You may have missed this news in the heat of the debate over the political stuff affecting Georgia athletics, but it may be another sign that Kirby Smart vs. The Georgia Way is a battle that the new head coach is winning in more ways than one.
Kirby Smart will have a scaled back UGA speaking tour from what Mark Richt did in recent spring stops.
Smart is expected to appear at just three fan events…
Richt appeared at seven UGA Day events last year and at 10 of 12 in 2014.
I guess Kirby doesn’t have time for that shit. Nor is McGarity, as he did with Richt, making Smart find time for it.
If you’ll recall, for all the highfalutin’ talk about how when McGarity took the AD job his intent was to allow Richt to focus on his core job responsibilities, the language in Richt’s contract was quite different.
It’s Richt’s job to maximize that revenue. His contract specifies that he “take any and all reasonable actions … to generate substantial net revenue for the Association and University,” an unusual clause for coaching contracts.
“It’s just stating the obvious,” McGarity says.
Richt’s contractual duties also include soliciting sponsors for marketing opportunities and helping to find donors for scholarship endowments…
… Richt’s contract is unusually specific about his media and other public relations duties, including no fewer than 12 appearances at Bulldog Club meetings throughout the Southeast and no fewer than two full days each year assisting the school’s president in fundraising activities. Parameters for his radio and TV appearances are spelled out in detail in his nearly 40-page contract and in greater detail in a 191-page multimedia and marketing rights licensing agreement that the contract specifies be provided to him.
Richt would never criticize that as bullshit, but it’s telling that at his new gig even he’s utilizing his time in other ways than was the case under McGarity.
Richt himself is doing extra work this spring thanks to his decision to wear multiple hats in the new job. Thomas Brown, a former Georgia running back under Richt, technically holds the offensive coordinator title, but Richt fully plans to call the offense. His son is technically the quarterback coach, but Kaaya hears plenty from the head man himself throughout practices.
He’s cut back on speaking engagements and returning written correspondence
“It’s just like, a lot of times you’ll see presidents of the university, when they retire from being president, they go back and teach. They go back to their first love, so to speak,” he said. “That’s what I’m doing.”
So if Kirby’s put his foot down here, good for him. You know this one had to hurt the keeper of the reserve fund a bit. Good thing there’s all that extra SEC Network money rolling in.
Get The Picture 
Man, Greg must have really thought Kirby would take the South Carolina job, then.
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Every day I come to appreciate more and more what an unfair fight Jimmy Sexton vs. Greg McGarity was.
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+1
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Makes me think of Jesse Pinkman and Saul.
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Could you possibly imagine how that conversation went down?
JS: “We want 5 mil per, very little non-football BS, and a complete support staff that Smart is accustomed to at Bama.” ADGM: “Well, uhh, sir, we were thinking 4 mil annually, 12 statewide grip and grins, and we’ll have to discuss this whole support staff thing later.” JS: [Clears throat] 5 mil per, 3 public events tops, and total damn support. Take it or leave it.” ADGM: “I’ll have that contract over to you immediately sir. Thank you.”
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Don’t forget to throw in a couple of “Greg, I’ve got the South Carolina AD on my other line… can I call you back?”. 😉
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Now that’s funny.
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It $3.75m but point taken that Sexton took our AD to the woodshed.
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Makes me realize what a hostile work environment Mark Richt worked in. He loved his players and being a DAWG enough to put up with that. Too bad he never got the support Kirby is now.
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I agree that Richt had a crappy work environment and probably a lot of uphill battles. The only reason Kirby is getting this support is because they fired Richt. You can’t fire a proven coach who was producing and not make some serious changes. McGarity backed himself into a corner after firing Richt.
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^^This.
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+1000
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Most of that blame, however, falls on CMR for not saying ‘no’ and putting his foot down. CMR had far more power, clout, and influence than Greg or the AD ever would, thus he’s ultimately responsible to agreeing to such activities that had nothing to do with actually running the program whatsoever.
The best leaders/CEO’s are selfish with their time and never think twice about saying no. It’s good to see Smart adhering to such principles.
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Bobby Bowden was right that Richt was too nice a guy for his own good.
