In today’s Georgia preview, Bill Connelly demonstrates that he knows us better than we’re willing to admit we know ourselves.
Ambition is fine. Aiming high can pay off. But if you aim high and miss, it can set your program back years.
The idea of Glen Mason Territory is based around that idea. Minnesota won more consistently under Mason than under any coach since the 1940s, but he struggled to clear the bar he’d set. He went 18-8 in 2002-03 but followed with 20 wins in the next three years; good for Minnesota, but not good enough. After a 6-7 2006, capped with a huge blown lead in the Insight Bowl, the Gophers dumped Mason in favor of Tim Brewster … and went 17-33 over the next four seasons. Minnesota didn’t win more than seven games until the eighth season after his ouster.
GMT™ is established when fans get frustrated with merely being successful. Once you raise the bar, you have to keep raising it. Perhaps it should be called Mark Richt Territory.
In 15 years, Richt engineered seven top-10 finishes; the Dawgs had only pulled that off 10 times in the 51 years before him. Georgia won 50 games in his final five years, complete with four S&P+ top-15 rankings and two AP top-10 finishes. The Dawgs came within an eyelash of the BCS Championship in 2012.
After the next hint of a true (and brief) drop-off — UGA won 10 games in 2015 but fell to 32nd in S&P+ — the school sent Richt packing…
Saban’s impossible consistency has driven fanbases and administrations throughout the SEC insane. Richt was fired for not being as successful as him, and LSU’s Les Miles nearly suffered the same fate.
Following this line of thinking, it makes sense that Georgia would replace Richt with what they hope is the Next Saban: longtime Alabama defensive coordinator (and UGA grad) Smart.
The 40-year-old product of Bainbridge has an impeccable résumé. He was a defensive coordinator at Valdosta State at age 25, spent two years under Bobby Bowden at Florida State, briefly worked in the NFL, and spent the last nine seasons with Saban. He knows how Saban works, breathes, eats, and operates. He will operate in one of the most fertile recruiting areas of the country, and he will get complete, desperate support from the athletic department and the state government.
And he better win. Immediately.
Pretty much. The good news is that Bill is fairly bullish on Georgia’s chances this season, particularly if Chubb is healthy.
Season can not get here quick enough.
Maybe by then the sports press will have moved on from Mark Richt.
If Seth Emerson and Chip Towers want to live in the past and want to continue to cover Mark Richt’s football program, fine, move the hell down to Coral Cables.
Remember when our local news paper in the sports section covered and reported about a high school football player in Nebraska. Now if you live in the state of Georgia who gives a damn about a high school player in Nebraska.
The book is closed on Richt. Move on. Live in the “now”.
Plus many of us are puzzled why the writers are so intent on covering all the injuries re the Dawgs. If the coaches do not bring it up, then do not go with a story.
Journalism.
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What happened with Richt is still relevant because it sets an expectation for Kirby. So no, I don’t think it should be ignored.
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I’m with Will: let’s move on and play the games.
Typical statistical analyses and historical reviews will always dismiss the actual reason Richt was fired as being statistically insignificant outliers for a tenure that was otherwise “really good” on average. Saban’s teams may be consistently better than anyone else, but Richt’s teams were more impossibly inconsistent from game-to-game (and even play-to-play at the worst of times) than we could tolerate in the end.
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Yes it sets a level of expectation for the program but Richt jumping into a swimming pull in Coral Gables or having a Miami play arrested is not UGA news.
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*pool
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Yeah, move AJC to Miami.
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Interesting he coins it Glen Mason Territory …. didn’t Ohio State do the same thing with John Cooper and they visited Jim Tressel Land?
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Cooper had a string of 10 win seasons but couldn’t beat the Michigan schools regularly, had a dip to 6-6 followed by 8-4 and was shown the door I believe from 88-2000 he beat Michigan twice..
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John Cooper couldn’t beat Ray Goff.
