Off again, on again

Honestly, this is approaching comedy now.

UGA had an abrupt change of plans on Monday, and decided to send its football coaches out on the road to recruit on Monday, DawgNation has learned.

This week is one of the biggest recruiting weeks of the year, due to the football season being over and February’s signing day looming around two months away.

Monday’s decision marked a change in plans from Sunday, when UGA’s athletic officials decided to pull all the assistants off the road, with the exception of recruiting coordinator Bryan McClendon and running backs coach Thomas Brown, after head coach Mark Richt was fired.

Jeremy Pruitt, who still holds the title of UGA defensive coordinator, is expected to visit on Monday evening with two high-value targets from Peachtree Ridge High School – defensive back Chad Clay (committed to UGA) and safety Nigel Warrior (undecided). Clay has an in-home visit scheduled with UGA for 7:30 p.m.

UGA defensive line coach Tracy Rocker was supposed to see two of the state’s senior top defensive linemen – Antwuan Jackson (undecided) from Cedar Grove and Michail Carter (undecided) of Jackson.

Maybe that explains why McGarity had no clue at today’s presser as to who was recruiting for the program.  Way to keep the trains running, fellas!

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Could Agent Muschamp be on the case again?

I have to admit there’s at least one possible upside to Kirby Smart being the next head coach at Georgia.

#Auburn DC & ex #UF coach Will Muschamp is getting some consideration from #SouthCarolina for its HC vacancy, source tells @FoxSports.

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 30, 2015

Gawd, I love the SEC.

My biggest question from today’s presser…

… probably isn’t what you might expect.  Here’s what Richt said in response to a question about his future plans:

Mark Richt: “I’ll say this — if and when I do coach again, I’m looking forward to coaching again in terms of being more hands-on. I miss coaching quarterbacks, I miss calling plays, I miss that part of it. Whether it’s in the role of head coach, coordinator, quarterbacks coach, whatever it is. If in fact I choose to do that I’d be really excited about coaching QBs again and getting in the middle of coaching offensive strategy. Not that I wasn’t in it, but I wasn’t calling it. And I think I’d be more apt to do that again.”

Geez, if that’s what you missed, why didn’t you do something about it, especially this season after Bobo left?  You could have taken the OC job back and hired a special teams coach, which probably would have made a lot of people happier, including yourself, it sounds like.

Better get that search firm moving, Greg.

Per Mark Schlabach,

Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, a former Georgia defensive back, is considered the leading candidate for the job. One high-ranking UGA official told ESPN.com that Smart, 39, had to be the “only choice.” Smart has been the Crimson Tide’s defensive coordinator for the past eight seasons and directed defenses that helped them win three national championships since 2009.

Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze, Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen and Houston coach Tom Herman also could be candidates.

Um, scratch one name from that list.  According to the Houston Chronicle’s UH beat writer,

Coach Tom Herman says he has ‘agreed in principle’ on contract with @UHCougarFB

— Joseph Duarte (@Joseph_Duarte) November 30, 2015

Message sent and received?  Or did he not pass a background check?  You make the call.

Rolling with Mr. Conventional Wisdom

Tony Barnhart is always there when you need him.

BTW: You guys beating up on Greg McGarity need to chill out. There was no way he was going to outline the decision sitting next to Richt.

— Tony Barnhart (@MrCFB) November 30, 2015

And he’ll be there to defend the suit who fires McGarity one day, if that should happen.

No excuses now.

OFFICIAL: Clay Helton named permanent USC head coach by athletic director Pat Haden. #FightOn

— USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics) November 30, 2015

Uncontested.

You’ve got the premier job opening in the country now, Georgia.  Don’t screw up the hire.

The Georgia Way’s gonna Georgia Way, y’all.

#UGA AD Greg McGarity says he'll use a search firm in some capacity and says the search is wide open

— Mark Schlabach (@Mark_Schlabach) November 30, 2015

Either he’s full of shit, or he canned Richt without a plan ready to go on the next man.  Terrific.

Where we’re at, in Richt’s eyes

Pretty much sums it up:

RICHT: "Expectations have been built to a point where if you don't win a championship it's miserable around here."

— ABH Sports (@abhsports) November 30, 2015

Saban envy

From Bill Connelly’s Richt epitaph:

After a miserable October, his team rallied. The Dawgs didn’t finish playing top-10-caliber ball, but they won four in a row. That means they’re a bowl win away from a fourth 10-win season in five years (and a 10th in 14). In an obvious down year. Most programs would pay millions for this type of disappointment.

After falling out of the F/+ top 40, the Bulldogs are back up to 34th. Yes, that’s a bad performance for a program with Georgia’s potential, even one that loses its offensive coordinator and starting quarterback in the offseason and one of the best players in the country (Nick Chubb) to injury midway.

But this poor performances comes on the heels of four consecutive F/+ top-15 finishes (13th in 2011, seventh in 2012, 14th in 2013, fourth in 2014).

5. Here are the other programs that pulled that off in that same span: Alabama.

That’s it. Florida State didn’t do it. Oregon didn’t. Ohio State didn’t. But Richt even pulled it off in 2013, with a brutally young defense and receivers exploding like Spinal Tap drummers.

This reminds you of how randomness plays a role in this sport. Rage against randomness or pretend there’s no such thing at your own peril. And while we can say Georgia is a sleeping giant, and that the program should expect better results, here’s a dirty little secret: almost no team gets to constantly win at the level we think it should achieve.

Everybody has setbacks and down years and disappointments and random losses and frustration against rivals. But Saban does it far less frequently than anybody else, and that makes people — especially SEC rivals — lose their damn minds.

Again, I’m not saying you can’t make a case that Richt didn’t deserve to lose his job.  But let’s be real about what has to come next.  As Bill succinctly puts it, “Dumping Richt was an impatient, emotional move. But it doesn’t matter if McGarity nails the replacement hire.”

The story of Georgia football under Richt is a series of ifs.  We’re opening up the next chapter of if.

Masters of PR, ctd.

Seth Emerson tells us that (1) here is a press conference scheduled for this morning at which McGarity and Richt are supposed to be in attendance; and (2) McGarity is scheduled to meet with Georgia players later today.

Would there be anything more Georgia-ish than for McGarity to call upon the man he just fired to help smooth the waters?  Not that I would expect Richt to do anything less…

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UPDATE:  Yup.

Richt told Jacob Eason "to be patient" and wait and see who the next guy is and that Eason may be excited about the next coach.

— ABH Sports (@abhsports) November 30, 2015

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UPDATE #2:  More yup.

Richt: When new guy is named there will be a lot of electricity around here & I think the fans should support him." pic.twitter.com/2ZR9JOzXFm

— UGA Football Live (@UGAfootballLive) November 30, 2015