While I’m on a numbers kick this morning, take a look at something AirForceDawg compiled:
— Since 2001 UGA has signed 330 out of 375 prospects to NLIs, or 88% of the NCAA/SEC maximum allowable (thus a self-imposed 12% reduction in recruited scholarship athletes even though never on NCAA probation); quite the opposite of oversigning, regardless, a self-imposed competitive disadvantage
— UGA entered the 2012 season w/ only 68 recruited scholarship players out of the 85 the NCAA permits; since OT Kolton Houston was ineligible that season (Norandolone), UGA only had 67 recruited scholarship players, a self-imposed 21.1% reduction in players due to attrition and failure to sign the maximum allowable 25 scholarship players per year; we could have really used DL depth that year, esp. in the SECCG where Alabama rushed for 350 yds and Abry Jones was out injured
— UGA has lost 140 of its 330 signees prior to graduation for a 42.4% attrition rate
That is, to put it mildly, insane. I keep saying it – if you want to bash Richt for something, his roster management has been a complete joke and the primary reason for the program’s underperformance since its last SEC title.
Admittedly, Richt has finally woken up to reality and changed his approach to recruiting. Better late than never, I suppose.
There are two things to take from it now. One, you don’t snap your fingers and correct literally years of neglect overnight. We are seeing the inevitable results of the fix this season and it’s not pretty.
Two, I think we all know who deserves most of the credit for what’s happening now. How in the hell was Richt not called on the carpet by either Evans or McGarity for his lapse in judgment? Were they so happy to be saving money in the recruiting budget that they didn’t want to ask?
Get The Picture 
I would also say the revitalization in recruiting is directly tied to the departure of Rodney Garner to the Plains. He got lazy as a coach and for the main reason he stayed on the staff – recruiting. By the way, I think Coach Richt allowed that to happen. That was preventable.
LikeLike
So true.
LikeLike
Are the roster management issues a symptom (albeit a really awful symptom) of a larger problem where Richt just doesn’t manage things proactively? Assistants are going to come and go in college ball, so the head coach has to have a vision and obsessive drive to constantly look for ways to improve, because the competition is doing the same. We seem to be forever looking to fix things that were overlooked for a period until performance slipped, like roster numbers, S&C, and special teams. We have some incredible athletes that ultimately have great success at the next level, but they aren’t necessarily in the ideal position to succeed in Athens.
LikeLike
The answer wrt saving money is “yes”. Yes they would rather pinch a penny rather than spend money on recruiting etc…they are that cheap.
LikeLike
Senator, you know the answer – the athletic board is happy. Ergo no pressure on anyone.
LikeLike
Mark Richt’s new album, “Bashing The Hits”…just in time for Christmas. Songs include such favorites as :I can’t manage a roster—-I can’t manage the game clock—–Never fire your friends—-Arrest my players…please—-Throw Gurley under the Bus—-Just squib it baby——. And many more! Only 14.99 plus S&H.
LikeLike
The We Just Gotta Execute Better Blues — Don’t Go Breakin’ My ACL — For Want of the Price of Tea and a Slice (the Recruit Went to Ole Miss) — Third Rate Romance, Low Rent QB Options
LikeLike
You guys are making me wish I’d have come up with this for a post topic. 😉
LikeLike
If you did I am sure the gang could come up with some real doozies! Don’t Go Breakin’ My ACL is a classic already.
LikeLike
“Fakey Breaky Juice”
“Draggin’ The Line”
“Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”
“The Adams Family”
“I Didn’t Fight The Law and The Law Won”
LikeLike
And the tune that’s always a crowd pleaser: “Big Bottom(less Reserve Fund)”
LikeLike
Don’t forget “pooch it pooch it”. And directional kick offs.
LikeLike
Excellent dudeman.
LikeLike
Skimming athletic money to the UGA Foundation, Zero tolerance policies to cover Michael Adams’ political ass, and a sense of entitlement among existing players coaches and staff not being pushed by internal competition.
This is The Georgia Way.
LikeLike
Amen
LikeLike
Yet, through all of the recruiting and roster management blunders, the coach lovers continued to blame everyone and everything except Richt. I wonder what terrible revelations will come out about this season in a year or two? Whatever they are, the coach lovers will brush them aside and continue the “wait til next year” and “who you gonna get?” and “Richt is the best coach Georgia has ever had”, etc, etc, etc.