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UGA never lost a bowl game to the Big10 until Richt.
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The original Big 10???…..they have one to Michigan in the 60’s. The are also 12-8 to the current Big 10. And just to drop some more knowledge on ya……the SEC has an all-time losing record against the Big 10.
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“the SEC has an all-time losing record against the Big 10.”
I’m pretty sure that is incorrect. The only conference the SEC has an all-time losing record against is the Big East, eternally.
http://www.mcubed.net/ncaaf/tvc/sec/index.shtml
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Check it out:
http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/bigten/vs_conf_byteam.php?confid=177
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This is SEC conference teams vs. Big Ten. I’m pretty sure Missouri hasn’t played the Big Ten 218 times as an SEC school, so it is obviously including all-time matchups for schools that are currently in the SEC and not necessarily the outcomes of SEC teams vs. Big Ten teams.
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Fair enough. The problem is they picked up Nebraska and we picked up sasnakrA, Missouri, A&M, & USC.
I didn’t look more deeply, but Michigan’s record looks pretty good, so they must be counting bowl games.
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The game in the 60s was not a bowl game.
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Overlooked the “bowl” thingy. Nonetheless, a loss, is a loss, is a loss….bowl or regular season – it does not matter. The Big 10 gets less respect than they should from most. As I pointed out earlier, even the SEC has a losing record against them. Georgia versus the Big 1O (today’s):
http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/active/g/georgia/vs_conf_opponents.php?confid=22&restrictions=none
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If you correct that to when they were in the Big10, UGA is 9-3.
A decade out of date but the last decade has been good to the SEC:
Compare National Championships for each conference. My source would be the final AP rankings from 1936 to 1997, and the BCS Champion from 1998 to present. (BTW, If you include non-AP, it’s worse for the Big 10):
Big 10 National Champions
2002 Ohio State
1997 Michigan
1968 Ohio State
1960 Minnesota
1954 Ohio State
1948 Michigan
1942 Ohio State
1941 Minnesota
1940 Minnesota
1936 Minnesota
SEC National Champions
2006 Florida
2003 LSU
1998 Tennessee
1996 Florida
1992 Alabama
1980 Georgia
1979 Alabama
1978 Alabama
1965 Alabama
1964 Alabama
1961 Alabama
1958 LSU
1957 Auburn
1951 Tennessee
The SEC triumphed here 14-10. Michigan State’s National Championship in 1952 doesn’t count, the Spartans didn’t join the Big 10 until 1953. Also Penn State’s championships in 1982 and 1986 don’t count, they didn’t join the Big 10 until 1993.
Head-to-head matchups in bowl games.
Citrus/Capital One Bowl
2006 Wisconsin 17, Arkansas 14
2005 Wisconsin 24, Auburn 10
2004 Iowa 30, LSU 25
2003 Georgia 34, Purdue 27 (OT)
2002 Auburn 13, Penn State 9
2001 Tennessee 45, Michigan 17
2000 Michigan 31, Auburn 28
1999 Michigan State 37, Florida 34
1998 Michigan 45, Arkansas 31
1997 Florida 21, Penn St 6
1996 Tennessee 48, Northwestern 28
1995 Tennessee 20, Ohio St 14
1994 Alabama 24, Ohio St 17
1993 Penn St 31, Tennessee 13
1992 Georgia 21, Ohio St 14
Outback/Hall of Fame Bowl
2006 Penn St. 20, Tennessee 10
2005 Florida 31, Iowa 24
2004 Georgia 24, Wisconsin 21
2003 Iowa 37, Florida 17
2002 Michigan 38, Florida 30
2001 South Carolina 31, Ohio State 28
2000 South Carolina 24, Ohio State 7
1999 Georgia 28, Purdue 25 (OT)
1998 Penn State 26, Kentucky 14
1997 Georgia 33, Wisconsin 6
1996 Alabama 17, Michigan 14
1995 Penn St. 43, Auburn 14
1989 Auburn 31, Ohio St. 14
1987 Michigan 28, Alabama 24
1984 Kentucky 20, Wisconsin 19
Music City Bowl
2004 Minnesota 20, Alabama 16
Independence Bowl
2003 Auburn 28, Wisconsin 14
