What’s that definition of insanity again?
Three of the previous four Georgia coaches also had their first head coaching job with the Bulldogs.
Richt had on the job training with clock management in his first season. Just like Smart who called not getting a timeout before the half at South Carolina a “debacle.”
Richt went 8-4 in 2001 after the Bulldogs went 8-4 in 2000 in Jim Donnan’s final season.
Ray Goff was 6-6 in 1989 after Georgia was 9-3 in Vince Dooley’s final season.
Dooley went 7-3-1 in his first season in 1964 after taking over a program coming off a 4-5-1 season.
Unless Georgia runs the table the rest of the season, the Bulldogs overall record will decline in Smart’s first season…
The Georgia Way’s gonna Georgia Way, y’all. It’s what we do.
Get The Picture 
“We’ve got to get better.”
Have we heard that before? Somewhere?
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From the Standard New Webster Dictionary phrases after a loss. LOL.
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It pains me to read the link above right after reading this link…
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/columnist/dan-wolken/2016/10/16/misery-index-week-7-anguish-athens/92204042/
Someone should be tarred and feathered for the half ass excuse of a search conducted for one of the top coaching vacancies in the country last year.
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“Georgia didn’t even so much as bother to pick up the phone and call Houston’s Tom Herman, for instance, even though his representatives had made it abundantly clear that there was interest.”
I bet representatives from Justin Fuentes and other potential coaches would say the same thing.
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Yeah – I thought about sharing that in the “why can’t we have nice things” post, but I felt I’d already piled on enough. This is how you end up with Will Muschamp 2.0.
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Tom Herman lost to Navy this season and could’ve lost to Tulsa. Richt’s already lost to a team that Kirby’s beaten.
I’m as agnostic on Kirby as I was on Richt, but maudlin trolls like Wolken are tiresome.
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Our current coach just lost to Vandy.
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So did Richt, twice. Also Justin Fuentes lost to Syracuse.
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Syracuse, Navy and Tulsa are all better teams than Vandy.
UGA is also expected to lose every game except for ULL.
Just like the process predicted.
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LOL
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“UGA is also expected to lose every game except for ULL.”
They’re…not, though
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He’s having a moment. This is his “told you so” moment.
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Maybe I am not reading this correctly.
http://www.footballstudyhall.com/pages/2016-georgia-advanced-statistical-profile
But it sure looks like a bunch of L’s in the Projected Win – Loss column.
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Those are…ugly.
Havoc rate is finally improving, and run defense has been ok…but the rush numbers and % of running plays together is really bad. When you rank 118th in line yards, maybe running it nearly 68% of the time isn’t the way to go.
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Good find. Could very well play out like that.
ESPN FPI to be fair, looks very different, has Kirby finishing 7-5 with wins over La Laf, KY, and a close win over GT.
http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/fpi/_/id/61/georgia-bulldogs
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If you look at the receiver stats on your link, catch rate is:
Sony, 91%
Payne, 80%
McKen 70%
Hmmmm, why??? nevermind.
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Don’t bet against U La La.
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Tom Herman was a high risk candidate. He had one year of head coaching experience at Houston, and three years of major program coordinator experience under Meyer. He hadn’t yet beaten anyone of consequence, and he had lost to UConn. As sexy as he was, he was just as unproven, and I don’t know that one year of head coaching experience in the American conference makes him the no-brainer candidate. Beating FSU in the bowl and beating Oklahoma to start the year certainly add a lot more to his resume, but that makes him a much better candidate today and not really last December.
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He was worth interviewing.
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I agree with that, but I think the beef with the whole “process” was that there wasn’t one.
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Yet we still paid $40,000 to a “search firm” despite all the evidence pointing to the “search” being nothing more than “hire Kirby before SCar gets him.”
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Well, sure. I wanted a real search, and when we were discussing whether Richt should stay or go, I wanted Fuente and Herman in that order (before Fuente was hired at VT). I wanted the whole damn thing blown up, but I didn’t get what I wanted. Some of the people I wanted gone got to stay and make the new hire. Am I happy about that? Not really, but I’m going to see how it plays out and root for Kirby to turn it around, knowing if this nonsense continues three years from now, I’ll get my original wish.
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I wanted David Shaw. He may not have come, but I would have made him turn down the Brinks trucks I parked in front of his house.
I wanted a proven P5 head coach if we were going to make a change.
