Richt admitted to the crowd that he felt the Bulldogs lost some close games last year because the other team played harder.
“That’s embarrassing,” Richt told the audience. “It’s our shame and it’s my fault. We’re not going to let that happen again.”
— Florida Times-Union, 4/22/11
I’m amused the above quote’s gotten the attention it has. It’s not like that’s a big surprise to any Georgia fan who sat through the Liberty Bowl fiasco.
The novelty, I suppose, is the head coach accepting full responsibility for poor effort. So it’s kind of a “man bites dog” story. That says more about what we expect to hear out of Richt’s peers than anything else.
Get The Picture 
All coaches develop their dissembling skills early. They must have a Press Conference 101 class somewhere. Notable exception, which we have previously mentioned here: Stephen Orr Spurrier.
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Must have been all those cancers on the team. Thank goodness we got rid of all them.
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Yes, but you would think that a person of his position and experience would see the non-motivation and do something about it. Did Coach Richt do something that killed the motivation? Or was it that the players just wrote the season off because they began so poorly? I hope, and for Richt’s sake, that they get off to a good start so that they are motivated, because if they come out of the gate 0-2, which is very possible, 2011 may be like 2010. And that means a new coach.
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“Texas and Florida are headed to the same place for very different reasons. While I fully believe that Urban Meyer has lost his passion for the game, in Mack Brown’s case, the evidence mounts that the game has simply passed him by. Impossible for a coach whose team played for a national title ten months ago? On the surface maybe, but college football history suggests otherwise.” Adam Jones
Someone is always speculating………….I guess if Richt doesn’t show production he will surly be gone by the end of 2012. For someone who took a somewhat stagnant program to an SEC title in such a short time, in the competitive SEC and won 75% of his games this hardly seems fair. I guess Tuberville would be a good one to ask about fairness. Did he not win 80% of his games while at Awbarn? I know the ‘Barners have won a NC since Tubby ….but look how they had to do it. That ain’t happening at UGA! Coaching in the SEC has got to be a meat grinder of a career choice. Finding time for wife and family a scheduling nightmare. I imagine burnout is a battle. I hope Richt hangs up his whistle on his own terms and on a winning note. I always root for the guy in the white hat. DGD!
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Evidence mounts that the game has passed Mack Brown by? I know in this day and age we are a society, especially in sports, of what have you done for me lately. If I recall correctly wasn’t it just two short years seasons ago that Texas was playing for the national title and might have won it had their qb not been knocked out of the game in the first quarter. One bad season does not mean the game has passed a coach by.
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If Texas goes undefeated this season that comment is going to look pretty stupid.
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It needs to be said.
It is possible that after Kathryn suffered from and survived cancer in early 2006, Mark readjusted his priorities.
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Eh…. maybe…perhaps he was focused on other priorities while things went south, if anything just to avoid inviting more chaos and pain into his life. Who knows. But that’s a topic and a reason I just would rather not delve deeply into.
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It would be nice for players to step up and confess. You may have cancers, but the remainder of your body is generally still functional. Just to hear one player admit that he was influenced by others to play nominally{existing or being something in name and form only) would mean that someone has done some introspection. Not true so far, therefore, a repeat is always possible.
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Sometimes all you can do is take responsibility and move on. That’s what Richt is trying to do here. Pretty much anything he says (or doesn’t say0 will be criticized by some portion of the fan base. I also know that sometimes when you are in the middle of something it is difficult to see everything that is going on until you can step back and evaluate the problems. I think a much bigger deal has been made out of this comment than deserved.
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I was at the Jax Bulldog club meeting. CMR was clearly taking responsibility for last season and I sensed the whole program had done serious intro-spection. CMR talked at length about the focus during spring on competing during every drill and for playing time. A comment he made which raised my eyebrows related to the “cancers” on the team. I am paraphrasing but he basically said some guys thought their athletisism could get them through and didn’t buy in to the work required to “perfect their craft”. He said some of them are gone and a few others have “been put on notice.” He said “there are two or three cats that I have in my cross hairs and how they do this summer.” He mentioned one player specifically who as one who wasn’t buying in to the coaches instruction or didn’t do his homework in terms of film study. But he said the kid had matured and the light had come on. As a result he called him one of the surprises of spring practice. I think it was Jordon Love, but he threw out so many names during his talk I’m sot sure if it was Love he cited in that comment .
My wife commented that was why she loves CMR. He didn’t publicly call out an offender. Instead he took the opportunity to praise someone who had come around.
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I think there have been staff members guilty of the same mindset, too.
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Don’t know about the 2nd part of the quote, but the idea of recruiting hordes of superior athletes and letting their athleticism rule the day is sort of Bowden 101, which Richt definitely emulated in Athens. Unfortunately recruiting top 10 classes every season and just rolling the ball out there has a limited shelf life. Did work for for over a dozen years in Tallahassee, but that was then…..l.
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It’s worked pretty well for the last ten years against Tech, though. 😉
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Johnson’s last sentence was actually “Here’s the softball, I’ll just leave it here on the tee for you senator..”
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Whether this season results in a dramatic upswing in wins is not IMHO the test for CMR and the 2011 football team. The real test is whether they play tougher, physically and mentally. Like the ‘cancers’ are described, the whole organization went on cruise and relied on talent, rather than toughness. It took awhile for it to manifest itself, then to recognize it, then to address it and it may take some time to see results. I just hope that we, as a fan base, are discerning enough to see a difference, if there is one, without simply looking at the record.
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I think when you look at how close most of the games were that we lost (only the AU game turning into a “blowout”) that if we accomplish playing tough then the record will fall right in line.
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I really just want to see them play … inspired! I remember the black out game against Auburn in 07. The start of the fourth quarter (I wasn’t there) but CBS was using the blimp view coming in over the east side of Sanford and the crowd was all in black, Soldier Boy was playing over the sound system, the players were jumping around, happy, smiling, … on fire. The game was still in doubt, at that time. The camera continued on to show Tommy Tuberville across the field, standing with his hand on his chin, looking across the way at the Georgia team… and he definitely wasn’t smiling. I knew then that we were going to kill them, and I think the Georgia players did too. I think the Tommy Tubs knew he was in trouble too.
That’s what I would like to see from them, that level of inspired play. And I wish it for them, because they were having so much fun.
I hope we can get back to that.
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Is it just me or does it seem like the UGA football program has mental problems? All the cancer talk, the S&C rhetoric, CMR taking the blame. At this point, we should be focusing on THIS team and Boise State.
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I mean this could easily be people asking CMR questions about last season and him answering their questions. Yeah, there has been some talk about cancers from last season during spring, but I feel like those conversations – as well as the S&C discussions – seemed to die off later in the spring. I feel like they’re getting focused. I’m hopeful (but not overly confident) about the Boise game.
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I want them to beat Boise but what is more important is that they display the physicality that has been lacking the last couple of years. HIT!
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