2002 Minnesota 29, Arkansas 14
1995 LSU 45, Michigan St 26
Sugar Bowl
2001 LSU 47, Illinois 34
1983 Auburn 9, Michigan 7
1977 Alabama 35, Ohio State 6
Gator Bowl
1991 Michigan 35, Mississippi 3
1989 Georgia 34, Michigan St 27
1983 Florida 14, Iowa 6
Orange Bowl
1999 Michigan 35, Alabama 34 (OT)
Peach Bowl
1990 Auburn 27, Indiana 23
1987 Tennessee 27, Indiana 22
1982 Iowa 28, Tennessee 22
Liberty Bowl
1985 Tennessee 21, Minnesota 14
1981 Alabama 21, Illinois 15
All-American Bowl
1988 Florida 14, Illinois 10
Bluebonnet Bowl
1979 Purdue 27, Tennessee 22
Garden State Bowl
1981 Tennessee 28, Wisconsin 21
BCS National Championship
2006 Florida 41, Ohio St. 14
By my count, the SEC was 31-19 over the Big 10 in head-to-head bowl matchups.
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LOL!….I guess we are talking about two different things. Points are:
1) There is no shame in losing to the Big 10, even the “mighty” SEC has a losing record against them. The link above (SEC vs Big 1O ) is current.
The SEC is 267 & 325 against the Big 10….or, a 0.425 win percent. In games that Richt has matched up against the Big 10 (which happen to be all bowl games)…..he is 5 and 2, or a 0.714 win percent. Refer to other link above.
2) When comparing conferences, you need to include all games….even the bowl games. That is part of it – and it shows as part of the record for that reason.
3) Richt ain’t the bad guy that some portray him as on here….and I hate like hell to read it. He made the program better than before …and I am grateful for that. I wish him luck at Miami – & also hope and pray that we have the right coach now to take us beyond what he accomplished.
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Counting the 211 games Mizzou played against the Big10, orof which 98? where against Nebraska. Further S. Carolina was a cupcake before joining the SEC but has since become a respectable program, I am sure their games against Maryland while they were in the ACC should reflect on the Big10 and SEC.
The MCubed link appears to compare teams who were in the the SEC and Big10 at the time of the game, and give the SEC the advantage. The Big10 has historically been an overrated media darling.
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I think you left out a lot of SEC BCS championships.
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I know I did the list was a decade old
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He left out a whole lot of shit…and what I linked is not a “decade old” and is accurate. I wanted to reply to Otto below, but there is no reply button. He is trying to cherry pick to bolster his argument….whatever that is, I still have not figured it out. SO!!…Otto if you are reading this, 2 things:
1) What point are you trying to make??
2) If you want to cherry pick, back out all those teams you listed and see where you are. I certainly do not have the time for it. But my guess is, you will have still much of the same.
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Greg keep propping up the Big10, SEC wins when you compares teams who were actually in the conferences being discussed.
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LOL!….coaching is overrated. That ’92 team was a pretty damn good one, 5 points always frok being undefeated. I believe South Carolina is also perfect (2-0) against OSU…..as a matter of fact, the SEC was 9 & 0 against them until Bama’s recent loss.
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That ’92 team was really talented in particular on offense. If not for those 5 points, Garrison Hearst is the 3rd Heisman winner in UGA history. Who knows what would have happened in a matchup with the Tide for the SEC championship? If I remember correctly, that team was in the top 2 the SEC in every offensive category.
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Was there for the ’92 game against UT. I believe we had 5 turnovers that day. Probably the most disappointing loss ever for me. I believe that was Heath Shuler’s coming out party.
