I don’t know whether to call Dan Wolken’s assessment of Mark Richt’s job security (ranked 11th in the conference) lazy or nasty.
Within the coaching world, there’s a strong belief Richt will walk away from Georgia and go do missionary work if he sees the writing on the wall. Despite his consistency over 14 seasons, Georgia fans have largely grown frustrated with perceived underachievement (his last SEC title came in 2005). If he goes a third straight year without winning a weak East, Georgia could start itching for change.
The lazy part? “Georgia fans have largely grown frustrated with perceived underachievement…” That “largely” toss-in isn’t based on anything other than the perception of someone who evidently spends too much time listening to Finebaum and reading message board and blog comments. Like it or not, Richt’s gotten a huge financial commitment from the school in the last half-year or so and barring some unprecedented collapse, isn’t going anywhere. If Georgia merely slips up and lets Missouri in the door to the Georgia Dome for the third straight year, it’s hard to see how the administration doesn’t give him more than a year to try to get a return on the new investment.
The ugly part, of course, is the first sentence, which sounds like something straight off the recruiting trail.
It’s a weird world we live in where Richt’s personal morals are perceived as a sign of weakness, while the fourth-ranked coach on Wolken’s list can evidently slide on his program being connected to a federal investigation connected to allegations of improper responses to reports of on- and off-campus sexual assaults. Maybe someone should ask PAWWWLLL about it.
Get The Picture 
I was wondering if you saw this. Pure BS, all made up and flagellant.
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Bradley and Schultz are mad they didn’t write it first……..
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Agreed it is sad that his religious beliefs would have him characterized as lazy. I am not a Richt defender but I don’t view him as lazy. Based on results I view him as likely overly willing to give second chances to the staff and slow to make a change. He may also be viewed as soft by the players.
He isn’t going anywhere after this year unless there is a Chizik style melt down. 8-5 may grow unrest which could cause problem another year or 2 down the road.
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This is dumb. The title is ‘ranking SEC Coaches by Job Security’…he then says Spurrier would never be fired, but…you know…12th.
Stupid is as stupid does.
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I dont get the mission work jab other than it is just internet fodder..
I never hear him talk about mission work, planning mission trips, or anything that would lead me to think that he is that invested in mission work. I get his faith and how I am sure he preaches the good word and does those trips and funds trips and whatnot, but I guess I dont see the basis for the “walk and do mission trips” other than just a jab at his faith.
I could 100% see CMR taking something like the Paul Oliver Network to a huge level once he leaves coaching. Which I guess is a type of mission work.
I guess the whole mission meme is just so dismissive. Sort of like “the adults are talking, please be quiet”
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CMR used to take players on mission trips to Honduras every year. I’m not positive that still happens – but I don’t see why he would stop. While this “dig” on him and his faith is nonsense – its definitely based around something he is passionate about.
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He used to jump off the high dive, but no one says leave coaching and go swimming.
It’s one thing for people to toss it out on comments sections, but that is USA Today.
grumble grumble journalism today grumble coffee grumble
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what you meant was” HEY kid, get off my lawn”
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I agree DawgPhan. Perhaps if CMR had actually stated a desire to do mission work full time there would be some basis to the story. Otherwise, its a fabrication with no basis in fact.
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This writer is an idiot. He has Butch Jones as being the 4th most secure coach in the conference. Just wait and see what happens after a 5-7 or 6-6 UT season this year–bye-bye Sgt. Carter. He has Dan Mullen as the most secure coach in the conference and just 2 seasons ago there was a movement to fire the guy–if the Missy State team hadn’t rallied at the end of the season he actually might have lost his job then. And putting Saban at #3? He’s the safest coach in the nation. How did this guy get a job writing this drivel?
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Ha. He said Sgt. Carter!
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Mayor does NOT like Tennessee.
Just fyi, y’all.
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Why let the Feds investigate the Vawls? Just turn it over to the Clarke County Criminal Scooter Investigative Division for fast results.
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“It’s a weird world we live in where Richt’s personal morals are perceived as a sign of weakness, while…”
Senator, I’m glad you said it. I’ve been thinking the same thing for a while. The funny thing is, people say he may leave for a ministry job. As far as a platform for the ‘ministry’, what better place to have a ministry than with college kids. Especially young men from the culture many of these athletes come from.
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Exactly right. Richt has said that he views mentoring 110 knuckleheaded kids into productive citizens as his ministry.
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I’ve always thought that his beliefs and faith are the reason many parents trust their sons to CMR especially those from out of state who have their pick of offers.
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Dan Wolken was pretty funny when he was convinced- convinced, I tell you!- that Georgia wasn’t getting into the NCAAs in March. Made a complete ass of himself on Twitter. Good times.
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That was an incredibly weak article, I guess the pundits have completely run out of things to write about. The season needs to start soon if for no other reason than to generate something for these guys to write about.
Richt is in no danger of being fired for the next three years, in my opinion. I think he could go 5-7 two years in a row and still have his job. I think the BM crowd and Morehead are willing to give him three years to win a championship of some kind or he will probably be invited to leave.
