I know the focus is on Mark Richt today. And there’s little doubt he deserves plenty of criticism for how poorly his team was prepared for Florida. But Mark Richt isn’t Georgia’s big problem. It won’t surprise me in the least if the team rights itself this week, plays a competitive game against Auburn and wins nine games. (The alternative wouldn’t surprise me, either.) There’s a very good recruiting class shaping up. Pruitt is an improvement over Grantham. There are a number of things to point to that can give a Georgia fan hope.
But…
I’m sick of writing these existential posts about the program every couple of years or so. And it seems like every time we think we’re seeing a real turn around the corner, reality comes back to bite us in the ass with more evidence of the Georgia Way. This time around, I looked at last season, with a team that fought in every game despite an injury-riddled offense, subpar defense and special teams and thought at least Georgia was hitting a point where it was no longer going to fail to show up on a consistent basis.
Wrong, bacon breath. What I saw was how much Aaron Murray meant to the competitive spirit of this Georgia program.
The reality is that Georgia is a program that believes it’s better than it is. I can almost envision the congratulatory speech McGarity was constructing in his head as Georgia nobly fell on its sword about Gurley and kept winning. Too bad about Jacksonville, Greg.
But it’s not like that’s anything new. It’s a recurring drama. And when things fall short, as they inevitably do, the decision makers shrug, make some vague sounds about the coaches needing to do more, maybe even fire somebody if they’ve dawdled long enough, check the bank statements and console themselves with the thought that at least they’re doing things the right way. Whatever that is.
What they’re unwilling to give any hard thought to is how to win doing things the right way. Whether that’s out of a sense of guilt, as Wolken surmises, or because it’s too hard to make the effort, I can’t say. But it’s clear, and not just to me.
Those of you chomping at the bit for new coaching as a cure for what ails us need to think about something first: since Vince Dooley retired as head coach, who are the best high-profile hires Butts-Mehre has made? If you’re honest, it’s Ron Polk, who basically fell into Dooley’s lap and left for momma after a couple of seasons, and Mark Richt. That’s why the idea that things are fixable if they just get the right man for the head coaching job is laughable, honestly.
Until there are people in place who are willing to look at how things are done from top to bottom with a sharp eye, a willingness to demand the best and, just as importantly, are going to supply the best in support of that demand, what you see is all you’re gonna get. Because if the folks in Butts-Mehre are anything these days, it’s comfortable.
Get The Picture 
BOOM. This is exactly the problem. It sucks to hear. It sucks to admit. But it’s real.
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And that extends to the fanbase as well, making the annual faceplant against a team or teams we should beat that much worse.
But I’m not sure I buy the Senator’s larger point. When McGarity came in, he did the top to bottom examination the Senator calls for (or at least paid a lot of lip service to it). The program is not appreciably better.
I have never called for Richt’s job, and I’m not going to start now. But the Senator is right to the extent that a certain degree of comfort in the status quo definitely exists. Sometimes a change is needed for change’s sake. I don’t think we’re there yet though.
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“Lip service” is exactly the problem. Georgia has given lip service to achieving excellence. Their focus is always on the money and nothing more.
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Yes. As long as the football program is raking in money, no-one at BM or elsewhere in the university is going to change a thing. Championships are things the fans want most, but that’s not UGA’s main priority. I’m sure the powers that be would be happy if a championship came our way (if only because it’d result in more merchandise sales and annual donations), but they’re not going to try to upset the applecart to win one.
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No offense intended here, but, seriously, how would any of us know the difference?
Can you point to a single hiring decision McGarity’s made that makes you think we’re really in a new era of management? I can’t so far.
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Has he really had the opportunity?
ADs at big schools are, in the end, graded on their football hires. He hasn’t made one yet. I’m not saying he needs to make one now, I’m just reluctant to immediately point fingers at McGarity every time UGA puts on a shit show like Saturday.
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A dynamic, difference making AD is truly a diamond in the rough. I think most ADs are cut from the same cloth as the overpaid, glad handing Bowl Committee Chairmen. How difficult is it to schedule Samford and plead with the SEC Network for an early start time in the Central Time Zone?
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With baseball and Gym Dawgs, GM was willing to sever ties with people that had extremely deep ties to the program and the community b/c they under-performed.
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I won’t comment on gymnastics, but with baseball, he had no choice and you can argue convincingly that he waited a tear too long to do it.
No one should be praised for doing something when they had not other alternative.
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McGarity made Richt’s job easier, taking some administrative stuff over, but that’s not quite the same as say, asking why even 7-14 point leads turn into more conservative playcalling, especially given struggles with the defense.
To me, the Arkansas game in total is our biggest problem: we come out aggressive on both sides of the ball, it pays off, and once we’re up 3-4 TDs, we stop doing what worked. Unsurprisingly, Arkansas shuts down our offense and eats our D alive.We won that one, but what kind of mentality is that getting in our kids when we stop what worked and “coast”?
It’s not a huge step to go from that to “well, we’re only up 7-0, but Florida sucks this season and Chubb’s got 100 yds this quarter already, so we’ve got this.”
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I totally agree with your points regarding the Arkansas game. I’d imagine everyone that watched that game would say that UGA coasted after working hard to put up a bunch of points. The coaches got “comfortable” (read “conservative”) and it showed. Why not continue doing what we were doing ’til the end of the game? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Then … after a bye week … another game of showing no killer instinct to even remotely show up for the cocktail party? I can’t see how you can’t/don’t get a team fired up to play the Gators … no matter what kind of team they appear to be or that we don’t have Gurley available. What happened to “Finish the Drill”?
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So, Senator, you sending Stewart Mandel a fruit basket and an apology note for your whining, petulant Montana Project BS? Because from I just read, in your own words, it sounds like he pegged us as a program.
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Gee… let me think about that for a second… um, no.
Mandel thinks Michigan is a national program. Is it okay to be petulant about that?
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In order to under-perform there has to actually be expectations in place and the expectations in place are those of a national program. If we weren’t a national program, Senator doesn’t write that post and you don’t make a snarky comment.
There is a reason discussions like this aren’t happening on Georgia Tech blogs. They have neither the talent, ambition or ability to draw recruits from all across the US to come in to Athens and compete for a championship.
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Exactly this. I’ve been saying this for about 20 years- we are a top 20 program who refuses to accept that reality & adamently insists it is a top 10 program.
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Well, that, and we refuse to put in the effort to be a top 10/5 program.
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More than anything, we are not institutionally committed to win. We have the Athens Clarke County police doing their thing to bring the program down, we’ve got the Jan Kemp stigma, we’ve got a coaching philosophy of let’s win…. But don’t embarrass the other team, and the players are most often not clutch ( Marshall Morgan!),, and this is what you get when you add it all up. The reason we get everyone’s best shot, is because we don’t scare anybody. We are always seen as a potential knock off. That is what we are.
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You left off that the AD and the University are always trying to do things on the cheap. Plus, unique to NCAA football, the University of Georgia will do everything in its power to trap its own players (remember the drug tests the first day back from spring break?) and suspend, punish, expel, or snitch on them to the NCAA, to the detriment of the team. Why would any top quality HC take the job in Athens with an administration? Maybe that’s why we end up with the Mark Richts of the world.
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Regarding scheduling drug tests, I have a friend who is a college head football coach in the south. Several years ago, when Urban Meyer was at Florida, he told me that what Meyer did best was know when to schedule his drug tests.
Our approach: See if we can catch them. UF approach: see if we can pass them.
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I think this loss is way more simple than all of this inside B-M talk. That is indeed an issue but the cold hard fact is that Georgia does not recruit linemen well enough to win a Line of Scrimmage game without a lot of breaks. This is what we feared would happen in Arkansas but Muschamp remained patient and his team played their cleanest game in 2 years. Florida was the first team on this year’s schedule with true topnotch SEC talent and they decided to execute on Sat. while UGA went to sleep after the fast start.
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THIS THIS THIS. Sorry for the all caps but almost posted the exact same thing as a reply to a post that mentioned position groups. Don’t know if it’s poor evaluation, recruitment, S&C, or coaching, but our o-line is a persistent problem — as least not the strength it needs to be to compete at the highest level. Bama’s championship years have been its best o-line years.
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It was clearly the Florida LOS domination on both sides of the ball that led to this debacle, which was amplified by the momentum shift, the partial loss of David Andrews, and the failure to make defensive adjustments. Totally agree that it was Arkansas I was most concerned about this happening to us but the turnovers, momentum for us, and resulting field position didn’t allow them time to ever get their power running game going. When you look at how much trouble we had getting off blocks against SC and Florida is where you find the common theme.
I think there was equal intensity at the beginning of the game from players on both sides but the fake FG followed by the big hit on McKenzie on the ensuing kickoff ramped it up for the Gators and we were unable to respond. The one spark we seemed to get on the 2nd half drive was extinguished by the Chubb fumble. Don’t understand why we never fixed the contain issue on defense nor why we waited so late to go to the pass when they were stacked up front and we had open receivers when we threw it in the first half.
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Yeah, I can’t fault Pruitt on the piss-poor tackling, but I’d love to know why we had only 7 in the box for so long. Robinson might have been good enough to really damage us one-on-one but that was it, and Harris was a true freshman.
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Senator, you once again nailed the pulse of where I think most of us are these days. Even if Richt were to leave or be let go, I don’t see much changing until the focus is off what our bottom line looks like and more on putting the program in position to win championships by making the best hires available, upgrading facilities to compete with our SEC opponents, and setting high expectations of our coaches where games like Saturday get to be a fireable offense if they become the norm (as they have since 2005).
And your quote about UGA thinking it is better than it is is dead on. It has been this way, well pretty much forever.
I love my school, my alma mater, my team and I hate to see unreached potential just be so widely accepted (as long as the money continues flowing in). Something changed for me on Saturday and it took a long time to come around to, but I feel differently about UGA today than I did Saturday morning and I get the impression that a lot of us do.
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+1…..Feel the same way Beer Money. Took my 13 year old to his first Cocktail Party Saturday with the hopes he would see something frankly a lot of us 40 somethings haven’t seen in this game in a long time; domination. Unfortunately the gut punch seems to be hereditary.
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Unfortunately, he DID see domination.
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Still love the Dawgs but feel different – resigned – too. If money’s the most important thing to the B-M people then why not make the attempt to make more by winning bigger, like Bama. Winning has done wonders for their bank account. Seems they’ve taken the approach that you’ve gotta invest money to make money.. I guess we’re just too risk averse??