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That’s right and we scored 31(?) with 5 turnovers (although it may have been 6 because I think Andre Hastings fumbled on the game’s last play). Both of those losses were disappointing. We should have whipped that Florida team as well. Many forget that the Auburn game ended with the ball on the Georgia 1 in a similar situation to what happened in 2001 in Athens.
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yep…made me sick. I believe that Hearst had at least 1 fumble as well…maybe 2.
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If I recall correctly we only gave up 15 TDs all season in 1992. Unfortunately, 7 were in the 2 losses. Point being we weren’t bad on defense either. We were really just 1 of 2 plays away from getting to the SECCG in Birmingham vs. Bama. You get a stop on 4th and 14 vs. UT OR on 3rd and 13 vs. UF and we would have gotten there. Who knows what would have happened in that game? Alabama was very good, especially on defense. Would have been a great game. .
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That’s right … My only point was that offense was one of the most powerful of the last 40 years. Those two plays you reference really are the reasons Goff will always be known as “One Play Away” Ray.
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Agreed for those of us that were Goff was much closer than he gets credit for.
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Okay…..you back all those out and see what kind of numbers you have. I certainly don’t have the time. But my guess is, it would be pretty much the same. Besides, what point are you trying to make???….if you have one, be sure you have facts to back it up, all I see is hate.
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Not sure if you’re responding to me or someone else.
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Sorry, meant for someone else…on my IPhone.
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Get an android.
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That breakdown seems about par for the course based on the thinking of your average Georgia fan. If we haven’t won an SEC title (or at least the East) by year two (a la Richt) expect the rumblings to begin.
Hindsight will always be 20/20. Speaking of 2020, that will mark the 40th year that Georgia has been wandering the desert so it would be fitting if we reached the promised land that season. I just hope we didn’t get rid of Moses, and if we did I hope we hired Joshua.
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I think those rumblings are likely to begin this season — possibly as early as Game 1.
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Especially if the Dawgs lose with Lambert, haha.
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Technically, I think we had to ditch Moses before reaching the promised land.
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That’s why I said I hope we hired Joshua.
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Not responding
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Did Wewolf and jdjrip co-write the article?
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do these people not ever consider how weak the SEC east has been last few years and throw in GA Tech and Southern University and College of Charleston and Georgia Southern and whoever the hell else we paid $1mm to visit our campus and have us whoop them….is 9 or 10 wins really that impossible?
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Agreed, Richt wasn’t fired for winning 10 games, he was fired for regularly having a game or 2 a year that looked like it was phoned in, including two years in a row in Jax.
Smart may or may not succeed but I believe he has raised the expectations of the program.
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CMR’s success raised the expectations of fans. That’s why he was fired. CKS has yet to coach a single game as HC. He is swimming in the deep waters of expectation that is already there. I hope he survives.
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Disagree, Donnan was pushing for National Titles and was making some bold statements that they would win.
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Donnan didn’t come within 100 miles of an NC. Big talk is completely different from what was going on as recently as 2012 in Athens. CMR wasn’t Nick Saban, but he was a large improvement over Donnan in just about every possible way, including actually putting UGA in position to have a realistic shot at winning a NC, more than once.
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Jim Donnan coached UGA to records of 5-6, 10-2, 9-3, 8-4, and 8-4 and UGA’s highest ranking to end a season under Donnan was 10th……which one of those years was he “pushing for a National Title”?
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I believe he was talking about title when he opened to who let the dogs out. remember these were expectations, Goff was 5 points away as well. The expectations were not raised. Richt in fact lowered expectations in that he was allowed to stay after decline.
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5 points away from what? That 10-2 season included losses by 25 to UT and by 10 to AU, the 9-3 season included losses by 19, 31, and 2. The guy had a losing record against Tech….and every other rival! He never won the division, never won the conference and never finished higher than 10th in any poll. Hate Richt all you want, love Donnan all you want…..but at least try to keep it somewhere close to reality! Richt lowered expectations….by winning at a higher level than ever before at UGA and getting canned after back to back 10 win seasons. Sure thing bud!
