For those of you who’ve indulged yourselves making up Greg McGarity’s shopping list after he cans Mark Richt, keep in mind that HOT NAME isn’t gonna come without a fight, financially speaking.
Exhibit A: Houston just proposed doubling Tom Herman’s salary to $3 million a year. That’s after a whole ten games on the job. Ten.
Which isn’t to say that Herman couldn’t do better at, say, Missouri, where the guy who hired him at Houston is now the AD. But it’s also not to say that he won’t go anywhere without getting major bucks to do so. All Houston has done is raise the height of the floor.
Whichever HOT NAME signs first this winter will set the market. Jimmy Sexton will see to that. Things will just take off from there in a feeding frenzy.
Does that sound to you like the kind of thing the Georgia Way does well?
*********************************************************************
UPDATE: Memphis looks to jack up Justin Fuente’s salary, too.
Get The Picture 
Since this type HOT NAME coach surfaces every year, who’s to say Herman is not the next Gary Barnett, Glen Mason, Greg Schiano, Turner Gill, etc? I know, you don’t really know until you see a lot more sample size and/or take the plunge. Just saying…for every Urban Meyer there are dozens more HOT NAMEs that fail miserably.
LikeLike
The Georgia Way hired a Proven Winner before. It hired a guy whose record before starting at UGA was great enough to eventually earn him induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. Then Richt took his place an won at Georgia more than the Proven Winner did. As,Yogi Berra,said, “One thing you know is that you never know. “
LikeLike
You need to look at the respective records of those 2 HCs again my friend. If you throw out Donnan’s first season (that’s only fair–give him one year to get the Ray Goof out of ’em) Donnan’s winning percentage is almost identical to CMR’s. Plus, the best team that CMR fielded in his 15 seasons as HC was in 2002–with Donnan’s players. It has been my premise for years that everything good that happened with the University of Georgia football team infirst 5 years of the first decade of this century would have happened anyway if Donnan had remained HC. Up to 2005 is really on Donnan. After 2005, it’s on Richt.
LikeLike
I’m more convinced everyday that if GM runs CMR off, he’s going to do something on the cheap because of the buy-outs. If you’re going to do this (I’m doubtful unless something really bad happens over the next 2 weeks), you better make the home run hire … A proven winner.
LikeLike
They don’t have to get HOT NAME. It won’t take a coaching genius to provide winning seasons at Georgia for the next several years. Vandy and Kentucky are terrible. USCe is down. Mizzou just lost their best coach ever. Throw in two cupcakes and GT and you have a winning season with minimal effort at a resource-rich school like UGA. If the new coach loses big games to SEC powers then it will be just more of the same then won’t it? I don’t see where the big risk is.
LikeLike
I thought the whole point to a new hire was to better the program.
If it’s just about replacing Richt with anybody else, I’m sure the fan base will be thrilled with whatever McGarity does.
LikeLike
My point was that you don’t need HOT NAME to at least maintain a respectable program or take a chance at improving it. Go get an unknown. If it doesn’t work out then we most likely end up with the Donnan years again, but I just don’t see it going back to Goff type seasons in the near future with the state of the SEC East and the resources available to the coach. Please, for God’s sake, don’t bring up Tennessee because that is not going to happen at Georgia. Anyway, I’m done hoping for Richt to win big games. It isn’t fun anymore. I would rather hope for another guy and be disappointed than continue what I am doing now, which is expect the worse.
LikeLike
Have you thought about Tennessee and Florida? They have all the advantages of UGA, but have managed to hire coaches that struggled in the putrid SEC East. The Senator is right, if UGA is going to take a step forward the new coach will have to be better than the current coach.
LikeLike
Zook went 6-2 in the SEC twice three years. Muschamp managed to go 7-1 once. Florida also hired a guy who won 3 East Division titles, two SEC titles and 2 national titles in six years along with a guy who just won the East in his first year. I wouldn’t lump them in with Tennessee.
LikeLike
Muschamp is the perfect example. Sure, he won the East and put together one good season. Reality soon set in.
The jury is still out on McElwain, but he is simply riding a great defense that was there when he took the job. He hasn’t done anything to fix the Gator offense, and that offense is as bad as ours when we have Chubb.
LikeLike
He’s been there one season, and their offense is markedly improved from last season. It isn’t GOOD, but it’s not abysmal.
LikeLike
Part of the comes from a QB on PEDs.
LikeLike
Part of it, yes.
LikeLike
Yes. Given that the Gator starting QB for their first 6 games used PEDs someone please explain to me why the Gators don’t have to forfeit all the games he played in?
LikeLike
Tennessee arguably does not have the same advantages as Georgia and their mishaps with Junior and SOD would be tough to duplicate. I mean, Junior flat out torpedoed the place when he was leaving. I’ll admit that what happened at Florida could happen, but Agent Muschamp was a HOT NAME wasn’t he? My point is that you don’t HAVE to enter the insane coaches money market to make a decent hire who could perhaps, perhaps, do better or as well as Richt. Just my two cents.
LikeLike
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. I don’t understand the unfounded optimism that, just because Athens has hedges, UGA can’t possibly be bad in football.
Also, unless McGarity’s plan is to hire a high school staff, he will have to pay the market rate. Despite the belief of some, coaches aren’t going to line up for the privilege of coaching between the hedges on the cheap.
LikeLike
But how cheap is McGarity, really? Yes, he dragged his feet a long time on the IPF, but he also ponied up almost a million a year, on a multi-year deal, for not-remotely-beloved OC.
So I could see McGarity offering 3-4 million, but not a penny more than that, to a coach in the next year or so.
LikeLike
With the buyouts of the current staff, I think your $3-4M estimate may be close. The problem is that, in this environment, that’s WAY behind the curve. So, what awesome coach is willing to take the 8th highest salary out of the 15 or so open options?
LikeLike
One looking to add another 2 or 3 years on his contract?
