“Mark Richt has made me a better football coach.”

Rush Propst is a very successful high school football coach who’s also got a fair share of personal baggage to go along with his professional success.

Based on this, he’s apparently lobbying for a job on the next Georgia staff.  So take what he says about Richt, the 2015 season and moving forward with a grain of salt.  But read it, because it’s interesting.

78 Comments

Filed under Georgia Football

78 responses to ““Mark Richt has made me a better football coach.”

  1. After reading this…I am sure that McGarity identified him as a top candidate based on his ability to mince words.

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  2. FisheriesDawg

    I’d have a hard time rooting for that SOB. Probably a great one if we wanted to rub the spread (makes recruiting QBs far simpler than it has been for us), but…man, that would be difficult. Can’t stand him. Neither can a large portion of HS coaches in GA, so it might backfire from a recruiting standpoint.

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    • Otto

      He is a very dirty coach not just personal baggage. Senator won’t comment on Pruitt’s dirt in Athens but I will say that Rush impacted someone very close to me with his coaching calls and it would ruin Richt’s testimony if he hired Rush. I may have been ready to move on from Richt as a coach but I do respect what he is about as a man.

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  3. Rick

    So full of shit. No one on the staff thought Georgia wasn’t capable of winning 8 games. Vegas thought we were a 10 win team before Chubb went down, and had us in the top 10 most likely to win the national championship.

    This is complete, utter nonsense from a douche who wants a job. He is taking things that are obvious now and claiming that he predicted them months ago and recognizes that sucking up to both Richt and the new staff are his best play.

    Ignore as hard as anything can be ignored.

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    • He strikes me as one of those guys that’s 50% truth, 50% BS. But the BS part doesn’t make the truth part any less true, and certainly some of what he says in there lines up with what Bluto has been saying about B-M. Definitely an interesting read.

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      • Rick

        I think you are probably bang-on correct, and in those situations such people should be outright ignored. Our stupid brains think we can tell when a half-liar is telling the truth and when he’s not, but we can’t. If we could, they wouldn’t have made this far in life still being so full of shit.

        What really happens is that we end up believing whatever he says that we agree with and disbelieving whatever we disagree with. Completely pointless.

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      • Will (The Other One)

        And some of the other stuff was obvious from nearly the beginning. Once JSW had another injury/setback, we all started talking up the potential at the TEs, because we knew it was Mitchell and then…?

        Really hope the next coach is better at roster management.

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    • Jared S.

      Didn’t a lot of reporters voice similar concerns after UGA’s first practice? I specifically remember a couple saying that Lambert looked worse than awful and that Georgia was probably in for a world of hurt this season.

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      • Rick

        I’m not arguing with the characterization of the QB, and he’s been as advertised, but if Vegas thinks you are getting 10 wins with that same info, there is no way in hell the coaches don’t have that as the expectation. Nick Chubb could have won half the schedule by himself (I still wouldn’t have expected any more than 10 wins with Chubb, but we got lucky doing it the hard way without him).

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      • Will (The Other One)

        Meanwhile guitar-pickin’ Rick Neuhisel claimed Lambert looked great, so we can pretty much discount anything he says going forward.

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  4. “they had not one legitimate wide receiver. ”

    Malcolm Mitchell will play in the NFL a long time. This dude is either stupid or exaggerating.

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    • gastr1

      You really think so? I have to tell you, I’m not sure, for the same reason I wasn’t sure about Aaron Murray.–his physical build. He’s a tweener–too big for the Wes Welker-type and not tall enough for the Megatron/AJ type.
      And he’s not as fast or athletic as Conley–who’s an athletic specimen but still riding a lot of pine in KC.

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      • Well Murray is still in NFL. But qb is different.

        Obviously I don’t know, but he’s a very very talented guy that’s smart, fast, and has good hands. He was the only bright spot on this offense after Chubb went down.

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      • JN

        Not as athletic as Conley? Whoa guy.

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        • Rick

          Check out the combine for Conley last year. One of the most impressive performances in recent history.

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          • gastr1

            Thank you, Rick.
            Yes, the fact that we “did not have a deep threat” last year was not because we lacked a burner at receiver (Rush Propst’s claims notwithstanding). I am also well aware that Murray, who was expected in these parts to make a solid impact in the NFL, is a third-string QB on the same team as Conley. (Love them both, btw, which is why I pay attention to what they’re doing.)

