June 21, 2016 · 10:20 AM

The least surprising thing you’ll read today.

Jim Donnan told Kirby Smart the biggest mistake Donnan made in his first year as Georgia’s head coach was spending too much time with alumni.

48 Comments

Filed under Georgia Football

48 responses to “The least surprising thing you’ll read today.”

  1. Go Dawgs!
    June 21, 2016 at 10:37 AM

    And the fact that he thinks that’s the biggest mistake that he made explains why he got canned.

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  2. MagnusDawgus
    June 21, 2016 at 10:48 AM

    Coach, owuh playuhs looked dehydrated in the second half…..

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  3. Walt
    June 21, 2016 at 10:49 AM

    Biggest mistake was not pulling enough alumni into his Ponzi scheme.

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  4. W Cobb Dawg
    June 21, 2016 at 10:50 AM

    So it WAS Fran Tarkenton’s fault!

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  5. indemnitor
    June 21, 2016 at 11:42 AM

    I believe Damon Evans would say the same thing…too much time w Alums

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  6. BulldogJay
    June 21, 2016 at 11:51 AM

    For both the meetings in Columbus and Macon he cancelled the autograph times because of “recruiting” needs. He wasn’t planning on going to either meeting. I imagine someone reminded him he is required by contract to do 12 meetings like this and so he decided to go.

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  7. aladawg
    June 21, 2016 at 11:54 AM

    Jim Dumb-one smoked too much of Qunicy’s weed. It’s still affecting him!

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  8. PTC DAWG
    June 21, 2016 at 12:02 PM

    Unlike many, I liked JD….glad he hangs around Athens.

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    • HVL Dawg
      June 21, 2016 at 12:46 PM

      Count me in, too. I stopped watching the program during Gump.

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    • 3rdandGrantham
      June 21, 2016 at 2:23 PM

      Totally agree — not the highest EQ guy in the world, but he was more than nice to me the several times I met him (including once as a college student at the gas station in front of Butts Mehre.)

      After his first season, my friend (who was a starter in ’96) said that Donnan was a huge upgrade over Goff, and that he was quite a good X’s and O’s coach, but he felt he also was too lax as a so-called ‘players coach’ and thus probably wouldn’t be the guy to lift the program to UF’s or UT’s level. Looking back, that always struck me how prophetic he was.

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      • Twistification
        June 21, 2016 at 2:49 PM

        I for one, would like to take a moment to appreciate where UT is now vs back then. Sucked SO bad when they were strong. You think the orange fan base is insufferable now? I think to back then and appreciate every win Richt brought us against the hillbillies.

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        • 3rdandGrantham
          June 21, 2016 at 2:55 PM

          Yep, they beat us 9 straight years or something. The absolute worst for me personally was the ’98 game. We were slight favorites going in, gameday was in town for their first appearance, and everyone I knew thought we were going to win. Oh, Sanford was rocking. And then…the game happened.

          They beat us something like 22-3, but frankly it could have been far worse if not for a couple great plays by Champ. Heck, it just felt more like 41-0. UT fans afterwards were just brutal.

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  9. Bright Idea
    June 21, 2016 at 12:19 PM

    Donnan despised any interaction with those interested in the program including callers to his radio show. Fortunately with media like it is today we can get to know Kirby without touching him. He can limit his appearances to the General Assembly and big donors while peons like me will be satisfied with just winning the big games.

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    • 3rdandGrantham
      June 21, 2016 at 2:28 PM

      I disagree. He was great to me and friends/fellow students on those rare occasions we bumped into him. As for his radio show, most only remember that last year when things went off the rails a bit, including him getting into it with several well known trolls on various UGA message boards at time who said they were going to call in and hive him hell. But for most callers who were diplomatic, I always thought he handled himself well.

      Again, not the highest EQ guy in the world, and he certainly would make for a bad politician, but that can be both a good and bad thing. Unfortunately he wasn’t tough or mean enough with the players, even though ironically enough some felt he was too mean to the fans and not engaging enough with them.

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      • Dr. Pepper
        June 21, 2016 at 4:56 PM

        I agree with 3rdandGrantham. I met him a few times as a student and he was always gracious. Still have his autograph on a Mansour’s receipt (it’s all I had in my pocket at the time). I also found Tubby Smith to be pretty cool too when I met him.