LikeLike
Tennessee has NONE of the resources Georgia has. The state of TN produces very little top tier high school talent. UT has to recruit out of state, Georgia mostly, to field a talented team. There is zero comparison of Georgia and UT.
UF, on the other hand, has every advantage and more. That is one reason they fired Muschamp after 4 years. Foley recognizes there is no excuse for failing to win big at UF. Unlike McGarity and the BM crowd, UF will not hang on to a mediocre coach for a decade waiting on something good to happen. McElwain has won the SEC East in his first year with a team that is very weak on offense after being picked to finish 5th at SEC media days. Since 1990; UF is 19-6 vs Georgia with their “struggling” coaches, UF has 3 national championships in that period. I’d say UF is doing something right and Georgia is doing things wrong.
LikeLike
“Tennessee has NONE of the resources Georgia has. The state of TN produces very little top tier high school talent. UT has to recruit out of state, Georgia mostly, to field a talented team. There is zero comparison of Georgia and UT.”
And yet they lead the series with us and have won 4 out of the last 10.
LikeLike
They also won, what 11 in a row, largely during the Goff/Donnan years, after not playing yearly before 1992?
LikeLike
The fan base won’t unite around an unknown. And if you think it’s fractured now, just wait until Richt is canned.
LikeLike
Richt wins 10 this year he gets another million and another extension
LikeLike
Don’t you know Bluto, a trained chimp can average 10 wins a season. And if he can’t, chimps are cheap, we’ll just bring in another one. We’ll have to give each of them 3-5 years to really prove they suck, probably be a greater dumpster fire than UTk under Dooley, but at least that slack-ass CMR will be gone!
LikeLike
Winner! First “what if the sky falls” comparison to Tennessee of the day. Thanks for playing.
LikeLike
You don’t have to look at Tennessee. That’s a straw man argument.
Just look at Butts-Mehre’s track record over the past quarter century. Richt’s been its best or second-best hire over that time.
LikeLike
You are right. There is large risk that they will botch it up. There is a small chance that they will hire someone great. What’s the worse thing that can happen? Go home with our tail between our legs in the rain on national TV? Empty out the stands in JAX at half time? Yeah…… I know, we go 2-10.
LikeLike
if i recall correctly, chan gailey was the bigger name that was interviewed for the head coach job. in dozen years prior to richt’s hire, B-M hired goff, donnan, and mason, and after hiring richt managed to hire jim harrick.
LikeLike
Exactly. 95% of college coaches suck. Why can’t they all just win 11 or 12 games? Not to mention, UGA has the magical advantage of hedges that no other team has. If we fire Richt, I predict we will never again lose a game, or have a recruiting class ranked below #2. #SoEasy
LikeLike
And I predict that if we keep Richt, we will never have a recruiting class better than 3rd in our own conference, or win another SEC championship. #nonesincemymiddleschooldaugherwasindiapers
LikeLike
You may not be wrong. But as I and others have pointed out, winning conference championships isn’t just a matter of replacing Richt with any old trained chimp.
LikeLike
UMich, USC, Texas Tech, UTex, I’d even throw AU in there, there are plenty of examples beyond UTk of programs firing/losing a proven winner and going to sh*t. Do you have a single example of a program firing a coach averaging 10 wins a year and DOING BETTER?
LikeLike
I will toss my alma mater in here. U of WA. Went from a top tier program to shit. Just cause the AD and president did not like the coach at the time–Lambright. Then we got Slick Rick and Willingham. 0-12 with Jake Locker. It is not always sunshine and roses after firing. Not a Richt supporter or non-supporter –just be careful what you wish for. Of course, all the non supporters think they will automatically go 60-0 over a four year period.
LikeLike
Ohio State canned Cooper who had won the Big 10 three times in 13 seasons and competed for several others, and replaced him with Tressel who proceeded to dominate the Big 10. Cooper coached before the advent of the 12 game regular season so it’s apples and oranges on the wins record.
LikeLike
“…dominate the Big 10” holy hell, that’s saying something! Tressel did do better than his predecessor, but he was also a HOT NAME hire; he had won the 1-AA championship 4 times, National Coach of the Year 3 times, and had won more games than anybody during his time at Youngstown State.
LikeLike
The BIG Ten was much better in 2000. Anyway, maybe he was a hot name. I knew of him because I followed Georgia Southern back then. Either way, he won more than Cooper which answered your question.
LikeLike
You mean, Tressel was basically Jim Donnan.
LikeLike
If you think the program should move on from Richt, who cares? If you don’t, then again, who cares? The risks involved don’t change the fundamental argument.
LikeLike
If the only objective is firing Richt then it is immaterial who replaces him. If the objective is for the team to win at a better rate than 74% after we fire Richt then I care who the next hire would be.
LikeLike
And this is a very important distinction. Though sometimes it really does seem like there’s a contingent that just wants Richt fired, and doesn’t care who comes in next, because “at least it’d be different.”
LikeLike
And different is always better. Just ask the person who has been married six times.
LikeLike
The risks involved are magnified because B-M can’t be trusted to make a sensible replacement hire.
If the point in replacing Richt is to move the program to a better place, how is that not relevant to the discussion?
You know what’s amusing to me about this? Those of you who accuse folks who defend Richt of placing him above the program are doing the exact same thing when you claim the administration’s track record should be discounted as long as Richt is gone.
It seems to me that if you’re somebody like me who cares more about Georgia football than Mark Richt, the process should matter more. But what do I know? I’m just an apologist.
LikeLike
Exactly. We have been through what UT has been through, but that era was a generation ago now and a lot of folks either weren’t here then or don’t remember. The risk in changing head coaches is huge and must be weighed in the decision-making process. With the large number of higher profile openings this year, the salary numbers are gonna be big.