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’92 10-2
UGA 31 UT 34
UGA 24 UF 26
I’m not an engineer (even if they can’t count to 4) but that looks like 5 points buddy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Georgia_Bulldogs_football_team
As posted by others UT and UF were winning titles when Donnan was there. Richt lost to Zook as another blog called him the picker of low hanging fruit.
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Agreed. Richt wasn’t fired for not being Saban. He was fired for underachieving.
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BS…..if he “underachieved”, so did all the ones before him.
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Don’t compare Richt to Dooley, Butts, etc. Look at what he did with the talent on hand. Or, you can live in the past…it’s your call.
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I just did…..besides, how does living in the past affect you??
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Like I said it’s your call. The past is certainly informative even if it has no bearing on the present or future.
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He “underachieved” by winning than any other coach in the long history of the Georgia football program.
And there have ALWAYS been cupcakes on the schedule; that’s the nature of organized team sports. The notion that Richt’s teams benefitted from an unusually weak 15-yeat schedule, in contrast to the murderers’ row of the past 100+ years, is absurd.
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*year
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Kinda reminds me of the so-called Braves fans wanting to get rid of Bobby Cox. I just hope the Dawgs do not have the same result.
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I would bet that Dooleys record vs major conference teams was better than Richt’s, Dooley didn’t play many double directionals. Anyone done the research?
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I guess you don’t remember the Miami of Ohio loss, right?
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Or Wake Forrest and Mackovic’s Meatballs, or Kentucky at Homecoming in front of Prince Charles.
Really, the contortions people go through to discredit the winningest coach in UGA history (percentage-wise) is hilarious.
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True…..
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Here’s a cool site if you want to see who we played and the scores during each coaches’ reign. Even shows the record of the opponent when we played so you will know if they were any good that year.
http://www.jhowell.net/cf/scores/Georgia.htm
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Did that writer say something that wasn’t true? I think a lot of people have high expectations for Kirby Smart, including Kirby Smart. Some of them will be quick to turn on him if he doesn’t meet or exceed those expectations pretty quickly, if not immediately.
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5 years max, win something of consequence, no more coach lovefests.
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5 years??? Seriously? It won’t take five years for this to all fall apart. Coaches who win big generally see returns by year 2 or 3. If you don’t do something by then, a lot of the in state kids will start looking elsewhere.
I can’t think of an example of a national championship level coach in the past 30 years who hasn’t done something of significance (a division or a conference championship) at his current school before year 4.
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I can think of several
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List them then…
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Yeah, I’m curious also
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LOL!!….{{{crickets}}}. The only one I can think of is Bama.
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It has been 10 now…my timetable is shorter than the last guy had…I forget his name. 🙂
Not worth arguing about, I am excited to see our new team, and how they respond over the next few years.
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I’m not saying that you can’t win an SEC in year 3 and then hang around for awhile. I’m saying that you’d better do something by year the end of year three to show that things are more in a better direction or you’ll lose momentum. Meyer, Saban, Tressel, Carroll, Stoops and even Mack Brown did something before year 4. The one exception may be Phat Phil, but I think even he was tying for east crowns with SOS by year 4. I don’t think anybody else was hired since 1987 who eventually won a natty who didn’t do something by year 4. Now a lot of that has to do with the fact that only a few programs are capable of winning natties and therefore very few have such expectations, but if you go back through the list of national championships winning coaches hired in the last 30 years, other than Fulmer, and you’ll see a conf., a division or a national championship by year 4.
If smart is the guy to take us to the next level we’ll know that before the decade is over.
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If Kirby doesn’t sweep S Carolina, Tennessee and Florida THIS year, I predict much wailing and gnashing of teeth. If any of those losses is by double digits, expect the howls of outrage to be considerable. I am pulling for 12-0, although I don’t expect it. If the big rap is “UGA underachieved” the last 10 years, hard for me to see how winning 7 or 8 games is an improvement, though, should that happen.
