The fact that Richt has taken the Miami job does not absolve UGA from paying the full buyout, according to a reading of his contract and verified by a source familiar with the situation. That’s because the decision was made by UGA to fire Richt, thus putting him on the market.
But the contracts for Pruitt and Schottenheimer offer a different reading, as they’re set up differently.
Pruitt and Schottenheimer are each still under contract for two more seasons after this one. The buyout on each of their deals is the remaining salary, so in Pruitt’s case (his salary is $1.3 million) it would be approximately $2.6 million, and for Schottenheimer it would be approximately $1.9 million.
Neither is expected to be retained by incoming head coach Kirby Smart. (Though it has yet to be ruled out, as Smart has not said anything publicly yet.)
If either Pruitt or Schottenheimer accepts another job between now and when Smart takes over, then UGA is essentially in the clear on their buyouts. Again, that’s according to a reading of their contracts and a source familiar with the situation.
But if Pruitt or Schottenheimer has not accepted a job by the time they are officially not retained by Smart – in essence, fired – then they are owed their buyout.
However, unlike Richt, if either coordinator subsequently takes another job then whatever they are earning would be prorated out of what UGA owes them.
Seems to me if you’re Jeremy Pruitt, you might think about offering your services to an enterprising head coach at a significant discount for the next couple of seasons. If you’re Greg McGarity, maybe you’re whispering in Smart’s ear not to rush into any hasty coordinator hiring decisions.
And, yes, I’m kidding. I think.
Get The Picture 
The source familiar with the situation is probably ol McEars himself
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Saving money has been part of “The Georgia Way” for some time now. Perhaps ADGM swallowing some of his pride about Pruitt’s well-reported brusqueness is just good business (hopefully).
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If Kirby wants to keep Pruitt, his strategy is now clear.
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If I’d been fired by a program, I’d take another job for $10,000 a year or something and let my new boss spread my salary around for a few years. They love me at the new gig, I get to stick it to the old gig, everyone wins (except for the bastards that fired me)!
If Coach Richt wasn’t getting his buyout on top of his Miami earnings, that would be exactly what he should have done.
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So, If Florida beats Bama this weekend it’s gonna cost UGA $3.2 million.
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Am I the only one who thinks Richt might have played McGarity to double dip on his severance and bank the new money Miami will be paying him? Things moved too quickly after he was fired – he accepted the Miami job in less than 4 days.
Either he had been back-channeling Miami since October, or he was so pissed he took their offer without doing much research. The latter is hard for me to believe.
Was Richt going to leave anyway, whether he got canned or not? It wouldn’t be the first time McGarity was fooled.
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I know this: Baptist churches in the Miami area are going to be doing a little recruiting of their own. I am pretty sure Mark is a tither. 😉
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He’s at least a tither. I can’t imagine McGarity is going to be on the pastor’s or the treasurer’s at Prince Avenue Baptist’s Christmas card list this year.
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That’s funny!
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I think McGarity really thought Richt would jump at doing some sort of caretaker offers, didn’t want to leave Athens no matter what, etc. Maybe not quite like Donnan (where he didn’t even get any real offers) but that he’d sit a year out anyway before getting back.
Meanwhile, Miami saw their guy and wowed him.
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It’ll be different for Mark. I heard Miami had 6000 people at their last home game. If that’s true….well, good luck. I guess it’s a little more comfortable missionary post than Haiti.
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And what was it that Mark Richt and Jacob Eason were discussing after the Auburn game, on McGarity’s dime!???
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What a mess!!!! McEars needs to go…his frugalness is costing him more than IF he had simply let Richt run the show like he wanted to!
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Richt running the show like he wanted to led to Brian Schottenheimer running the offense and other assistants coming to fisticuffs.
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word on the streets is that richt wanted bloomgren from stanford, but mcgarity wouldn’t pay what it took to steal him away, i.e. we got outbid for the guy richt wanted as Plan A. Plan B looks to have been a really, really bad plan B.
doesn’t matter now as I’m Team Smart at this point, but if that’s true, it’s yet another instance of McGarity’s cheapness potentially costing UGA big.
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That is exactly the case.