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Who has better talent UGA or Houston. He beat Kirby with the 3rd string Qb scored 45 and 600 yards and called the 0 to win the NC . He also beat Louisville and oh year Vanderbilt 34-0 34-0 in year one ( But hey it was at home ) . But don’t worry cpa , you said it was all fantasy that we could land him while his reps CALLED US. He does not even have the players to run his full system yet . His Qb is a converted Wr He will be on the sidelines in Baton Rouge, LA, or Austin next season because they may pick up the phone and maybe
Stick to the tax code and preparation of taxes , it’s pretty obvious you don’t know much about football . Are you serious with this or just making conversation.
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And he may succeed as a head coach. He may fail. What he did as a coordinator in one
yeargame is of no consequence to either of those.Your insistence on trying to insult me based on my occupation is baffling.
And by the way, I would say Houston has much better talent compared to its competition in conference than Georgia does in its conference. If Houston doesn’t win their conference this year, that should be a major disappointment.
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No way I’m insulting you for your occupation sir. I dig CPA’s . I was just saying stick to it. Does Houston have better tallent than Fsu , Oklahoma , Louisville Vandy, Central Florida , Memphis ,Cincinnati. The answer is no . According to NFL rosters . But don’t let something like facts get in the way. Kirby may succeed and I think he will, but the teams that beat bama ran the spread . Ohio st , Ole Miss, Auburn , Utah , Oklahoma, Florida. Recognize a pattern here . To not bring him for an interview was just a total bust when he was calling us sir.
Good day
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Trey, doesn’t matter, Smart’s the coach. Herman’s out. Texas or LSU will get Herman.
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I hear the Hat is available…….
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Pretty sure Herman already has his name of the LSU desk.
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My point is (not that I particularly want the Hat) that last year it became apparent that the Hat was going to be out in Baton Rogue sooner or later and might very well have entertained a call from McIdiot. We’ll never know. Expect the Hat to land on his feet at a major program, though. If Herman goes to LSU Texas just might turn to Lester Miles.
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Don’t count the Hat out at Notre Dame.
Kelly’s ass is on fire.
Sorry, missed that, you’re right, Miles would have been a better hire than Smart. Kirby wasn’t on my short list,
but it’s too late to go down that road.
UGA AD McDumbass has too much pride and is far too cheap to pull the plug already on the Kirby experience.
That would be admitting he was wrong and that will never happen.
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VT had Fuente under contract by the time Richt was fired, so that was not happening, even though, upset to Syracuse aside, I think he was the best hire of the offseason.
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That’s exactly my point. VA Tech knew they needed a coach and locked him up before anyone else could get to him. You can’t tell me we didn’t know CMR was gone after the UF game, yet we didn’t even put out feelers or do anything that might’ve prevented Fuentes from taking the VA Tech job, nor did we even conduct a real search. We paid $40k for some guy to essentially run background checks and offered Kirby the job less than 1 week after hiring the search firm. It was purely for CYA purposes without any intention of reaching out to let alone interviewing any better qualified candidates.
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“One of”?
After USC decided to retain Helton, it was the top open position.
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Senator, I assume based on your Sunday post, that you believe we should have taken a similar approach to Alabama search in 2006. That’s where I was in November. I wasn’t happy about the decision, but I did want to see an upgrade. Can Kirby be that guy? Yes. Could he be Boom 2.0? Yes. We’ll see over the next 3-4 years.
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When 3 or 4 Alums get what they want how can you go wrong LMAO
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And now the fanbase is driven to drink even more, which could pay off for some of them…
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Colin Cowherd just said it all about the SEC coaches. After Nick Saban they don’t have any great coaches. He then ran off the B1G coaches that were better than all the SEC coaches except Saban. Myer, Harbaugh, Wisconsin’s guy, Northwestern’s guy and believe it or not James Franklin. You know what he’s right with Miles gone there is really only the A&M coach that is worth anything.
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He lost all credibility when he threw in James Franklin. I wouldn’t let him run a one-car funeral much less a Power 5 football program. Then again, he’s one of the worst in national sports media.
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This team looks a lot like Donnan’s first team, they are not on the same page. The OL is driving the poor offensive performance, but Beamer should feel some heat for the special teams. All 3 kick returners made horrible decisions on every kick Saturday and every team runs the kickoff across the field away from UGAs coverage on the corner kick.
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a friend of mine played OL under Goof and Donnan and said that under McDuffie they had a pretty challenging blocking scheme.
When Donnan got there, it was three plays (for the OL):
Step left block
step right block
straight ahead.
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To clarify the entire team looks like the 1996 team. The 2016 OL is not as good as the 1996 OL.
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Ever time I see McDuffie’s name, I’m a little sad. He was a great coach.
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The Donnan comparison falls short because he was an OC background.
Donnan’s a better comparison for Richt.