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LOL. 2013 was the only year of his career where CMR managed to pull off a sweep of TN, FL and SC – but he made up for it by losing to Vandy, AU and Mizzou.
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That AU team that played for a national title in 2013? Richt went out to those 2 knuckleheads and told them to tip the ball to an Auburn receiver because we needed to lose that game. The loss to Mizzou was to the team that won the division. Vandy? You have a point …
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My point was he only swept AU, FL and SC once out of 15 years…so holding CKS to that standard on Yr 1 doesn’t hold up.
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Mizzou won the division because we crapped the bed against them and Vandy. 2013 was a classic Ricth season. Mizzou won again in 2014 because Richt crapped the bed at South Carolina and Florida. Throw in the pooch kick and time out gift to tech and 2014 was another Richt classic season.
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I thought you expected more from Kirby.
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“some of them”. Some of them already have. Bill Connelly is stoking the fire. It gave him something to write a few paragraphs about without doing any real work. The very title of his sorry article is a budding meme.
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The idea that Bill doesn’t do any real work is laughable.
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This ^^^
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When he refered to our 2 experienced returning QB’s of Lambert and Ramsey as a strength he lost alot of credibility.
Also, noting that Richt was fired because of a disappointing “October” is equally laughable.
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There’s a pretty sizeable consensus holding that the Florida game cost Richt his job. That was in October, right?
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FL may have pushed him over the edge – but to allude that one game, or one month of football, was the reason that CMR got fired just isn’t accurate. Disappointing results over multiple years got CMR fired – FL was just one of the last head scratchers.
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So if October had gone differently, Richt would still be gone?
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I doubt it…as we go undefeated. But with the same Oct 2015 record CMR would still be our coach if we’d have fared better against FL or SC over the last 10 years…or not pooch kick to GT…or not lose to Vandy in 2014, etc.
This narrative that you’re defending makes UGA fans sound irrational as we let such a great coach go over 3 losses. There was alot more history than that and you of all people know it.
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If he won in Jax, he is likely still in Athens, especially if Ga. Southern doesn’t go to OT. It was all a perfect storm to get him out.
Everyone seems to focus on Richt’s results but don’t discount the threat of the hottest assistant in the country, who happens to be a UGA Alum is considering going to a SEC East rival, which could take them to the next level. UGA would then need to pay a big buy out if they want to bring him home after the fact Enough Alums had the feeling the new the ceiling to which Richt would take them and it wasn’t high enough. It would have been interesting in B-M if Richt had won in Jax and gone to the SECCG.
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Further yes there is more history but we also all know you need things to line up to pull the trigger on a firing especially with someone as liked by a large portion of the fan base like Richt.
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True…..but I will not, more toward McGarity. I still think he needs to go. Smart will make his mistakes, as most new coaches do. 4-5 years is a fair shot.
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Billy says, “Georgia fired CMR for only winning ten games a year”. That’s just lazy, silly bullshit. CMR got fired because the team was regressing and was lucky to beat several cupcakes. If Georgia had won those ten in convincing fashion, instead of the most unconvincing fashion, Bill may have a valid point. But it was unsavory.
CMR, as much as I admire him, was no longer looking like he could get it done. I was reluctant to admit it…I was loyal to him…but I believe the change was due.
Bill Connelly is just trying to put pressure on KS.
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And there certainly should be pressure. CMR set a high standard. CKS needs to exceed it. Will you be happy if he doesn’t? Pressure’s on.
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DGAS about wins in “convincing fashion”, just win. Winning 10 a year ain’t easy, research and see how many won an average of 10 with 4-5 (or more) years on the job. The only one I can think of, is probably Saban (active). Not sure if you were around and followed it, but check out our ’80 season scores. Not only were we a good team, we were a lucky one.