Haven’t seen anyone else mention it but it was a weird vibe in the stadium from the beginning, even when we were winning. Don’t know if it was the weather but there wasn’t as much noise & excitement coming from the Dawg fans as I’ve come to expect at GA-FL games.
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I noticed this. It was a very weird vibe.
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Hammer meets nail. If ever there was a comfortable fiefdom focused on maintaining it comfort, it is B-M.
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Really, other than engaging in sexual misconduct, is there any other way to get shown the door there?
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I have come to the conclusion that a savvy, value added AD is difficult to find. I think most AD’s are as useless and overpaid as Bowl Committee Chairman.
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Take a look at the “Spending & Revenue” section of this. Surprising that we’re falling further and further behind other SEC programs. I remember when UGA was often top 3-5 nationally in revenue. Now we’ll be lucky to stay in the top 5 of the SEC. Doesn’t bode well for the future…
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeastern_Conference#Spending_and_revenue
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Maybe that gets them out of the complacent rut, if only because there’s less than $2 million between revenue and expenses and the schools up top are doing a LOT better, profit-wise.
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Normally I might agree with you, but with the new SEC network money getting ready to start flowing in, I think that’s going to buy the current administration at least another 5 to 7 years before things are back to where they are now in terms of revenue and expenses.
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It’s more than just a. Coaching change, it’s also a mindset change that must start at the top. For example our basketball and baseball venues have some of the lowest seating capacity in the SEC. Our coaching salaries are definitely not near the top, which is required in order to attract top notch coaches and we need to invest in the support infrastructure such as recruiting staff in order to ensure that we keep up with the division leaders. Also, our facilities have improved significantly over the years, but still are not on par when you look at them compared to Alabama and some of the other leading athletic institutions. These are the types of changes that seldom occur when you have an existing leadership team in place for many years because it requires a fundamental shift in the way and organization conducts business.
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It would take a commitment from the President of the University and the Athletics Board to be the best. That means getting rid of McGarity, hiring the best AD in the nation (Tom Jurich of Louisville or someone of that caliber) and giving him the authority to weed out the deadwood in B-M (quick–somebody tell me, exactly what does Mike Cavan does anyway? Why does being a former player and coach who failed elsewhere as a HC get a permanent job with minimal duties at B-M? There are a bunch of those just like him). The first hire needs to be a quality HC from another very successful football school (he can bring his staff, too). Same with basketball. Evaluate every sport at UGA and replace the HCs of the underperformers. This would take some real $$ so the AB would have to be on board. This would be like turning an ocean liner but it could be done. Will it be done? NOT A CHANCE!!
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Tom Jurich of Louisville…seriously? Hell, why not bring that whole package to Athens. Grantham’s house may still be empty, they can all bunk there together and share motorcycle rides to B-M.
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Tom Jurich, NCAA 2013 Athletics Director of the Year? The guy who basically turned a loser program in football into a conference champion and shepherded Louisville into the ACC from oblivion? The guy who hired Rick Pitino? That Tom Jurich? Yes, seriously.
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The guy who hired Petrino and Grantham. FIFY
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I have no idea what Cavan does, besides appear as a semi-regular guest on Bulldog Roundtable. Same with Van Halanger and Eason, who don’t even provide radio time filler.
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Sometimes even that is not enough…..
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Here’s another article that provides revenue stats for 2008 – 2013. Top tier programs grew revenue by an average of 32% during that period. UGA only grew by 17% despite playing in one of the most financially lucrative conferences around. Lowest growth rate in the SEC and the next lowest was TN who grew revenue by 41% during that time. I’m not saying uncontrolled spending is the way to go, but if you don’t reinvest in your business/brand, then it doesn’t take long for mediocrity to set in. “The money has been flowing in, expenses have been kept under control and the results are “acceptable” (in some eyes), so why rock the boat” mindset appears to have set in as the Senator points out.
However, other schools are investing at a much greater pace with greater expectations in terms of results. We’ve got the talent or (in the case of basketball) access to the talent, so something clearly doesn’t translate. If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got. Unfortunately, I don’t see any major changes coming for quite awhile because the folks at B-M are way too comfortable.
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/10851446/sports-programs-nation-top-public-colleges-thrived-economic-downturn-earning-record-revenues
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I think you mean getting found out about sexual misconduct.
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Ain’t that the truth ! Unless of course, you are ‘Fists of Fury’
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Pushing for night games might also be a fireable offense
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“Until there are people in place who are willing to look at how things are done from top to bottom with a sharp eye and a willingness to demand the best and, just as importantly, are going to supply the best in support of that demand”
I agree, but what more can we do? We replaced our AD and got McGarity awhile back. Seeing as he came from a program that won 3 MNC during his time there (as well as at least one NC in basketball), you’d think he’d know what needed to be done for the major sports. Alas, nothing changed during his tenure.
We’re also about to about to bring in a new president of our university, but I doubt that changes anything either. Is the problem with the big-time boosters? The board of regents?
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McGarity was a classic over-correction hire. We went with milquetoast over the flash of Evans because of how his tenure ended. An AD at a major college football program needs to be dynamic.
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Just to add to your point, not only has McGarity not made a difference, I now look at Jeremy Pruitt and wonder if he can put us over the top. He’s been super successful every where he’s been. Now he’s at Georgia and he’s mediocre. I know the jury is still out on Pruitt and I agree that he’s better than Grantham. It just seems like it doesn’t really matter who we hire. It’s a deeper problem like the Senator suggests. I just can’t put my finger on exactly WHAT it is. Are we snake bit at UGA? Is it bad luck? Is there such a thing as bad luck? It’s like something out of a Stephen King novel where the town the story is set in has a deep, long existing problem or sort of a haze that the residents of the town can’t see or ignore but when outsiders come to town they can clearly see. Is Athens, GA our Derry, Maine?
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We all float down here. That’s for sure.
I am not sure it’s fair to judge Pruitt . . . yet. Notwithstanding the chicken shit he made Saturday-and that was some of the worst job of setting the edge I’ve ever seen in football-Pruitt’s been holding Ga’s defense together with duct tape and band aids all year. However, the defense has been letting us down routinely for 10 years. Nothing new.
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I think Pruitt is a great coach. I just think the curse of Athens, GA might be too much for him or any other coach to overcome. Something is rotten in B-M and the city of Athens.
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It’s not a curse, DF. It’s mismanagement. I know some on this blog do not understand how decisions of the AD and the AB can influence kids missing tackles on Saturday but there is a connection, just the same as bad management by a CEO and Board of Directors has on whether a company is profitable or goes bust. You can’t see it or touch it, but it’s there. Just like you can’t see gravity, but it’s there.
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Nice sense of humor you’ve got there fuck stick. SCdawg seemed to get it. Not sure why you feel the need to call me dumbfuck. Like gravity. Oh ok. Ive got it now. Thanks for clearing that up for me. DF
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I think he was just abbreviating your name when he referred to you as “DF.” Similar to how some folks just refer to me as “165”
I don’t think he meant any harm by it, but maybe I’m just a DF 🙂
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Sorry for the confusion DawgFaithful. DF was intended to be an abbreviation for your handle. It did not occur to me that you would think otherwise give the capital “D” and the capital “F” in it.
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When you cannot build depth through successful recruiting by terminating the numbers of your roster before their graduation cycle runs its full course, you will always be playing catch-up in the numbers game. We have been playing catchup for years now, and sooner or later you see it reflected by the play on the field. With things over-all like they are at UGA, we will always be a “good” program, but never a “great” one.
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Depth had zero to do with what we saw Saturday.
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Really? You don’t think (not that I like them) that Tray Matthews and Josh Harvey-Clemmons wouldn’t have helped a lot in run support on Saturday? Why is it that we kick all of our best players off the team or (see Todd Gurley) suspend them? Isn’t there some other way to discipline them, like running the stadium steps or cleaning toilets in Sanford? But, hey, that wouldn’t be the “Georgia Way.” The “Georgia Way” is blowing off all your toes with a shotgun trying to shoot a fly on your shoe.
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I actually agree with you regarding suspending players versus handling discipline internally, and have said so before on this very blog. I got blasted for it then and I probably will now but I’ll say it again: I wouldn’t want to send my children to play for UGA where any mistake they made, however small or trivial, immediately gets put into the public’s eye where they get blasted by the media. I’d much rather them go somewhere where the coaches care enough to find better ways (such as what you suggested). I even went so far as to ask anyone if they had any evidence to substantiate that suspending them helps them “learn a lesson” better than running stadium stairs, and I got crickets and straw men.
Also, for all of the straw men in hiding, I said “handled internally” and not “ignored,” so spare me your “OMG YOU WANT HIM TO BE A BUTTRAPER AT PENN STATE” garbage (I actually got accused of such when I originally brought this up)
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I hope that there are more out there like us, 165.
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To answer your question though (now that I’m off my soap box regarding discipline), I think Gurley could’ve helped our offense, but the DB’s wouldn’t have had very much impact in the run game. Our linebackers couldn’t set the edge to save their life so I doubt a DB is going to consistently stop them from picking up 5-7 yards without leaving themselves open to the play action. I also don’t think they’d help much with those gashing runs up the middle.
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By the way, Sportsdawg, what did you mean here:
“When you cannot build depth through successful recruiting by terminating the numbers of your roster before their graduation cycle runs its full course”
Were you referring to the practice of cutting players loose when they aren’t developing like you wanted, even though they are following team rules and the law, in order to make room for bigger signing classes?
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Yep!
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Love that you posted shortly after revealing the number of hits and page views you’re getting. I’m sure you didn’t envision this when you started this blog, but your voice is a powerful one. Keep up the great work.
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“but your voice is a powerful one”
I can’t help but to agree with this sentiment, Bluto.
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I appreciate that, guys, but when it comes to B-M, I think you overrate my influence considerably.
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I know you probably aren’t at liberty to divulge a lot of specifics over the interwebs, (and you may not even know specifics), but who does have the influence at B-M? I’ve yet to speak to a fan that doesn’t think we underachieve on a consistent basis (not just in football, either), yet somehow the same things keep happening.
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Liquor distributors.
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Liquor distributors who got it the old fashioned way, from and estate and with campaign contributions and smokey backrooms.
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huh?
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There are a relatively small number of major contributors who have real influence, whose voices are heard. One of the largest contributors is Don Leeburn, who happens to own a liquor distributorship he inherited from his father Fate Leeburn…yes, that was his name.
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Well then its in Don’s interest to keep things status quo, cuz lord knows nothing can drive you to drink faster than watching Georgia football year after year.
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the most powerful boosters in Georgia football own liquor middle-men companies.
It’s a fact.
Look at the Sky Box owners or names on several scholarships.
