I don’t know who’s going to be more offended by this Mark Richt quote about Ellis Johnson, Brian VanGorder or the Dawgnation multitudes who would welcome BVG’s return to Athens in a heartbeat.
“He’s outstanding. There’s a reason Auburn is playing so much better on defense.”
As in, better than Auburn used to play defense.
So, why would Richt want to bring back an inferior defensive coordinator? Just askin’.
Get The Picture 
I don’t believe Southern Miss is missing him. New coach gets new enthusiasm and new juice. They quit last year. Cheaters and quitters. Meh, we will be ringing that Chapel Bell at the end of the game. Book it.
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Southern Miss hired Todd Monken, a stellar OC, and they still are terrible at everything. They have had back-to-back good coaches and they are still awful. Lesson: don’t go to Southern Miss.
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They went 12-2 and won their conference the year before Ellis and two years before Monken.
Lesson : Ellis and Moken are not good HCs.
The Peter Principle is a proposition that states that the members of an organization where promotion is based on achievement, success, and merit will eventually be promoted beyond their level of ability.
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Is anybody surprised at Richt’s comment?
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CMR is just Dooleying. Answering a question. Not insulting BVG. Auburn quit in 2012. Don’t think BVG was at fault for that. But seems like a carpetbagger to me.
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exactly…Richt is too nice a guy to ever make a dig like that.
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That’s a quote you will never hear Richt again say about Grantham.
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Never underestimate the importance of hiring good assistants, particularly your DC. Maybe CMR should be most offended.
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Grantham can’t carry Van Gorder’s jock. The day he can….feel free to attack the man responsible for our first SEC title after a 20 year drought.
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Richt?
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Did you see the game last year?
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Seems like Van Gorder can’t carry his own jock, per results since he left UGA
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No, see, that’s because the quality of his players has gone down. When we want to praise a coach we like who is struggling, we blame it on the players. When we want to Dawggrade a coach we don’t like who is struggling, we blame it on scheme complexity and/or general dumbassery.
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David Pollack?
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Interesting interpretation of the facts scott, UGA’s fortunes turned when CMR arrived in Athens, they have remained high since BVG left. BVG on the other hand has had a history of failures since leaving CMR’s nest, some spectacularly. You do the math, the results are pretty clear.
I don’t wish him trouble in the future but he offers nothing that I want on the UGA sideline, especially with the childish way he left us at a critical time. People that abandon you at crisis time for their own selfish reasons aren’t the kind you pick to be on your team again. Good luck somewhere else Brian.
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No damning, just praising. Equivalent to the “finest long snappah” comment by VD from years ago.
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I’ve said my share of less than enthusiastic things about Grantham this year. I may have said he should go ahead and hire a real estate agent because I didn’t think he would be retained at the end of the season. Okay, I know I said that. However, I do believe we’ve seen some defensive play that gives us cause for cautious optimism. Tomorrow we will find out if that optimism is warranted. I certainly hope so. I’d love to be able to say I was wrong.
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BVG was once a good DC a long time ago. Resume since leaving UGA is average at best. Let it go…
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He had a Ellis Johnson like performance at the HC table while at Georgia Southern.
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How about how good Ellis Johnson is? I think he’s one of the top-10 DCs in the country, and has had our number in recent years. That’s what worries me about tomorrow.
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That’s how I would interpret it. There is a long list of quality DCs who are inferior to Johnson.
Honestly, I’m undecided on BVG’s skill as a DC. He was obviously excellent in Athens, but he had NFL talent. He was good as a position coach in the NFL. His tenure in Atlanta was decent (the Falcons improved their defensive ranking each season). And his year at Auburn was obviously a hot mess with inferior personnel who quit on him.
But, honestly, I don’t know if Saban could have motivated those Auburn kids to play defense. I don’t really want BVG back in Athens any time soon.
I think Grantham would obviously leave for an NFL DC job. But most college DCs would. I doubt he would leave for any job that might pay him more than UGA would. But I think BVG might do exactly that.
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Johnson is not a good head coach, but is a very good DC, like Chizik and Muschamp.
Personnel-wise, Auburn is still missing some pieces and can be exploited.
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Gees brother Bluto, seems you never miss a chance to dis BVG, although you’ve also said he’s the second best DC UGA has had. Some type of love/hate relationship goin on?
I just don’t get why any Dawg fan would trash BVG. He did an outstanding job while he was on our payroll, and we’ve never recovered on D since he left. I don’t give a shit what he did at awbie, GSU, or if he’s a bad son-in-law. I think we owe him some level of gratitude, or at least a bit of respect, for his contribution to our program. Compare BVG’s results at UGA to CTG’s if you want an eye-opening contrast.
Now if you’re talkin bout CTG, he deserves plenty of scorn.
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It think that most of it is based on the fact that a decent number of posters on here have pined for BVG to come back since he left, regardless of the facts that he has gotten run out of town at every stop since leaving Athens. Maybe him being at UGA with UGA players had more to do with his success than BVG’s skill set.
FBVG and F anyone who wants to stand with him.
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I didn’t say BVG should be brought back. But if you have somebody better – who’ll actually accept the job, then you could name him/her before spending so much time and effort trashing the ideas of others.
FBVG and anyone who stands with him? Big talk from Mom’s basement. Something I’d expect to read from a gtu student.
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him/her?
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I appreciate what BVG did while he was here. Thank you BVG. But I think he caught lightning in a bottle and hasn’t been able to replicate it elsewhere. So in the interest of preserving his legacy, let’s not ruin it by bringing him back.
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Um… it’s not my quote, is it?
And as an astute commenter’s already noted, this was more about tweaking BVG worshipers than BVG himself.
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I appreciate what BVG did while he was at UGA. I acknowledge that we havent been as good on D since he left. On the other hand, he hasnt uncorked a stretch like he had at UGA anywhere he’s been since he left, either. I bear him no ill, but I dont know that bringing him back for a sequel is going to reignite our D to pre-2005 levels.
of course, if we give up a bazillion yards in the first half Saturday, I might be willing to reconsider. Just sayin’….
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We should all appreciate the contributions of Coach Van Gorder during his outstanding tenure in Athens, but maybe the college game has passed him by. Consider how much the landscape changed in ten years: in 2002, the spread offense hadn’t yet gained popularity, Alabama was a decade removed from its last national title, South Carolina was still floundering under Lou Holtz, Texas A&M was in the Big 12, Nick Saban had exactly one 10 win season to his name, and nobody in the SEC had even heard of Bowling Green’s coach Urban Meyer.
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BVG left of his own accord, he wasn’t run out of town, and he left looking like a child who couldn’t get his way. I appreciate all he did while he was here, but no one ran him off.
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Correct. To be a part of a successful leadership team, you have to be a team player.
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To be fair, it appears that several folks didn’t like being on Rodney Garner’s team. I have no idea if it was BVG or Rodney or some of the others and Rodney. I also have no insight into the Kirby v Rodney rumors or those about Rodney complaining about BVG not recruiting. Maybe Rodney was the scapegoat in all of the above, but his move to Auburn seems to have worked for both parties. Chris Wilson seems to be the ointment we needed on the D line.
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