And so begins the Georgia career of the coach whose name is likely to generate the most word play in the coming season from hack bloggers like me.
Rob Sale, a former LSU interior lineman, spent the past three seasons at McNeese State, an FCS school in Louisiana, where he was the co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach. Prior to that Sale was an assistant strength and conditioning coach and offensive analyst at Alabama.
Sale, a native of Monroe, La., was a three-year starter on the LSU offensive line from 2001-03. He played guard and center.
“We’re excited about the addition of Rob as our new offensive line coach and look forward to the contributions he’ll make to our program,” head coach Mark Richt said in a statement Saturday. “I firmly believe he’s going to be the perfect fit for Georgia.”
I presume the next note will come as no surprise to anyone who’s followed Georgia football over the past year.
He was on the same Alabama staff from 2007-11 as Jeremy Pruitt, now Georgia’s defensive coordinator, and Kevin Sherrer, now a Georgia assistant coach. The Bulldogs also recently hired Mark Hoeke, who had been at Alabama, as strength and conditioning coordinator.
For all of you who bemoan that it’s a shame Georgia isn’t more like Alabama, happier now?
Sale has a lot to work with next season. Hopefully he can hit his stride quickly in the last month of recruiting and take it from there.
Is anyone else starting to think feel like Richt is allowing Pruitt to assemble HIS staff? Kind of a super secret head coach in waiting sorta thing?
Or does he just really respect Pruitt’s opinion? I’m happy either way… GATA!
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Honestly, I thought this was probably part of Pruitt’s appeal to Georgia. No guarantee were made and no titles given but Richt has been open about how long he planned on coaching and what his next calling is. I have no doubt it was talked about with Bobo, Pruitt and probably Schottenheimer, too. At this point, I firmly believe our next HC will be a current or former assistant of Richt’s. He’s starting to build his own good coaching tree.
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“…but Richt has been open about how long he planned on coaching and what his next calling is.”
I have a serious question for anyone who can answer. Anything I’ve ever seen or heard from Richt indicated he wanted to be in Athens coaching Georgia football for a long time and he has never indicated plans to leave football for some other calling. In fact, he’s gone out of his way to say he WANTS to be here for a long time. Where did this meme that seems to be recycled from time to time come from? Is this just Richt haters fantasizing?
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Yes.
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Fantasizing by Fire Richt faction … and Pruitt-Savior-of-UGA-FB fan boys. I LOVE what I’m seeing thus far from Pruitt on teaching and scouting talent as well as his injection of needed changes to practice structure and, it appears, approaches to recruiting and S&C. However, folks need to slow their roll with HCIW or Shadow HC talk. Pruitt may very well prove himself to be an elite DC and even a HC (if he can harness the “Boom” thing that hurt WM), but right now he’s the yang to Richt’s yin – absent since BVG departed – and a change agent. Pruitt’s volatility and aggressiveness currently compliment CMR’s personality rather than eclipse it. CMR’s stability, CEO gravitas and newfound willingness to look anew at how we run the program – what’s best for the program vs personal ego – are the foundation.
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If CJP is as good as we all want him to be, he will not be at UGA long enough to get that offer. I suspect we are going to be very good for, at least, the next couple of years so if we continue to improve on defense like we did this past year, he will be grabbed away from us. And that seems fair to me, he has his aspirations to deal with and doing a great job is what we brought him in for. By then we would have changed the culture and talent/skill level and could survive his departure. CMR will not be leaving anytime soon, and things are going to get a lot more fun around Athens for everyone that stays.
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I just don’t think Richt respecting Pruitt’s opinion is any indication that he is HCIW. That idea has only worked at FSU and one that we should forget for UGA. Who knows next year we may hate Pruitt.
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It’s really just a promise to a valued assistant coach in hopes they’ll stick around as long as needed, IMO.
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Don’t care about anyone’s motivations, just give me a guy who can recruit OL the same way we bring RBs and QBs.
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From the initial specs, there’s nothing not to like here. Is it fall yet?
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Who is bemoaning that we should be more like Alabama, other than the winning championships aspect? I want Georgia to be the team that everyone emulates and steals talent from. Not Alabama. Innovation is what we need, not imitation.
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“Innovation is what we need, not imitation.”
…* any good idea, even innovation, can get carried too far or applied too blindly; and that for many companies (including your own, perhaps) there is still some merit in imitation…that is, so long as it is planned and executed wisely.*
https://hbr.org/1966/09/innovative-imitation/ar/1
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I guess we shouldn’t Schott Sale this offensive staff yet.
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Go take a shower. That’s filthy.
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You’re off your Rocker.
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The Dog Lives here Jeremy, you’re only visiting.
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If uga keeps modeling the program after Alabama, how will we ever beat Ohio State.
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+1
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What ars they, 1-13 against SEC in bowls now, win against Arkansas having been vacated.
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I definitely do not have time for that shit.
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+1 Now that was funny stuff.
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Played in his first college game against Georgia in Athens in 1999
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Yikes….Josh Booty and Quincy. Helluva game.
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We thought we had struck gold with Quincey (throw it over their heads)Cater. The cornucopia of quarterbacking talent we had stockpiled didn’t see it that way leaving us with Cory Phillips as the heir to the 2nd team qb spot. For what it’s worth Cory was a DGD who hung in the pocket and took shot after shot to complete a pass. Gutsy qb.
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That DSOR with Phillips vs Ben Leard will like Hart County’s finest sports moment bar none. Two SEC qb’s from the same VERY small town. Pretty cool…
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Getting happier, just need an indoor facility and continued expansion of the S&C program.
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Seems like he’s had some success as a coach already, and eager to hit the road recruiting. If he can bring in 1 or 2 good OTs he’ll be worth his weight in gold.
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Hey, I am sold on Sale.
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I can picture the headline now. Dawgs Offense does well for 2 Qtrs and then gets beat in the 2nd half. “Half Off Sale”.
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Is it true we only have one OL committed for this class? That’s pretty scary
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I count two on the Rivals list…
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I hope the similarity to Stacy Searles ends at the name and line of work…
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Richt is not intentionally going out and hiring former Alabama coaches. I’ll bet that whatever he has done at McNeese St. was much more of a selling point. He looks like a solid hire to me.
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Pruitt for head coach after Richt retires would be perfect. He is young and hungry for success. Not to mention a great DC, teacher, and motivator. Maybe Bobo jumped ship bc of Pruitt’s success and appeal to CMR?
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What success? Don’t get me wrong, I like what Pruitt is doing but we will have to wait a couple of years to find out if he is successful.
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What sucess?
Don’t get me wrong, but #1 in the SEC and #12 in the Nation against the pass resonates with me. 😉
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Perhaps “what success” was a little harsh. Puffdawg stated my feelings perfectly in his post below. Some people here seem to be ready to replace CMR with CJP. I just feel CJP has a lot to prove before we anoint him the second coming of Bud Wilkinson.
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Perhaps Pruitt cannot yet be labeled as a success in his pursuit of developing a shut down defense at UGA, but is there any doubt he was successful in the first step toward that end goal? We were drastically improved this year. Probably wasn’t going to happen overnight.
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We, hopefully, are getting all the positive personnel and traits from Bama, and letting them keep all the bad ones.
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