I get it. A head coach is the face of his program, for better or worse. So when the media looks at Athens, it looks at Mark Richt. And when Georgia doesn’t excel, that’s how you get to the ubiquitous hot seat meme. And when it becomes apparent that, for whatever reason, Richt’s seat simply isn’t that warm, you fall back on the underachiever label.
Andy Staples does a nice job of mashing up the two with this.
Now to be fair to Andy, whom I like generally, he doesn’t come right out and say where he’s pointing his finger. And given that he’s made solid points before about Georgia’s drug policy, it may be that he’s being nuanced by referring to the program and not just the head coach. If that’s the case, I can’t argue with his sound bite.
But even so, I think Andy’s missing the bigger picture here. Not that he’s alone in that. Other than Mark Schlabach, I really can’t think of too many in the national media who commented on the dysfunction surrounding the program at the time of the bowl game.
I’m aware I sound like a broken record on this subject, but the program is in a much different place now than it was seven months ago. And I don’t know how you can judge Georgia in August, 2015 by Georgia in December, 2014 standards.
If, as Andy asserts, Georgia is now the best job in college football, it’s a very recent development. Because I don’t know too many people who would savor working at a place where the higher-ups are undercutting you in the media and controlling the purse strings in such a way that your defensive coordinator is forced to come out and publicly complain about how that’s negatively impacting recruiting.
This isn’t to predict everything’s going to come up roses for Richt, or that people shouldn’t be held accountable for substandard performance. (I can hear the cries of “Richt apologist!” already.) But to me, the place to start here is whether Richt can successfully reinvent himself as the man running the show for the second time since 2009. As I posted here, there aren’t many programs I can think of that have dramatically remade themselves the way Georgia has since 2013, while retaining the head coach.
Ironically, I’m back at the same spot where Staples started. I agree it’s put up or shut up time. It’s just that I feel that way about the program as a whole, from top to bottom, not just the head coach. It’s a complicated tale that deserves more than simply citing a couple of stats about how much high school talent the state of Georgia produces year in and year out.
If this is a story with a boom or bust conclusion, it’ll probably get told in 2017 or 2018, based on how things shake out. But it’s worth telling now. Anyone want to give it a shot?
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UPDATE:
So there’s that, anyway.
I understand why the national media looks at UGA this way, but the national media can’t follow every team closely. I agree with you about the program being in a different place than it was 7 months ago, although I contend that it started before then. Staples’ comments about needing to ask some hard questions shouldn’t apply in 2015, which is what I believe him to be saying. The worst thing UGA could do is go through a coaching change any sooner than 2017 at the earliest. By that time, it is my belief that UGA will have exceeded all expectations.
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I’m gonna disagree with you a little. Guys like Staples cover college football 365 days a year. There’s enough time in all of that to provide a little depth behind your analysis. Or at least there should be.
That being said, it’s only fair to note that Twitter isn’t exactly the best place for depth.
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Good point. Even if the tide has not turned, although I believe it has, perception has shifted 180 degrees. I think this process started a couple of years ago, but my perception says that lightning, er Jere, struck after last years bowl game. I think in 2016 or 2017 we are going to have to come up with a word for the lexicon about the Adams years.
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How about we call it the Dark Ages? The many years where the school, tailgating, and football team were eaten away by the plague of Adams’ Family Values. Hopefully we have recently entered the Renaissance.
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Adams Family Values (n.)- Set of circumstances placed on a football program by administration that is meant to slowly suffocate any chance of success for said program, thereby putting athletics “in it’s place.”
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…all done why feathering one’s own nest by getting your wife paid through Foundation funds, paying for a dismissed coach out of foundation funds due to a “side agreement” and buying a Buckhead condo with no parking that never gets used to house official university events.
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Don’t forget those vacation homes, I mean “study abroad” facilities in Cortona, Oxford, and Costa Rica.
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I’d go with the Inquisition (and cue Dog in FL to put in a clip of the Monty Python skit).
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I’ll step up…
But I personally prefer this one…
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I call it the brown, puckered age when the giant asshole blotted out everything else.
