They polled the fan base about Mark Richt’s future. The good news is that a clear majority still support Georgia’s embattled head coach.
The bad news, of course, is that anyone felt the need to conduct such a poll in the first place.
But that’s just a blip compared to what came out of yesterday’s quarterly meeting of the UGA athletic association board.
… School president Michael Adams, presiding over the meeting, asked if anyone else had any thoughts.
Tommy Lowhorne, a board member from Columbus, spoke up and looked at athletics director Greg McGarity, who was sitting next to Adams.
“There are many of us who are really concerned about the status of the football program,” Lowhorne said. “Yet we have confidence in Greg McGarity to get us to where we want to be.”
Board member Bob Bishop then chimed in.
“I’ll echo that,” he said.
McGarity responded with a polite smile and slight nod.
I’m surprised that exchange was offered for public consumption. I’m sure no one will bring it up on the recruiting trail.
The question left hanging is whether it was orchestrated by Adams, UGA’s supreme weasel. If so, all Richt is waiting on is the dreaded vote of confidence.
It probably wouldn’t hurt to win today.
Get The Picture 
I’m probably going to get myself into a lot of trouble on this one, but this is what happens when some good ole boys use their influence and money to get onto the board, and then they just chime in with empty statements and echoes. Can’t you just imagine them bitching to each other about, and then not having a solution?
Of COURSE folks have some concern about the state of the football program; that’s no surprise. What’s their concern, though? The LACK of offseason arrests? The graduation rates? The recruiting? The coaching? The W/L record? The game planning? If they can’t even come up with a reason why they’re concerned beyond “We’re not winning”, maybe they shouldn’t be in a position to say something about it.
I love McGarity’s response, too. I don’t know how things ran down at UF (other than very successfully), and I’m sure he knows what he’s doing. He’s also seen a couple of pretty good football coaches up close (more closely than Lowhorne and Bishop have, I’m sure), so he’ll know when he’s got a good one and he doesn’t. If these board members think that a midseason move would be the solution (or that they’re saying something unique), G-d help the University and its future.
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Ben,
Every school has a similar model for their athletic board, successful businessmen that have shown great generosity to their university, just as much with their time as with their money. Do you think that all athletic boards are filled with former coaches, players, and retired athletic directors? How out of touch are you? And you think the statement is empty? Do you believe an open board meeting down to the final call for new business is the right time to go off on the state of the program? The time was right to simply introduce, or acknowledge the subject. You can bet all your little questions will be answered in a meeting specifically devoted to Mark Richt’s future.
Tommy Lawhorne (not Lowhorne) is a former Bulldog letterman, played for Dooley, graduated with a perfect GPA, and is now an uber-successful MD in Columbus. Bob Bishop is the former President of SunTrust Bank, Athens and has been a steady hand on the athletic board for years, knows where the skeletons are buried and knows how to run a business. To call these men good ole boys in a stupid insult. And if you’re so sure that you know college athletics better than these two men then let’s hear about it sport.
A camel is a horse designed by a committee – that’s what got us Goff. I believe Adams is savvy enough to give McGarity the latitude to make the decision and that the future rests in good hands. I also missed the part about the midseason move – if anything, GA folks are patient to a fault. To jump to that possibility reflects your ignorance.
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Oh snap! Tempers are flaring in Dawg Nation. Winning was a whole lot more fun.
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I really want Richt to be our coach long term, but any urgency he may have to get things going with the football team has to show itself on the field today. It wasn’t that we lost to Boise last week. Its that we looked terrible doing it. If that continues this week, I’m not sure coach’s fate isn’t sealed.
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What’s the point if that guy opening his damn sewer? What’s it accomplish other than to get his name in the paper? I’ll I can think of is someone giving this the al capone speech from the untouchables about “team work”, baseball bat included.
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another idiot.
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JaxDawg- Two for two in eviscerations on the day. Well played.
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Thank goodness someone with decision-making power is actually paying attention.
A lot of you are probably too young to remember how painful it was to fire Ray Goff. Firing Coach Richt is going to be similar for many, but things must be done for the good of the program, not out of allegiance to a single man.
I am hoping for a miracle today, but when it’s time to start thinking that beating the po-dunk, never won shit, scrub bunch of shit Gamecocs, then the program has totally lost its way.
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That comparison truly indicates how clueless you really are. No brain, no fan, just an agenda. Pathetic.
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Um, since they’re the division favorites, isn’t EVERYBODY hoping to beat South Carolina this year. I mean, it’s not like we’re talking about last decade’s team or something.
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Bishop and Lowhorne need to be dismissed from the Board. Richt’s averaged 9.6 wins a year. only had a losing season. 6 top 10 finishes. Last year wasn’t a great year, but when you stay in a program for 10 years, anywhere, you’re going to have some bad years.