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Can you “blame” somebody who doesn’t see “leveraging” as the default position in every facet of life? I know that there are plenty of successful people who use their power at every opportunity to get more for themselves from everyone they can take advantage of. That’s just not CMR. He could have pitched many a fit and had waiting suitors if his demands weren’t met. That’s just not who the guy is. There are costs to just trying to do the right thing. Sure they may get taken advantage of from time to time, that’s just part of it. Those who absorb those costs without regret should be given credit not given “blame.” If he were the guy you say he should have been, he’d never have coached here 15 years. Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.
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It’s not ‘leveraging’ Derek, its being fully aware of your #1 responsibility, of which you are extremely well compensated for — and that is to win football games. I said nothing about CMR engaging in passive aggressive BS with the AD, in which he subtlety threatens to leave for another program or anything of the sort. It’s simply a matter of maximizing the most use of his very busy and quite limited time in effort to improve the football program. And doing grip and grins and outreach to potential business supporters of the program doesn’t accomplish that goal.
CMR himself admitted during his closing PC that he spent far too much time with non-football related activities than he should have, and how he really wanted to get back to the basics of coaching. In other words, he basically echoed my comments above.
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But that simply begs the question: was he doing the non-football stuff because the AD had that expectation or because CMR just wanted to? It seems to me that from what we can glean from the public comments that CMR tried to limit those commitments but he wasn’t allowed to. What does a powerful CEO-type do? He finds a better suitor and leverages what he wants or else. It IS about leverage in the real world situation. We know CMR didn’t want to make all of these commitments because he said so before he was let go How else can that situation be described other than CMR was made to do things CMR knew were not contributing to the bottom line?
Prior to the first scrimmage Kirby was asked what it felt like to be going into his first practice at his alma mater? It was very interesting to what degree Kirby did not take that bait and say “this is a dream come true” or “this is the job I’ve always wanted” or “I never want to coach anywhere else.” He may feel none or all of those things, but he isn’t going to be caught dead saying any of them in public because guess what? At the end of the day very few people give a shit and Kirby knows that’s just a recipe for being exploited.
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A good question to ask about now is why Mark Richt never signed that last contract.
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Yep
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his pen didn’t work after diving off that platform.
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Because he always borrowed one of Bobo’s crayons to sign with and Schotty showed up with nothing to write with?
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If he had that kind of clout we would have already had an IPF and better pay for the coaches who worked under him well before he left. For some reason the powers that be wanted to win it all and not support the head coach. Now that they have their head coach they are all in.
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That simply isn’t true, and I’ll present you two simple words to prove my point: Jeremy Pruitt. For years, CMR lobbied for an IPF, mostly privately and, from what I understand, quite passively. They finally agreed on that squatty, makeshift place (that they now are tearing down just a few short years later, ironically), and CMR said he was happy and all was good.
Then Pruitt shows up, and he’s astonished at the lack of commitment within the program. He can’t believe there are only 65-70 on scholly, that the new makeshift IPF that CMR is happy with is, well, their IPF, and basically can’t fathom the general lack of urgency with the program. Oh, and the S&C program was a disaster too. So he lobbies CMR hard privately, telling him all his concerns. CMR isn’t willing to publicly do a 180 and ask for another IPF, so Pruitt does it for him. And boy did he ever vent his frustrations publicly. Just a few short weeks later, what do you know…they AD commits to a new IPF.
Pruitt accomplished in a mere few weeks what CMR didn’t over a (then) 12 year period. If that, and just that alone, doesn’t open your eyes a bit to the overall passivity of a program CMR ran, then frankly nothing will.
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don’t hold your breath on your observation about the IPF. “CMR the victim” plays to peoples belief that there’s always someone else to blame. Before it’s all over, some fans will put Greg McGarity next to Jan Kemp in the Hall of Villains that stole National Championships from UGA
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BTW, as for ‘better pay for assistants long before he left,’ you do realize that when Grantham was hired, he was (I believe) either the highest of 2nd highest paid DC in the SEC. Before him, way back when Van Gorder left at the end of ’04, CMR had an open checkbook to lure anyone he wanted, but instead elevated his buddy Willy Mart instead (thus proving CMR had no clue about The Peter Principle teachings and the like).