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The reality is that virtually every coach in the SEC that has a “terrible” year depending could potentially be fired (Auburn 2012, UF 2013). It is actually not that unreasonable to think Richt would have a higher chance of being fired in such a scenario than most of the other coaches in the league. Richt COULD be fired IF we had a meltdown and went 6-7 with a lot of terrible losses. I don’t expect that to happen.
In terms of safety, Saban, Mullen, Stoopes, Spurrier and Mcelwain could all survive a disaster. I think Pinkel bought himself some security as well. If Arkansas goes 4-8 and looks bad, Bielema may or may not survive. If UT goes 5-7, what happens with Butch Jones in that scenario? My guess is he survives because they have invested so heavily in their branding/PR and want to give him the chance to play with his players?
As one looks at the guys, its Miles, Mason, and Richt. If A&M continues to be “all flash no substance” (i.e. no running game or defense), their fan base is going to get uneasy in 2015.
That said, who cares and why does this qualify as journalism? If one takes a larger view, it is sad that a writer is more apt to write an opinion column on the security of a person’s livelihood than he is about doing the work to provide his/her readers with actual insight about the SEC.
Ultimately, if we are able to get back to Atlanta, win the SEC, and make the playoff, the flip side of the column is true. We have made a lot of foundational changes to the way our athletic department and program operate over the last 18 months. If we win the SEC this year, Richt would have the program in a place where it is poised to begin a 3-5 year cycle where we playing for the national title multiple times in that era and could walk away with MORE than one.
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I definitely think our program is on the cusp of either greater things or something of a meltdown. The admin and BM seem to have given the program whatever it has asked for, the excuse of lack of support is now gone. If Richt can’t make a championship happen in the next three years, it may never happen and the program could begin to slide backwards a la Texas.
Everyone here knows I’m not a huge fan of Richt as a football coach, but I really would love to be proven wrong. If we could go on a 3-5 year run of great football, I’d be tickled to death. I’m far from a national championship or bust type fan, I really want SEC championships. If we can win SEC championships, the national championships will take care of themselves. Richt is a great man, a great recruiter and a great ambassador for the university. I hope he can take the steps he needs to to become known as a really great, championship caliber coach.
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We have been on a great run of football since Richt has been here. For Georgia these ARE the good ol’ days. Could we do better – yes, but every team could say that.
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It’s been “good” since ’05, lot’s of wins but none in games that really mattered. Championships determine whether a coach is remembered as good or great. 2 SEC championships in 14 years at a program with Georgia’s resources is good, but nowhere near great.
I don’t think every team can honestly say they can do better. Some programs don’t have the recruiting base, money, facilities, fan base, etc to do any better than what they are doing. Georgia could, and should, be doing better than what we have done the last 10 years.
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“but none in games that really mattered”
Pfft. <—I’m just going to leave that here for brevity.
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Yeah, all those wins over all our rivals since 2005 didn’t matter for shit.
Your brevity is much better than mine.
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I do think a 14 team SEC is harder to win than a 10 team conference that obviously had no championship game.
That said it is time. I think another two- three years and no SECCG appearance and yeah, they will look to move on, and more than likely CMR will agree.
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If the only thing that designates a good team is a championship – there are damn few schools that are any good. If all you are talking about is the “national” championship – there are more than 100 teams year that just aint worth a damn.
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Butch was UT’s third choice for HC for a reason. We just don’t know the reason yet (unless it is his 1970 throwback striped, too-small sport coat he always wears). We will eventually find out.
If you watch Animal House close enough you will see ‘sport-coat Butch’ in the snooty Omega Theta Pi house touching himself while reading the refrigerator section of the Sears catalog.
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Pretty sure this was all based on Mark Richt not living up to his preseason FPI rankings.
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It is the kind of article some of our commenters would write down to the missionary comment. I am not surprised to see that meme revived because those fans are so vocal in their negativity towards coach Richt.
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I couldn’t give a flip about Richt’s future plans pertaining to his religion. I don’t care if he converts to Islam and preaches Allah’s word to the entire UGA team and coaching staff, or decides to worship Satan and tattoos a pentagram on his forehead. Just win the damn SEC for once in a decade for crying out loud!
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^^^this^^^ He’s paid to be the head football coach, not the team chaplain.
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Blah Blah Blah… You two never miss a chance, do you? You’re more annoying than a parrot taught to curse and have less of a chance of ever having an original thought.
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That’s profound, thanks for your deep insight and clever take on things.
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“That’s profound, thanks for your deep insight and clever take on things.”
I’ll plan on responding to every one of your posts with that response from now on. Thanks!
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Guys like you have to come on here and insult people online since they lack fortitude to tell people what they think in person. Sad really.
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“That’s profound, thanks for your deep insight and clever take on things.”
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That’s profound, thanks for your deep insight and clever take on things.
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If I can assist in your move into a literal echo chamber rather than the figurative one you and JCDawg83 have made for yourselves…well, let’s just say I’ll consider that a pretty high accomplishment.
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I just can’t get over you’re writing style and commentary that reminds me so much of Warts and Tits. Anyway… I’ll avoid seeming out of line.