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Read Behind the Hedges – Big Money and Power Politics at The University of Georgia by Richard Whitt.
You can read an intro on Amazon that discusses Georgia Crown Distributing.
You can get a copy cheap from Addall.com Select used and look for one where DJ/Dust Jacket is included if you want a hardback.
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Wow, thanks for all of the info, folks! I’m going to have to check all of that out!
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Senator, you are absolutely right. Mark Richt isn’t the problem–he’s a SYMPTOM of the problem.
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Disagree. AD indeed should set the bar for performance for athletic programs. However, at most SEC FB programs the HC is the De facto CEO of Athletics. If Richt has lost interest in the details that determine whether we’re contenders, an activist AD – obviously not our Grandpa CPA -doubtless can threaten or cajole the HC into redoubling his efforts.
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“If Richt has lost interest in the details that determine whether we’re contenders…”
Remove the “If” and McTyre is absolutely correct. The loss was ALL Richt.
Yes, McGarity sucks – and the Gurley affair showed how f-king useless he truly is. But the loss on Saturday was entirely the fault of CMR. If BM isn’t supporting him, he should say so. If he doesn’t push for improvement, he’s too complacent for the job.
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You can blame “B-M” or “North Campus” but the fact is that CMR has been here 15 years and the performance on Saturday is a feature, not a bug of his philosophy.
A subtle point made by Josh Brock on the 5th Quarter after the game: Georgia rarely if ever runs trick plays. Which means that we probably rarely if ever practice trick plays. Which means we rarely if ever practice defending trick plays. Which means….we NEVER defend trick plays in games. “Why did trickeration if you don’t need to” is CMR’s outlook.
CMR’s fundamental philosophy is “my 11 beat your 11”. This is based upon the false confidence of FSU’s success against the wretched ACC of the 1990’s. Against the Canes and Flarduh, FSU was average as grits.
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I’m trying to think of any trick play we’ve run on O other than the play-action-rooskie in the past 10 years, but the only that’s popping up is that horrible throwback pass to JTIII from the 2005 Cocktail Party.
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I would also say that Tubby Smith was an inspired (if short lived) hire by Dooley.
But your larger point is correct. What in the hell is the “Georgia Way?” More and more, I think it is an excuse constructed by the empty suits at BM to justify good, but not great.
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That’s a fair point, although I think Tubby’s ceiling at Georgia wasn’t any higher than Durham’s. Not that I would have complained about that. 😉
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I think Tubby’s greatest mistake was leaving Georgia. Not b/c Kentucky b-ball is a step down. Obviously, that’s absurd. They are royalty and we are utterly wretched in hoops history. The problem is that he was following a legend and regardless of his success, was never perceived by that fan base as a success.
Georgia, OTOH, was excited to have any level of success. Had he stayed, I’d wager we would’ve built a new arena and named it in his honor by now.
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And Tubby probably would have won just as many SEC Championships at Georgia as he did at UK–and likely a national title, too. Tubby already had the Georgia program turned around when he left.
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From what I understand Tubby wanted us to counter UK’s offer because he likely would have considered it. But we didn’t, and ended up with the Jirsa disaster.
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Good point Anon! This is a perfect example of the cheapness and mismanagement of the B-M crowd having a directly negative effect on performance by Georgia athletic teams.
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Even more perfect example: Our reaction to the Jeremy Schap expose about the Harrick, Jr. class. What other university would hold its entire team out of the post-season, publicly label two players with cumulative gpa’s over 3.0 as academic frauds and wreck the program? I can tell you from experience coaching an AAU basketball team that destroyed our BB recruiting for a long time.
By the way, we self-reported numerous infractions to the NCAA and proposed sanctions. The NCAA rejected some of our proposed sanctions as being too harsh. That happen with any other university?
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And while it needs to be said that Richt is a symptom, he can’t get enough flack for his boneheaded FG attempt in the first quarter. He can be such a pussy.
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Should have gone for it on 4th & 1 at the 50, too.
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So the fine folks over at BM at the ones who consistently fuck up selling cold drinks on hot days. Not sure how we show up so unprepared in so many different ways on saturdays.
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I’m done believing in this team. It’s that simple. Over the past few years, even when I have been severely critical, and I have been, I was critical because I believed we were better than what we saw on the field. I believed we were just about to turn the corner. I believed we were on the cusp of everything falling into place. I no longer believe this. I love Mark Richt. He’s a great man and a good coach. But this is as good as we’re going to get. This is the Georgia way. This is not an anomaly. It happens with regularity. This is not something for us to learn from. We do it all the time and nothing changes. We don’t learn. Under Mark Richt we are always going to be a team that inexplicably fails to show up for one or two games a year. We are always going to have roster management problems. We are always going to fall just short of our potential. We are always going to hand the NCAA information they couldn’t get on their own and then act surprised when they bludgeon us with it. Like I said, Mark Richt is a good coach. But that’s his ceiling. Good. We’re a good team. But that’s our ceiling. Good. We’ll continue to win eight or nine games a year. Occasionally win the east. If we get past the SEC championship, it will be in a year like this one where winning the championship won’t get you into the final four because a two loss team isn’t getting in. I guess I’ll look into a condo in Orlando.
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You’re right Paawwwwwl. It’s such a depressing post, but it’s spot on for how I and many of my friends feel about the program. I’m planning to refuse to believe the hype of this team going forward. I just can’t do it. Every year I think this is the year and every year they shit the bed. Spurrier was right when he said with that much talent we should be winning all the time. Tired of wasting my time.
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A hypothetical question for everyone: If UGA won the rest of their games, won in Atlanta, but was not invited to the playoffs… would you consider this season a success?
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I would because I thought this team was 9-3 before the year started.
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Yes, because winning an SEC Championship is a success. Spurrier always said/says that’s his goal. A Natty is gravy.
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yes. Mostly b/c I’ve watched this team to now how average it is. If we win out, that is great.
The problem is a team as average as this one should’ve competed if not won in G’ville. Complacent coaching and inability to seize opportunity means we piss another year away.
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I think I agree with Chuck and Mike — SECC would be a success.
However, this is what makes me feel so frustrated and sad each year. Each year, I come in expecting the team to be average. Each year, they overachieve in some way. Hopes are raised. I start thinking, “Ok, maybe this is the year where I don’t have to approach every single game, even the ones against SEC cellar dwellers, with trepidation.” And then each year, they inevitably come down to Earth with a heart-breaking thud.
Richt’s teams go back and forth between being 80% of the way towards competing for a National Championship and then 80% of the way towards a pre-Spurrier South Carolina decade of sub-mediocrity.
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Definitely. If we win out and win the SEC championship it is a success as far as I am concerned. The biggest disappointment for me regarding the Florida game is that was another one of those games where the team just didn’t get off of the bus. They did not compete at all. With Gurley out and Mason at the QB position we just do not have the necessary ingredients to be a dominating football team but the team we saw against Missouri and Arkansas would have won in Gainesville. That team needs to show up every week and at least compete.
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Well since we didn’t play in Gainesville…..but don’t let the facts get in the way of a good rant.
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Absolutely yes.
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Oh my yes, but I never considered this squad a playoff contender without a LOT of luck (and I thought our passing game would look, well, a lot better than what it’s been so far). Too many questions on D and at QB for this to be the year, even if Gurely had played every game (and with iffy D, not even the best running back performance ever in a season can win a title. See Barry Sanders’ junior year with OkieSt. He ran for 2,600 yds, and they were 9-4.)
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What coach would come work for an athletic department that cuts its own football team off at the knees?
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sitting an ineligible player is not cutting the team off at the knees. Retaining Willie 1 season too many, hiring CTG, piss poor player evaluation. Those were CMR decisions.
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I’ll add a few: Attention to detail, mental fortitude of team, overall discipline and “buy in” of players and staff, roster management, …….
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I’m sorry, but the administration is not the reason Georgia lost Saturday or in any of the other big games in which they’ve failed to show up. Maybe they won’t hire a better coach than Richt. Richt’s a good coach, so it’s certainly possible they’ll hire a worse one. But the idea that a better coach couldn’t win because of the administration is what’s laughable.
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This is hard to argue with.
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Bro, bad thinking at B-M is what got us Richt in the first place. Instead of hiring a top quality head coach from another team, the B-M boys hired an assistant giving him his first head coaching job. That was done for financial reasons as B-M is always trying to do things on the cheap. Richt actually turned out better than the previous 2 B-M hires but if you look at a few of the other potential head coaches who were possibly available at that time the Richt hire looks less and less appealing.
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Richt was a perfectly fine hire. Run through the others who were available who would have been better?
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Bob Stoops was a 3rd year HC at Oklahoma and wanted to come back to the SEC. That’s one who comes to mind.
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The head coach preparing for the BCS CG would have left Oklahoma to coach UGA? Certainly UGA is a great job, but so was, and is, Oklahoma. Stoops was never interviewed. I’ll bet if he was interested he would have interviewed. An actual finalist for the job was Chan Gailey.
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I agree. Thanks for stating it in an intelligent manner.
I don’t fall in the camp that believes a change in coaches would change anything at all. I think the entire program is forced to live within self-imposed limitations and restrictions that other programs do not. Richt begged… BEGGED for an indoor practice facility for a decade before he got half of one. If Saban said he wanted shit smeared on the exterior of Bryant-Denny, people would be defecating in their hands before the press conference was over. I think there is a happy medium there, but at the moment UGA is the polar opposite of Alabama in terms of what the AD, the university, the fans, etc. are willing to do to win.
The fact that UGA has had the success it has given its self-imposed limitations show that the coaches that are here have done an outstanding job. Do they have some flaws? Sure. All coaches do. But, when you take into account the climate in which the football program operates, our coaches do a hell of a job. If you take a step back and look at the big picture, I think you’d agree.
If you believe that UGA is somehow more moral than its brethren… if the Georgia Way tickles you in the cockles, then you have to realize this is what you get. UGA might break through one day. They might not. What they have accomplished is amazing considering they do it with a hand tied behind their backs. You are hitting the pipe a little too hard, though, if you believe that the coaches are holding this program back.
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+1000
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If CMR and Boom switch sidelines on Saturday, which team wins?
That’s not the administration’s failure.
PS, Florida doesn’t have an indoor practice facility.
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I think Florida wins, to be honest. Florida has the better defense at the moment. Georgia’s offense is apparently as limited as Florida’s. Georgia was coming off two luck-fueled blowouts to meh teams, and Florida stunk it up their last time out with a huge chip on their shoulder. So I think I would take Florida.