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  10. Dylan Dreyer's Booty
    June 21, 2016 at 12:20 PM

    Nothing much wrong with Jim in my view, either. He stepped on some alum toes and pissed Loran off. Half of that was good. He was great later as a commentator. He could’ve easily been worse.

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    • Alamosa
      June 21, 2016 at 7:26 PM

      Agree with most of this. He is/was no worse than Saban. Of course the difference is those trophies. A few of those and no one would give a damn how he acted.

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  11. I Wanna Red Cup
    June 21, 2016 at 12:29 PM

    Donnan sure knew how to use the TE. Fun O to watch.

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  12. Normaltown Mike
    June 21, 2016 at 12:47 PM

    Anybody remember the “tunnel screen” caller after Flarduh in 2K?

    Shorter JD: “why don’t you come down to the Butts-Mehre building and show me how to coach”

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    • Derek
      June 21, 2016 at 1:14 PM

      Pretty sure that was after the third loss to tech in a row and it got him fired right after that.

      Donnan’s biggest mistake was putting all his eggs in Quincy’s basket. When hybl and Cobb (wasn’t there a 3rd guy???) transferred Jim was done.

      Great offensive coach. Not a great head coach for us.

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    • 3rdandGrantham
      June 21, 2016 at 2:32 PM

      Yep, that was RoloDawg, who was an infamous message board troll at the time. Unfortunately many UGA fans remember just those select few calls with characters who clearly were trying to get under his skin, and not the other 95% of calls in which he was quite nice and patient with them.

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    • Don in Mar-a-Lago
      June 21, 2016 at 2:41 PM

      Shorter JD: “why don’t you come down to the Butts-Mehre building and show me how to coach”

      Fired like an anime dog.

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  13. 69Dawg
    June 21, 2016 at 1:11 PM

    Jim Donnan was a case study of an inferiority complex. He was pissed off to begin with because he was Dooley’s second choice pick in a panic after Glen Mason had accepted but then backed out. This hiring screw up made him have the biggest chip on his shoulder I’ve seen in my 69 years. He was pissed off and never passed up an opportunity to show it. He would never accept a compliment without some smart ass remark about “it’s not too bad for a Divi IAA coach”. I like everyone else wanted him to succeed having suffered under Ray’s era but the man was hard to like. He’s biggest fault was his unequal treatment of players as has been said in the past. Kick Michael Greer to the curb for MJ but let Sanks and Carter show up all coked up. Donnan was his own worst enemy.

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    • Normaltown Mike
      June 21, 2016 at 2:09 PM

      there’s some truth to all that. When his O was humming it was so fun to watch it dismantle opponents. But QC was just such an epic coach killer…all that talent and so little judgment. Donnan also built the D into an epic juggernaut of talent but then squandered it with clown face Kevin Ramsey. Gibbs was a good coach but barely unpacked before it was all over.

      If Q never came to Georgia we might’ve lost to LSU & UVA in 98 but the long term trajectory of the program would have been much better in 99 and 00 with a true pro style QB.

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      • 3rdandGrantham
        June 21, 2016 at 2:40 PM

        The hiring of Ramsey was one of the worst coaching decisions one could make — I have no freaking clue what he saw in that guy other than the fact that he was wearing UT orange at the time as a DB coach or something of the effect. Donnan basically said to himself, “well, he’s a coach at UT, so he must be good…I’ll give him the reigns to our D.” Donnan also lost some quality assistants that really hurt him as well — Chris Scelfo is one that immediately comes to mind, and there were others.

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  14. Uglydawg
    June 21, 2016 at 4:01 PM

    3rd….I just hope you haven’t inadvertently resurrected Rolo. I haven’t thought of him in years. But after giving it some thought, he just could be posting under a different moniker. There are a few candidates I could mention.

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    • Siskey
      June 21, 2016 at 4:17 PM

      I always read his comments in a Buck Belue doing the sports in Savannah the day after St. Patrick’S Day voice in an effort to see where he was coming from.

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  15. Sanford222view
    June 22, 2016 at 3:56 PM

    I thought his biggest mistake was putting the black stripe on the Georgia football helmet?

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