Thus, please spare us the “CMR had little/no support” BS. CMR’s failings are on him and him only.
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Richt certainly had his faults and I can’t quibble with the decision to let him go, but you are way off base with the “please spare us the “CMR had little/no support” BS” argument.
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I will grant you SB that, particularly during DE’s tenure as AD, the lack of support was quite evident at times. And it was no small secret that DE and CMR had a frosty at best relationship. With that said, the onus still fell on CMR to necessitate change/improvements, yet his overall laid back, placating personality prevented him from doing so (just as it did in managing other aspects of the program). In other words, CMR wasn’t afforded better support because he never fully demanded it. Instead, he went with the flow in a state of drift like mindset , and thus the program begun the gradual decline over his last 10 or so years at the helm.
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To say that is to ignore completely what happened at the end of 2014. Among other things.
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Do you remember Dink NeSmith’s public support?
CMR was a dead man walking within his own athletic association board.
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The speculations you’re presenting as facts are laughable if not nauseating. We get it, you’re happy that Richt is gone, but please “SPARE US” your uninformed musings about Richt’s professional temperament based on what you think you saw on TV.
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What you think his #1 priority was and what his boss thought his #1 priority was seem to differ a little.
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If that was indeed the case, CMR would still be the HC at UGA today.
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So he had more power and clout than the AD, yet he got fired after two consecutive ten win seasons complete with bowl wins? Whether you agree with his firing or not, it can’t be both. Those two realities cannot simultaneously exist, and since we know that the latter is a fact… well, you get the idea.
Walk into your job on Monday, tell your boss no, and let us know how that works out for you. It’s not like Richt didn’t butt heads with ADGM. He fought for the indoor facility for years before it finally got pushed through.
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I think that too, but Richt benefited a lot from stuff that sunk Donnan, so that goes around. AND honestly, if Richt really didn’t want to do that stuff, he clearly could have floated some job offers to get it. He wasn’t in to that (to his credit/detriment depending on your point of view).
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Just win baby!
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Just win BIG, baby
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He better win big or the long knives will be out quickly if he’s going to take the “I don’t have time for this $#!+” approach with the rank and file alumni.
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@eethomaswfnc. Yep win now and win big. Hey it works at Bama, why not at UGA. I still think some of the folks and the AD that pushed for Smarts hire, Do Not Truly understand the culture he came from at Bama. Not even a clue. All they want is that trophy.
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Excited to see how things develop @ Miami.
I have always thought of them as my second team, so this works out pretty well for me.
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It’s Richt’s job to maximize that revenue. His contract specifies that he “take any and all reasonable actions … to generate substantial net revenue for the Association and University,” an unusual clause for coaching contracts.
ADGM thought that was stating the obvious. Too bad – for all concerned, himself, the players, the fans and CMR – that he didn’t realize the way to maximize revenue is to win some big games to at least keep the team in the SECCG. Or more.
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Oh we know McGarity was all about the reserve fund, but I think Richt was also guilty of losing sight of head coach things for getting involved in things that he should have left up to others.
In his new gig Richt has surrounded himself with offensive coaches that seem like they would be looking to him to make all the decision: Thomas Brown, Todd Hartley, Ron Dugans (whom he coached at FSU) and his son Jon.
And Richt is doing 7 speaking stops for da U, including Atlanta, Chicago and New York. Is that for recruiting….or for fundraising?
That does not seem to me like a man that is trying to make more time to be a head coach.
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Hell, he was in some new big church in Athens preaching just a couple of months ago. I saw the billboard ad off of 78.
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If Richt had secured a few more SEC titles and at least one NC, he would’ve had more leverage than God…he could’ve taken a very tough stance on all contract negotiations and flipped ADGM the bird…it was not to be… 😦
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And would have been called Saban 2, or Saban would have been Richt 2. Saban flips everyone the bird and gets by with it, cause look at all those trophies. Stating the obvious, I know.
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http://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/rome/changes-free-up-uga-coach-richt-georgia-athletic-director-mcgarity/article_df7063d8-801b-57a5-a484-44065e5cc60c.html
Gives us a greater appreciation for the depth of bullshit in THIS linked article.
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