But, if you were to switch administrative policies, whereas Florida suspended its best player on the NCAA’s behalf, they cut bait on every player that sniffed a police blotter over the past five years, and their scholarship numbers met 1-AA requirements, then regardless of who coached either team, Georgia would have won by 50.
Whether an IPF is necessary is not the issue. It is the contention between the coaching staff and the administration. The administration is unwilling to give the coaches what they feel they need to be successful. When the Dept is swimming in cash, there is no other way to look at it.
Even good coaches lay eggs. How many undefeated seasons does Nick Saban have? Only 1. And I would argue his teams at Alabama have been some of the most talented to ever play in the SEC.
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I totally agree that Georgia plays with restrictions and limitations that some competitor programs do not have. But the connection between that competitive disadvantage and Saturday’s failure is not as easy to see.
When your team doesn’t even show up against a top rival…when EVERYTHING is on the line, how is that an administrative failure? I get that administrative priorities prevent UGA football from getting everything it wants. We are set up to be mediocre. I get that. But this type of failure (spectacular blowout disaster) is harder to connect back to administration.
Maybe the argument is that the collective weight of self-imposed handicaps snowball and crush us occasionally, causing these totally uninspired performances. But that’s harder to see. I’m not trying to pick bones but rather I’m trying to better understand your argument.
I definitely agree and accept that we’re under self-imposed, permanent limitations — a problem that starts at the top. But I have a harder time stretching this type of catastrophic, uninspired loss very far beyond the head coach.
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Florida State is under heavy scrutiny for the way they have handled situations (and, rightfully so). They develop a bunker mentality where they defend their own even when it doesn’t seem right to do so. They stick together when the chips are down and find ways to win.
Georgia comes under fire. They do their own investigation on the NCAA’s behalf, push the player out, and lots of fans fall all over themselves to be the first to call him selfish and say how we don’t need him anyway (even though they kept vigil on twitter for any updates for the two weeks before the game hoping for a miracle). The team gets its ass whipped by a lame duck head coach, and looks completely disinterested during the face-plant.
You’re right. I don’t see how the attitude at the top has anything to do with Georgia’s performance on Saturday.
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Sincere questions met with petulant sarcasm. Cute.
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Sincere questions met with a truthful answer that you didn’t want to hear. AT, as I said in a post above, you can’t see gravity but it’s there.
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Yes, it was sarcastic. There was a point made through sarcasm, though.
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EXACTLY right.
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Senator, I don’t disagree that all of BM has a cultural problem, but it’s gettingn harder and harder to not believe that Richt has been passed by smarter, hungrier, better coaches. I get that there are no guarantees that they’ll make a better hire, but honestly, they’re underacheiving so much now that it might not be as big of a risk as we think. Realistically, the job might not be as desirable as it was when Richt got it. He’s raised expectations, but doesn’t have the talent level that Donnan left him.
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That’s laughable. Our talent level is so much better than when Donnan left. Our defensive talent was abysmal. Donnan had Sean Jones playing QB. We got Boss because of family ties that Goff had set in motion. Same thing with Stroud. Richt was handed some great players, but most coaches are. We are much, much, astronomically more talented now than we were in 2001.
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Need to re-think that. I’m no Donnan fan, but he recruited loads of talent at all positions. Stroud, Seymour, Bell, Bailey(s), Sullivan, Musa, Edwards(s), Witherspoon, Watson, McMichael, Hybl, Phillips, Terry, etc., etc. Donnan wasn’t much of a coach and most of his assistants were poor hires, but he recruited as well as anybody in the nation.
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David Greene and all of the offensive linemen on Georgia’s last truly good line were also Donnan’s recruits.
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I’m not even going to go through it all, he’s just wrong. We have maybe 1 player on D and Gurley that would start on that 02 team that was all Donnan’s recruits. We have less talent now than we had then, period.
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Particularly on O-line and D-line.
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“We are much, much, astronomically more talented now than we were in 2001.”
Ummm, this statement is astronomically, absurdly, laughably wrong.
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No guarantees we will make a better hire? The guy being replaced has the highest winning percentage of any coach in Georgia history, and that includes two coaches in the College Hall of Fame. Even if one excludes the 2001-2007 results, the 2008-2014 to date results are almost the same as the best Hall of Fame coach. Richt is winning 68.1% during the 2008-2014 down years. The difference between that and Dooley’s Hall of Fame career? Dooley’s victory rate was 201 wins in 288 games. Richt’s win total over 288 games at a 68.1 clip would be 196.4 wins. That is just 4.6 wins less in an era in which he plays 8 or nine SEC games. Dooley coached in seasons in which half the games were non-conference.
The issue is not whether Richt will win a national championship. The issue is what is the risk we replace Richt with someone who cannot exceed the historical achievement of the program with two Hall of Fame coaches and another who exceeded the winning percentage of the two Hall of Famers as predecessors? By the way, UGA has 3 coaches in the Hall of Fame as a result of their coaching, not playing. The third is Donnan, who is in because of his Marshall years. Richt has a higher percentage at UGA than Donnan did, too. The better comparison is Richt with the guys who got in the Hall of Fame because of results at UGA.
Some say, “Piece of cake.” I think hiring coaches is a crapshoot and it is very easy to go backwards. The chances of making it to number 4 with Richt (and making the playoffs) is higher than the chances of hiring a more successful coach. Richt has had 3 teams in the top four after the SEC CG. All would have made the playoff if the system was in effect. By contrast we have never hired a more successful coach in football.
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Yes or no? Do you believe UGA is ever going to win even another SEC title with Richt? My position is: if not, then what exactly are the program’s goals? And if so, do you realize that would be a historic feat? No coach will have gone as long between titles as Richt would have if he wins one.
There is no shame in admitting that he missed his window of opportunity. It is shameful to bury your head and ignore reality because you’re scared of making tough choices.
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Yes
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Sadly, I knew the Saturday we witnessed would be the Saturday we witnessed. This reality sunk in after Ga beat Ark on the road and UF was embarrassed by Mizzou. When the clock ran down that night in Gainesville this tragic fate was cemented.
I wrote on this blog last week that my sense of dread might seem irrational to a rational, objective observer, but the scars are too real. The anxiety wasn’t Vince Dooley style false modesty, a self-defense mechanism or basic self loathing. Rather, it is just a recognition that things never, ever happen as they should with this program. There is never a linear progression. It is a program characterized by inexplicable, yet predictable whiplashes, false starts, breakdowns, etc. It is as though this program is content to run marathons on a treadmill all the while clinging to some false hope they will win the prize.
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I’ve never been a fire Richt guy, am not now, but if there’s one thing not in his makeup that he can’t translate to our team that we need it’s a killer instinct. The desire to inflict as much pain (within the rules) as possible on a team. Smell blood and get into a feeding frenzy. Kick them unmercifully when they’re down. Did I miss any cliches? It’s why we kick FGs instead of going for it. It’s why nobody ever really fears playing us (we’re always the target for someone who is “due”). Is TCU going to pass up an opportunity to score 80? Are we going to pass an opportunity NOT to score 50?
Only 2 times this year have we shown it: the late TD against Clemson that got called back (still stunned we didn’t kneel), and the onside kick against Arkansas. The trick is installing that quality that has come to be known as swagger (talk about cliches) without overconfidence. Bama has it. LSU has it, even in a “down” year. A killer instinct can’t sustain a program on its own — still need the players and a solid game plan they can execute — but a killer instinct is at least as valuable as an indoor practice facility.
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I’m not a fire richt guy either.
I AM a “please retire Richt” guy.
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+1.
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COULD NOT AGREE MORE.
I said after our third possession of the game that we would lose.
CMR just does not have what it takes to beat a team into submission.
Playing for FGs is far too often his trademark-as is losing the big one.
Don’t see that ever changing. EVER.
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Exactly.
Every possession in that game has to be THE MOST IMPORTANT POSSESSION. Instead, we loafed around like we were playing grab-ass flag football. Not sense of urgency in the coaches trickles down to the players time and again.
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This is a big reason (well, that and just watching the offense) I watch bits of Baylor games when they’re on. If they score on 5 of their first 6 drives before halftime, Briles is pissed they didn’t go 6 for 6.
And Patterson at TCU is getting there: he was ticked that his team had to settle for FGs in a game they scored 82 points.
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Games like Saturday’s is what I have long called…..egg laying. Total domination and unpreparedness in virtually all phases. We have seen this once or twice a year, every year it seems, since 2008. Until the egg laying is solved, I don’t see much if any upside to what we’re getting now as a result.
The ONLY encouraging comments after this latest debacle came from Pruitt, who manned up and responded for what occurred under his area of responsibility. He made some similar statements after USCe, despite that game’s big differences from the Florida effort. It would be nice if the head coach and others would publically join him…..then work like hell together to find a way to get off this annual nesting problem.
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I can’t put it all on Pruitt.
3rd and Bobo did his own 3rd and Grantham imoersonation.
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Bobo wanted to go for it. Just saying…..
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Coaches said that they had the best week of practices so far this year before the game. So I don’t think they were unprepared game plan wise. They were unmotivated and lacked mental toughness. This is something that Richt has struggled with his entire tenure and is the only explanation for why we lose in this fashion year after year.
The coaches are smart guys that know football. But Richt falls behind in qualities that are more difficult to find a cure for. His teams often take the field unmotivated, unfocused and tight (or some mixure of these three). It may be his personal style that contributes to this. I don’t know. And neither does Richt.
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Agreed. I see lack of motivation and mental preparedness as a big problem, too–and I’ve reached the conclusion that this may be Richt’s biggest weakness. As you suggest, maybe it comes down to personal style or his calm, professional, friendly approach…but whatever it is, it doesn’t seem to work…at least not anymore. I’ve commented before that the most consistent and effective motivator for Richt’s Georgia teams has been someone (national media, another coach, our own players) basically calling them out as “soft” or “unworthy”. Frankly, it’s why I think they have a chance against Auburn, because such “disrespect” is likely, and justifiably, to come in waves now.
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The senator’s post is depressing because it’s spot on and the problems are systemic. UGA is an 80% program. The administration wants to give 80% of the support needed for the football program. We have a head coach who has the team going in the right direction 80% of the time. 80% of our coaching staff is pretty good. We recruit 80% of the talent we need so 80% of our position groups have adequate talent and depth. Our player do their jobs 80% of the time. When you need all aspects of your program to run @ 100% in order to be competitive, those 20% pieces have a multiplying effect which culminates in events like Florida because over a large enough sample size (like a season) failure on the part of every facet is a statistical inevitability.
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This is so spot on.