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We also hired two established coaches, Glenn Mason and Jim Donnan. That didn’t work well either. Mason changed his mind and Donnan wasn’t quite capable of handling a major program.
You go after an established head coach, and there’s a good chance he will string you along and get a raise to stay where he is. That becomes a fiasco and then you look like the desperate, jilted school who didn’t have a plan when it fired the coach. You get a Will Muschamp.
Hiring a new coach is a crapshoot. On balance, I’m still glad we made the move with Richt, whether Kirby is successful or not. I still think he will be.
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So, I have no idea if it’s true or not, but the story I’ve heard is that Mason’s daughter threw a fit on the flight back from Hawaii in Christmas Eve.
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We did get a Will Muschamp.
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Is there anyone on our team who wants to play football with an attitude? And I don’t mean celebrating when you make a tackle you should have made, or put a pretty nice lick on someone – I mean a nasty, ready to get into a fight every play attitude. The O-line looks lost, just no purpose. Man, I get tired of this. Same old Georgia. Different year, but same lackadaisical effort and lack of discipline…….easy for me to say. I am an overfed, late middle age guy with a lot of time on his hands and a glass of bourbon in front of me on Saturday afternoons, so maybe I should not talk but……..sorry, just frustrated.
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Look, I think Kirby was basically a done deal after UF last year. I think McG had the decision made for him by the $ boosters.
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I hope those same boosters that got him the job didn’t set him up to fail due to his lack of head coaching experience … I go back to the Senator’s post from yesterday.
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Correct. The big $ boosters made the Kirby hire. They told McG to hire him or his ass would be fired too.
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winning 10 games a year was SUCH a burden….
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if only we gave CMR 15 more years, he might’ve improved on that, no?
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Maybe not, but winning ten games sure beats winning seven or eight, at least to me.
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If you’re not first, you’re last.
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…..or four or five….
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So as I watch these games, I find myself starting to make a list of the things a first time coach needs to learn. Is Kirby micromanaging? Does he need to learn how to delegate so that he can concentrate on the often overlooked ‘small’ game management things( that are only small until they are big?) How does he strike the balance between instilling his style of play vs discovering and then adapting to the limitations of his players?
So on top of the rather uninspiring way we play football (as the Senator pointed out earlier) I find myself shrugging at the coaching staff with a ‘its deja vu all over again’ mentality. My only hope is that the learning curve is faster. It has to be. The expectations have changed and Kirby’s style is not going to build as much good will among fans as Richt’s.
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+1 – Excellent comment, Twist
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Georgia is a speed team, that is Georgia’s personnel and that is what CKS inherited. Kirby is trying to play power football with a speed team. Running a 160 pound back inside with a RB playing FB in a fourth and one situation with the game on the line is the height of stupidity. Mark Richt was a generally good HC who made bonehead decisions at the end of games sometimes that turned wins into losses. It seems that Kirby and this staff do something stupid to lose the game almost every week. The Kid can only do so much. He saved Kirby’s ass in Columbia, MO and also saved his ass in the UT game, only to watch ‘Pooch Kick Kirby” blow that game at the end. Same with the Vandy game except it was Kirby AND Chaney.
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Mayor, give Kirby some benefit of the doubt.
Maybe he’s trying to teach his system to the young ones.
Looks like he’s had 2017 on his mind from day one to me.
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Tony, you may be right. The way I think a HC should be is the old saying about Don Shula: “He can take his’n and beat your’n and take your’n and beat his’n.” Kirby can’t do that–he can’t get the most out of the players that he has. Now I may live to eat my words (and hope I do) when next year we see Bama redux come running onto the field at Sanford…but I have seen nothing so far that leads me to that conclusion.
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Look closer.
Close competitive games, even losses, in first year, shows he can coach.
Hell Ole Miss almost beat Bama. We ain’t worthy to carry their luggage yet.
Kirby has chosen to run his system from Day 1
to get the returning 2017 players adjusting to it.
Think Bear Bryant and the Junction Boys.
That means 2016 is done.
But I have to think as good as a recruiting staff as this team is,
we gonna have some huge OLine and Big physical WR’s too.
Kirby is looking for the mentality in 2016, besides the Ole Miss game,
the team has been competitive in every game.
Kirby building the foundation.
2016 is the sacrificial lamb.
It’s Friday….
but the Resurrection is coming on Sunday!!!! LOL
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This teams needs a Sean Williams speech to get ready for UF. the Oline needs to be nasty and their are absolutely not close to it.
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All I can do is hope that what we’re seeing this season is 1) A learning curve for Kirby that straightens out very soon, and 2) A painful though also short-lived purging of the old, half-assed way of doing things.