LikeLike
I remember every bit of it. It sucked. Everyone acknowledges that Richt is a far better coach than Ray Goff and better by a smaller amount than Jim Donnan. Remember when Richt talked about knocking the lid off the program so many years ago? He didn’t manage it, and he’s been there long enough to see he’s not going to. If you think his level of success is acceptable, that’s fine. I’m not trying to dissuade you, but please allow that those of us who don’t agree with you aren’t ignorant of Georgia football history.
LikeLike
OK. I said “a lot of folks”, not everyone. So you remember and are willing to risk going through it again to try to hire someone who will win more than 75% of games and beat Florida and Bama more than half the time. I’m not, because the odds are not in our favor on that deal. I think the odds are very, very slim that we hire someone who can take what we have, which does not measure up to what Bama has, and beat Saban with it, then beat Meyer for the NC.
LikeLike
Richt is 5-10 against Florida, please explain how that is beating them more than half the time? Also, Richt is 1-3 against Saban at Bama, I don’t think that’s more than half the time either.
LikeLike
I didn’t say that. Those are the goals of those wanting to change coaches. If those aren’t their goals, then why change coaches? Please explain that. Richt is already beating UT, AU, GT, SC, and is even with LSU. The only thing to gain by changing coaches is beating UF and Bama more.
LikeLike
I think a huge chunk of the fanbase, myself included would be really happy with merely going .500 vs UF.
LikeLike
I think the argument is that CMR’s best years at Georgia are behind him. I look at the records from the past and there’s no significant change in trend of W-L from his early years. The main difference is the team hasn’t won the SECCG the last two times they’ve gotten there.
If this was 2012 I’d feel a bit more positive, but Bobo is gone, and despite the caliber of classes everyone has been talking about, we lost a ton of talent on offense last year and we’re going to be hurting even more next year.
The D is going to have some huge shoes to fill, but at least it’s functioning and we can hope the 2nd string is pretty good. But if the younger OL and WR aren’t competing for slots or performing now, what are we going to look like next year with roughly half our offensive starters leaving?
I can’t look at this list of seniors and think UGA football is going to get better next year because the guys behind them are going to step right in…
Justin Scott-Wesley
Marshall Morgan
Malcolm Mitchell
Chris Mayes
Quincy Mauger
John Theus
Nathan Theus
Jay Rome
Keith Marshall
Hunter Long
James DeLoach
Sterling Bailey
Jordan Jenkins
Kolton Houston
Quayvon Hicks
Jake Ganus
I mean, it could get ugly next year.
LikeLike
The best defensive lineman is a true freshman.
The offensive line has underperformed.
Jay Rome?
I don’t think it’ll be any worse.
LikeLike
I can’t speak for Ruckus, but personally, I think it’s perfectly reasonable for one who cares about Georgia to not care who replaces him as long as he’s gone – right now he’s the centerpiece of the argument over which is more important: competing for championships or having a nice guy to represent the program. Firing Richt would signal a commitment to the former, and even if the next guy doesn’t work out, we’d at least get the complacency out of our system.
Now, I care about who replaces him but I don’t think we need to have a home run hire lined up to do it. Let’s see what we can get, give them a few years and if it doesn’t work out, move on. But we’ve reached that point with our current coach and it’s time to give someone else a shot.
LikeLike
That kind of works the other way as well. Those of us who want CMR gone are accused of being disloyal to UGA, etc. But those that accuse us usually loathe B-M and say administration is incompetent. Why is that not disloyalty by the same definition? Unhappiness with UGA employees? The truth is that we are all tired of the same old routine; we just put the blame in different places.
LikeLike
Not sure I agree, BR. The risks play into both sides of the argument if you’re the one making the recommendation (GM) or making the decision (JM). A poor decision either way possibly causes one or both to lose their jobs. The fundamental question is whether an upgrade could be hired for whatever the established price range ($4m+) would be. If you could hire Saban, for example, it may be a no brainer. If you hire Tom Hermann, you take a big risk with a lot of money and a small sample size.
LikeLike
I don’t think the $4 million projection is accurate. Too many good jobs open including 2 other SEC schools, Va Tech, and USCw, which is a great job. Rumor has it USCe is planning on offering up to $6 million for the coach of its choice. Either a lot of schools are going to promote from within on the cheap, or we are going to see some bidding wars for Herman, Fuente, Kirby Smart, and the others most often mentioned.
LikeLike
Okay, I was glib because I grow tired of the “Georgia Way” nonsense. Of course who they hire matters. But there’s going to be risk no matter how much money they throw at a new hire. This argument has gone ’round and ’round since last season. I’d also like to note that firing Richt in itself would be a departure from the “Georgia Way”. It would cost them money. It would be taking some amount of risk on future revenue and the next coach living up to the ideals of the University. Richt is a known quantity who will win enough to keep enough fans happy to keep money rolling in. So IF they were to fire Richt this season, I think the “Georgia Way” – inasmuch as it is a real thing and not a fashionable rationale – isn’t much of a factor.
LikeLike
If I may add, Rick, the comparison between and among Donnan and Richt is only valid if you look only a wins and losses but not at the personalities involved. Losing to Tech his last year was the perfect excuse to fire a coach with an abrasive personality. A coach who had managed to alienate even Loran Smith. A happy coach/fan base/administration marriage at Georgia requires a coach who wins, beats Tech regularly and does not piss off the wrong people. 😀
LikeLike
It wasn’t losing to Tech in 2000 that got Donnan canned, it was the first 3-game losing streak to the NATS since before Dooley was hired that got him fired.
LikeLike
If I may add, Rick, the comparison between and among Donnan and Richt is only valid if you look only a wins and losses but not at the personalities involved. Losing to Tech his last year was the perfect excuse to fire a coach with an abrasive personality. A coach who had managed to alienate even Loran Smith. A happy coach/fan base/administration marriage at Georgia requires a coach who wins, beats Tech regularly and does not piss off the wrong people. 😀
LikeLike
I believe Richt will not be our coach next year and believe that’s the right answer.