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I’m beginning to feel like Roy Hobbs in The Natural during the “Losing is a Disease” speech.
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When things are going good, we like to sing “its great to be a Georgia Bulldog”. My family has been attending UGA for generations and it is in our blood. We love it dearly, and even though I don’t contribute to sports programs, I do give what I can to the school itself. As far as football is concerned, I think it is more like “its hard to be a Georgia Bulldog”. I am always waiting for Lucy Spurrier or Lucy Auburn to move the football at the last minute and laugh when I fall on my butt. Now, my fellow alum son has finally given in and acknowledged that it is best not to invest too much of oneself in UGA football, you wind up feeling bad.
But hope springs eternal and beating Auburn would sure make the world a better place.
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Now getting our butts kicked by a terrible Florida team is ultimately the fault of the administrators back at the campus. Whatever. Pass the kool-aid somebody.
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I did not watch the TV after it was clear we were gonna lose and lose BIG TIME. I have a question for those who did. Was CMR really smiling afterwards? REALLY?
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I’ve left exactly two UGA football games before the start of the 4th Quarter. The other was the 2012 debacle in Columbia
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I agree with everything mentioned. But that game could’ve been different (and many others like TN and Vandy last year, LSU in the SEC Championship etc…) if we had a coach that had ANY clue about going after teams quick and putting them away. Case in point look at the drive last year UGA up 17-3 on TN and driving. Instead of going after the jugular with a Hall of Fame QB you run the ball with a true freshmen Douglas and then kick and proceed to miss a FG and then TN scores and yoga re in a dog fight. Same with LSU in the SEC Championship. Put them away. Instead you kick to the HB and get landslided. 4th and 1 and you try a FG into the wind when Chubb had been hammering it?? Bottom line is he doesn’t demand excellence of his players and coaches and himself and he doesn’t get it…as a result. His interviews are embarrassing. He doesn’t want to win bad enough and doesn’t hate losing bad enough. Screw BM, this team STILL could be better but he had 2 bad DCs in a row and let the roster slide by getting out recruited by hungrier more aggressive new guys and Bama and not staying on the total numbers so we have too many young guys playing. Pruitts effect has to play out but even with the people in BM, this program should be better and could if the HC would pay attention to EVERY detail of the game. And don’t get me started on how poor our punting is…..
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yes.
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I am the Charlie Brown of UGA football. That is my rant. Every year I begin the season with such high hopes and every year UGA football pulls the proverbial football out of the way before I can kick it. The sad thing this year is that I sealed my own fate by dressing up as Charlie Brown for Halloween.
The team I watched today is exactly what I should have expected since I have been a fan for more than 20 years. When I was in school at UGA, I watched Erik Zier, Garison Hurst, and Andre Hastings squander their talents to several insignificant bowls. As an adult, I have watched, Spurier and Meyer make UGA look foolish. Since Richt has been at UGA, I have watched miracle comebacks, Hobnail boot, Green at Alabama, only to mean nothing because his teams found a way to lose to a terrible Kentucky or Vandy team.
Let’s talk about today though. Today I watched a UGA team come off a bye week that looked as flat and lifeless as you could imagine. I watched our defense revert back to the arm tackling that plagued us in the past. I listened as Gary Danielson called a QB sneak before UGA could stop him from a 10 yard gain. I watched us continent to run up the middle when the only big play we got all day was a busted run play that Chubb had enough sense to break to the outside….hint hint, toss sweep. I watched Pruitt not load up the box even though the freshman QB threw 6 passes all day and only complete 3 of them. All the while hoping that things would be different. But alas, Lucy pulled that football away from me once again even though deep in my heart it was going to happen. I have to say the most frustrating thing I saw in the game was Mason having to look to the sidelines each play in the last 12 min. As a 5th year QB, there should me a level of trust that he can call the write play.
Now yes we may go on and win the rest of our games, not likely after seeing the run defense. We could go on to win the SEC Championship game. But we had everything in front of us. Win out and get in the playoffs. Now it is just another season of missed opportunities. Now is another year of looking ahead to next year. Now I am lying on my back after running as hard as I can to kick that football only to have Lucy pull it away and laugh at me. I am the Charlie Brown of UGA football.
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Agreed. Case in point: Senator, PLEASE look up the success rate of opposing teams against UGA under Richt on fake FGs and punts. Its pathetic!
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I did attend UGa as a post-grad. I’m a UNC grad. The Tarheels don’t care a whit about football… all the talk at football games was about basketball, so a Dawg I became. It was during the dark days of Goff. No matter, I knew they would be back because UGa is a football school. Turns out I divorced an indifferent football wife to marry a tease. I don’t think it was a good trade.
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I went to UNC for grad school. Thankfully, UGA’s football season usually begins crumbling right around the time UNC’s basketball season is getting started.
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Unfortunately, this ain’t exactly good times for Roy Williams’ Heels, either.
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and I’m sorry you can’t kick that football Charlie Brown.
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UGA:
A school that recruits well…
then loses its talent advantage through of its matrix of petty rules…
then embarrasses its players and its program by neglecting its public relations responsibilities…
then ignores the fact it lost its talent advantage…
and believes it should win solely on a talent advantage that no longer exists.
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So true, brother.
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I agree the the problem seems systemic but let’s face it:,Georgia is just not a very good football team this year. They haven’t beaten anyone who’s any good. True, they have played inspired at times, but basically this is last year’s team without Aaron Murray, Todd Gurley and some talented DBs.
The win over Clemson gave us a false sense off superiority which we should have lost, but didn’t, at USCe. The wins over powerhouses TN, Mizzou and Arkansas and we fans, the coaches and the players all thought we were hot snot on a silver platter. Well, Florida just showed us that we ain’t nothing but a cold booger on a paper plate.
We believed our press clippings and the prognosticators predicting big things for this team. Florida was desperate and out for blood and simply wanted it more. Motivation is part of coaching but the coaches need to be motivated as well. Boom obviously was. I was not surprised we lost, just disgusted by the way and by how much.
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We may not have beaten anyone who’s any good , but we sure as lost to two teams that aren’t any good!
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LOL, can you imagine us in the West?
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“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
Gonna be a long week. Is Kentucky a night game?
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Nooner.
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Best thing for Georgia IMHO.
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I went to the game, couldn’t get in until the first quarter was almost over. Total gate mismanagement..that stadium isn’t worthy of either of the fan bases…I talked to fans on both sides who are ready to look at home/home again. We had already scored when we finally got inside…I missed the highlight. We looked as bad as I have ever seen.
Had a guy puke in the seat behind me, damn rookies and their booze.
My Wife, Son and his Girlfriend decided to leave after the Chubb fumble in the 3rd…best decision we made.
Went back to Fernandina and had a nice dinner.
This team ain’t worth fretting over.
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They had a plentiful supply of ice and cold drinks, which is something that game day operations for Sanford Stadium can’t say.
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I suffered the same fate my friend… we left the tailgate 70 minutes prior to kickoff… 70 MINUTES!!! and didn’t get to our seats until 4 minutes into the game. Then at halftime I couldn’t get out of my section into the corridors because there was a concession stand directly in front of the seating access and the line was backed all the way up into the tunnel. This is the 4th consecutive year I’ve been and don’t remember an experience this bad…(not even going to get started on what happened on the field). Going to think long and hard about going back…
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Sorry to all of you that went to JAX to support the team and had to endure that shit show. You didn’t deserve that.
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The January trip there was miserable but we could understand the team being less than motivated to win.
This one made no sense. What do we do during the bye weeks?
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Exactly. Coming out flat in a lame bowl game? I get it. Not cool, but I get it.
Coming out flat against Kentucky on the road? Same thing. I would understand.
Coming out flat and unprepared against the Florida Gators? With everything on the line? Simply unbelievable.
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Not being snarky AT, but I think is a really big difference in coming out flat and coming out the way we did on Saturday.
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We didn’t come out flat. We came out and executed beautifully on the first couple of drives. Got a couple first downs the first drive and Bobo made a great call on 3rd and 2-3ish. Hutson short-armed it and Chubb didn’t pick up the end well. 3 and out for gators and we go score a TD. Then we get a fumble, get a first down or two and can’t convert after aving 2nd and 6. We miss a FG with and All-Conference caliber kicker…and the rest is history.
Some switch flipped, but to say we came out flat is simply untrue. We mostly dominated the first QTR.
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I got the impression they thought Florida would lay down if they jumped on them early. Then they didn’t quite jump on them early, and Florida didn’t lay down. That doesn’t explain the defensive gameplan though. I still don’t know why you wouldn’t bring eight men up and force Florida to try to throw.
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Plus, if they missed the first five minutes, they missed all the UGA highlights.
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Blutarsky –
“The reality is that Georgia is a program that believes it’s better than it is.”
This is an accurate assessment. Everything associated with this program is seen through rose colored beer goggles, starting with people thinking we’re going to win National Championships every year to others miscalculating our talent levels!
I said in August we were a 8-4 team, because of the lack of talent on D, new coaching staff, defensive departures (transfers & otherwise), 3 new starters along the OL and a QB that was significantly less gifted than Aaron Murray. We are currently 6-2 and still could easily go 8-4 with potential losses to Kentucky and AU. Hell with the way Tech can run I wouldn’t put that game in the automatic win column either.
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DawgByte, I agree with your assessment except I thought we would likely go 9-3 or 10-2 depending on how the ball bounced. Good post.
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I agree wholeheartedly. And the goal next year, with a green quarterback and Pruitt’s first full class being freshmen, will be to win the SEC East, not the SEC Championship. I do not believe that UGA will have the talent level needed to dominate all opponents until 2016, and that is right on schedule for this program. Competing for a national championship every four years with the resources that B-M provides is about as good as we can expect, regardless of the coach.
Plenty of people will hold up Alabama as the example of where they want UGA’s program to be. Well then, like the Senator, direct your ire to the administration. In fiscal year 2011-2012, Alabama spent $14 million more on football than UGA. $14 MILLION. It took 14 years for UGA to spend $400,000 for a study about an indoor practice facility (to be funded in part by donations) while Alabama spent the equivalent of an entire indoor practice facility beating UGA everywhere but on the football field in just one year. UGA can win a national championship next year: the SNC or “Spending National Championship.” However, UGA won’t win that championship either but not because of injuries, transfers, suspensions, or even coaching changes. UGA will not win that championship because it will choose not to, and until we get the people in B-M that choose to win the Spending National Championship, just be happy you get a football national championship contender about every four years.
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^^This.
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Seth Emerson writes what all of us are saying and thinking.
