Actually it was more of a “I so did not say Coach Richt needs to be outta there”, but it’s what he had to say about Grantham that’s more interesting.
Q: How about watching the Bulldogs last year and how the Grantham defense did in Year 2?
Houston: “I’m in love with his defense. Coach Grantham, we still communicate, I still talk to him. I know he told the guys: ‘I talk to him more now than when (Justin) was here.’ But I had fun watching the Dogs this past year.”
Q: This defense prepares you for the NFL?Houston: “It does. It teaches you, especially the way coach Grantham does it, what everybody is doing instead of what you are doing individually. That helps out a lot, when you know what everybody else is doing it helps you do your role.”
Lot of enthusiasm there. It gives you an idea of what Grantham pitches to recruits. It also gives you an idea about how Georgia’s defenders have bought into what he preaches.
Get The Picture 
Odd that Justin Houston seems to be having memory problems.
LikeLike
Justin Huston is dead to me.
LikeLike
You’re probably right. Is there any chance, though, that Houston really was misrepresented?
LikeLike
I was just making a ganja reference.
LikeLike
+1
LikeLike
I love Todd Grantham. Seriously, has a single player who has played more than a down for him ever said a single negative thing about him or his scheme? I certainly don’t recall it.
Speaking of not recalling things, sounds like Justin wants to make sure he still gets a sideline pass on his bye week.
LikeLike
Pay. Todd. Grantham.
LikeLike
+.1.
LikeLike
Georgia better take advantage of having a top notch DC in Grantham and win a championship in the next few years. The guy has expressed that he wants to be a HC someday and like any other high performer in an organization there will be a day when somebody will offer him a great opportunity at the next level be it a plum NFL DC job or college HC job. If that day comes and if Grantham decides to take that opportunity I know I won’t be the only member of bulldog nation who will wish him the best of luck and be grateful to the guy for restoring a nasty D to Georgia. That and hope & pray we have a capable successor. It still amazes me how fast we went from dreading seeing our D on the field to watching them just dominate games.
LikeLike
What game was it where Senator said the odd unfamiliar sensation of anticipation returned to him when the D went out on the field? I remember it was sudden. Everything seemed to click on D, and the confidence found its way back into the hearts of UGA fans. For me, the second half of the UF game brought about a confidence against those a-holes I haven’t felt in a while. I knew the dawg D was going to clamp down like a rabid jack russell on his favorite tennis ball.
LikeLike
Agree, agree, agree. I wish we weren’t so dependent on having a dominating defense to win but that seems to be the way our HC feels like he has to operate.
LikeLike
Why does this sentiment always applied to Richt in a negative connotation by our “fans”? Nick Saban’s entire coaching philosophy revolves around having a dominating defense to win. That Alabama offense doesn’t exactly light up the scoreboard. It relies on a punishing defense and a rushing attack that eats up clock and shortens the game. His entire offensive philosophy is “don’t do anything stupid”.
LikeLike
Probably b/c Saban’s specialty is defense and Richt’s specialty is supposedly offense.
Probably b/c Saban didn’t employ Willie Mart as his DC for 5 years.
Probably b/c Saban has 3 national championships and Richt has none.
Need more?
LikeLike
Nice strawman you’ve created there. Not one of your retorts addressed the fundamental question of why Richt employing the same exact strategy as the most successful coach of the last two decades is viewed as a negative by people within this fanbase.
All you did is spout off the things that you don’t like about Richt (i.e. slow to change/hasn’t ping-ponged the scoreboard like at FSU/hasn’t won the big game).
Just say you want a team that wins every game 50-0. I’d argue that isn’t likely with the evidence of Richt’s coaching philosophy over the last 11 years, but at least you’d be honest with what you want rather than creating some sort of faux angst.
LikeLike
Let me rephrase. That should say “why Richt employing the same exact strategy as the most successful coach of the last two decades should be viewed as a negative by people within this fanbase.”