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We already do. It’s called “The Georgia Way”.
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& Andy is often especially tuned into the SEC teams.
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national media to me means nothing more than heresay. I take what I can from local sources. and even as far back in the hills as I am in Chatsworth, I can sense a “culture change” or whatever you want to call it. Georgia football just feels different for the first time in a long time; not caloiing for a NC by any means, but it feels like the Dawgs “understand” completely.
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Eason says he is comng to UGA only if Richt s still there.
I expect 2016 & 2017 to be even better years than 2015.
Therefore I see no Hot Seat for CMR. He wikll be there until Bobo
Is ready to come back & take over.
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The added support / recent changes have kind of put CMR on a Hot Seat. I’m not saying he’s on one now, but there’s definitely a perception of “you have the support / pieces in place, you have ~3 years to make something happen”. During that time, if championships aren’t being won, the seat will continue to heat up and the meme will be easily resurrected.
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As long as McGarity’s on the hot seat next to him, that’s fine by me.
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I love the University of Georgia, but how is it a better job than Alabama or Texas?
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Andy based a large part of his opinion on recruiting base. Georgia operates as the flagship school in a state loaded with talent. And has little in state opposition on the recruiting front.
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Imo, Texas and Florida are the two best jobs in the country, followed by USC, UGA, and OSU.
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I don’t know how working for Steve Patterson qualifies any job as being the best in the country. 😉
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Correction..Texas was the best job in the country before Patterson came on board. With that said, the HBC at Texas easily trumps the AD in power, so a coach worth his salt with some confidence isn’t going to worry too much about him.
With all that said, that is one great area/school with amazing infrastructure in place–basically the equivalent to the Four Seasons Jackson Hole with a bumbling manager who already is on thin ice with upper management.
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Steve Patterson arrives at the Overlook Hotel in Austin, interviewing for the position of athletic director (a job which, until Steve appeared on the scene, should have gone to Oliver Luck). Steve plans to use the hotel’s solitude to brand the UT program to achieve worldwide global domination. In Portland, some locals have a terrifying premonition about UT letting Steve into the hotel, viewing a cascade of blood emerging from the door of Athletic Director’s office suite freaking out the receptionist, Olive
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All work and no play has clearly made Steve a nauseatingly dull boy.
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Steve grew paranoid that they were going to move his stapler and take away his axe. Steve grew hungry. He will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. As a result, he accidentally auctions off Bevo XIV
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Why did Florida have so much trouble hiring BOOM!’s replacement? Everyone has money and facilities, so big programs have to lure coaches with easy recruiting and stability. Texas and Florida have easy recruiting, but their crazy fan bases make the job unstable. There is a reason Freeze stayed in Mississippi where 8 wins is the bar.
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Freeze stayed in miss because that’s where he’s from, and they offered him pretty much what UF did.
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Facilities fell significantly behind at Florida during the Foley/McGarrity era.
Ultimately, talent did too.
Foley got a year’s head start on us in remedying the facilities problem, but both programs were caught asleep at the wheel regarding changes in recruiting and roster management of talent. Depth issues have been a problem at both schools.
Florida’s issue was related to the program believing its talent base and location could allow them to be less aggressive in spending on athletics. They ultimately became a victim of their own success.
Georgia’s issue, I believe, was related to the desire of the university to play catch-up with its peer-institutions in building its academic endowment, particularly in its ability to attract engineering and medical research dollars. Athletic dollars were redirected to these catch-up initiatives while other SEC institutions (not named Florida) were re-investing most of its SEC and media money back into athletic program upgrades.
So now the University of Georgia finds itself playing catch-up on both fronts while Florida finds itself playing catch-up in athletics.
Both have relatively strong balace sheets in growing states so I believe it will ultimately happen for both, but I believe it will happen more quickly for Florida.
Just my two cents, FWIW.
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Eh, not so sure UF got ahead of us on the facilities thing. If we were building a giant shed like that our fans would be waiting out front with torches and pitch forks! Have you seen the IPF they’re throwing up? That thing is already outdated and will have to be remade in the next 2 years or else they’ll find themselves in the same position again….only with $15MM less than they started with.