I also believe we will probably screw up the next hire for any of a long list of reasons
But I am ok with that because sometimes two steps forward requires a step back and keeping Richt because there are too many openings and hoping for an improvement when the overwhelming evidence and body of work are clear as to what we can expect from Richt will simply delay the inevitable
LikeLike
Why not go for the “hot” coaches from 2 years ago? Gus Malzahn or Hugh Freeze or Kevin Sumlin or Charlie Strong or Dan Mullen or Jim Mora or maybe even Jr. I guess Will Muschamp was a year or so before those. I remember them as “can’t misses”. 😉
LikeLike
Ah, but your logic is flawed. If those coaches had been in the Magical Kingdom of Athens, any one of them could have had a natty by now.
LikeLike
Not only a national title, but everyone would be afraid to play uGA in any sport.
LikeLike
True dat, Bob. How many “hot hires” are successful in their next stop and how frequently does regression to the mean takeover?
LikeLike
What Houston really did by raising their “bid” is double the cost of the replacement they will need because Herman isn’t going to stay for $3MM in this environment. looking close to 20 HCs, or more, when all the dust clears and Herman is near the top of that heap. He is in for a helluva ride, timing was great.
LikeLike
Houston isn’t setting the market. Houston’s gesture was nothing more than an acknowledgement of the market.
LikeLike
2 years ago I wouldn’t have trusted B-M to pick paper or plastic. Now I think with Morehead wants a winner when it comes to athletics. It will take a couple of years to get the “Adams way” worked out of all the corners of B-M but eventually it will come (not to a Bama or barn level but much more respectable).
LikeLike
I’m sorry, but I just can’t let doubt over the ability of the administration to make a good hire convince me that we’re better off sticking with Richt. For one, I think it’s silly that we only talk about “the Georgia way ” only being an administration problem, when it’s a term we’ve used because Richt was the first one to use it. What’s to say that the Georgia way doesn’t go away with Richt? Seems to me Richt had a hand in creating this culture and a different coach could play a part in changing it. Maybe I’m foolish. Or naive. But I get tired of the defeatist attitude that says we might as well not bother because nobody we get will be any good. We don’t know that. Even Yoda cannot see our fate.
LikeLike
That isn’t the argument I’m making. Hope you realize that.
LikeLike
I do, that remark was aimed at many of my fellow commenters.
I don’t think you’re an apologist like some, I just think you’re pessimistic about what’s going to happen either way.,
LikeLike
Exactly where I’m at. I’m completely indifferent to the future of Richt. Given the track record of the last 30 or so years, I just don’t believe the braintrust at B-M won’t cock it up whatever it is they decide to do.
LikeLike
We are just all tired of your constant drum beating for firing Richt chili. Seriously fatigued from all of it. Between the “Fire Richt” thread that seems to pop up on here EVERY.FRIGGING.DAY and the politics of the Syrian refugees all over Facebook I am ready to throw my computer in the lake and go back to the “good old days” before the internet,
LikeLike
Rocket, don’t presume to speak for a bunch of people who haven’t appointed you their spokesperson. You may be tired of my opinion, but I’m tired of yours. I don’t pretend I speak for everyone though.
LikeLike
No…really you are tiresome. No offense.
LikeLike
No offense taken. In case you didn’t pick up on it already though, I really don’t give a fuck what you think. No offense.
LikeLike
We? You have a mouse in your pocket?
LikeLike
+1
LikeLike
Exactly.
LikeLike
“I don’t think you’re an apologist like some, I just think you’re pessimistic about what’s going to happen either way.”
That describes my current position pretty neatly.
LikeLike
Same here.
LikeLike
Yeah…the Georgia Way was explicitly acknowledged — endorsed, really — by members of the Board of Regents in an article recently linked on this blog. Richt works within the constraints of the Georgia Way, as will his successor.
Whoever takes the job will come in with the knowledge that he must work under those same institutional constraints.
LikeLike
Richt is not working within the constraints of the Georgia way, he is a founding father of the Georgia way. You are letting him off the hook for a culture he helped institute.
LikeLike
Michael Adams instituted many of the problems, and his tenure coincided with the beginning of Richt’s. The overly harsh drug policy, for example, was a pet project of Adams’s, and he was publicly quite proud of his work in that regard.
Most of the Georgia Way bullshit predates even Adams, though. Butts-Mehre has been pinching pennies since before Dooley was hired, and they’ve been enamored with the Reserve Fund for at least two decades now.
LikeLike
So Richt was miserable at FSU for all those years when player conduct ran amuck and changed the code of conduct at UGA single handedly? Not buying it. How many plays did he draw up for the top Criminole Peter Warrick in the Sugar Bowl that year?
LikeLike
Richt was head coach at FSU and determined who played and who didn’t? I learn something every day.
LikeLike
He was the offensive coordinator and play caller.
LikeLike
Richt did not establish the strictest drug policy in the SEC. Richt never lobbied for UGA to be the last school in the SEC to build an IPF. Richt got in trouble for paying his staff out of his personal funds because he disagreed with B-M’s stinginess. Those decisions were made above his pay grade. If Richt goes, the people responsible for those decisions will still be here.
LikeLike
Correct.
LikeLike
All conjecture. The only thing that’s a fact is that Richt has been coach for 15 years and it took an outsider who’s drawn hear for his abrasiveness to shake up the complacency. You can say it’s not Richt’s fault if you want but he’s had many years with lots of clout to throw around if he felt compelled to. But he hasn’t.
Richt is part of the problem. Not part of the solution.
LikeLike
The conjecture being that he had no input on any of those decisions, that is.
LikeLike
He is a big part of the problem but has taken steps to correct his mistakes. Not sure firing him is the solution. I want Pruitt to stay because this is the first season I’ve really enjoyed watching the defense(minus the UT game) since BVD was here. Whether Richt is here or not, I’m a Pruitt apologist. Lol.