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    • BigSam

      MM will not be drafted, imo. I think he signs a free-agent agreement and proceeds through a production season or two. If he is still injury free, then he gets a decent paycheck.

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  5. Normaltown Mike

    some strange tidbits:

    Richt’s mistake was hiring Schottenheimer…but somebody else made him do it?

    Richt’s other mistake was not signing Deshawn, a QB that Richt never seriously chased.

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    • gastr1

      This is the first time you’ve seen DeShaun Watson come up as an issue?

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    • Not true – according to people in Gainesville, Watson wanted out of northeast Georgia and Dabo gave him that opportunity early. According to folks in Hall County, Watson was a Georgia fan but never wanted to attend UGA.

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      • gastr1

        And look, he went so far away! What about the state line was so troublesome, I wonder?

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        • I have no idea … but people up there said he never really wanted to play at Georgia. He liked Chad Morris and his system. I thought it was that Bobo wouldn’t guarantee him that he was the only QB we would sign and CU did. I was told that wasn’t true by someone up in Gainesville.

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          • gastr1

            “He liked Chad Morris and his system”
            Bingo.

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            • I could have seen Watson as another DJ Shockley especially since Bobo had put in spread elements to go with the downhill power running game. I don’t know if he and Bobo ever had a chance to develop a real relationship because Watson committed so early.

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  6. Argondawg

    He would probably be a good position coach and recruiter. Not an OC. He needs to have coached at a higher level

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  7. Scorpio Jones, III

    “Vegas thought we were a 10 win team before Chubb went down, and had us in the top 10 most likely to win the national championship.”

    So what Vegas thought makes Rush Propst a liar, a feather merchant.

    Giving credence to what Vegas thought, or anybody in Vegas thought, or anything anybody else who ignored the obvious shortcomings this team had at the beginning of the season is one of the reasons we are looking for a new coach.

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    • Derek

      People never understand what Vegas does. They aren’t predicting outcomes. They are predicting what gamblers will do with their money. Vegas is about maximizing the vig. They are not fortune telling.

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      • Rick

        I would wager (no pun intended) that I understand how vegas works as well as anyone here, and I’ve never placed a bet. I have, however, studied efficient markets theory (and it’s criticism) extensively. Vegas is an excellent case study for it.

        Believe Propst if you want, as someone noted above I’m sure at least half of what he says is accurate, but the idea that we didn’t have one legit receiver and no chance at winning more than 8 games is pure BS.

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        • Derek

          Then explain to me the ND/Alabama line or the UGA/Hawaii line. I’m not saying that the bettors are always wrong, but it IS about the gamblers. Gamblers, in general, do have enough respect for their money to make wise decisions, most of the time, so Vegas does tend to be right a lot. I certainly have no interest in trying to beat them. My point simply is that if some asshole puts a million bucks on Duke every week, its going to move the line because Vegas follows the money that is being bet. Vegas does not care about the outcomes of games. They care about the bottom line.

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          • Derek,

            I’m not a gambler and didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express, but I did hear a Vegas guy on talk radio last week explaining the kind of example you used.

            They have ways of weeding out the nuts who put large amounts down without really knowing what they are doing, the homers laying lots of smaller sums on their favorite team and the professional guys who do know what they are doing. Watching the professional money gives us the real clue as to who Vegas expects to win or lose.

            BD

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            • Scorpio Jones, III

              BD, do you know what the professionals thought the chances of Georgia beating Bama were? Slim to none?

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            • Rick

              I did not know they had that, but I would argue that for a game of any visibility you don’t need them. The reason lines are almost perfect (and by ‘perfect’ I mean as good as possible, a team can still be favored by 5 TDs and lose occasionally) is because the top 0.1% of bettors are constantly seeking the lines that are out of whack and dropping very large bets until they get back to being reasonable. It’s exactly the same way the stock market works, bond markets work, commodities markets, basically anything involving betting on future prices.

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        • Scorpio Jones, III

          Well, let’s see Rick, why would Propst seem to think that? No quarterback, a patched together offensive line, a kicker with a bad back, a defense in the second year of a three-year rebuilding project with the need to start two or three, or more freshmen. The only quarterback prospect who seemed to be capable of starting had been on the campus, what? a month.

          I have no illusions about understanding, or being interested in economic theory, Rick, but I can tell you that Rush Propst may be many things, but a football idiot he is not.

          Frankly, I wish I had not wasted so much of my time with college football, spent a little more of it trying to understand economic theory, but there it is.