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I agree BJ and I think all that can be laid at the feet of Mike Adams. The biggest reason why we are seeing improvement in the Georgia football program is that Mike Adams is gone and the new President, Jere Morehead, is committed to the program’s success.
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I have always wanted to say Florida was a top two job, but I’m not convinced anymore. They have had about 17-18 years of success in nearly 125 years of football. That period of success included 2 of the top 5 coaches in the last 25 years of football, both of whom called it quits there while relatively at the top of their game and lots of gas left in the tank. In fact, both have gone on to incredible success at other programs.
I’m not sure there’s not something that stinks in Gainesville, other than the city itself. I would say Foley, but it preceded him. Certainly, he’s a common denominator in Spurrier and Corch walking away in the prime of their careers.
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You don’t have to deal with Phyllis.
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“And has little in state opposition on the recruiting front.”
And this is important because no other school in the country is aware that Georgia produces lots of D1 prospect, so we only recruit against Tech in state.
Is that not the same as saying the Titanic had a great trip, other than the little thing with the iceberg?
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Scorp, on a side note, let me offer you my congratulations on reaching a unique pinnacle: you are the first GTP commenter to be the subject of a Thomas Brown blog post.
Don’t let it go to your head. 😉
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I can’t wait to read that…yes I can…no I can’t…ok, how about “Even a blind pig finds a truffle once in a while.”
Seems more a tribute to thine own self that even the Bluto-haters read his blog. 🙂
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Congratulatiuons! You are an inspiration.
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Watch out! That troll probably has a voodoo doll with your name on it. Quite possibly the dumbest Georgia fan on the planet.
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Blutarsky you’re in the B club too. Take it as a compliment that you’re worth 5000 words.
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Blutarsky is the entire subject of the blog. I’ll know I’ve made it when some psycho devotes an entire blog to me. Even if he’s only able to write it on the rec room computer during the inmates’ weekly free time, just after jello night in the lunchroom.
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She has a vision of that right now
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THIS is where the AJC commenters will be going. Hooray for Georgia Bulldogs’ (sic) Blog!
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Agree and “congrats” Bluto. “You just made the list, buddy.”
I’m just happy know those 5,000 words are there and not here.
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Well played – he is the Georgia version of the Unabomber with his manifestos
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I love that Thomas Brown’s brief “bio,” where he notes a family legacy of holding tickets for UGA football, also includes Richt’s winning percentage mini breakdown. Priceless.
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Not only that but I do believe that Staples is somewhat geographically challenged. FSU and Florida are much closer to Albany and Valdosta than UGA is. Auburn and Clemson are for all prractical purposes in-state schools. Carolina is closer to Savannah than Athens is and Tennessee is closer by time distance to Dalton and N.W. Georgia than Athens is. Not sure any school in the SEC has so many major rivals at close proximity. And while Tech under the genius generally recruits different talent than we do, that has not always been the case. I think Staples makes some good points, but the recruiting deal is lazy research at best. Then again 70% of the high school students in Kansas City couldn’t find KC on a map…so he is not alone among Americans in their geographical prowess.
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^^ this is exactly what I think. We don’t have another in state school per se but we do compete for recruits with Alabama, Auburn, Florida, FSU, Clemson, South Carolina, and UT all of which engage in “shady” recruiting practices. I like Staples but I think that this is a lazy piece of journalism.
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It’s not journalism. It’s a comment on Twitter.
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Tomato-tomahto
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I read all the chatter and the info coming out after that awful Belk presser and wonder how long McGarity is going to be allowed to muck things up. Some of the issues, mainly football, have thankfully been addressed. That said, the guy seems out of his depth running out athletic department. Both basketball programs are average at best with seemingly little positive momentum. Baseball is in the same rut with little meaningful upgrades for Foley. I remain skeptical McGarity is up to the job. Sheesh.
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Foley was just renovated. And UGA MBB just won 20 games two years in a row for the first time in history, got NCAA berth, and has had some very solid recruiting of late. I call that positive momentum.
