.
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Strong couldn’t pass a pee test but coaches don’t have to.
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As far as venue for S&C I’ll remind you that VanHalanger came with Richt.
Now’s the time to bring up what Herschel ate that he ascribed to his successful body building. Hamburgers! Lots of ’em!
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Hershel is now a vegan. Fact.
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Have you seen Herschel lately? The guy is still a beast!
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Body building?
Sit ups.
Push ups.
Sprints.
That’s it.
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Need to hire Herschel for S&C/recruiting assistant.
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He’s too busy beating the sh!t out of people to come whip our guys into shape.
Which actually makes it all the better. I’m pretty sure there’s nothin more terrifying than an angry Hershel coming to kick you ass because you’ve been slacking off.
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