When the Georgia Way meets the Mark Bradley Way

Bradley’s in full pot-stirring mode now.

As we know, the lack of an indoor practice facility has become a flashpoint for Georgia coaches, who believe they really, really need one to keep up with the Butch Joneses of the SEC. (Tennessee has one. Heck, so does Georgia Tech.) Here was McGarity’s take:

“Georgia spent $33 million on the addition (to Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall) that was completed in 2010. (McGarity started as AD in September of that year.) That was four years ago. That would have been the perfect time, if the emphasis was on an indoor building, to do it. That had been on the drawing board since 1999 and 2000 – that never got off the ground. I come in and I’m moving into a brand new building and the indoor facility was not on the radar.

“Let’s fast-forward to 2013, to where it does become important. The first thing we do is talk about it; we have an allocation for the research for our athletic board, which was granted; we’ve selected an architect; we’re in the programming stage right now. When we meet with our board in February, we should have more information on cost and location so we can start the fund-raising.

“Once it was identified as being really, really important — I don’t know how important it was in 2009 or ’10, but if it had been that important, it would have been done at that time – so while it wasn’t that important and we played football outside and that’s the elements we need … (pause) … things change. We react to that.

“There’s a couple of other things that Mark really wants to do that just came to our attention like renovating the football locker room at the stadium and creating a recruiting room in the stadium. Well, once he made me aware of those two things, they were automatically put on our radar. But a lot of times it’s got to be the coach expressing to us what’s important. My question to coaches is, ‘What can I do to help you?’ And if I don’t know about it, I can’t predict what they want in that vein.”

And now, if you’re asking: “Do you, having spoken with McGarity for half and hour, feel that the rumors of a growing tension within the athletic department are overstated?”, the answer is …

No. I do not.

Bradley is going to force me into doing something I don’t ordinarily do, damn it – defend Butts-Mehre on the spending front.

The reality is that an IPF wasn’t a priority for Richt for some time and it really wasn’t much of an issue for the program.  That being the case, there were better places for the AD to spend department resources.  Times change.  More money rolling in to the SEC has led to arms races all over the map, including facilities, and things like IPFs have become issues on the recruiting trail.  McGarity may be fiscally prudent/frugal, but he will listen to complaints that might affect the money flow.

As for Bradley’s rumors, anybody with half a brain who heard Pruitt’s public complaining a month ago would have realized back then that there was “tension” in the athletic department over spending.  That it’s taken this long for him to catch that… well, how much of his brain does that mean Bradley uses?

Thursday morning buffet

Lots of stuff to sample today.

• Mark Bradley scores an interview with Greg McGarity and it comes out about as you’d expect, as McGarity fences well with Bradley’s questioning.  But it’s interesting to me that McGarity believes he won’t have a tough time pulling the trigger on Richt’s Georgia career, if things come to that, because he’s “had to do it five times already with very popular sports here — gymnastics, baseball, soccer”.  Yes, your flagship athletic program is just like those others.
• And in another AD interview, Jeremy Foley describes the breaking point for the decision to fire Will Muschamp:  “There was a lot of negativity that was going to be hard to overcome, especially in recruiting. This business is hard when a big ball starts rolling downhill and you have to catch it and roll it back up the hill.”  That one I buy.
• A federal judge rejected the NCAA’s preliminary settlement in the concussion case, in part over concerns about the adequacy of the settlement amount.  Cue the PR response:  “NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said the association is reviewing the decision.”  Hey, at least there was a response.
• You’ve probably heard that Leonard Floyd won’t play in the Belk Bowl because he’s had shoulder surgery.  Check out Richt’s comment:  “We wanted to give [Floyd] the maximum amount of time to be prepared for his senior year…”  Think they care about that if Georgia were in the CFP semis?
• Feel free to insert the usual “Mark Richt has lost control” snark here.
• This will come as a blow to Georgia fans yearning for Gary Patterson.  The man was already making in excess of $4 million a year and TCU just gave him an extension with a presumed bump to that amount.  Care to count how high you’d have to go to make him consider a move to Athens?  (Assuming a Georgia Way discount, of course.)
• Bill Connelly explores the predictive value of second-order wins.
• Speaking of Bill, he estimates that he’s written something on the order of one and one-half million words this year.  I am in awe, sir.
• Here’s an article on Bobo’s job interview at CSU, from the Colorado side.  One point of interest:  “The fact Florida, considered to be a deep-pocketed athletic department with considerable cash reserves, balked at paying McElwain’s $7.5 million buyout could have a chilling effect on upwardly mobile coaching prospects not willing to commit to making Colorado State their final stop.”  Does that mean Bobo’s interest is an attempt to leverage more money out of Butts-Mehre, or does he offer to take a discount on his proposed CSU salary to get a manageable buyout amount?  (Bonus question:  which do you think Butts-Mehre would prefer?)

This is why way-too-early predictions are way too early.

You may remember Barrett Sallee dissing Georgia’s chances in the SEC East next season because, in part, of the coming renaissance in Gainesville:  “Florida turned over a new leaf and is rebuilding the program with offensive-minded head coach Jim McElwain.”

Yeah, well, rebuilding isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.

A third member from Florida’s 2012 recruiting class is leaving early for the NFL.

Left tackle D.J. Humphries will forgo his senior season and enter the draft, sources told The Sun.

Defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. and running back Matt Jones both made the same decision a few weeks ago. Two more juniors, defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard and linebacker Antonio Morrison, are also considering early exits…

His departure leaves UF with only eight returning offensive linemen for 2015 and just one upperclassman, Trip Thurman. Junior guard Tyler Moore is also entering the draft, while Nolan Kelleher (back) and Drew Sarvary (concussion) have been placed on medical hardship.

The Gators want to sign five or six offensive linemen in their next class, which means they’re going to have a green two-deep.  None of which is to say they can’t be better next season.  Just that making predictions of inevitable improvement in 2015 before the rest of the 2014 season has played out is generally a textbook example of premature.

Another data point to ignore

Michigan has reportedly offered to make Jim Harbaugh college football’s first $8 million a year head coach.

At Alabama, they’ll respond by crying, “this aggression cannot stand, man!” and laying a few more bucks at Saban’s feet.

At Georgia, they’ll give Richt his annual review and go read their current investment statement.

A sleepless night plays tricks on the brain.

Had a little trouble falling asleep last night… indigestion.  While I toss and turn, the following perverse series of thoughts cross my mind:

• Mike Bobo gets the Colorado State job.
• Bobo signs a contract similar to the one McElwain signed, complete with a ginormous buyout provision.
• Bobo goes on to become a raging success as CSU’s head coach.
• Richt retires four years from now and Bobo is the obvious leading candidate to succeed him.  The fan base and the money guys are united in this.
• McGarity gets embroiled in a bidding war with Jeremy Foley, who has to replace McElwain, who’s been canned for failing to get Florida back to the SECCG.
• As a result, McGarity agrees to pay CSU a $7 million buyout to sign Bobo as Georgia’s head coach – an amount that far exceeds what it would have taken to keep Bobo in Athens in the first place.

Tell me that isn’t the most Georgia Way thing ever.

I gotta cut back on the Mexican food.