In picking Stanford over Georgia to give his verbal commitment, defensive lineman Jordan Watkins had this to say:
“In my mind, Coach Richt deserves to stay, but the fact that everyone is talking about him leaving made me think of what will happen with [UGA defensive line coach Rodney Garner] if Coach Richt leaves,” Watkins told the AJC. “I’ve developed such a good relationship with them that it’d be tough to go to Georgia if they weren’t there.”
In light of the comments from the athletic board members that were made public, I can’t say I blame him. And no, it’s not a good idea to keep a coach merely to hold a recruiting class together. But there’s no need for our own folks to make Richt’s job any tougher than it already is.
Expect this to get worse before it gets better.
Get The Picture 
What’ll be interesting will be to see if Richt is able to lure any back if he gets to stick around. From there, it may depend on if he gets an extension / contract renewal / whatever.
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Running the table from here through the Cocktail Party sure wouldn’t hurt.
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Loading up on talent doesn’t do much if it doesn’t translate into wins.
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Huh? Did somebody say somethin’?
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To echo sentiments above, it’s not like Richt doesn’t have a hand in this situation. Signing day is in February. Plenty of time to get the necessary wins, get an extension and smooth the feathers of kids like Watkins.
The damaging chatter will only continue if the wins don’t come. There’s nothing unfair about this situation.
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The damaging chatter from those who profess they love this team is pretty hypocritical to me. They would rather be buttheaded about whether their “tough love” is their right and toss the word “fan” about as if they are from another world….or country….or state…..or school. Their critical “fandom” doesn’t take any responsibility for their torpid words and innuendo. They argue that their egotistical criticism doesn’t hurt recruiting, rather that Richt being the coach costs us recruits. Well, you have your answer, assholes. Now take your crud and stuff it. You have stubbornly refused to accept cautionary advice in your quest to tear and render midseason. Ill-advised and ill-timed for this year. Like Tea Partiers, you can’t vent ignorant frustration until you tear the fabric of what you claim to love. Ruin it for everyone where we can’t even enjoy the year.
Ok, all you would-be coaches, impress us with your resume and/or name the guy to replace”The Guy”. What a bunch of curmudgeons.
Adios.
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Couldn’t have said it better Cojones.
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You had me right up until the Tea Partiers invective. So, wanting to limit government spending is tearing apart the fabric of what they claim to love? Do Tea Partiers claim to love government spending? Do they claim to love the government at all? Do you believe that it’s government that makes America great and they should too? Or that America could be greater if we only had more government spending?
It’s just kind of a confusing bit of language to inject into a college football discussion.
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They’re just like everybody else – they love the government spending that’s on them. It’s the rest of it they don’t like. 😉
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Given that government spending must come down, I guess starting the cuts with the other guy’s goodies is a better position than not cutting anyone’s goodies.
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“Do Tea Partiers claim to love government spending?”
Absolutely! They love government spending on infrastructure but only in countries we’re trying to occupy*. Aggie Rick’s don’t tread on me freedom of choice menu of governmental spending covers “issues like immigration, where he supports a state version of the ‘Dream Act’ that provides public higher ed funding for the children of undocumented immigrants; sex ed, where he supports public funding to vaccinate 12 year old girls against the papiloma virus; his jihad against Social Security , upon which the majority of the Teabagger demographic depends for its daily bread; and his support for hugely expensive nation building in countries like Afghanistan while at the same time dissing Dem plans for nation building at home,”
http://www.urantiansojourn.com/2011/09/rethugs-eating-their-own/
* “You’re a patriot if you are for rebuilding Iraqi schools, bridges, roads and hospitals…..if you do it in your own country, the USA, you are a “socialist”.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/12/317046/cantor-billions-iraq-schools/
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Okay, so Tea Partiers love government spending. They just love it a little less than the Obamessiah (1.65 trillion deficit). Does that mean that they are tearing apart the fabric of “what they claim to love?”
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At this point the horse is already out of the barn. Hopefully McGarity is burning up the lines of potential coaches gauging interest. Why do we expect CMR to suddenly correct the problems that he himself created?
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“Expect” may be the wrong word. I hope he does, but expect he’ll have trouble keeping his job if the trends continue without any changes.
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Who would you have him call?
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Ghostbusters?
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Gruden! Gruden! Gruden!
Sorry, I mean Pollack! Pollack! Pollack!