I’ll admit I thought CKS could march into Athens without him or the team missing a beat, but I obviously was unrealistic to think that he (and they) wouldn’t need an adjustment period. Again, hopefully it doesn’t last much longer.
I’m perplexed about #2, though. I didn’t think Richt was doing a good job but also didn’t think he’d leave behind this big a mess. And, maybe he didn’t. Or, considering the 2013 recruiting class implosion (and inability to pretty much ever recruit quality OLs) and less than laser-like focus on excellence, maybe he did. Regardless, the on-field results look pretty much the same as they ever did and that doesn’t reflect well on anyone, past or present.
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think of it this way…a lot of these kids were recruited by UGA and Bama…they REJECTED the Saban approach in favor of Richt.
Now they’ve been thrust into the highly intense process that they didn’t want to begin with.
I don’t think they are shirkers, but I’m sure a lot of these kids don’t respond to screaming and prefer the gentle correction they previously got.
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I really do not think Pruitt gave gentle corrections.
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he’s the one that Richt was going to fire, right?
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No. Pruitt was the one McGarity wanted fired. Now Pruitt is DC on the number one team in the nation with the best D in the nation and we got what we got.
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I’ve never been to a practice in Athens in my decades of being a Georgia fan, but I don’t think there’s a lot of gentle correction that takes place regardless of who’s on the sidelines.
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perhaps. But I’m guessing Richt didn’t yell at them for playing loud music and he always found time for cannon balls.
Not saying one is better than the other…but all but the Freshman signed up for one experience and got the other.
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I’m sure there was plenty of screaming at practice during the CMR regime – that’s part of pretty much any football practice – but I don’t know if (pre-Pruitt, anyway) there were any other consequences to getting things wrong.
I’m going to be charitable and assume, based on past recruiting shortfalls, that the current staff has no choice but to rely on guys who keep getting things wrong because there aren’t any other options.
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Obviously we have to stick with Kirby for a few years, but I’m afraid we need to stick with Chaney as well. I really don’t want to see Kirby start cycling through OCs like some other coach did at Florida.
I’m just worried it’s going to be (much?) worse before it gets better. I hope I’m wrong, though.
Funny thing, I expect us to give Florida all they want, and maybe even win the game.
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You are living in a dream world Russ. The Dawgs are going to get boat raced in JAX. The players have figured out that CKS is a dope and they will be half-assing it for the rest of the season. And why not? The dope keeps calling running plays between the tackles when the O-Line can’t block. They might as well have the QB announce to the D what play is coming because everyone in the stadium knows.
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Boosters and McGarity thought Kirby was going to be like Richt off the field because they once knew him and like Saban on the field because he suffered him for a decade. Yes it is OTJT but its done now so we’re going to have to be patient….some more.
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He’s 7 weeks in…. 7. I think we can afford some patience.
I can somewhat understand the shotty o-line play, but I cannot for the life of me gather why special teams is a new adventure every time one of their units trots on to the field.
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The special teams disaster could be a result of Kirby’s idea of how he wanted to divide his valuable practice time. This is his first gig, and he must have his own ideas about what is more important and where time can be shaved. At least I hope this is what it is because it would be an easy correction…..spend more time on special teams. If they are spending plenty of time in special teams then we are screwed in the near term because Beamer sucks.
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Vanderbilt.
SMDH.
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This is basically one long exhibition season, as far as I’m concerned. This team is coached by a guy who went full-time with us about six weeks before National Signing Day. As a previous poster noted, he’s dealing with a roster that was not only recruited by his fired predecessor, but also went through a mutual evaluation with Kirby’s old employer and, for various individual reasons, wound up at Georgia. The fact that he has a full roster and can get them to show up to the ballpark on time is kind of an accomplishment.
Next year, he’ll have a roster mostly comprised of players who chose him, as opposed to choosing to remain at Georgia and tolerate regime change.
The Senator resists comparisons to Saban in 2007 and, though I haven’t heard him say it, Meyer in 2005 (losing by 30 to Mike Shula). So I’ll go with another: Richt 2001. Pedigreed but rookie head coach who spent a decade at the foot of one of the game’s masters. Most of what people remember about 2001 was the Hobnail Boot, but that season had more than its share of infuriating moments. I remember walking out of the Music City Bowl after Richt elected to punt to Boston College with under two minutes to go, handing them the win. That, coupled with the Auburn clock fiasco and the humiliating loss to a Holtz-coached South Carolina team that was coming off a 1-21 stretch had me thinking Hobnail Boot was a mirage. Then 2002 happened.