LikeLike
Or maybe just like any other job, you learn real quick what you can and can’t ask your boss for and you adjust accordingly. That couldn’t be it at all, no?
LikeLike
One can only hope.
LikeLike
Yep. Again, many of Georgia’s self-defeating policies were in place long before Richt arrived. And one of the worst, the unnecessarily strict drug policy, was Michael Adams’ doing, and he (and others) frequently said as much, very loudly, to anyone without shouting distance.
LikeLike
I keep seeing this “proven winner” term thrown around. Richt is a proven winner as far as winning percentage goes, and he has 2 SEC and 5 East division titles. So, what we are really talking about is a guy who has proven he can win against Florida and Alabama (UT, AU, and LSU have not been the problem) and has won a Natl Championship. If he hasn’t done those things, then he hasn’t “proven” that he can accomplish what we would be firing Richt for not accomplishing. The list of candidates would be pretty short, and those guys are not coming anyway. Anyone else is a gamble bigger than keeping Richt, imo. Fuentes was the hot name a couple of weeks ago. A couple of losses later? Not so much.
LikeLike
IF IF IF the folks in the BM Building are stupid enough to fire Richt, they are too stupid to find BETTER than Richt…. All i see out there right now is a LATERAL move at best…. Unless you have a HOME RUN hire on the line RICHT Now…(pun intended)… you DONT make a move VIVA CMR!!!
LikeLike
That is patently absurd logic. Essentially you’re advocating for negotiating with a new coach before you’ve fired your current one, which is a silly notion and one you clearly don’t endorse, as this is just another excuse you can make up for never getting rid of Mark Richt.
LikeLike
Not to mention that is some super shady Auburn-style shit to pull.
LikeLike
I bet Petrino’s game if we are.
LikeLike
I just threw up in my mouth a little, thinking of Petrino and Grantham on the UGa sidelines…
LikeLike
That was my thought too. The guy wins though…nary a scruple–but he wins. I feel like some folks here would be happy getting a new douchebag mercenary coach every 3 or 4 years–that couldn’t care less what school he is at and cares about the players only as far as he benefits from them.
I do not want that. Nor would I meet with anyone willing to have a clandestine meeting about a job that wasn’t open.
LikeLike
Everybody is discussing the HOTNAME coaching prospect but ignoring the HOTNAME job prospect. Even as biased as I am, I’d still have to consider the UGA job no worse than the third best opening, and possibly the second best. I think 99% would place USC at the top of the list of openings, and 50% or so might place UGA or Miami at number two. If HOTNAME coach wishes to maximize his win total and his paycheck, he would likely prefer to pursue HOTNAME job prospect.
LikeLike
Georgia’s a better opening than Miami. Better facilities and more resources. Miami just has that sweet south Florida recruiting ground.
LikeLike
And as fickle as we are as fans, at least we show up to games.
LikeLike
And while our AD may hate parting with money, he does have money to part with. Miami? Not so much.
LikeLike
Actually, with Mora setting up the ass whipping shop across the street from the Trojans, I think plenty would consider UGA better. Certainly not all, given the prestige of USC, but we have some advantages they don’t right now. Miami isn’t even close…..
LikeLike
Stewart Mandel disagrees with your opinion of Miami. Plus, with Saban setting up the ass whipping shop next door…etc.
LikeLike
Stewart Mandel’s an idiot.
LikeLike
Yes. Yes he is. But my boss (a lifelong Oklahoma fan) never lets me forget Mandel’s hierarchy of college football.
LikeLike
Plus, UGA has hedges. It’s obviously the best job offer. McGarity could probably hire coaches for half of what USC would have to offer. It’s not like coaches respond to money.
LikeLike
One side note that I haven’t seen considered – let’s say we really do start talking about silly money for these jobs. Let’s say SC and Mizzou end up having to pay crazy money to get who they want. Know what that’s gonna do to everyone else in the conference? Put pressure to pay their coaches more. We didn’t give Richt a raise to $4 million/yr just for the heck of it. We did it to stay competitive. Just means everyone else will have to give their current coaches raises to stay competitive, especially if they outperform the coaches with these new contracts.
My point being this – if silly money starts getting thrown around, we’re eventually gonna have to keep pace anyway, because that’s how these things work. As the old saying goes, a rising tide raises all ships. So if the fear is having to pay crazy money to get who you want because of what other schools are doing, that’s kind of an irrelevant point because you’re gonna end up paying that money either way, whether it’s this year or 1-2 years from now. Because if you don’t keep up with the market, it kills you in recruiting, all the talk of UGA not really being committed to its football program will start up again on the recruiting trail.
And FWIW, I’m still not convinced that the market ends up going as high as some people think. And I would be shocked if a school like SC threw $6 million/yr at somebody. But I’ve been shocked by things before.
LikeLike
Great points.
LikeLike
I think CFB coaches salaries passed “Crazy money” several million dollars ago.
LikeLike
But Richt still has an advantage. Even after his latest raise to stay competitive, his salary is in the bottom half of the conference. Would a hot name sure to win the conference sign up for $4M to be the SEC’s 10th highest paid head coach? Because I’m pretty sure Richt would keep coaching under his current contract, even after things get crazy. And that makes him very attractive to B-M.
LikeLike
Because I’m pretty sure Richt would keep coaching under his current contract, even after things get crazy
Well then why didn’t he just keep coaching at his salary from last year? I’m throwing out extreme numbers here only because others have too, but if SC and Mizzou end up having to pay $5 million – $6 million/yr, then UF decides to reward McElwain for his one year turnaround and pushes him up into that range, you know UT is gonna follow suit to keep up with the Jones’, you really think Richt would be content at his current salary? He’s cut from a different cloth, but I’m not sure that it’s “$2 Million Discount” cloth. He’s still human. And again, if nothing else it really puts us at a disadvantage on the recruiting trail, people use anything against you, if we give the perception of keeping a coach just because he’s cheap, that will hurt. So we’ll end up paying a competitive rate no matter what.