In spite of McGarity.
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You and I can disagree about how much positive mo the MBB team has. It seems Fox is doing his below average work on the recruiting front yet again. If 20 win seasons vs the schedule is success then we just define success differently. And? Look around the SEC at our UGA’s peer facilities. Foley is bottom barrel.
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What UGA coach has ever had back to back 20 win seasons ? And last year was against good non conference schedule. If you were in the building in KTY game you could not conclude we have no positive momentum.
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Yeah, the UK game is the standard. Like I wrote, it’s ok to disagree about what constitutes positive mo for the b-ball team. Two 20 win seasons. Gee, that’s a ringing endorsement for Greg and Mark Fox.
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The light bulb moment for me was the realization that even though we had top 10 recruiting classes, the undersigning component left us seriously thin vs. the rest of the SEC. I looked up the recent Scout All American rankings by position. They go top 4 and then 5-20. UGA had 2 (Chubb and Jenkins) in top 4 and Bama had 2.
But in the 5-20 range we had 2 and Bama had 6. That screams depth to me.
With the new emphasis (from Pruitt) on the numbers, maybe that’s the turning point that makes the Georgia story a happy ending God I hope so.
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We had no depth 2 years in a row vs LSU and Bama in the SECC and had great first halves and horrible 2nd halves.
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Agree.
Andy’s statement would have been absolutely true on August 5, 2014.
If Andy did his research on what happened in December, he would know his statement is not true on August 5, 2015.
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I agree with your assessment about UGA’s unique approach to restructuring. We have basically changed everything except the head coach; most other top programs would have done the opposite. I can’t explain why UGA does what it does, but I am guessing that our approach reflects our respect for CMR as a person. He is a different man than Donnan, and we all want good things for him, so he has a long leash. UGA has now set him up for success in every conceivable way. Wouldn’t it be great if he won the SEC this year? That would certainly justify the efforts to help the nicest guy in college football succeed.
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This would be my dream scenario as both a dawg fan and a Mark Richt fan.
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I do agree that UGA football is in an entirely different place today than it was 7 months ago. It has been a pretty amazing process to see how quickly things have shifted in direction.
There are any number of events that could knock us off course, but the trajectory right now is looking very good for the next couple of years.
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For perspective, the new-found administrative support for the football program does not give Georgia an advantage vs. other SEC programs, it only lessened the still-substantial administrative disadvantage.
Competitive disadvatages still exist for Georgia, particularly in facilities, COA, and disciplinary policies.
Baby steps.
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The most infuriating thing is all of these disadvantages are self-administered.
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there is no trap so deadly as the one you set for yourself.
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All of that being true, but that gives no explanation for the SC and Florida games last year. Things are greatly improved but that will be the final piece that has to be addressed.
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In some ways, that is true. But our assistant coaches’ salaries have been bumped way up relative to our peers. And we apparently have a compliance program in place that has curtailed arrests and the like. Couple this with our location near Atlanta for recruiting, a promised IPF, and a 15 year head coach, and I think our excuse list is rapidly shrinking. We should, and hopefully will, see this investment soon pay off.
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until the book comes out, we will have no idea how the football program was impacted by all the insanity going on, in and around the university and the program from donnan until present day – all courtesy of M.Adams…
On a positive note, I feel we are about to go on a 5 yr stretch that will be a history breaker for us. Everything is in order for another 1980-1983 type run.
For the first time under the richt regime, everyone is pointed in the same direction.
We are about to accomplish great things.
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And then all the negative nellies will be taking how “great” richt is…
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no, they’ll be talking about how great pruitt was or how great the admin is.
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+1
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I agree we are on better track now but we already have a pretty good idea on how the football program and university were impacted by during the Donnan and early Richt years.
I am most interested in what happens next. I’m glad I am still around to witness it.
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It occurs to me that Richt is on his second president and third AD. I dunno, maybe this guy has a little staying power?
