Marc Weiszer Chris White has an informative piece up comparing aspects of the career of Mark Richt versus those of Vince Dooley, Paul “Bear” Bryant, Nick Saban, Les Miles and Steve Spurrier. And you know what? For the most part, Richt comes off respectably in comparison.
He does look bad in record against top rival, but even in that area, he shows signs of turning that around, riding a three-game winning streak and playing the Gators even over the last eight games.
Then, there’s this:
Talk all you want about winning percentage and bowl games, but most fans will tell you all that matters at the end of the day is the ability to finish atop the heap. Bryant earned six tiles in this time, a feat matched only by Michigan’s Fielding H. Yost. Saban is the only other coach listed with more than one title, and Richt is the lone coach in this sample who doesn’t yet have a national championship on his record.
The difference between zero and one may not seem like much, but when it comes to winning national championships, it’s a big gap.
Bonus note – this doesn’t come from the AB-H piece, but it’s worth pointing out that Georgia remains in enviable company when it comes to road records.
Get The Picture 
Seems like I recently saw a comparison of CMR that was pretty favorable when looking at the first 13 seasons for most of the guys people would put ahead of him.
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Thanks for the props, but I believe Chris White from the paper is repsonsible for this. We’ll still take the traffic from the mention.
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Oops! Reflex, I guess. Thanks for the correction.
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Or responsible.
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Responsible is where you are answerable or accountable for something within your own power or control.
Repsonsible is when you leave it to Jimmy Sexton to sort out.
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Reprehensible is what a result may sometimes be when you leave it to Jimmy Williamson to sort out
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That %tage jumps up respectfully if you subtract one tipped ball from the plains last year. Ughhh, “if”‘s suck.
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…and a field goal in a game in ’07…that we weren’t even playing in.
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It’s interesting stuff, and I’m glad Richt shows up as well as he does. To me, it also underscores how good Richt’s first 5 years were, as those years were the support base that absorbed the mediocre-to-poor years since.
And the good thing is, even those first 5 years could have been better. I point that out, because that’s exactly what I’m looking for when the current cultural and football changes, currently underway in our program, are fully realized .. a return to sound, fundamental football.
We’ll probably get screwed over a few times along the way, as usual, but the natural byproduct of playing that kind of ball with the kind of players we can get will surely pay off.
It’s such a great feeling to go into a game knowing you’re going to be well-prepared and the other team will have to play its best possible game to win, because you aren’t going to give them anything. That’s the way almost all of our games should be, because we can match up with almost any opponent.
And that, more than anything else, is the difference between mediocre and championship football. Most of all, it’s just fun. Fun to watch, and fun to follow.
~~~
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Man…I hope this man wins a MNC….he really deserves it. I want it for my own selfish reasons obivously but just one MNC would open the eyes of all these morons that think he is just this below average coach who squanders 5 star talent every year. It is crazy to talk to Auburn, Tennessee and GT fans that totally dismiss the fact that Richt has basically owned their team since he has been there because all they say is “Well he hasn’t won a NC”. Ok….but his team whipped your team like 87-7 in two games and is 8-5 against your team overall. The response is back is “Georgia people strive to beat Auburn…Auburn strives to be Champions”. Richt winning the big one would put all that kind of crap to bed and really validate his very good overall record in other metrics.
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With the new playoff, would a national championship still be a MNC?
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I have really been struggling with that. I think it is still a MNC because the conference champs don’t get in, but it is much better, by a factor of over two to me. Man, how could they screw this up when they knew they had to step their game up? The answer was right there in front of them to solve the problem, but they punted/compromised and ended up with a fumble.
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AU, GT & UF all rivals in their own way, I say coint’em all.
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Or count, whatever works. 🙂
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Bryant won 0 Natty’s in his 1st 13 seasons as a head coach, and 2 SEC 1st place finishes.
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I’d like to see this done for all the coaches 1st 13 seasons (can’t compare Richt’s 13th season to Bryant’s 25th, not fair).
I bet Richt would come out on top of most categories.
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Georgia’s road record is overstated in that chart because it omits the results of the WLOCP. That game is not played in Athens so it should be included as a road game. The correct road record for Georgia under Mark Richt, including the WLOCP, is 27-17 which equates to slightly more than 61%.
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