I realize the Richt story doesn’t have a happy ending, but very few of these stories do. Regardless, Richt elevated the program and our expectations of it, and left with the highest winning % of any Georgia coach.
All that said, Richt had his Hobnail Boot moment by this point in the season, whereas Kirby’s still looking for his. Maybe he gets it in Jacksonville or against Auburn. Or he just whiffs, and next year’s 93k day falls several seats shy of 93k.
Either way, I’m withholding judgment until the end of September 2017.
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Good points. The motivations of recruits are plain as day to us UGA mind readers. None of our players were interested in staying closer to home, or having an opportunity to play earlier than in Tuscaloosa. They’re all just shirkers.
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Excellent post
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It honestly feels more like Jimbo’s first year at FSU to me.
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Good post.
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Richt’s an offensive coach. I don’t see the comparison.
I think Dantonio or Saban at Mich St is a better comparison.
Comparing Saban 1995 to Kirby 2016 makes sense to me as a strong comparison.
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South Carolina finished 2000 nationally ranked and it beat Ohio State in the Outback Bowl. The South Carolina team that beat Richt in 2001 finished the year ranked 13 in both polls.
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Comparing Kirby to Nick Saban isn’t too bad.
-Both played DB in college.
-Both had 9 years as a DC before Head Coach at a major school. (Toledo’s schedule in 1990 does not compare in any way to Kirby’s in 2016,
plus Nick didn’t have in his 9 years as a DC yet.)
-Nick went 6-5-1, 6-6, 7-5, 6-6 his 1st 4 seasons at a major university. No excuses for going 7-5 year 3 or 6-6 in year 4 for sure.
Looks like Kirby’s first season or two might not go well either as far as wins and losses.
-Both tutored under the top defensive mind for many years (Saban under Belichick and Smart under Saban).
-Both lost a lot of close games early in career (Ex Saban 1998 in 3rd year at Mich St included 3 last minute losses with turnovers, special teams issues
finishing 6-6. Kirby lost by 3 to TN on last play and by 1 to Vandy late in a failed 4th and 1).
-Both were similar age when they took over at a major univ (Saban Age 43, Kirby age 40).
Certainly could bode well for the future, as Kirby is on track to finish 7-6, one game more than Saban did in hist first year as a major Head Coach at Mich St.
I am not saying Kirby will turn out like Saban, only saying so far, if Kirby goes 7-6 it beats the 6-5-1 Saban put up in year 1 at Mich St. With games remaining vs KY/GT
and a Bowl game, he will have a good shot at winning those 3 (favored in all 3 KY/GT/La Laf by ESPN FPI for example).
7 wins is the magic number for Kirby for 2016 (besting Saban’s 6-5-1 at Mich St) if he wants the comparisons to Saban to continue after the season.
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3 of the last four…. well five was Johnny Griffith, who coached at South Georgia College. How well did that work out? Before him, Butts was an assistant, Mehre had coached an NFL team one year, Woodruff was a rookie, and Stegeman coached at Benoit, wherever that is. I don’t think Cunningham had any experience to speak of either. That gets us back to 1909 or so. BTW the 1 of the last 4 was Donnan and he coached at Marshall which was not a major at that time. The last time we hired a coach who had head coaching experience at a school considered major was …. was … when?
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Why, that would be… Glen Mason.
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Geez Senator. He never even coached a single day in Athens. Why don’t you include Dick Sheridan, too?
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Good one!
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Bear Bryant’s 1st year sucked:
A & M 1-9
Bama went 5-4-1
Damned if he didn’t turn out to win 7 Natl Championships.
UGA fans would have fired his ass after year 1. Too funny.
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This is the most cogent post of the day. 🙂
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TAMU also had a losing record the two years before Bryant arrived. And Bama had losing records the four years before he arrived.
Which coaches have arrived at schools after 10-win seasons, then had losing records in their first year, but gone on to glory?
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General Fart you missed my point.
The point is since bear Bryant went 1-9 his first year at A & M, he obviously can’t coach and needs to fired immediately.
He only won 1 game, 1!!! Fire his ass….
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No, I got your point. Apparently, you missed mine.
When Bryant got to Tuscaloosa and College Station, he was taking over bad teams who hadn’t won in years. In those situations, rebuilding years are understandable.
But that wasn’t the case in Athens. UGA won 10 games in 2015. And just a few months later, the program looks like a dumpster fire. Players and coaches alike are making dumb mistakes.
Now, you may find some similarities between Smart and Bryant, especially if you look hard enough. But The Bear never inherited a winning program and promptly eeked out a victory to a Division II team and lost to Vandy.
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