But seriously. I guess I’m fairly apathetic regarding Richt’s future. If he has a bad year this year, with our schedule, then I won’t cry if he’s fired.
One name that I would find pretty interesting, but I think has a snowball’s chance of happening, is Leach.
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Can’t blame the kid but unless he lives under a rock and hasn’t seen anything on TV, newspapers and magazines I doubt that anything UGA Athletic Board members say would have any influence on his decision. It’s more a question of circumstances. Plus, if you talking about a program about to crater just watch what happens to Stanford next year. Young Mr. Watkins just might want to once again reconsider where he is going to play collegiately.
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Maybe it’s just the kids choice to be #2 in Heisman voting to an SEC winner (Herschel > Elway, Ingram > Gerhart, Newton > Luck).
Besides, Stanford seems pretty stable at the HC position over the past few years. Just 5 since Richt has been at UGA.
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Well, I’m not so sure Harbough’s OC (the HC in his first year there now) will look quite as good without Luck at QB.
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I’m not so sure how good the guy will look without Harbaugh.
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Frankly, it’s shocking that this sort of thing didn’t start coming out sooner. Folks, if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. Booing the team at the Georgia Dome on national television and doing all the rest of this crap online where media pick up on it doesn’t help anyone, and it doesn’t speed up the process of the man getting fired. The people making the decision aren’t concerned with your vioce, they’re concerned with what actually happens on the field and the impact it has on the dollar signs in the ledger. What you say on the Dawgvent and what you should in the stands means precisely dick to McGarity. Your opinion doesn’t matter to him unless you’re one of the people with really big money. If you are, you have other ways to make your views known. The only thing booing and blasting off online does impact is public perception, and it hurts the program. I’ll type that again. IT HURTS THE PROGRAM.
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*voice. *what you shout in the stands.
my fingers apparently aren’t cooperating today.
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This.
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Agreed, Stick. Wins fix everything. Let’s get through Saturday healthy and confident, go conquer the states of Mi’ssippi and Tennessee , reclaim some dignity in Jacksonville, and ride the momentum to 10 wins and maybe even get a little help so we can return to the scene of the Boise crime. I actually think 8-4 reg season is likely, but hope barks eternal.
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Sir (saluting)! An 8-4 regular season plus a win in a bowl for a 9-4 2011 sure looks good to me right now from where I sit. That would form a legitimate basis for a real comeback in 2012.
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For me 8-4 would really depend on who the other 2 Ls come to, and how those Ls look. Because if they’re to Auburn and Florida and look like the Boise game? I think we’re talking about a Donnan in 2000 situation where an 8-4 record isn’t good enough.
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Donnan didn’t get fired because of an 8-4 record. He got fired because he refused a direct order from the President of the University of Georgia to replace the QB coach (Donnan’s son) with a coach that actually had real high level QB experience. The truth came out later after we were all lead to believe Donnan was canned because his record wasn’t good enough. Many also wanted to believe the myth because the fans didn’t like Donnan personally. The myth survives whereas everyone seems to have forgotten the truth.
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First of all that article is pure horseshit. Watkins said that Stanford is the place for him and when he took his visit he knew. The rest of the article is an contrived piece written to look like it came out of a 17 year old kids mouth that he picked Stanford over UGA because of the current record and turmoil. It borders on Yellow Journalism and I’m not surprised given the source.
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+100
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Agreed. Stanford just lost their coach, and got a crap replacement. If the kid cared about stability, he’d be RUNNING AWAY from Stanford right now.
Harbaugh/Luck was a total blip. Stanford will be back to sucking soon.
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Totally agree … the kid goes to the largest independent and one of the most highly regarded private schools in the SE. By all appearances he has a myriad of interests beyond football.
Just maybe his selection of college went beyond football? Georgia is a really good school. Stanford is a GREAT school. Why would anyone knock this choice?
It looks like he did this the right way and based his decision on all factors and it should not be a referendum on Richt or the state of the program.
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Stanford is a fantastic school and I wish Watkins well, but this particular guy is not a terrible recruiting loss for UGA (and I also think his stated reason is BS). I’ve seen him play in a number of games, and though he is big and fast, he’s not durable. Don’t know how that will translate to D-1 play. He’ll be joining his former teamate, defensive standout, Henry Anderson at Stanford. Henry made the ESPN highlights a copule of weeks ago recovering a fumble from San Jose St. and runing in a few feet short of a touchdown. Now that’s a recruit GA should be sad to have lost!