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Hmmmmm…. CMR won it in 2005 ten years ago. Only four teams have won it since. Florida,LSU, Alabama, Auburn. I won’t go into how and why they won it and we didn’t. You’re not a clever guy. I can’t shine any light on something youre too blind to see.
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Hello darkness my old friend. I’ve come to be with you again.
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I think this article, intentionally or otherwise, pays us a very high complement. If I would have said to you in the 80’s, (especially the) 90’s, 00’s, etc. that our 10 win yearly average HC would have among the least job security in the SEC, while UT’s coach is 12-13 yet has among the most job security in the SEC as their fans love him…you’d think I was a delusional idiot.
As someone who attended UGA in the mid-late 90’s, I never, NEVER thought I’d see the day that we’d be tied with UT in head to head wins, in which we’ve won 5 in a row and 11 out of 15. Hell, back then I wasn’t sure we’d ever beat them again.
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I guess when someone attends Georgia really affects their perceptions of the program. I was there from ’79 to ’83, probably the high point of Georgia football in any given four or five year period. I didn’t believe it was really possible to lose to Florida or Tennessee, much less lose to them TWICE IN A ROW. I also would have never believed we would go 20 years without an SEC championship, that would have seemed insane to me.
Initially, I thought Goff was going to do a good job. He was a Georgia guy, had been an assistant other places and was a great recruiter. I was totally sold on Donnan, all those wins at Marshall and his recruiting, there was no way he could not win and win big. It only took about two seasons with each of them that I realized they weren’t going to do anything. I was very skeptical of Richt to start with. I was afraid we had hired another Brad Scott from FSU. Richt won me over in season one and I was all in for season two. Five years into his tenure, I was a Richt disciple. Three SEC championship game appearances and two SEC championships in five seasons, hell, I was certain we were going to have a NC in the next year or two and win the SEC every two or three years for eternity. The spell was broken in 2008.
I find it very interesting how fans of different ages view the program.
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“That’s profound, thanks for your deep insight and clever take on things.”
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I too wanted Goff to succeed, hell I knew him personally, but with the mess that he inherited from Dooley, it is amazing he did as well as he did. His 92 team was close. I was in Athens during the Dooley/Walker years myself..but I also remember the other years under Dooley too.
JD just wasn’t a good fit…
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I thought things were about to really get better after ’92, but that’s when the wheels really started to come off. JD would still be the coach if he hadn’t lost to tech that third time. He didn’t like dealing with the fans, but I recall lots of people thinking that was admirable, as long as he was winning. He let the program get out of control and let the players get away with too much off the field. His man love for Quincy didn’t buy him any friends either. I went to the SC game where Quincy threw 5 picks and JD still didn’t take him out. Georgia was top ten and obviously far more talented and still managed to lose (wait, that sounds familiar). I was done with him after that game. Watching our players trash talking while tech ran over them in Athens was the final straw for JD.
I never thought Dooley was an especially great coach. He was good enough for his time but if you take out the Herschel years, he was a 7-4 coach. Of course, back then, simply having winning seasons was enough to keep a coach around so it’s hard to compare then to now.
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Yep, losing to GT 3 years in a row, FIRED……I think it should be a stone cold rule myself. 🙂
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I feel the same way about SC, but I must be in the minority. At least tech has something of a football pedigree, the chickens have never been or won anything in football. Losing three in a row to them is shameful.
That said, I agree about tech. If you lose two in a row to the nerds, you should be called in and told in no uncertain terms; “you can go 1-11 next season and maybe keep your job, if you go 11-1 and lose to tech, you will be fired”.
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I went to my first game at Sanford for Auburn ’81 to see them clinch the SEC. I went to UGA in ’86 convinced I would get a trip to New Orleans sometime during my days as a student. Instead I got a program that was a shell of its former self until Dooley retired and the effects of Kemp began to recede. My last year in school was 1990 – the worst Georgia team since the end of the Butts era and Johnny Griffith. We had Hearst and Hastings as freshmen and nothing else. That team was painful to watch.
So, yes, I’m jaded by my student experience even today. Richt came perilously close to running the program into that abyss in 2010 and the start of 2011. I’m glad he pulled it back.
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“.. back then I wasn’t sure we’d ever beat them again.”
Thus the reason I can only assume, you, me and thousands of airplane bottles ended up between the hedges in 2000. In hindsight, the goal post pull down of 2000 was less of a celebration and more of a New Orleans Funeral for the Rnge. That’s a program that hasn’t finished the season RANKED since 2007. No top 10 finishes since 2001. I’m pretty sure the only two programs in the entire conference without finishing a season ranked in the polls since 2007 are Tennessee and Kentucky. Let that sink in and enjoy.
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“I sure is scared to end up losing like ‘dem boys at Tennessee!” –Irwin R. Fletcher
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Is it bad that your pretend ‘quotes’ are actually better than your real comments?
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Wolken has long held deep seated anti-UGA bias. I’m not sure what it is, other than some Vandy ‘UGA is who we hate’ thing. He is not logical when it comes to Mark Richt and Georgia athletics.
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