I’m not arguing in favor either way of keeping him (though I’m on record as fully believing his window of opportunity is done, I’d like to see a change, though I know it won’t happen this year so I’m not as vocal as others here). I’m just saying that if salaries go crazy, we’re gonna end up paying the crazy money too, EVEN if Richt is still our coach. If nothing else you have to give the perception that football is as important to your school as it is to your rivals. So if anybody is making the decision to KEEP Richt in order to avoid paying a “crazy” salary, you’re only delaying the inevitable, it shouldn’t be a factor in the decision making process. If you’re gonna field a top team, you have to pay competitive salaries, and the market it gonna do what it’s gonna do whether Richt is our coach or not.
LikeLike
If you can’t make the argument that UGA will be better off without CMR then you can’t make the argument that he should be fired. That should be obvious to anyone who isn’t a fucking idiot. Given the repeated concessions here that getting worse or having similar success is the most likely scenario in a future without Richt, can we just move along now?
Can the fire Richt crowd acknowledge that even if you are right that CMR deserves to be fired, that it isn’t in UGA’s interest to do so? Can’t you see that these are seperate and distinct questions?
LikeLike
No, we know what we have and are going to have forever with Richt, a program that will never move up to a championship level but will win 8-10 games a year. The only way to move up is to take a chance on a new coach. If the new guy can’t get it done in four or five years, fire him and try again. The fear of change by some fans, even with the possibility of better things, is sad and pathetic.
LikeLike
I strongly question your certainty about the futility of the status quo. I think that it’s MORE likely that CMR wins a SECCG in the next 3 years than it is that we will win one in the next 15 if we make a change. It was a long damn time between 1982 and 2002. It was a long 10 years with no east titles too. CMR has 5.
It sounds to me that some people are more interested in themselves than in the program. They are personally frustrated so they don’t care what happens as long as something happens. It’s both selfish and stupid.
LikeLike
That is an amazing assessment. If I think CMR has underachieved and UGA would be better off with a new coach, then I am being selfish and stupid? Are you sure you don’t think I am selfish and stupid because I disagree with you? A lot more humility and a lot less ego would help broaden your perspective and understanding of others, IMO.
LikeLike
I’m responding to the posts above where the usual fire Richt crowd repeatedly acknowledges that firing CMR likely means similar success or less success. Nobody tried to make the argument that we would definitely be better off anytime soon. This stands to reason since that’s a damn tough argument to make. However, if you’d like to make the argument that UGA WILL be better off in 2017 or 18 if we make a move, go for it. My point is that if you can’t make the argument that we WILL be better off then advocating firing is selfish and stupid.
LikeLike
Your argument is asinine. Who can say that anything in life is definite? Many on here are trying to make sensible debate and here you come out calling people names based on their opinions. I can’t wait for the day that Bluto cans your ass.
LikeLike
Life outside the echo chamber sucks don’t it? I invite anybody to make the argument that post-CMR is rosy for UGA. If what you’re offering is the same or worse or rinse and repeat I’m not buying. I doubt seriously that mine is a minority opinion in this. Call it the “mostly silent majority.”
LikeLike
You don’t get it do you. I completely blew up your dumb argument about needing ‘once-in-a-lifetime players to win titles because coaches don’t matter’ argument the other day with a Bama analogy and you still didn’t get it. Rather than burn you again, I think I will go spend my time doing something more productive, like watching my grass grow. Cheers!
LikeLike
Yes. If Saban’s tenure at Bama illustrates anything it’s that players don’t matter. You DO get it. He’s got the number recruiting class every year ’cause coachin’. The host wants me not to finish my thoughts…. I’m being repressed!!
LikeLike
Surely you aren’t trying to coach Derek up…You know as well as I do that he doesn’t believe in coaching!
LikeLike
I would like to think that we could stay off the 4-5 year carousel. I would want a guy that would take less now for a contract longer than 4 or 5 years. I like the fact that Richt wanted to stay at Georgia for the long haul. I would expect the same from the next hire too. Athens is a special place–I want someone who realizes that and approaches the gig as such. Bobo would.
LikeLike
I want a coach who would agree to fight someone outside Allen’s.
Bobo would.
LikeLike
Yup.
LikeLike
This list includes Muschamp and Kirby, it must be said.
LikeLike
Well, it includes me too. And I would take a long contract for less than $4M. Wait a minute …
LikeLike
Muschamp would agree to fight five guys outside of Allen’s. That’s CRAZY. I don’t want a CRAZY coach.
Bobo would.
LikeLike
And Kirby is so spoiled from working for Saban and being so highly paid, he would only agree to fight outside a Five Guys, Allen’s is too low-end.
LikeLike
So, replace the Georgia Way with the Tennessee Way? That’s kind of like arguing that, whether you play Russian roulette with one bullet or five, the important thing is that you try your luck.
LikeLike
Ahhhh…”hope and change” a meme you can get behind. Yes..yes…I’ll have another. Thankyou sir.
LikeLike
Blutarsky and I disagree about some of the nuts and bolts on the field, now and then, but when Bluto says he is a Georgia fan and not a Richt fan, we are in complete lock step.
The SEC landscape is a different world from the environment when Richt was hired.
Because Nick Saban was not at Alabama.
There are other factors, but this is the nut of the matter. None of us can look at the team(s) Saban puts on the field and not drool over the proficiency, the power, the glory, the glass footballs in Walmarts.
I don’t fear change as much as I fear that the University of Georgia is not now ready, may never be ready, institutionally, to compete with Alabama in college football on a regular basis.
And if you are not ready to compete with the best in the conference on a regular basis, not willing to double athletic spending, not willing to do all the other things Georgia will have to do to compete with Alabama, then what the fuck is the point.