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Watch out; JaxDawg is going to get on here and call you an idiot, too…
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It’s hard to argue that there’s a stark difference between Richt’s first five years and his last five. That 9.6 average was 10.4 from 2001-2005, and 8.8 from 2006-2010. Not that average wins is the only criteria a coach should be evaluated on, but of the ‘Big 6’ in the SEC (UF, UT, UGA, AU, UA, LSU), only UT has averaged fewer wins over the last five years. Richt also won the division three times and the SEC twice in those first five years, but hasn’t even won the division since.
Richt was a fabulous coach the first half of the decade. The problem is that he’s been pretty average the last half. Today is huge because losing this game makes winning the east… unlikely.
UGA coaches who average 8 wins and no division titles for 6 years are not maximizing the program’s potential.
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Say what you will about what this means for Richt, but Lawhorne did it for a reason and and I’m sure it was thought out and measured before he spoke. Maybe it was designed to remove McGarity from being the guy, in some sense, to be the sole judge of what “improvement” means. I don’t know. It is clear that he’s behind McGarity and that he will choose the next coach if that step comes to pass. Those who characterize him as a dusty old fart who wants to peddle influence, ala T. Boone Pickens, you are wrong.
Dang, Lawhorne isn’t a dumbass.
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Chadwick – my thoughts exactly. Clearly a measure to lessen the burden on McGarity and Adams. When the axe falls, and it’s a coming, McGarity and Adams are going to take a beating in the public for not standing next to Richt during tough times. This was merely a deflection – and very well played.
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If that’s what it was and that’s how it was intended, then that’s great. I’ll admit to not knowing the personality of the board members at UGA (I’m just a graduate, after all, not someone who’s able to influence the big people up there with finances), but it just seems to be one of those things that doesn’t serve much good right now. Any fan who is paying attention to the program should be concerned about it; I guess it’s the timing of it coming after just one week of the season that leaves a bad taste to me.
If he said this while the Dawgs were 1-6 with losses to Ole Miss, Miss State, and Tennessee with a winning season almost mathematically impossible, I’d understand it and probably agree with it. Of course, the quarterly meetings can’t be scheduled based upon W/L record, and they’ve got to get themselves on record somehow. If it was a sincere attempt to take heat off of McGarity and Adams, great. If it was an Adams-orchestrated power play, then not great.
After all, as the Senator points out, why put something out there that could be used against UGA in recruiting? Nothing like the board speaking up and expressing a lack of confidence in the current coaching staff.
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Ben, you’re original post asked questions that deserve answering. JaxDawg’s attack mode is unwarranted. He stubbornly refuses to acknowledge that attacking the coaches at this part of the season does nothing to help the team, it just is a downer that he is insensitive to. All of the supporters are bunched together in his mind as Richt personality oriented and that supporters are not trying to voice themselves for the TEAM’s sake. He will attack all year and act as a downer to our fan blogging. He doesn’t deserve your attention.
Dr Tommy Lawhorne is from the same county in Ga that I grew up in. I watched him play at UGA and have mentioned it before. He and another player from Valdosta (Varnado’?’) met Miami’s fullback Casey in midair at the goal line, preventing a TD, but all three suffered a concussion. This was after it was announced that Lawhorne had received a scholarship(Rhodes?) for a year abroad post grad. He went on to become a surgeon. He has always been Dawg through and through. Think of Pollack as an axample of his play. If it helps, you can think of Pollack as on the board making the same statement.
Since McGarity and Adams are publicly stated as behind Richt, the statemant can be taken more than one way. The negative connotation has been assumed here today, whereas one can take that statement and shout about getting rid of Richt before the season is over. I’ll opine that it was a warning shot across the bow and that Dr. Lawhorne doesn’t want a midyear HC removal anymore than the majority of fans do. His warning could have been assessed before the meeting and allowed by Adams with a McGarity consent. That would allow Mac to carry on an active search while the season is progressing and take action at the end of season if it appears that progress has not been made to McGarity and the Board’s satisfaction. I certainly hope that is the level at which we proceed.
GO DAWGS! KICK THE CHICKENS IN THE BUTT!
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what kind of improvement is AD looking at on %: 15%, 30%, 50%? how many wins will richt need to stay on 7, 8 or 9 wins? coming off a 6-7 season, with mcgarity doing richt no favors by schedulign a top 5 team for the opener, i’d say 8 wins would do it for 2011, the boise loss is on mcgarity for scheduling it.
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The University of Georgia is no longer capable of competing at a Championship level with Richt at the helm. If 8 wins is what you want, then good for you. Some of us would like to be above mediocrity, and that is no longer possible with the current regime in place.