For me goes back to a program that can not coach up players thru a season [look at the QB position], retain players [look at the secondary], keep players available [look at the secondary and the RBs via suspension, sanctions, & injuries], or any other reasons.
But the biggest problems for the football team is depth and offensive coaching. Someday CMR will wake up to the fact he does not have a offense like Ole Miss, Auburn, Alabama, MSU, or even UF now. He does not have a duel threat QB. When he gets one along with an OC, then he can take it to the next level. A QB has to be more than a game manager, whatever that means…perhaps he knows our system. Duel threat QB evens the roster on both sides of the ball…11 vs 11…and it creates more plays and running lanes.
We are stuck with what we have. A CMR whose coaching is slowly moving valuable, talented high school players from this state to other programs. And the AD, well, he like many on the Athletic Board still live in the I formation. But you can run 18 straight SEC losses with an offense that will change with the current SEC programs [like MSU, Ole Miss, Auburn, Florida, and even Tennessee and Kentucky].
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I stumbled across this while reading the post you mention from Seth. I don’t necessarily agree with all of it but I do understand the place where he is writing from
[url]http://www.macon.com/2014/11/02/3399058/yet-another-big-loss-for-mark.html[/url]
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Um…I know this is foolish, but Will, you do know we lead the league in scoring, even after Saturday. Right? Tell me you know that. With our best offensive player (and his top back-up in Michel) sidelined for 3 weeks. More than Auburn. More than MSU. More than any spread team. You do realize we have a commitment from the best QB recruit coming out since Matt Stafford? If you think our offensive philosophy is the problem, Lord…I quit.
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sUGAr….morons gonna moron, I am right there with you. If we had any semblance of a defense the past few years we would have won multiple championships.
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Actually… I believe Douchebag Shanks wrote that
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And he certainly is a douchbag.
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So if you don’t fall in line with the “Richt should keep his job because he’s a good man” crowd, you’re a d-bag and probably not a real Georgia fan?
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One can believe Richt is not a great coach without being a douchebag. Shanks fails to do that.
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It was a complete non-performance. My opinion, and it is that, is that this team was/(is, I hope not) mentally and emotionally fried after the 3-4 week fiasco. These kids are Todd Gurley’s friends and I have to believe that the emotional bubble finally burst as the University and the NCAA managed to extend this over such a long period. Seth Emerson said “Gurley’s step is much livelier” during the open week implying that the team/kids believed this was over. It was not. That’s my analysis and I’m sure people will pick it apart, but NO way this team or coaches are that bad. I’ll save my blame and actions after I see the whole body of our work. We could easily lose 3 of our last 4 games or win 3 of 4. We might even have a chance at still winning out. I think that is predicated on the teams mental and emotional state not X’s and O’s. Thus, the Butts Mehre factor is what needs changing and our willingness to stand behind our kids and play like the rest of the conference plays “The NCAA Game”. My thoughts on this only.
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Why would anyone believe it was over? We hired an attorney, not to defend Gurley, but to hand over additional information the NCAA did not have and could not get on their own. So why does it surprise us they tacked on an additional two games? The only thing that surprised me was that he gets to come back at all.
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Paul, are you a reliable source of information? Ha
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The NCAA said it strongly considered a stiffer sentence but cited UGA’s “due diligence” and Gurley’s “full disclosure” in setting the penalty at only four games. In other words, we handed them evidence they did not have and could not get. We always do. And we always pay the price. And somehow, we always seem surprised.
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Spurrier has said in the past that he could win it every year with Georgia’s talent…maybe we can hire him….
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Spurrier wanted the job in ’89, but the idiot in charge, Knapp, didn’t even consider him.
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Maybe Steve can sit an think about during his long Christmas break.
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Spurrier has said a lot of things he hasn’t been able to back up since coming to Columbia. Lot of mouth, no titles, SC history is still an oh-fer.
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I blame our wanna be “oakland raider-look alike-fans”. Maybe they haven’t noticed yet, or no one has told them, but the Raiders suck. About the same timeframe the CMR has been here….I’m just saying…
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LOL. Thanks for the belly laugh on an otherwise grim day in Dawgland.
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“The reality is that Georgia is a program that believes it’s better than it is.”
Who are the people who beliefs are false? The coaches, the players, the fans, or some random administrators? All the above?
Why can’t we accept what we all knew when the season started? That we just aren’t all that yet? We’ve got a mediocre at best QB, a defensive backfield that would have trouble playing on Fridays in some parts of the state, our best player is suspended, Marshall and Michel are hurt, Mitchell and Scott-Wesley are less than full go, and our back-up center is not “game ready” to say the least.
I want to celebrate in Atlanta and later in Dallas as much as anybody, but considering our personnel we are very fortunate to have been in any playoff discussion. We are going to be fine. Let’s re-populate the secondary, get a QB that looks and plays the part and maybe we can stay a little healthier in the future.
Look on the bright side. We may have convinced Foley to keep him.
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Agree totally with this. Sometimes you just lose games. At the start of the year I, like I’m sure a lot of folks, predicted a 9-3 regular season (although I thought we’d drop either Ark or Mizzou and beat Fla, but no matter). Now that we’re in the midst of a likely 9-3 season, I can’t really get upset over it.
I feel like everyone, including the players (who are kids), underestimated this Fla team after seeing them get housed by Mizzou in a totally bizarre game (statistically speaking). One thing the stats showed was that Fla has a very, very stout defense, the best we’ve seen all year. I’m surprised they ran on us as well as they did, but shit happens. Bama should’ve lost to Arkansas this year but got lucky.
We had two weeks to think Fla sucked, and two weeks to drink our own Koolaid. Our momentum got killed by the bye week (and the NCAA gut punch on Wednesday before the game re: Gurley), and their bye week allowed them to steady the ship and get focused. Sometimes shit happens and kids lose games.
Let’s just win this week, and next week, and then against Tech.
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Don’t you go bringing logic into this Derek.
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Very true Derek, we are missing a lot of critical parts from a team that had several question marks going in. Should we, could we, have won both of the games we have lost this season? Yes, but who seriously expected 8-0 at this point, especially when you look at the ingredients available? And don’t forget how serious the loss of Andrews was to blocking assignments on Saturday.
Everyone wants a team to play 100% every game, I would love that as well, but reality is no team escapes these off days, the best doesn’t always win, and certainly needs to catch the other team on an off week when they are sub par. Look at Miss State staving off an Arkansas team thast hasn’t won a conference game in over two seasons, or SC (and their genius coach) choking to a TN team that didn’t have a conference win, or Bama, and their brilliant coach needing a missed extra point against that same Arkansas team, or Auburn dodging a Hail Mary pass at the end to beat SC, etc., etc. We all think differently when our team inexplicably gets caught short.
UGA played emotionally, highly focused football for two weeks in road games despite all the distractions swirling around us, wonderful! All of us thought we had survived the worst thing that could happen, at the worst time on our schedule. But asking them to maintain that adrenaline during an off when we got even more bad news, then game week with additional bad news on the appeal, all at a time when the fan base was in revolt against those you would think they would support in a crisis. Maybe it became too much, the game of football is such an emotional ride with huge ups and downs played against a backdrop of being a 18-22 year old college student with all that goes with that. I don’t think I was surprised that Florida had more in the tank than we did, it didn’t look like that early, but then came the missed (?) FG, the fake FG, and everything turned.
I didn’t think we had a championship team at the beginning of the season, or after 4 weeks, but like many I got caught up in the enthusiasm of those two impressive road victories and thought perhaps our defense was better than what we saw against SC and TN, that it was developing at a rate that we could compete in Atlanta with the West winner. Probably not compete, but we would have some excitement to build on going into the off season with a solid recruiting class lining up. I still think this can be a pretty good team but we clearly aren’t championship caliber at this point, but guess what? There are 120 other teams that aren’t any better, or wouldn’t win the SEC either. It isn’t cause to begin blowing up everything and eating our own. We have a Top 12 program, not Top 5 every year, hasn’t ever been, won’t ever be, but we can compete, and we are not willing to fudge to change that on an every year basis. We don’t grossly bend the rules on signing to 85, we don’t excuse bad drug tests or what others consider minor infractions, and we don’t selectively punish based on who the athlete is or who the opponent is. I can live with that, some cannot.
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Great post, Mac. I agree.
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In other words, you can live with losing.
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I find these “I predicted we would be 8-4 or 9-3 before the season, and that’s the way it’s shaping up, so I’m cool” comments kind of amusing. Was the unprecedented shittiness of the SEC East also predicted? Did you predict that we’d be favored in all our games so far, but still lose a couple? If so, what does this say?
Each year, we should always expect and accept a few losses in games we’re supposed to win, I guess. Of course, we should never expect to win any games that we in which we’re underdogs.
FWIW, I thought we’d be 9-3 too, factoring in the fact that we’d probably wet the bed in at least one, probably two games in which we should win, as we do each year. Yea, I was right! But for some reason, I’m still not cool with it.
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I was a sucker. I drank of the Kool-Aid. I thought we would win every game of the regular season. Every. Damn. Game. After all, we were favored.
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Actually Mayor, the two losers I see on these comment replies are you and the always bad-mouthing md. You are always good for a childish rant after every loss or close game but swing back when the winds are favorable. He is just a miserable person all the time with nothing to add so why would anyone ever listen to him? But since being cool seems important to him/her, this is his time of year in the northland to be cool, his only chance, and Mother Nature has to do it for him.
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Spot on Senator. Burn it all down along with the liquor big money boosters…
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Georgia (UGA) can only get a tough enough and excellent football head coach if:
Otherwise, it will get the same kind of person like Richt who thinks football is part of Sunday school.
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Well it’s at least part of the community and part of a university. The idea that we need to get a Tallahassee or Knoxville-like PD so that we can get idiots acting with impunity so you can brag to your friends about your football team isn’t something most georgia fans are into. There are places who don’t give a damn about anything except winning. Make the move; buy the gear. What you seem to want is easily available to you.
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“The reality is that Georgia is a program that believes it’s better than it is.”
So was Alabama pre-Saban. So was Auburn pre-Malzahn. Not saying that we should replace Richt. I just don’t understand why you and others treat that discussion as if it’s a thought that is too absurd to even entertain. Whenever I think of mediocre programs becoming great, there always seems to be a head coaching change that precipitates the improvement.
And the idea is often shot down with some version of the question, always asked with a tinge of aggressive sarcasm, “Okay, fine, who would you hire right now? Right now. Who would you hire right this minute!?” But that’s just irrational. As if the discussion is only worth having when there is already a clear candidate lined up, someone whose success is all-but-inevitable given the evidence.