LikeLike
Saban is in control of his defense. His background is entirely in defensive coaching. He knows what he’s doing on that side of the ball. There’s nothing wrong with him emphasizing that as the head coach.
Conversely, Richt is not in control of his defense. His background is entirely in offensive coaching. He doesn’t know what he’s doing on the defensive side of the ball. He’s de-emphasizing his supposed strengths and putting all his eggs in a basket where he’s 2 for 3 in hiring defensive coordinators (and will most likely be having to hire another one in a couple of years).
Sorry that you’re having a hard time grasping a very simple and logical argument.
LikeLike
<Sorry that you’re having a hard time grasping a very simple and logical argument.
Explain to me again what strategy it was that Richt used when he won two SEC titles during the first five years of his tenure?
Once again, you’re attacking Richt – not the strategy he chooses to employ and that argument would be perfectly fine if my comment were about Richt’s ability to coach. My comment questioned why a strategy that has been uber-successful at all levels of football for many coaches regardless of their background is always viewed as a negative for Dawg fans. Les Miles’ background is on the offensive side of the ball and he won a national title and nearly won another this past year utilizing the exact same strategy.
You haven’t once addressed why this is a bad strategy, but rather point out all of the faults of Mark Richt (you’d probably fit in well with politicians). Learn to effectively argue your point before pointing out somebody else’s inability to comprehend it.
LikeLike
To answer your first question…the same strategy he’s used to win zero SEC titles during the next six years of his tenure.
You’re totally ignoring the style of offense that these guys run. Saban and Miles really do coach a pound-it-out, ball control style of offense. Richt doesn’t. He still relies on a dominant defense…but that doesn’t mean he’s running a physical offense. To really make the strategy of relying totally on your D work, you have to run a Saban or Miles type of O.
On top of that, Richt is susceptible to missing on DC hires. Miles has a similar susceptibility…but he’s the one who runs the physical, ball control offense.
Are we done?
LikeLike
My only counter to that would be what exactly do you consider a play action offense that is predicated on the success of pounding the ball to be? Look, I get what you’re saying here and I don’t disagree with you that the offense hasn’t exactly been successful running the ball the last few years. I suspect that is primarily due to not having a reliable running game since Knowshon left for the pros as well as some serious evaluation issues on the OL under Stacy Searels. However, it’s not like we’re running the Airraid and throwing the ball 50-60 times a game and then expecting the defense to be lights out while having tons of two minute drives, either.
I’m really not trying to get into an argument with you and I consider this a situation where we’ll just agree to disagree. It’s just the constant complaining about Mark Richt (I’m not singling you out on this, it’s more of a general observation) just gets old when it should be obvious that as long as the guy is the HC in Athens his coaching philosophy isn’t going to change.
Then again, it’s the offseason – complaining about things is the only thing we have to keep us occupied until September. Lord knows I’ll complain about plenty of things between now and then.
LikeLike
I feel like our offense is more finesse oriented than LSU or Bama and that’s where a lot of the difference lies. But you make some good points and I’m cool with agreeing to disagree.
And I agree that constant complaining can get old. But I also think (and you’ll probably agree) that criticism can definitely be healthy, even when the person being criticized is stubborn. It may have indeed helped Richt push Martinez out the door. If not for the level of scrutiny he was under, he may have just gone down with Martinez still as his DC. With that being said, there’s probably a fine line between too much criticism and not enough.
Go Dawgs.
LikeLike
You’re arguing that only head coaches with defensive backgrounds can employ a strategy that relies on good defense? That certainly is a simple argument. But it’s not logical.
LikeLike
You can employ an overall strategy that relies on great defense but you can’t do that and run a finesse offense and expect to be wildly successful in the 21st century SEC. Florida State did it in the 1990s ACC.
Also, a head coach with an offensive background is asking for trouble when he relies on a great defense to have a great program. Reason being that when you don’t have a great defensive coordinator working for you, you’re in trouble.
LikeLike
Florida won two national titles doing just that.
How quickly some forget.