He has changed chaplains, defensive coordinators, offensive line coaches, wide receiver coaches, strength coaches and yet, we still have false starts on the 1st play of the game and players dancing in the endzone when scoring touchdown, even though they are down by 4 TD’s. The fundamental issues within the program are so deeply entrenched that only an enema can improve the program going forward. If you cannot see that, then you are probably a very loyal person, and that is admirable, but the facts are glaringly obvious.
We have not outcoached anyone since the 2005 SEC title game. We have not even COMPETED in a big game since 2006 @Auburn. Coach Richt’s calling card the first 8 years was his record on the road-we are 3-6 on the road the last two years. The guys are so mentally weak, that they have become incapable of willing themselves to victory. These are endemic, deep, deep problems that need to be fixed.
I would love nothing better than for Coach Richt and company to get it together and pull this one out today, but nothing that we have seen over the last 2+ years suggests that Scu will even have to breathe hard in defeating the Dawgs by 10+ points today.
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Phil Steele’s picking the Dogs today.
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Phil Steele was 67-11 (86%) on his picks last week.
Glad he’s picking the Dogs.
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“It probably wouldn’t hurt to win today.”
Not a bad idea for Mark. It would help to keep the vascular surgeon from going over to the other side
http://onlineathens.com/stories/060806/football_20060608042.shtml
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“Don’t let anything happen to him … not while Mama’s alive.” Watch out if McGarity takes Richt fishing.
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I don’t know the reason for this or the politics that may or may not have been behind it, but I can’t see it as a positive in any way. Criticism of anyone involved in our program can and should be made behind closed doors. The same thing goes for support for the AD.
This is the kind of stuff you expect out of Auburn or Alabama, not Georgia.
I agree that this will be used against us with recruits. While it’s not smart to keep coaches just to save recruiting, it is insane to harm recruiting for a program that everyone agrees is trying to rise back up from a down period. Coaches can spin losses and still come up with good recruiting classes, but there are very few who will commit to a school when they don’t know who’ll be coaching them.
These folks are on the Board and I’m not, so I’m sure they know a lot more about what’s going on than me, but I cannot imagine how this helps the program. It may make fed up fans feel better for a couple of days, but I can’t see any other reason to do this publicly.
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Solid point. Clearly there are issues this group should address, and concern about the football program is reasonable since there is much publicity on the subject. Talking publicly about comments made in the meeting is unprofessional, and these members should be reprimanded/removed. It certainly calls into question the character and intelligence of the group.
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You have GOT to be kidding me.
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This may be the only time I agree with you for some time. Each of you make a statement about your feelings and then lose the point with dumbass statements. TomReagan’s statement is spot on and Macallanlover agrees , but loses it to an absurd statement about removal of Board members. Most of them are more Dawg with experience in the arena as well as heavy contributors than most of us combined.
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Anyone who breaks confidentiality is subject to dismissal. I don’t know how many high level meetings you have ever sat in, but IF that meeting behind closed doors is considered confidential, dismissal is certainly warranted. I also indicated reprimand as well, simply don’t know their rules. I do know mine, so it is not absurd at all…to me.
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Let me see Alabama or Auburn? The most recent National Champions, each with recent heisman winners – we could only wish to have that success right now! Or do our fans prefer to be the Virginia of the SEC – looking down your nose at the other “dumb” teams because they consistently beat you? In other words *Vandy*. I don’t want to “be Auburn” b/c great academics and great athletics aren’t mutually exclusive. We can accomplish both.
It’s the board’s job to voice concerns, in all areas, not just football although that one sport steers the ship. You can bet that the intense conversations will be held privately but to softly voice his opinion, in this specific forum, was appropriate because it’s a matter of record and it’s the truth – everyone with a brain is concerned. And speaking of brains, does anyone really believe that it’s a secret that this could easily be Richt’s last year? Is there anything that could be used by opposing coaches that’s not already evident? I pity the fool that believes that.
I’ve seen this movie before, I know how it ends. It’s not pretty but it’s a process that many of our fellow, loyal fans will have to accept. Relationships that end usually end with some pain, otherwise they wouldn’t end in the first place.
Look, Richt is a fine christian and family man. He is a fine role model for my son but the fact is he’s now worth around $40mm and the fire is not the same. He had great success his first 5-6 years but as in life, things change. It’s true with any organization just as it is with coaching – great companies come and go. Sh*t happens and you make a change – deal with it.