15 years of what has been basically lazy, unintelligent management and coaching by Richt and he still has enough disciples to keep his job and get a raise. I would love to find a job like that.
LikeLike
I’m reminded of something Frank Broyles, former Arkansas coach and AD, said one time. The NCAA had just gone to the 25/85 scholarship limit and Coach Broyles said…’you can put me on just 20 per year but…I have to get the exact 20 I want’…
Nick Saban, Inc. may lose a game now and then but he is never out personneled by anybody (Ole Miss was on the receiving end of 5 turnovers in the recent Alabama loss)…Urban is pretty much right there with him…
later, old dog
(who has seen better teams)
LikeLike
Yeah but anyone butts mehre would hire would be worse. Coaches with the foresight to use up all their scholarships don’t grow on trees. Look i get every national champion abd therefore every sec champ since 06 had signed a top 5 recruiting class within three years prior, and therefore since we’ve done that maybe once in richt’s tenure we’ve effectively been disqualified from title contention before the season started the last ten years. But, just because we’re the flagship school in a state that’s a hot bed for D1 talent both in terms of quality and quantity doesn’t mean we can sign a class better than third in the conference. That’s just the way it is. Expecting a top recruiting class every now and then is just unrealistic.
LikeLike
What is missing here is that this issue is directly related to the very complicated ethics (or lack thereof) in recruiting. In short, Mark Richt is a very ethical person, and it’s hard to have ethics and win at recruiting.
Our old practices centered around a few things:
We wanted kids to know we were committed to them. We waited till Jan. 19, 2013 to offer DeShaun Watson, after his Junior year of playing football. The catch? Brice Ramsey was already on campus. We slow-played Watson for Brice because that’s just how we operated back then. Clemson had offered him as a sophomore and he committed. Can you imagine him in our offense in 2014 and 2015?
We only offered kids (especially GA high schools) that we were sure we’d sign. We had no contingency plans of offers to kids ‘in case’ we didn’t get all the ones we wanted, so those kids end up at Auburn, USCe, UT and the like. We mostly compete with Bama and FSU for the big boys in state. But you never get all the ones you want, but we came in so late in offering so many kids 4-5 years ago that we had no shot at them.
Contrast that with now:
Eason is committed for 2016, Hockman is committed for 2017 and we’ve already offered the Lawrence kid at Cartersville for 2018 before his sophomore season. We NEVER would have done that 5 years ago. We stopped caring about feelings as much with individual players. “Son, we need you, but we need a whole bunch just like you” is the message.
We offer everyone early. We’re in the recruiting game and have come to peace with telling kids that were ‘committed’ that we no longer have room for them (basically, if someone more talented comes along). It’s a dirty game, but this is how you have to do it these days.
This is a sea change for us, and as the Senator says, it will take a few years to change things. We’re already seeing it in our roster now, but we still have juniors or seniors on our squad that Pruitt and Sale never would have offered because we’d have offered more talented kids earlier on.
A change in recruiting efforts, the IPF, the hire of Hocke, the addition of support staff. We are JUST starting to decide to be in the football business. You’d like to win more going toward that, but short of a complete collapse, I just can’t see the need to blow that up. We’re just getting started.
LikeLike
great post and I tend to agree with most everything stated…what was left unsaid is whether CBS will be a part of the solution or will ultimately lead to everything blowing up…my sense, and I hope I’m wrong, is that it is the latter
LikeLike
We’ll know more about CBS when we get a QB in here that can do all the things he wants. I don’t think that guy is anywhere on our campus right now.
LikeLike
Excellent post. +1,000,000.
LikeLike
Uplifting post. But we are playing Wack-a-Mole under Richt.
It’s likely that in a couple of years, it will be something else. The SEC has passed this program by.
I’m fine with that. But I’ve accepted above average (8-4, 9-3, 10-2) as an outcome.
LikeLike
Richt should’ve been fired for this alone. Its pathetic how the roster has been handled. Just ANOTHER on the long list of lack of attention to detail in EVERY phase of the program. But things have drastically changed with this new staff but now there is no room for error due to the past failures, UF last year being #1.
LikeLike
Roster management is something you CAN actually control as CEO of a football program. Pretty inexcusable that we failed for so badly for so long.
LikeLike
Walk thru the rosters at other D1 programs. Look at the kids out of the state of Georgia on their rosters.