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Meyer and Stoops … You could probably throw Chris Petersen into that mix at Boise. Spurrier at Florida (not sure what the impact of USCe would be on that record). Pete Carroll at the real USC. Chip Kelly at Oregon.
Just a couple that I can think of without doing the research.
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So you’re good with fewer wins, as long as the losses are close? I’m a little confused here.
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Richt wasn’t fired because he was not Nick Saban. He was fired for finding creative ways not to get to Atlanta (see the last 3 years). Looking at his career, it appears our defense kept us going while Vangorder was here. Then Bobo took over with his offense a few years after that. Then he left right when Pruit got good. Picture last year without him! Richt made college football fun for me in 2002, but in retrospect, it was his coordinators, not him that accounted for most of his success.
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“In retrospect, it was his coordinators”
Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha. Even the most ardent Anti-Richter’s know enough football to see the horse manure you just posted. Let me guess, you weren’t old enough to follow the Dawgs before Donnan.
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I was class of ’99… I’d like to say Richt was responsible for our success but look back a while- in 2009, we won shootouts with Ark and SC and fired our DC. Against Tech, we did eveything in our power to keep the defense off the field. 2010- poor all around 2011-12- the defense showed strong against Florida but that was it. Everything else was offense. 2013 is the most damning. Our offense beat or kept us in games against Clemson, LSU, and South Carolina. 2014- both were briefly good together in the middle. 2015- the defense carried us. Look at Mizzou, Ga So, Auburn, Ga Tech. Since 2007, how often have both sides of the ball been strong? Also, look at how he put up with Martinez’s incompetence and Grantham’s contract shinanigans. These were huge mistakes made by the man in charge
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Regarding 2016, I think we need to keep 2 things in mind:
1. Smart is a first year head coach. He will probably make dumb mistakes like Richt did in 2002. Hopefully, he doesn’t start making them again in 15 years.
2. We have recruited well the last 3 years but these are mostly Richt’s players. Smart recruits a different type- none of our current commits committed under Richt and all those, who did, are gone. We need to wait on him to get his guys in place (players, coaches, and strength and conditioning).
In short, let’s let this be our motto this year “thank God we’re not South Carolina”
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That would be a good motto. Followed by, “and hopefully not Derek’s Tennessee”
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Bill always provides a new perspective in his articles, but Richt was not fired for just being “merely successful”. Losing to your primary conference opponents was the death knell for him – particularly losing to Florida in the fashion we did last year being the final straw.
There will inevitably be less of a honeymoon for Kirby versus coaches who were hired 15 years ago.
I agree with the above commenter – Cooper/Ohio State is a closer comparison to UGA than Mason/Minnesota. Minnesota has not claimed any sort of conference or national championship since the 1960s – Minnesota would probably be very comparable to GA Tech, should Tech ever rise from the ashes.
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I actually think Phat Phil to Junior is a better comparison than Cooper or Mason.
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3 years is fair. Immediately is not.
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What I expect is to have a team which does not rely on the extraordinary efforts of super talented individual players to pull out wins in just enough games to maintain that ten win season and top ten ranking. Coaching matters.
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Where do you think those players come from?
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Tarboro, Dallas, Summerville, New Jersey and Cedartown. Take away these five offensive players and I think you could take away twenty five wins over the last ten years. Maybe they got coached up and they sure were recruited… but what they did on the field in those opportune times kept cmr in Athens at least five extra years.
Then again Jacob Eason may keep Kirby around for a while.
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I wonder why Kirby is bothering to put all that effort into recruiting if you can reach the same pinnacle of success as long as you channel your inner Paul Johnson with a bunch of two-star Johnny Tryhards.
Clearly Saban and Kirby would have won all those games the last 10 years without the extraordinary efforts of all those super-talented blue-chippers, right? I mean – come on, we all know talented players don’t mean shit. I don’t know why coaches fall over themselves to recruit them. It’s as if having more talented players increases the chance of success or something.