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So let me get this straight. He decide to go to Stanford because UGA MIGHT get rid of CMR, or might not, and not play for CMR and Garner at all? Shrewd.
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First, despite the fact that I love my dawgs more than l have to say that if I had a son whose academics suggested that he could obtain a degree from Stanford and they were willing to pick up the tab to boot, that’s an easy call had georgia won the last 3 national titles. Second, whether the griping or complaints or the vague words of athletic board members had an influence is not relevant. What is important is that no good whatsoever will come from bitching, whining, booing here or anywhere else. If you can’t support the team stay home. That will speak louder than your filthy sewers. This turmoil does nothing but hurt the program. Even if you want a new coach you must realize that most coaches consider the expectations of the fan base in their calculation. This is why Alabama got stuck with Fran, price and shula. Also if you want a new Coach don’t you want him to have the best players? Do you think a high schooler is going to want to listen to your dumb ass booing him for 4 years?
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I’m with you Scott W. Made visit in July. More less made a decision then for Stanford. Either you want to play for a certain school or go to a certain school because of their colleges [prefers their journalism over ours, and if that was my basis for a decision it would be no contest]. UGA was not my first choice, Tennessee was and was accepted their first. But changed my mind. Long time to February and some of these guys will go back and forth til then and even the night and minutes before signing. Happens every year. But I agree with Ben Dukes about the plays, play-calling, season potential, and fans leaving early. I have forever bitched about Bobo. The Boykin play against Boise was the play that begin to change my look and view. Either you are a fan or supporter or you are not. Keep you butt in the seat and vocalize your support for their play. They sure as hell have earned that. They made a decision to play for you. You made a decision and an investment to see them do that. Keep your end of the bargain. Stay in the arena. On offense they are more fun to watch than they ever have under CMR for me.
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This quote you selected doesn’t tell the whole story. Asked if he would select Stanford regardless of Richt’s status – the answer was yes. The kid likes Stanford, period. Move on to the next one.
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We’ve had as much collective talent as anyone in country over the past several years and we’ve still managed to underachieve. Talent and resources are NOT the problem.
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I’d gave to say that this idea is as far from the truth as one can imagine. There is a difference between guys who sign on as free agents and first round draft picks. There is a difference between talent and having the ability to play football. Bryan Evans may have talent but he can’t play football. Reshad jones may have talent but he can’t play football. I watched he give up a 99 yarder to Brady last night. The guy sucks. He’s awful. He can run and he’s got size but he sucks. Marlon brown has talent. Washaun and AJ Harmon have talent. So what? Jasper Sanks had talent too. Talent is meaningless.
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I think you made my point without meaning to.
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I think you made my point without trying to.
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My point is simply that the assumption that someone else could have molded the 2008 through 2010 teams into champions because of the rich talent base is full of shit. If that’s your point then we agree. I will agree that the coaches are responsible for who they recruit but I don’t know how you give any credit for what aj green achieved except to Give it to aj green and I don’t know who you blame for ealeys failures except Ealey himself.
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Basic roster management has not proven to be a strength of the Richt regime. I doubt losing one talented defensive lineman will affect that.
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“True dat.” Sorry to say.
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Instead of blaming fans for the perception that Richt’s job is in trouble, perhaps we should blame the 6-7 season, the embarrassing loss to UCF, and the general decline of the program ever since we choked to WVU in the 2005 Sugar Bowl.
Just sayin’.
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Losing the ’05 Auburn-UGA game by giving up an 80 yard pass play on 4th and 20 didn’t help, either. That was a red flag about the decline of the D under CWM that went unnoticed.
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Cheez, folks. Are those all the bad plays that you could recall from past players and years? I have a lot more in mind, but the good players and plays outweigh them all.
If you will check other teams and their pasts, you will have even more to add because all teams in football make all those mistakes and more. They also make good plays that their fan bases don’t denigrate because they enjoy their teams, win or lose. What are the fans on here trying to accomplish if it isn’t to glorify what we have and not diminish the team? Reasons given for bitchin’ and whining on here don’t match up to why you would want to blog on a UGA blog. You are accomplishing something that rivals try to do, bring the team down. You have no good reason to do that.
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