I think it’s fair to say that an athletic program can have a “personality,” or something analogous to it. And at this point, I think the problem has something to do with this program’s personality. The personality needs to change. I used to think that was compatible with Richt still being the head coach. I’m no longer sure of that.
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Explain to me why you think the athletic department is capable of successfully hiring a replacement for Richt.
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+1. After all, they blew the 2 previous hires. Admittedly GM was AD then but nothing I’ve seen from him says he would do any better.
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*wasn’t AD then
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Senator, by that logic, no underperforming coach would ever be replaced. There is a certain amount of risk when making a coaching change which can’t be eliminated. There are no arbitrage opportunities in this business.
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Oh, bullshit. I’m not expecting any guarantees in this life. But I have no faith in a hire made by an organization that has a track record of settling for less.
The problem isn’t risk. It’s letting people make hiring decisions that lack the expertise and motivation to do so properly.
You think UT was well served by Mike Hamilton?
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I wasn’t being snarky, I just truly don’t understand your position. Because there is a possibility that the AD could make a bad hire, they should just accept the results we’ve been getting as good enough?
To me that sounds like how you end up running a program into the ground first, then start looking for a new coach.
I get the lack of faith in BM, but I don’t want to be held hostage by it.
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Because there is a possibility? Fuck. There’s a possibility I could win the lottery tomorrow. That doesn’t mean I’m going to spend a million dollars today in anticipation of that.
I don’t want to toss out a coach who’s coached in more than a couple of SECCGs and won some unless I feel like the people doing the hiring and firing know what they’re doing.
B-M’s track record is lousy and has been so for a couple of decades. What you’re really saying is that you’ll take your chances they get lucky – and if they don’t, there’s always the next time. That’s a helluva way to run a business. But at least you’ll get some short-term jollies, right?
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Mal Moore hired Francione. Mal Moore hired Mike Price. Mal Moore hired Mike Shula. What makes you think he could land Saban?
The point is that everyone hires flops. UF has done it, Notre Dame has done it a few times. Hell, who hasn’t? If there is anything that has been established its that you don’t kick a guy out until he leaves you no choice because that the grass on the other side might well be brown. Ole Miss found that out when they fired Cutcliffe. UT found it out when they fired Fulmer.
The fact of the matter is that there are very few “can’t miss” coaches. We should be very happy with what we have. It could be a helluva lot worse. The chances that it would be better are about the same as me winning the lotto.
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Here are Richt’s predecessors: Donnan, Glen Mason and Goff. B-M had one slam dunk hire in its face in the last thirty years – Erk Russell – and it botched the hire.
The issue isn’t that the hiring process entails risks. It’s that given the way Georgia hires coaches, there’s no reason to think that the next guy will better Richt other than as a result of sheer random luck.
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I’m agreeing with the conclusion, but not the rationale. I don’t think anybody has hiring coaches figured out. You have lucky AD’s and not so lucky AD’s. AD’s that were once lucky and AD’s who are now quite stupid and ineffectual and vice versa. Too many variables involved. Art Modell is an idiot but Bob Craft is a genius. Same coach. Saban couldn’t win at Miami. Spurrier couldn’t win at Washington. Both pretty damn good coaches. Bobby Bowden got ran out of West Virginia and retires with more wins than anybody in college football. Urban Meyer wins two titles and leaves the program in shambles. Picking coaches is like picking stocks. You might as well hand two photos to a chimp and see which one he wipes his ass with. It’s as good as any other system. No one loves this discussion more than Jimmy Sexton because dumb and impatient fan bases make him millions.
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Again, my issue isn’t with risk. As you say, the process is risky enough as it is. It doesn’t need to be degraded further with a half-assed approach to hiring. And that’s pretty much what I would expect out of B-M.
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Not trying to highjack the thread Senator, but using that same logic with the reason we don’t go to eight team playoff because some doofus might then take it to 16,32, or 64 is also not making the right “risky” decision because of some perceived guarantee of a failure later.
No, these aren’t apples to apples as a situation but the theme seems to be a common one. I have never understood the argument that says “don’t make a good decision because we might screw it up later” is like saying don’t get your driver’s license because it will increase your likelihood of getting injured in a car accident.
I oppose making a change at HC because I don’t think we need one, but on this blog that isn’t the slam dunk to keep it is within the overall fan base that I talk with. I favor going to an eight team playoff because we need a better system to determine a champion than four can ever give us.
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Skipping past your eight-team monomania, saying that B-M can’t be trusted to make a valid hiring decision isn’t the same thing as saying that Richt should or shouldn’t be retained. It simply means that nobody should expect that things will get better if Richt is no longer the head coach.
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I’d like to discuss Derek’s post from the perspective of organizational failure. The Senator has hypothesized that Richt is not the real problem, that B-M is instead (a position I share). Saban is a pretty damn good coach as Derek said (look at what he did at LSU). He couldn’t win at Miami in the NFL. He then left. Now look at what he did at Bama. Same with Spurrier at FU, Washington, then South Carolina. The 2 NFL teams were dumpster fires before and still are now. It’s the organizations that are screwed up not Saban and Spurrier. That’s the point I was trying to make earlier and I think Bluto is making also.
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That is simply sad, my conviction of the 8 team playoff is “monomania”, your comments/thoughts haven’t varied but you are so pompous and self righteous that you are unchallengeable in your close mindedness that you feel you are different. Sad, but consistent….and a growing trend.
And I didn’t question your opinion about risk in the B-M decision if it came to that, there is always that risk with change, not just at B-M.
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Mac, what is the point of bringing up the subject of the playoff in connection with this topic? You have your opinion about it and I have mine. Neither have changed.
But I’m the close-minded one.
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I acknowledged my comment was off the subject in my opening words, it was meant to draw a line between your philosophy and rationale on this subject versus your “continued expansion is inevitable” comments. I think your stated feelings about decision making are somewhat contradictory.
I fully recognize neither of us have changed our positions on playoffs, nor is it likely either will any time soon (although the 4-sixteen team conference possibility represents common ground.) I do take issue with the “monomania” characterization, I suppose we could both use that label for the other and be off the mark a similar amount.
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Any B-M is always a risk.
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Everyone worships Saban. Remember how Alabama got Saban? It offered the job to Rich Rodriguez and Rich Rod turned it down. Alabama then offered Saban. Had Alabama implemented Plan A it would not be the program it is now. Hiring coaches is a crapshoot. When the incumbent is Goff or Dubose or Zook the risks of taking a crapshoot are better. When the chances of getting a better coach are much lower the crapshoot is a much better risk.
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I’d really like to see an entire post that spells out some things for us younger fans, and those that just don’t know.
(1) Saying BM is vague. Is there a particular influence, inside or out that you’re talking about? It sounds like you believe the same people have made all the hires the past 30 years.
(2) What institutional changes would you propose?
Drug rules? Curbing the ACCPD’s crackdowns? Spend more on what specifically?
(3) Why do you think the people working inside BM are less hungry than those inside Auburn or Florida or Ohio State’s Athletic Dept? Which people in particular? Compliance? Marketing? I have no idea what they’re doing that limits the football team.
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This is precisely the sort of poor logical form that I’m complaining about. You apparently think that (a) “think[ing] the athletic department is capable of successfully hiring a replacement for Richt” is a necessary condition for (b) discussing whether or not Richt is capable of taking this program to where the fans would like to see it. I see those as two completely different topics. And frankly, I think it’s obvious that those are two completely different topics — so obvious, in fact, that when people suggest it’s “laughable” to want to discuss (b), they’re either being disingenuous or simply not thinking clearly.
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I agree with the Senator on this one. How can you rely on a group that would fuck up a one car funeral to make the most critical hire in the entire Athletic Department? I have always been a staunch Richt/Bobo supporter and even after the fiasco of this past weekend I am not on the #firericht #firebobo train unless you can guarantee we get someone who is better. And you or anyone else over at BM can’t do that.
It isn’t the 80’s or 90’s or even early 00’s where a handful of programs competed for the MNC every year because that is where all the talent was. In this era of kids having personal coaches in middle school and coming into college ready to play the gap between the “haves” and “have nots” is shrinking. Why would and Art Briles leave Baylor or a Gary Patterson leave TCU for UGA? They both have nationally relevant programs with an easier path to the playoff in the Big 12. Unless we want to go the coordinator route again it is going to mean plucking a coach from the AAC/CUSA/Sun Belt/MWC ranks and quite honestly I can’t name one that appeals to me.
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“I agree with the Senator on this one.”
Then you’re missing my point.
And the rest of your comment just illustrates my earlier point.
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I’m not the one changing the topic here. Read my post – it’s not about what Richt’s capable of. It’s that if you’re complaining about the state of the program, there’s another place where you should focus.
I’m really getting tired of people telling me I don’t know what I’m talking about here.
Tell me something. If Richt’s not capable of taking the program where you – since you’re speaking for all fans here – think it should be, why do you think the next guy would be, given who’s making the call?
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Where did I say that I have any confidence in the people “making the call”? My point, again, is simply that this is not a necessary condition for having a conversation about whether such a call needs to be made. You and others seem to think it is, and I cannot for the life of me understand why.
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Again, you are putting words in my mouth. My post isn’t about whether Richt should be dismissed.
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So, you think that a conversation about whether a coach should be replaced is independent of how the coach would be replaced? For the life of me, I can’t understand that thought process.
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If Richt “taking this program to where the fans would like to see it” means being in the top four after the SEC CG, thus making the playoffs, then Richt has done that more than once.
So, he can.
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Mal Moore got it right by throwing a boatload of cash at a can’t miss coach with one national championship in the SEC under his belt.
B-M isn’t going to do that. If Richt is fired, we will replace him with Bobo, or Pruitt, or a FCS coach, or a different assistant that everyone thinks/hopes is ready for the head job. And that’s not the way to replace the 10th winningest active coach with at least 5 years experience.
B-M has been dragged kicking and screaming into the era of spending big money on multi-year contracts for coaches and assistants. There’s no indication that they will leap head first into the breach of paying head coaches $5-7 million and assistants >$1 million to try to improve 1 win/year.
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You’re right on the money here — no pun intended.
And I’ll add to what you’re saying: Richt has the 7th-highest winning percentage among active head coaches in the Bowl Subdivision (or whatever it’s called). Here’s the list (current team in parentheses):
Chris Petersen (Washington): .867
Urban Meyer (Ohio State): .839
Bob Stoops (Oklahoma): .802
Nick Saban (Alabama): .747
Brian Kelly (Notre Dame): .745
Craig Bohl (Wyoming): .745
Gary Patterson (TCU): .738
Mark Richt (Georgia): .737
I would suggest that most of those coaches’ winning percentages are somewhat inflated, as they include their records at lower-tier programs. Meyer’s .839 includes stints at Bowling Green and Utah; Saban’s percentage includes Toledo; Kelly’s includes Grand Valley State and Central Michigan; Bohl’s is comprised almost completely of his career at North Dakota State.