All the things about Mark Richt as Georgia’s coach that make many of us itch make me itch, too.
You think those of us the loudest of you view as Richt apologists don’t want to beat Tennessee, Florida, or dare I say it, Tech, every fucking year the opportunity to Get The Picture presents itself?
The idea some of you seem to have that “we” don’t want to win as much as “you” because we are concerned about changing coaches is frankly obscene.
As a long, long, long-term Georgia fan, I see little in our history to make me believe that changing coaches will have a long term effect on our status vis a vis Alabama unless substantial changes are made in the institutional mindset that governs Georgia.
If you don’t understand that the success you claim to demand by firing Mark Richt is rooted in the success of Nick Saban, then you are doomed to live in an unhappy place for the rest of your fan dom.
Hiring a HOT NAME to replace Mark Richt is a tiny part of the process. I don’t even doubt there is some HOT NAME out there who could win a good bit at Georgia, even if the institution still clings to its current will.
But that’s all HOT NAME is going to do…at Georgia…win a good bit. Which does not seem to satisfy many of you.
For that, I apologize, not for Mark Richt, but for THE university of Georgia.
LikeLike
Well, put, but what chafes me about Richt is not based on Saban. My gripes originate with the litany of mid-steps that Richt endorsed like voluntary scholarship reductions, poor hires, failure to quell disagreements in the staff AND, the kicker, the failure to position UGA as the most powerful team in the East when UF and UT have been in low points. The last thing is where my frustration begins in earnest. That with turmoil at those two schools that we likely won’t see for a while Richt failed to capitalize. Forget Saban. Look at the results in the East. He’ll likely never have UF and UT in decline like the last five years. That does not bode well for this coach.
LikeLike
I don’t think the problem is just Saban. I think there are several other coaches in the SEC who are better than CMR. I personally would be fine hiring the second best coach in the SEC, whoever that may be. Saban won’t be around forever, and I would love for UGA to be the team that takes over the top spot when he steps down.
LikeLike
Don’t be shy. Name them… At this point in time any argument that puts CMR lower than second is questionable.
LikeLike
Gruden!
LikeLike
I’ll name one. You Derek. Clearly you are the smartest man in every room. Plus–not believing in coaching–you don’t even have to do anything to make the kids better. All you have to do is find the ones that can already do it and get them on campus. $4M per for 5 years sound about right?
Can you just get back to us with your 30-60-90 day plan? Thanks…that’ll be great…
LikeLike
Viva Dericht!!
LikeLike
I prefer Dericht uber alles!!!!
LikeLike
Far be it from me to be an umlaut diacritic, but I think I fixed it for you:
Dericht über alles
LikeLike
How’d you do that umlaut thingy?
LikeLike
cut und paste?
LikeLike
I know that you will disagree with me, but I think Miles and Mullen would both dominate the East with our talent. Mcelwain (sp?) beat CMR handily in his first year. I could name others at West schools that would do well in the East, IMO, but I think you get the idea. I don’t think I am going out on a limb to say that CMR is not the second best coach in the SEC, but I am sure you will differ with me. Just please hold off on calling me names for disagreeing with you.
LikeLike
McElwain’s sample size is awful small. Who knows if he can recruit? He can coach. Muschamp can coach. Couldn’t recruit.
Miles hasn’t fared well head to head vs. CMR so I’m not buying miles is better. I think he’s the fool with a loaded roster that people say CMR is. I think miles losing 5 straight to Bama is an indictment. 2-3 vs CMR isn’t great either but I guess in jims case head to head matters but in lesters we switch arguments.
I’m underwhelmed with what Mullen has done with the conferences top qb for two straight years.
You have to live with the case that there is a GOOD argument that firing CMR means your firing the second best coach in the sec. Even if you don’t agree you have to agree there’s a good argument there now that spurrier has moved on and sumlin and freeze and malzahn are all struggling.
LikeLike
We just don’t see eye to eye on CMR. You think he is a top tier coach and I don’t. I think many others would do better at UGA and you don’t apparently. Let’s move on.
LikeLike
Oh look, a whole new sub-group…The Saban Deniers. Ok, fine, but Georgia had an opportunity to measure itself, those of us who are interested in that sort of thing, just recently, in Athens in the rain.
Suffice to say we did not cover our brows with laurel wreaths.
I am glad you guys would be happy winning the east. I want to beat Bama, and I don’t think I’m gonna get to do that on a regular basis if you guys don’t man up and have some goals beyond dominating the back yard.
Its all a matter of perspective.
LikeLike
Come on, Scorp. Saban did change the game, but the path to the SEC runs through winning the East. And? Richt has failed to win the Eastern back yard in three consecutive seasons while being heavily favored to do so. I want Bama’s head, too. But first things first. Win the east.
LikeLike
Sorry Chad…”But first things first. Win the east.” Been there, done that, had a tee shirt and a hat till I burned them…when we could not beat Bama.
Winning the east is a cop out. I want to win the whole damn thing, there, and to do that, in most years I have seen, we gotta beat Bama.
If you want better for your football program, taking satisfaction in winning in the backyard is a cop out.
You gotta want better than that or what’s the point in firing anybody.
LikeLike
And one other small point…heavily favored to win the east…by whom? Apparently those who favored Georgia to win the east for three years were full of shit, unknowing, football ignorant…did not, could not, see the flaws in a team that could not beat Bama.
That awful rainy night in Georgia, Chadwick, did you really think we could line up, man for man and beat Bama. I, for one, thought it would take a significant intervention by the Kharmic Bitchez to even get close.
If you wanna be, they say, the best, you gotta beat the best. Winning the east is a small bone tossed to a whining dog.
Goddamit you people…I want to beat Bama, nothing else is acceptable.
Nothing.