          I thought nine wins would be possible, eight more likely. With Nick Chubb.

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          • Rick

            No argument that Propst is a football idiot. My only argument is that he’s full of shit and saying whatever he can to profit. If that’s dropping genuine pearls of wisdom, he’ll do it, if it’s telling people what they want to hear, he’ll do that.

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            • Scorpio Jones, III

              You obviously know Rush better than I do. Maybe that’s true. It being true, of course does not make Georgia a better football team at the beginning of the year…with Nick.

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      • Jeez, Mark down this day, I concur with Derek.

        Fire raining from the sky, dogs loving with cats, mass hysteria!

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    • Rick

      Go make your money then, sir.

      Once the lines are allowed to move, they reflect a more-or-less efficient encoding of all available information. Check out the joint Nobel Prize in Economics from a couple years ago (Shiller and Fama shared it), it was awarded for explaining why this is the case and where it can go wrong.

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    • Minnesota Dawg

      Oh, and here’s another reason that we are looking for a new football coach: Getting blown out, once again, by our biggest rival, a team that has as many, if not more, obvious shortcomings than Georgia had…with the division championship on the line.

      Like most years, every single team in the SEC had/has shortcomings this year. Every team was/is flawed, and Georgia had a lot fewer obvious shortcomings than most of the SEC and all of its division rivals. Obviously, some teams were able to do well despite such shortcomings…in no small part due to coaching and player development.

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  8. anon

    reading that article made me want to strap it up and play…hire the SOB

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  9. 69Dawg

    I don’t live in Georgia so I don’t know the guy. The one thing I do know that he said was true is that if you don’t adapt you perish. I love Mark but his pro offense was suffering from the same thing the NFL is suffering from, NO QB’s at the lower level. All my life I have always heard that a great coach could take his and beat yours or take yours and beat his. Mark had to go to Texas, Florida and Washington to get his QB’s. With Georgia QB’s he recruited, except for DJ, he was so so. This is the same thing Charlie Strong, Nick Saban, Les Miles and Will Muschamp have run into. If the high schools are 90% running the spread then you have eliminated most of the QB’s or made them projects. Having projects for QB, as Mark found out, gets you fired. The other problem that you have is finding the road grader Olineman, Mark in my estimation never had a starting 5 Oline that had quality at each position. Saban and Alabama have the advantage of having the cream of the crop 2 deep. If we are going to change the program, change the damn offense, recruit the best Georgia boys that want to play for Georgia and have at it.

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    • Will (The Other One)

      It’s not just a pro thing — you need to adapt period, or your season goes to hell. The Gus Bus derailed because ol’ Gus couldn’t adapt to having no running threat at QB.

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    • Sh3rl0ck

      Murray and Mason both ran spread offenses in High School.

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    • That’s what was frustrating to me about this year. I honestly believe if Bobo had stayed, he could of coached up Ramsey and ran a spread hybrid with simple reads and better running lanes for Sony and got more production. Especially after Chubb went down. You can drive yourself crazy thinking about the what ifs. Would 10-2 have saved Richt? I don’t know. You can always simplify things by cherry picking specific plays or moments, but to think that if Von Pearson doesn’t make one lucky-ass 4th down catch while lying on his back just beyond the marker, we might be having a different conversation today.

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  10. Tronan

    I don’t live in Georgia and I’m not familiar with Propst, but he obviously rubs a lot of people the wrong way. But, this fits my (perhaps inaccurate) preconceptions:

    “There is too much red tape at Georgia. There is no red tape at Alabama or Auburn. That is one thing that needs to change at Georgia. The head guy needs full reign. When he needs something, he should be able to make one phone call and get it done, not polling a board of regents.”

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    • Debby Balcer

      That is the line that jumped out at me too and it is true. Mark wanted an IPF and more support staff and look how long it took UGA to get it for him. That has to change for a new coach to do any better. Not saying we need to go unethical but we do need to support that coach.

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      • Scorpio Jones, III

        The aforementioned red tape for the head football coach is just one of the many things that separates Georgia from Alabama. Red tape may not even be the worst of these.

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    • Chickasaw

      Having dealt with UGA and UA during college search and admissions processes for my kids, I can tell you that even on the academic front, UGA is bound up in archaic red tape compared to Bama, at least for out of state residents. I get that UGA is a more competitive school academically, but UGA was mostly about process, Bama about getting the kid in. One of my kids just gave up on UGA in frustration at the process, while Bama bent over backwards to make it smooth and informative. Night and day experiences.