LikeLike
I wouldn’t say Florida was relying on great defense to win. Their offense was very potent and won a lot of games for them.
LikeLike
Florida was 4th in scoring defense in ’08 and 6th in ’06.
Just because you wouldn’t say doesn’t mean it wasn’t so.
As for the offense, you originally said you can’t run a finesse offense and win big. Now you’re using the term “potent”. There are plenty of finesse offenses that score well. So what’s your point now?
By the way, Florida was 23rd in scoring offense in ’06. That’s not exactly potent in my book.
LikeLike
Fair point. I give. There’s nothing wrong with Richt’s offensive philosophy. It’s wonderful.
LikeLike
What does this have to do with Richt’s offensive philosophy? If you’re going to make broad statements like you have, either back ’em up, or admit that you can’t.
LikeLike
Good God man, the whole argument was about his friggin offensive philosophy. You’re doing your lawyer thing and picking apart specific sentences in my posts and acting like that means my entire message is full of shit. Believe whatever the f you want to believe.
LikeLike
Look, you don’t like MR’s offensive philosophy, that’s fine by me. Just don’t make it sound like it’s part of some overarching insight you’ve come up with about how college football works, or give me this passive-aggressive BS that because you can’t make a coherent point that I’m saying something about Richt I haven’t said.
LikeLike
You are an astute and learned observer. Many detractors try to prop up their arguments with twisted “stats” and ludicrous takes on inane subjects, one that resonates most often now is to disregard D mistakes when touting Grantham above Richt. They forget that most of us get pleasure from our team’s play on both sides of the ball. They seek to devalue the good opinion of Richt by overtouting the accomplishments of Grantham. Their attempt to create a schism is laughable.
LikeLike
Speaking of Richt, take a look at how next years recruiting class is beginning- with the two biggest players from Florida and now from S.Carolina, we start out with next year’s best QB, RB, S and now CB with Tramel Terry recommitting today. This will be something to watch!
LikeLike
Shorter version of my comments above: Stop creating fake reasons to complain about Mark Richt.
LikeLike
+1. This cube guy is a troll. Probably an 18 year old who recently discovered this blog and posts when his parents let him have access to the ‘puter. A likely wannabe Tech nerd masquerading. Whatever you say that’s positive he disagrees with it. Ignore the tool.
LikeLike
You’re only mad b/c I completely discredited your lame attempts yesterday to make everyone fear a 9 game conference schedule.
LikeLike
Why don’t you take a flying leap into a round hole, cube, preferably your own. You take credit for helping Martinez out the door? By now you know that Coach Richt is his own man and doesn’t listen to anyone telling him who to fire or hire. In fact it probably grates the hell out of you that he doesn’t listen to drivel.
Oops! I think I just heard the minivan horn for your after school makeups. See you later.
LikeLike
Thank you Kathryn.
LikeLike
Good one.
LikeLike
“It teaches you, especially the way coach Grantham does it, what everybody is doing instead of what you are doing individually.”
That also says something about what Houston wasn’t learning under Grantham’s predecessor. Hopefully, the atomistic approach will plague DBs on the Plains for years to come.
LikeLike
If we made an outcast of everyone that thought at the lowest point that Richt should be gone then we would kick out half the fan base. Welcome back Justin!
Also, cross Justin Houston’s name off the list of people that could be Skeptic Dawg.
LikeLike
Add cube’s to the list.
LikeLike
Grantham’s coaching acumen is only part of the resurgent D in my opinion. Tereshinski’s strength program is the other. The Dawgs were much surer tacklers and much more fundamentally sound last year, but they were also stronger and (much more importantly) tougher.
Team chemistry starts in the weight room, with players grinding away together and getting bigger and meaner.
LikeLike
+1. I actually think that was THE problem in 2010. The big guys simply were out of condition, couldn’t manhandle the opposition and ran out of gas in the 4th quarter. Several of the games that were lost never would have been close normally but they were and that opened the door to losing those games. It appears that problem has been fixed. Good for CMR.
LikeLike