By all metrics other than total wins (which would require a lengthy career) and national championships (two others can each claim one), Mark Richt is Georgia’s most accomplished coach of all time.
Based on the above numbers, this incompetent administration’s chances of hiring someone who’s going to do better — particularly with the systemic disadvantages that administration insists on imposing on the program — are virtually zero. That’s especially true in light of what we’ve seen from Georgia in the past hundred years: absolutely no track record of hiring sitting head coaches who have already been successful elsewhere.
Hiring a successful head coach and/or attempting to adjust the local culture (e.g., the ACC police department) or departmental policies (automatic suspensions for first positive marijuana tests; consistently self-reporting every rumored violation to the NCAA; never spending “reserve fund” money)? That just wouldn’t be the Georgia Way.
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Make that 8th-highest. I wish WordPress allowed comments to be edited.
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With that in mind, I simply cannot imagine some savior roaring into town and “righting the ship.” Under the constraints around the program now, I don’t think Nick Saban, Vince Dooley, Knute Rockne, Bear Bryant, or Vince Lombardi would do better than Mark Richt at Georgia. Equally important: no good coach with an ounce of self-awareness would take the Georgia job. Who wants to work at a place where your bosses micromanage your job and flat-out refuse to provide the resources necessary to compete with everyone else you play? Can you imagine a Saban or a Meyer or a Stoops agreeing to work there, under those conditions? You don’t think coaches like them would insist on having some say over the athletic department’s suspension policies, or the local police department’s affinity for publicly jailing football players for minor offenses?
I’ll say it again: when Richt leaves Georgia, the administration will hire another “up-and-coming” coordinator, or maybe a smaller school’s head coach. And Richt’s successor will enjoy success on par with what we saw from Derek Dooley at Tennessee.
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Mal Moore threw a boatload of cash at Rich a Rod before he threw a boatload of cash at Saban. Rich Rod turned him dow. He threw more money at Saban because he did not want to be embarrassed by having two coaches turn him down. Maybe we can do like Moore and offer the job to Rich Rod.
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I’m not sire if RichRod is a GCM™. Better not put him on any serious list of candidates.
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Good post. Can we revisit it each time the pessimistic (realistic) portion of the fan-base is mocked for their “doom and gloom” outlook for certain games. It’s not because Larry Munson is haunting the program, it’s because of games like Saturday. The persistent pattern of bed-wetting in certain games. The question is not if it will come, but when.
Can we revisit this post when non-Dawg writers call the program out for what is…the SEC’s Paper Tiger. Hell, no wonder Notre Dame was so anxious to sign us up for a series. The false believe of the fan base is part of the underlying problem that you note–our administrators won’t change, our coaches obviously won’t change until they are forced to by the fans, and as long as those fans blindly feel like things our going great (Hey, Herbstreit has us in the playoffs after week ONE!!) without a grain of skepticism…nothing is going to change.
The fact is, most fans are blinded by our record, which has been supported by a very favorable schedule for the last couple years. Hell, we’re not a very good team, but should still be 8-0 right now, given our schedule. In the SEC West, we are a 6th place team. Until we as a fan base, recognize who we really are, the status quo will reign–and more games like Saturday’s will continue to occur.
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“We have met the enemy and he is us.”
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Ga has grown a custom to loosing one game a year to a team we should not… that has become our m.o.
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Here is a point that was made to me the other day here in Nebraska. I am a die hard Georgia Fan! I am from Athens, Georgia. I go to church with CMR. He is a good man! I don’t think that fans disagree with that at all. We all love his family, his integrity and honesty within the program. I am confounded as to why we lay eggs like this all the time. It bothers me on both sides of the coin…..
but this point was made and I think it rings true. Atlanta, or Georgia in of itself has become so culturally diversified that it is a hub of so many varying degrees. Georgia Football is not talked about on the Fourth of July….it’s not a national pastime in our state. Once upon a time it was.
Here in Nebraska it is. It’s the only thing they have. Our stadium will fill up with 30,000 Spring Game Attendees….while here in Lincoln they show up with 80,000 on their annual spring game. 10% to 20% are diehard bulldogs. The rest are their for their family affair. That’s UGA culture. Is it admirable. Absolutely. Will it win football games and take you to the dance. Absolutely not.
With that said.. CMR can win a championship in the Big Ten I believe. So many weak games across so many weak schedules. Unless the administration ever provides CMR with whatever he needs nothing will change. Bobo is an albatross around his neck. I believe he knows it deep down….but you will never hear him admit that. Why? He’s loyal which about cost him with Willie Martinez….
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You raise an interesting point that I have thought about for years, Adam. I for the life of me cannot understand why an upper-level Big 10 team hasn’t made a run at Richt. Purdue used to be one of the top teams in the B1G but has fallen on hard times the last few years. He’s a perfect fit there, a passing school (remember Drew Brees?). Of course there’s Michigan, also a former passing school that no longer can complete a pass. One of the top programs in the nation, historically.
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Pure bullshit. The excuses you make to support Richt are unbelievable. Its time for him to go. Period. We can do better, regardless of what you think and your fucking mancrush on our coach.
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Who? Name your replacement if you were the AD.
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This is an idiotic argument, there are plenty of good coaches besides the 10-15 names we know about.
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A: I really don’t think this meal is good.
B: Well, what would you rather eat? Huh? Huh?! Tell me right now, what meal would be better than the one you’ve got now?!
A: I’m sorry … what? Why are you asking that?
B: Because you can’t even talk about whether or not your current meal is good until you have another meal prepared. And you have to know beforehand that you’ll enjoy the replacement meal more than your current meal. Everyone knows that.
A: Wait … what? Why think like that?
B: Because it’s “laughable” to talk about whether or not one meal is good until you have a better meal prepared.
A: That’s obviously bullshit.
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The best thing about your analogy is that the quality of the “meal” is a function of who’s running the kitchen (and the likelihood that they can do better with another recipe). Which pretty much endorses the Senator’s point…
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I really don’t think this meal is good, so I think I’ll let the chef make me something else. And if that one isn’t good, then I’ll let him try again.
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This is the shit I get for being a sports fan who also understands how basic sentential logic works. I give up.
I’m gonna go anticipate the start of basketball season. Thankfully, the circumstances of my life afford me to opportunity to root for at least one sports program that knows how to fucking contend.
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You think I want to dismiss the argument about whether the food is good, when what I’m arguing about is that the restaurant’s management doesn’t really make an effort to hire the best chefs it can and ensure they can maximize the resources of the kitchen to their fullest.
Nobody is stopping you or anyone else from being a food critic. It’s just not the subject of this post. Sorry that offends every fiber of your being.
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Another problem is the ingredients. If the Chef goes to the farmer’s market and buys lots of really great vegetables and the owner makes the Chef throw half of them out, and some are key to making certain dishes, how can those dishes be made? Either the Chef has to make something else that is not popular or he tries to make a dish without all the necessary parts.
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By the way, since we’re all students of logic here, perhaps you could go back, re-read my post and explain how my “laughable” comment has anything to do with your agenda.
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I’ll have Steak Tartar–hold the Tartar sauce.
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P.S. I want fries with my Steak Tartar–with plenty of ketchup. 🙂
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I agree with TF. We should fire Richt immediately and then commence a search for the best available coach willing to come to Athens for $2-3 million a year. I hear Muschamp will soon be available. I know Dooley Jr. is and he has ties to the city/school!
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Next time, pardner, try the decaf.
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Things are not as bad as they seem; Anyone who honestly thought we would be 8-0 at this point is an idiot. The two teams that have beaten us are division rivals who aren’t ranked anymore. We have a young team with some age in spots and that will be our MO for the next couple of years. But, we have a damn good recruiting class and coaches who can coach them up. These young men have actually performed better than I thought they would and they have been through the fire this season. We had a national audience for the Clemson win and tough sledding in Columbia, SC. We were gut punched by Gurleygate, but the young guys hung in there and marched on. From the second half of the Arkansas game, defensive coordinators have found a weakness in the center of our run game. No, I am not happy with the Florida humiliation, but I’m not going to burn the house down over it either. The next few years of top recruiting classes and coaching is going to be interesting, but there are going to be some hiccups.
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What I find frustrating is that I’m sure at some point this week, one of the players will be quoted saying how lightly they took Florida and how they expected to be handed the win in Jacksonville. It happens every year.
I’m not exonerating the coaches. Good teams that are well coached don’t do that much. Although Saban will tell you that his team did exactly that in last year’s bowl game. But I’m also not sure how Richt can stop it. I’m sure he tells the team to work hard and expect a fight in every game. I’m sure the staff didn’t spend the bye week focusing on Kentucky. But the players are just ignoring the memo.
I don’t think Saturday was the coaches’ finest hour. But I think most of our problem was effort and execution. Even playing a base defense with no input from the sideline, we should be able to hold UF to fewer yards rushing than Eastern Michigan did. Hell, I’ve coached 12 year-olds who would adjust on their own to a team running the same play over and over again even if their coaches never told them to. It’s baffling why college kids couldn’t.
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And here I thought it would be at least a week or two for the Richt excuse train to get rolling good. Jump aboard gentlemen because today’s most popular excuse was if Richt can’t get it done then we are just screwed because no one at B-M is capable of making a decent hire. Incredible.
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Well…both things are true. Richt can’t get it done and the idiots at B-M are not capable of making a decent hire.
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This whole string of posts is why I’m giving up caring about the team anymore. We fans sit here and get all worked up about something we really can’t do anything about. We don’t get a vote. The UGAAA is not a democracy. The only people who get anything out of this are the guys who run the blogs (I love yours just using this as a point). I live 500 miles from Athens in Florida and have almost no Dawgs to bitch at about my team so these blogs offer an outlet. My father had an old saying that is very appropriate for all these fire Mark guys. “Wish in one hand and spit in the other and see which one fills up first.” We are what we are so piss and moan all you want but we ain’t going to change one damn thing at B-M. I for one am through trying. I just hope the team doesn’t quit and nothing that has happened in the past gives me any reason to think they will. By the way Munson was right to always be worried. He was a damn realist.
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Forget about it Jake, it’s Athenstown!
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P.S. I live IN Athens and most people I know couldn’t give a shit less about any of this. Funny how that works.
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