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  11. j4k372

    Rush is not a good guy, but he knows how to win. The humanity.

    I particularly liked this jewel. “I think Brice was mismanaged from the first day he got there.”

    He mentions many failures of CMR throughout the article. No roster management, mishandling of QBs, hiring the wrong OC, inability to adapt the offense to the talent.

    Yet he is shocked CMR was fired. Also, I wholeheartedly disagree with the statement we didn’t have “one legitimate reciever”. MM is a hell of a receiver at this level.

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  12. Dovedawg

    I have been a Dawg alumnus for40 years and also have lived in Moultrie for 38 years where Propst coaches. Everyone has some type of past issue, but Coach Propst has overcome those and is a Coach who runs a classy program and treats his players well. Our high school team plays with class and plays the game well. Propst gets his players scholarships and helps them on to the next level.I have observed his organization and coaching abilities getting a team ready to play and they are excellent. I would not want to lose him from Moultrie because we have had and are having so much enjoyment following the Packers over the last several years, but Coach Propst is an excellent coach who will succeed on the next level if given the opportunity.

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    • Scorpio Jones, III

      Propst has had some very public personal situations that caused him some grief. Of course that sort of thing is completely unknown in the Butts-Mehre view of life.

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    • FarmerDawg

      I agree. Lived in Collquitt county all my life except my time at UGA. Rush Propst is a lot like having Urban Meyer you may not always be proud of the coach but the results sure are fun. I love and support Mark Richt, but now that he is gone I just want to win we lost the high ground when McG fired coach Richt.

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  13. Not a big fan of his, but I suspect he’s a lot like many of us at the water cooler…the kind of guy that thinks he knows everything about everything. In this case, someone stuck a recorder in his face and he told us all how it is.

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    • Scorpio Jones, III

      I don’t know, at this particular water cooler I would say Propst at least could know what he is talking about, whether he does or not is a separate question, seems to me. Rush Propst is kinda like Tarkenton. He ought to know what he’s talking about, but with his character on a personal level being what it seems to be, its hard to believe he knows anything…about anything.

      But both won, win, some football games.

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  14. Moultriedawg

    Guys I’m not saying that Prost is right or not full of himself but I promise you this if and its a big if he gets the chance to coach at Uga well you don’t have to worry about losing all the games we should have won. I see it every Friday night in the fall he gets those boys ready to play

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  15. DawgPhan

    He wasnt wrong that the offensive side of the ball cost CMR his job. The OC hire was a disaster. The failure to get the offense ready to play this season was the next one, begat by the first one. The Bauta debacle was just the last straw. CMR was fired at that point.

    They had no plan to get the offense ready and it showed.

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  16. AusDawg85

    I really don’t want to read any shit about a coach having “baggage” and thus disqualified for working at UGA. We’ve moved on. If he can win the 2 games Richt couldn’t, bring him on. #nattiesorbust

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    • AusDawg85

      And why aren’t we looking at Chizik? I’m serious. Strong D guy, HC experience, MNC experience, SE connections for recruiting, can keep his mouth shut, etc. I can look past scam and think his resume is stronger than Smart right now.

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      • Otto

        I firmly believe Lowder and Company wanted the spread, look at Franklin with Tubbs, and arranged the marriage between Chizik and Gus. Chizik wins it all, gets the authority to hire as he wants, and goes prostyle. He doesn’t win a SEC game and is dumped. I don’t see Chizik putting a staff together on his own to win the SEC, same goes for Tubberville. Besides haven’t we learned not to hire a Gator like Chiizik from the Schottenheimer mistake?

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      • Otto

        If you want a SEC name that has won Cutcliffe should be popping up.

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        • Bright Idea

          Cutcliffe refused to play the red tape game at Tenn. and decided to get comfortable at Duke where there are no expectations. Who can blame him? Great coach but starting to get long in the tooth.

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          • Chadwick

            He tormented UGA. Smart, driven and tough. Referred to Champ Bailey as Chump once. Excellent Qb coach and coordinator.

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            • Minnesota Dawg

              Absolutely. Like Charlie Strong, I was thrilled when he left the conference. I believe he’d do fine in the SEC. Problem is he’s not young, so not likely to get hired as HC for the big programs, and he isn’t going to be anybody’s coordinator anymore.

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