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LOL!!!…..LAWD – guessing you were not around in ’80, right?
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DoofusDawg is a good name for you
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So Auburn’s natty due to Cam Newton and Florida’s due to Tebow seen’t good enough. Only Saban type wins are acceptable?
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Saban’s had a Heisman Trophy winner on his team in two of his championship seasons. HIntedy hint hint : Saban has a roster full of blue-chip superstars that make amazing performances a regular thing. I think the more likely answer is that doofusdawg is just an incredibly apt user name.
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Let’s get real. Dooley had a miraculous run in the early ’80’s thanks to #34. Richt did measurably better other than the MNC. Historically, UGA is not, has not, and very likely will never be Alabama. Playing in the premier conference with cutthroats like Bama, UT, FL, LSU and Auburn negates the perceived advantages UGA has in recruiting territory, GA HS football, etc. Kirby (and us fans) will be damn lucky if he can come even close to Richt’s success in the early 2000’s. By changing things up (as Richt first did upon his arrival) we may enjoy that success. But you are smoking some nasty crack if you believe Kirby is destined to change us into a perennial playoff team. Awesome if he really does find that formula…Saban and Meyer did…but so far KS’s resume is having learned from one of the best, not actually gone out on is own. And the UGA administration is simply not dedicated to success the way our fellow cutthroats are.
For the 2016 and 2017 seasons, with Chubb, Sony, Eason and keeping Pruitt as DC, I still think Richt had a better chance at an SEC Championship than starting over. But I do like the Kirby hire and think he will be in that same position…our best chance…in about 2 – 3 seasons. We’ll never know on the former, and will soon find out about the latter.
We’re currently undefeated, so Go Dawgs! The season of hope starts anew.
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Considering our schedule this year and how weak the sec east is, I believe winning 11 of 13 is doable. Kirby may be a first time HC, but he’s not a neophyte. Very little of what CKS has done so far makes me think he’s a typical first time HC. His actions so far have reflected a guy who attends to details and won’t be outworked.
If the choice is between a first time HC who surrounds himself with a solid, experienced staff vs. a first time HC who surrounds himself with guys from his wedding, I’m going with the former.
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Jon Richt coaching bio:
2014 – Georgia – quality control assistant
2015 – Buffalo Bills – offensive assistant
2016 – Miami – QB coach
Some things never change.
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The John Cooper comparison is unfair…to John Cooper. Cooper won 3 conference championships in his last 10 years at Ohio State. Richt won ZERO.
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Boy, this thread turned into a case of RDS over the day. I’m just waiting for its close relative, Bobo Derangement Syndrome.
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I really do hate this stuff. CMR averaging 10 win seasons was good and we all will always appreciate and respect the man. He was great.
The reason or reasons he was let go are far more complicated than this little tidbit of information, as it should be. The man was a great coach for us. Summarizing the reasons for his firing requires more thought and lengthy attention span, which is why dumb statements like “firing a guy that won 10 games” are recycled by media. The general public can’t handle the real explanations, just like our media when covering news, if the story requires more than a 5 second attention span they won’t run it. (Btw, this is why our nation is in decline, especially in politics, fixing our government dependency problems requires the average person to have an attention span longer than 5 seconds so that they can understand the problems and process appropriate solutions)
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Connelly is right, I expect that the only logical reason to fire the best coach UGA ever had is to get better. If they don’t I’ll be disappointed and those of you who set near me at games will hear from me. I had to listen to the haters near me long enough(both Bobo and CMR derangement syndrome) that if we stumble I do intent to let the negatrons know just how easy it is to be negative. You get what you want….Richt fired …you sink or swim with what you replace him with. I’ll be a drunk happy fool if I’m wrong, because after all there is nothin finer in the land…..but I’m betting I wouldn’t be.
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So much derp in this comment section. Bill Connelly is probably the best college football writer around today.
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