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This is so reminiscent of the Sculley fires Steve Jobs meme….the fire is gone cause he has made his bones this is silly. Pixar anyone??? The McDonald’s I want it now mentality is soooo familiar. Anyway I once listened to my to my 8 year old son ask me if anyone had fired more men than me. Gosh… that stung. I’m older now… don’t fire as many people. Your piss and vinegar management style is all over this blog. A polite and rather respectful blog at that. And you’ve been rude with folks with “Sh*t happens and you make a change – deal with it.”, “You have GOT to be kidding me.”,”another idiot.”.”To jump to that possibility reflects your ignorance.” Full of yourself aren’t you? You’ve been an ass hat so slow your roll son. The biggest role model for that son of yours is……. wait for it…..
YOU! Loosen up…. there is a lot of skin growing around that head of yours. Work on it.
Enjoy the game I will be the one cheering for the dogs.
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You use the word “fool” and “idiot” loosely. You make the wrong asumption for the reason fans want Richt to stay now. Once again, it’s to prevent the interruption of coaching and chaos of change at this time because that would affect our current team and recruiting negatively beyond what any new coach or recruiter could do to repair. Your stubborness to see this point and write condescendingly about Richt as if the fan base is dumbed down and you aren’t, is offensive.
Your words are not team supportive because the team is comprised of players and staff. It is as if you want Richt out before he has a chance to turn this season around because, if he were to be successful, you would be wrong. That is massive ego and not something most fans share on this blog. You are a detractor from the team and their success because of the way you vent your dissatisfaction, not because you see that a new coach is needed. People who are behind keeping Richt do so not out of blind loyalty that you so easily characterize to the fan base. We don’t want to make it worse while you plainly don’t give a s**t. You are the one who should wise up.
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I agree with Mr. Reagan . I’ve never heard of a statue being erected to a critic. These comments should have been made behind close doors not for the public. Go Dawgs.
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CFB is a what have you done for me lately business and Richt hasn’t done much lately. A loss doesn’t bother me as much as the completely clueless, sometimes lack of effort, many times unprepared look of the team especially on offense.
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And if we don’t get a clue later this afternoon, they’ll book her for entertainment at the next quarterly UGA Athletic Association Board meeting
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http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=6948483
Worth a listen for Georgia fans.
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“I’ve seen this movie before, and I know how it ends”.
Where have I heard this before?
I wanted to win this game badly but I expected the outcome. The program reminds me of Donnan in 2000 – uber talented but somehow finds a way to lose the close games. Have we reverted to the mean or do we belong in the elite?
Given our resources and everything else that I’ve named 200 times on this blog, I’d say we’re a sleeping giant once again, capable of being elite but it will take a leadership change to get us there.
BUT – the schedule gets easier from here which will result in false hope until we face FL which, given the past 20 years, will result in the near death nail for our beloved coach. Never mind AU, who looks to be the better team.
But hey, wtf do I know? I’ve only been paying attention since ’78.
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I’m just trying to be kind and
I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.
Poor mouthin’
From the transitive verb: to speak disparagingly of
If i could create some charts to help anyone considering listening to you or are attracted to being hectored by earnest, bright, Dog fans, that profess to being an architect of the game, advocating a rewrite of our hiring and firing policies….well then me too…. I’ve seen this movie before and I know how it ends. I’m tired .. it’s been a long day and I have no idea where my Freshman son is. You’re an Eeyore Dog…. tighten up. Please.
Just sayin’
now on to more important matters.
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For Lowhorne and Bishop to make comments like this after one football game is pathetic (perhaps even more pathetic than the folks streaming out of Sanford while there were over 200 seconds left on the clock). Serious people do not make decisions based on one (or two) football games – such blather is better left to the idiots in the media and on message boards. Coach Richt and the other coaches don’t need to hear these threats to know that the team needs to improve – indeed, comments like this may only serve to make the coaches and players press even more.
Did some 20 year-old kids make some mistakes, and did some 40 year-old coaches make some bad calls tonight? Yes (and some horrible mistakes by the officials didn’t help either). Will they make mistakes and bad calls next week, and the week after? Yes. But anyone who gives up on our team or are coaches now stands to look the fool (much like the message board idiots who were ready to hang bobo in effigy after the first half, only to watch us rip off 29 points in the second half).
I do not expect us to win 56-0 every game like some (most?) do in the instant-gratification society we appear to have become. I do expect us to play hard, give it their best and represent our state and university proudly, which is what I saw today. We have improved (significantly, I believe) from last week and I expect to see us continue to improve next week and the week after. Based on what I saw tonight, I expect us to begin winning soon (and not just over cupcakes like the one we play next week). Of course, if we end up being 1-6 in a few weeks, no one could accuse Lawhorne or Bishop of jumping to conclusions, and we will no doubt be losing a good man as our coach, but doing something rash right now (as many seem wont to do) would be disastorous and counter-productive.
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