Anyone who believes that Richt was allowed to run the program the way he wanted is delusional. Butts-Mehre impedes its football program at every turn.
Hopefully at some point down the road, after a sufficient amount of failure has transpired, those in charge might see the errors of their ways and allow some future coach to have free rein to run things as he sees fit.
Until that happens, 10 wins a season is the program’s ceiling.
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If it is known by GM and others in B-M that we’re not keeping Pruitt, I sure hope we’re not keeping him employed and on the recruiting trail just to save some cheddar while he gets to line up players for his next gig.
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Sounds like very good advice to me. I know some lawyers (e.g., my cousin) who would charge a lot for that advice.
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Let’s not jump to any conclusions.
Perhaps Schotty will stay on to sell cotton candy at football games and operate the shirt-cannon for b-ball.
We don’t want him to end up working at the toll booth in Ocala.
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I’m sitting at my desk at work….and that made me chuckle out loud in an embarrassing way. Hahaha.
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“I know. I know. That fake punt against Georgia in ’99 was a bad call”.
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Man that would really slow traffic on the turnpike.
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In a serious vein, if they can get along, Kirby should keep Pruitt. He could expect some continuity with someone else who has a Bama ethos behind what he does, and that would be one thing he wouldn’t have to worry about much. With Pruitt in the DC and his buddy in the S & C slot, he would be free to spend most of his time righting the offense and special teams. If they can get along, I can great things happening from that set up.
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“With Pruitt in the DC and his buddy in the S & C slot, he would be free to spend most of his time” fundraising
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I know most of these guys don’t work that way, but the or he can hole up at Key West for a while would be on my mind.
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These guys are too good and/or well liked that it’s not going to matter that much. They will go somewhere and get paid well. We would at best save a few hundred grand and I don’t think it would be worth it to delay getting the best coordinators in here as soon as possible to start hitting the recruiting trail. Yes I think even Schotty will end up somewhere.
I can’t imagine the bad feelings it would take to play the scheme of agreeing to a tiny salary just to screw over your old school even though you don’t get any benefit personally. At least I hope my alma mater wouldn’t piss anyone off that badly.
And all this only applies if we aren’t keeping either cough PRUITT please stay cough.
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But I thought they “mutually agreed” Richt would leave?
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Liar, Liar, You got to know when to hold em, and when to fold em.
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If this does not reinforce McGarity’s ineptness I don’t know what would.
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McGarity, a man who lacks prescience. Foley he is not.
Would keep Pruitt and Sherrer.
Western Kentucky OC would be my new OC.
Apparently Smart is totally forbidden in his contract to do any work outside of Bama until a season has ended, whenever that is.
Will not be surprised if McElewan does not put up some numbers on the Bama defense. The question is how much does the Gator defense have in its tank come the 4th quarter, because Delvin Cook began to shred it in the 4th quarter.
January 11 is over a month away and a lot can happen between now and then.
McGarity is now between the rock and the hard place, and his options erode everyday.
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You’re joking about Florida putting up points on Bama, right? They got 3 on FSU and were in Gainesville, I believe. As good as UF’s defense is, their offense is that bad. They have done a lot with smoke and mirrors and some really good defensive players, but there’s no way they make a game out of it with Bama, much less “put up some numbers.
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Even worse, Chuck, they got 2. That Florida offense is about as inept as ours is, especially without Will Grier.
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27-2 was their loss.
27-3 was our loss.
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Florida won’t cross midfield without a turnover from Bama.
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Just keep Pruitt!!! I have little doubt we’re gonna rue the day we let Pruitt walk out of Athens for another gig. He’s a ‘southeast’ guy, young, a terrific recruiter, and great coach. He’ll be a annual nightmare for us if he ends up on the sideline of another sec east team. Time to quit pouting McG.
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Now is the time for McGarity to put Georgia’s drug policy in line with our competitions.
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Pruitt will go to Bama for $400k/ year like Kiffin. USC still pays most of his salary, I think.
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Any truth to the rumor that Joey Freshwater may be coming to take the OC job? Would have thought he’d be a candidate for more of the HC positions out there.
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This Joey Freshwater? 🙂
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