The other meme I chuckle at is the one — strangely prominent among Bama blogs — is that of Richt “Richting it up,” i.e., dropping a game he shouldn’t. Which implies all other teams with top 10 recruiting classes always go 12-0 and Georgia is anomalous by only averaging 10 wins.
As egregious as the South Carolina and Florida losses were, everyone has those losses. And some have a lot more. Alabama has averaged about two of those losses a year since 2009 — Ole Miss? South Carolina? The Kick Six? A&M? Hell, did Auburn really need to lose all 8 of those games just two years after winning a national title? And let’s not start on LSU. Point being, this is hardly something Richt has patented.
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“Point being, this is hardly something Richt has patented.”
Agreed, Tommy. And things likely would not have been cured by firing Richt and bringing in a mercenary like Saban or a dissembling, slippery toad like Fisher to rid us of that insulting “underachieving” label. Richt is what he is, like him or not, but we may not have seen his ceiling yet. Now that he has the players, coaches, and admin support in the best place of his tenure, let’s see what happens over the next several years. As loyal as he’s been to UGA, he’s at least owed that loyalty in return.
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“Point being, this is hardly something Richt has patented.”
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’ve never understood why so many commentators seem to think that this was strictly a Richt issue.
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Familiarity breeds contempt.
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So does ignorance.
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I thought ignorance is bliss. 🙂
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Only if there’s a sign
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Disagree. SC and Florida were horrible last year. Bama hasn’t lost ONE game to a horrible team since Saban’s first year.The 4 instances you list are not comparable those games were against far better teams.
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I agree that the program has seemingly turned a corner in the way it is handling many aspects, that things look very promising, and a trip to Atlanta seems likely, but I do not get the “3 more years due to reinvention” label that Richt seems to be getting from many on this board. I do not believe it exists. Maybe his seat isn’t warm at this moment, but if the Dawgs flop this year and do not make the SEC title game, then it could get ugly quick at B-M. Just my opinion.
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I still don’t believe we are talented enough, deep enough or experienced enough at every position to just show up and overcome all of this background clutter that we talk about on this forum, if it really exists, and I suspect it does. I’ve heard that some longtime staffers complain about Pruitt being so demanding. That tells me they still suffer from complacency, laziness or the Adams’ era mindset. The reality is anything less than an SECC in 15 or 16 will have everybody pointing at some game or two that we lost because of Richt, not because of politics inside of B-M. Until every soul listed in the staff directory, down to the janitor, is all in on doing what it takes to win we’ll never be Bama. Too many afraid that we will become that.
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Agree. The country club culture doesn’t get solved overnight, but many of the hangers-on are now gone. I see this as a good indicator the culture is changing.
The next step is to reduce the number of green shirts showing up at practice.
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I mused yesterday how long it would take F-bomb to run with this. Guess 24 hours was the correct answer.
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So…what do we think Andy uses as a handle for comments?
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BTW….Senator mentions that being the number 1 job in the country must be a recent development…it’s at least in the last 4 years as Staples had Texas, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Florida ahead of UGA in 2011.
http://www.si.com/college-football/photos/2011/06/05college-footballs-20-best-coaching-jobs
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IT IS NOT PUT UP OR SHUT UP TIME!!!
Don’t get me wrong, I want you guys to flame out in fantastic Fourth of July fashion. But, that has nothing to do with how good a job Richt has done.
MARK RICHT IS A GREAT COACH DOING A GREAT JOB MANAGING A GREAT PROGRAM.
MARK RICHT HAS DONE A GREAT JOB.
NOBODY WINS THEM ALL.
Some of you guys would complain about God himself.
The problem isn’t the program or the coaches or the championships.
The problem is UGA fan culture.
Don’t be bammers.
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Pingback: Bluto aka “state senator” Get the Picture says : ” I agree it’s put up or shut up time. ” And, after this 2015-2016 season which kicks off a week from Saturday, we lose 20 of our very best players – nearly every Starter. |
Pingback: Bluto aka “state senator” Get the Picture says : ” I agree it’s put up or shut up time. ” And, after this 2015-2016 season which kicks off a week from Saturday, we lose 20 of our very best players – nearly every Starter. |
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