LikeLike
They don’t want to hear it Scorp. I tried to explain first that winning the east last year was futile because Bama would destroy Hutson and then I tried to explain how we could not beat Bama in 2015 unless we had a qb who could throw downfield dimes. They didn’t get it then, don’t get it now, won’t get it tomorrow and NOW we can’t call them %%^& names! They know it’s all about coachin’ but they won’t take any. Can you imagine trying to coach these people on football? You’ll need more talent IMHO.
LikeLike
The point I am trying to make, am convinced of, is that talent is just a small part of the picture, D…sure, more talent is always better than less talent.
But talent can’t move institutional will. Look at Bluto’s spending figures from earlier in the week, D…. the only program in the SEC actually trying to keep up with Bama? Yep.
Auburn may not be up to the lofty standards of us Georgia people, but they share one common goal with me.
They want to beat Bama, badly.
LikeLike
There are a lot of reasons to think that’s the target we’re after, considering all that’s been going on. We’ve been a qb short since Murray left. (I’d note that it was coaching malpractice to have bama in a close game with UGA in 2012. 8 yards a rush before we touch the guy and you’re fighting for your life? Bad, bad bad coaching.). I agree that you have to get to bama’s level but scrapping this and starting over just puts us further behind. I’m not saying we’ll get there but staying the course is the much better bet.
LikeLike
I give up. Right now the school has a coach that can’t win his division, much less beat Alabama. If you think that makes me a Saban-denier, fine, but if your goal is simply beating Bama? Fine. I’d prefer to win the conference and to do that you must win your division.
LikeLike
Ah, actually, Mark Richt’s record vs. Bama is about as good as any other Georgia coaches’ record against Bama and he’s what 3-3 vs. Saban.
Alls I am saying is that if you gonna dream, what’s the point in dreaming small?
LikeLike
Against Saban at Bama, I think CMR is 1-3. A “B+ mindset”, IMO, doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition. Both B-M and CMR are probably both guilty. But B-M is now committing resources they did not previously commit and seem more motivated to pursue winning. CMR, on the other hand, has a laid-back, hands off approach to his job that I just don’t see ever changing. He has a great perspective on football and life in general, but he is competing with coaches who live and breathe football. The difference shows.
LikeLike
You’ve gotta want that, but you also need to realize you’re not going to beat Bama playing the same game they do. Even if you could go toe-to-toe and finish 2nd to their 1st in recruiting, you have to build up the depth.
You’re not going to out-talent them. Your only chance is to outscheme them, or in Ole Miss’s case, get lucky as hell a couple times in a game, and outscheme their defense, get 5 TOs, and still hold on for a 1 score win.
The problem is, I’m not sure even if he were interested, McGarity could pull off something like “Art Briles is our new HC, and we’re keeping all the defensive staff in place.”
LikeLike
Shadrach is right..you have to win the East to win the SEC. Richt has failed miserably in a down east the last 3 years. Failure is apparently an option at UGA.
LikeLike
This is probably my favorite reader comment I’ve ever seen on this blog. You put this much better — certainly more concisely — than I could have, and you are absolutely right.
I no longer care about Richt one way or the other, except inasmuch as I acknowledge that he did usher Georgia football into a new era in many ways.
But there are a whole lot of misguided people out there who are convinced that Richt is personally responsible for things like the UGA Athletic Department’s drug/drug-testing/suspension policy, the amount of money the Athletic Department spends on football support staff, the amount of money the Athletic Department puts into facilities, the UGA Police Department’s transparent pride in “busting” athletes, etc. That perception is simply incorrect.
The Georgia Way is an institutional culture, and it runs pretty deep — all the way to the Board of Regents. Mark Richt didn’t create it, and it won’t leave UGA when he does.
LikeLike
My alma mater lost a 17 point lead last week and lost to ASU. My wife stated “It is Mark Richt’s fault as he flew out to Seattle and his karma caused that” Add that to your list. Some people simply do not get that UGA is not going to out Bama, Bama with the $$$ culture that has been there since the mid 60’s.
LikeLike
at UGA(there) and face it the $$ culture and the Regents culture at Bama.
LikeLike
Stability is the key for 2016. It would not surprise me to see head coaches salaries lower five years from now. The politics is heading that way and the financial markets are due for a serious correction… bringing many things down with them.
LikeLike
If there is a correlation between the markets and coaches salaries it’s news to me and Jimmy Sexton.
LikeLike
“I don’t like my job, but since there’s no guarantee that I’d find another job more fulfilling, I’ll just keep clocking in and clocking out here until I retire or die.”
“I’m unhappy in my relationship, but since I can’t be certain that I’d be happier in another relationship, I’ll just stick with this person, … I guess.”
“Richt may only be a B+ football coach, but since you can’t know for sure that his replacement would be any better, we might as well just keep him around.”
Uncertainty breeds fear. Fear breeds complacency.
LikeLike
What I fear, Turd, really…is that we (Georgia) do not want any better than B+. Pressure breeds fear, fear breeds institutional dyspepsia.
LikeLike
Either Saban or Meyer. No one else in CFB today comes close to moving UGA to the next level.
LikeLike
We don’t know that as true. That’s just a guess. Both of those guys won a first MNC for schools they are no longer coaching for. You don’t have to have won a championship to win one. It’s not a requirement. You know, Richt is UGA’s version of Charlie McClendon. Charlie Mac part two.
LikeLike
I think it is safe to say we could eliminate one of those folks from our daydreams, that you would put his name in the same thought with UGA is pretty wrong-headed, El Dawgo.
As to Nick Saban, moving from Bamma to UGA? Yeah, right. Although a five year deal worth, say….$50 million? might be temptatious.
Chili, Derek…youse guys gonna have to up the ante on your contributions to the Hartman Fund.
LikeLike
If more of these schools up the ante it could have a downward effect on these huge coaching salaries. Three million at Memphis/Houston vs. 4-5 million at LSU where if you don’t win the MNC in 2-3 years you would be out the door??
LikeLike