Go to some of the high school games in the state, in any classification. The level of play and the quality of coaching is very good. Most of the fans in Sanford Stadium do not understand that, and I doubt if very many attend high school games at all or on a regular basis. I think they would be shocked at the level of coaching and the money boosters and supporters put into local high schools.
I have said for years CMR has a roster management issue. If you have an AD riding around Buckhead with red panies in the front seat and another low energy, politically correct professor as an AD this is where your program resides year after year…middle of the pack. Then you hear fans, supporters, alums, blogs, and sporting sites complain and say CMR can not win big games.
They do not recruit good and they do not sign enough quality players…look at the QB picture, the O and D lines, and the punter.
Rush Propst of Colquitt County High School summed it up best, UGA was running a country club program, but they wanted to win and did not know how.
Watched a replay of the UF vs FSU game in Sugar Bowl national title. Visiting back in the day for the old ball coach on the networks this week. Noticed CMR as OC for the Noles used a two back set with a QB in the shotgun. Where has that been for the Dawgs with the RB talent he has.
CMR wastes more players. It is like he is focused on certain kids and that is it. Totally perplexing to me.
Frankly, CMR needs to take some CPE in coaching …poor thinker!
LikeLike
I would be ecstatic if Richt would take over play calling duties…he’s been more successful than the guy we have now
LikeLike
“How in the hell was Richt not called on the carpet by either Evans or McGarity for his lapse in judgment?”
That’s easy. It’s because CMR has more clout and a history of stubbornly refusing to adjust. Rather than fix a given problem, be it roster management, poor OL recruiting, punt-safe, directional kicks, clock management, etc., he prefers to justify or ignore the problem, rather than adjust and improve.
People have been screaming from rooftops about the problems. CMR STILL remains in his shell, while Morehead and Pruitt spearhead all the recent changes.
LikeLike
We’ve signed big classes the last two years. I think it was 30 last year. Eventually, the team will be limited to the 25/year and 85 total and so there will be a 1-2 year window of opportunity when those guys are Juniors & Seniors to capitalize on a very experienced roster. Assuming we can get better QB play, ’16/’17 are better bets for this team (barring injuries & other attrition of course).
I do give Richt, Pruitt and co credit for fixing this problem, addressing special teams (even though it needs more work), etc.
LikeLike
Yeah, we should know who deserves a lot of credit with the NEW Georgia Way, but do we? Most think it’s Jeremy Pruitt but should consider that it’s more Andy Platt than anyone else. People have no clue how tightly Frank Crumley held the purse strings. Finally, Platt has allowed us to actually spend some money and recruit like a rich Power Five program.
LikeLike
So, if we’re seeing the correction, does that mean we forgive the sins of the past, keep our coach, and see what he does with a full roster?
LikeLike
Probably more like a Reagan-esque “trust, but verify”.
LikeLike
A fan base the loudly and publically calls for a coaches job when he is winning hurts recruiting as does one who boos their players. The top kids want to know their coach is there for the long haul. Recruits tweeted about the booing.
LikeLike
Blame the fans? I guess that’s one strategy.
I hear you on booing, but you lost me on the rest. I’m against booing amateur athletes on principle alone (UGA players or otherwise). Not to mention, I just don’t “boo” things out loud. Can’t do it.
But, really, the fans? How about we start by placing management failures at the feet of those responsible for, um, management …and who also happen to make millions of dollars a year for their management responsibilities?
Is accountability too much to ask?
LikeLike
When we put Richt on the hot seat so easily it affects recruiting whether fans want to believe it or not. Schools use that to negatively recruit against us just like they used Spurrier’s retiring in a year or two against USC. The world is different now and they can show tweets, blog comments to back up their position. Social media plays a big role in the life of kids. They make decisions emotionally. Fan behavior is a part of the equation.
LikeLike
You are right about this Debby but nothing gets placed ahead of The Agenda. Many of them have said they hope we lose enough for them to get their way. This is all about them, the program’s health takes a back seat to them. Boo loudly and bitch daily, those kids and their parents would love to be a part of this.
LikeLike
These statistics seem damning, but how do they compare to our peers? I would assume we compare poorly, but this post is really not complete without looking at other schools’ roster management.
LikeLike
Right, let’s see the stats on the other SEC schools, I’m really curious about this.
LikeLike
Geezz, doesn’t loyalty to a coaching staff mean anything to you people????
LikeLike