Patrick Garbin tracks the steady slide towards mediocrity under Georgia’s last three athletic directors. In fact, that slide may be picking up steam.
In Capital One Cup results the last six years, you’ll notice, UGA’s women athletics was a respectable No. 3 in the SEC, with an 18.2 average national ranking. It’s the men sports which dragged the Bulldogs down, ranking only 9th out of 12 conference schools with just 118 points, while averaging around a lowly No. 42 national ranking.
What’s more, the 2017-18 academic year hasn’t got off to the best of starts for UGA athletics as the Bulldogs through January 10 had a combined zero Capital One Cup points for their men and women’s teams, whereas Alabama, South Carolina, Auburn, and Ole Miss—to name a few—have already totaled 36, 18, 9, and 8 points, respectively.
Remind me again why some of you think there’s anyone at Butts-Mehre who’s competent enough to hire and fire personnel above the janitorial level.
Get The Picture 
I have never used the word competent together with Butts-Mehre in a sentence for, at least, the last 10 years. I swear.
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How do we do this? It seems nearly impossible to be this incompetent, given the athletes and resources at our disposal. Honestly, Florida is probably jealous of the talent in Georgia that should be owned by UGA. Can you imagine our dominance if we had competent coaches and administrators in place? I am at a loss to explain the flail that is UGA athletics, but it looks like it would be hard to be this bad.
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We have learned a great deal from the University of Florida’s athletic department, and continue to seek out their expertise and advice to this day.
It is a very cordial relationship.
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We should. We have a University of Florida agent in charge of our Athletic Department.
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In the socialist SEC, the one who spends the least makes the most.
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I’d start with Striklin. But, that’s just me.
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Coach Stricklin’s position is funded through a private donation, like the Athletic Director’s position.
He, too, is here to stay.
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Count me as one who did not help the reserve fund as much this year. We do have tennis , golf, and swimming coming up to boost those standings.
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Country Club sports!
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One more thing. Instead of Florida and Georgia being the geographic “One Two Punch” in the SEC that they should be, the programs have become polar opposites. Florida is now about the best program athletically in the nation, while UGA is totally irrelevant and inept. Forget competing with Florida. We can’t hang with programs a fraction of our size. It’s ridiculous.
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Senator:
You’re assuming they can effectively hire janitors when there’s no evidence that they can even do that.
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For a tiny piece of the concession revenue, the kids will do the work as a fund-raiser after the game.
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Hey now. If you walk around the halls of Butts-Mehre you’ll find that it is an immaculately maintained building.
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That’s because Greg sweeps the floors to help the reserve fund. It’s a twofer position!
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…and checks the chairs and sofas for change.
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It’s ridiculous how bad our sports program has become. We’re going to be on the outside looking in for March Madness on both the men’s and women’s side. We’ll likely make the Super Six and finish 6th in gymnastics. We probably won’t make the tournament in baseball. While there are glimmers of hope in football, we could just as easily be in for wandering in the wilderness.
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It’s all good. Those incentive payments are expensive.
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As long as football season tickets sell out every year I don’t think anybody in B-M cares about winning, especially in the other sports. The football noon starts have turned into 9pm starts for basketball. Most people are in bed by the time another loss is in the books.
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Every time I throw out there the fact that Georgia lags badly behind in basketball or baseball I hear well Georgia is not a so and so school. Or the basketball arena lags way behind the so called basketball schools. Or the baseball team went to the college world series in whatever year. What have they done for us lately? We should demand the best out of UGA leaders as we expect the best from the players.
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It’s all good. Last in the conference in baseball and men’s basketball spending keeps us out of Title IX litigation.
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On Saturday I watched as Fox may have saved his job for a few more days. Frazier took control and went schoolyard on ut. That could actually be a good team if we had a coach.
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Coach Fox does things the right way and is a great moral representative of the university.
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Janitorial level? did you see the bathroom after the spring game?
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Remind me again why some of you think there’s anyone at Butts-Mehre who’s competent enough to hire and fire personnel above the janitorial level.
Have you been in the men’s room at the stadium?
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If you sent a check in to the Hartman Fund and reordered your season tickets for football you can look in the mirror and see the reason Georgia athletics are mediocre at best. McGarity and the BM crowd look at the bank balance as a referendum on their performance and the results show complete satisfaction from the fan base.
If you make a donation and buy tickets, don’t complain, you are the reason nothing ever changes in University of Georgia athletics.
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And, if you do stop donating and give up your tickets, when things are good again, people with deeper pockets will be sitting in your old seats. Whatever happened to doing a good job just as a matter of pride? How do we instill that in the athletic department?
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Pray tell, when will things be “good again”. I’ve heard this line of reasoning since the late 80s. Georgia fans are hanging on to that 1980 season and the BM crowd are still milking it for millions and lining their pockets.
Until there is a slowdown in the money flow, these people have zero incentive to do a better job. It is obvious “pride” is coming in a distant second to big paychecks. Until then, enjoy sitting in your seats watching ever more mediocre teams on the field.
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I am not renewing my tickets this season. Had 4 since 2002. I am very much looking forward to the call I get about my donation not being in this week.
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Obviously it’s an assumption that things will be good again but, sometimes you’re so far down there’s no where to go but up. One thing I do wonder is how not making football donations contributes to making baseball and gymnastics good again.
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I also did not renew my season tickets. I’ve had 8 seats for 20+ years (4 club level seats are now available for some lucky person) and was in the top 200 donors not that long ago. I had enough when BM told me on field access for a photo with UGA before football games was no longer available unless you donate $25k a year. I used to have season tickets for football and men’s basketball and donate to baseball and gymnastics, but tired of paying for sub-par performances when we could/should be doing much better. I’ll still attend games, but will buy the seats online or on the street for far less money. Hard to keep feeding the habit when BM has no desire to be the best!
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I got to be honest – it been encouraging (and validating) to see so many people that likely have contributed far more $$ than I could have ever imagined contributing so fed up with the way B-M is doing business also dropping their season tickets next season.
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Football money drives every sport, no other sport breaks even (maybe mens basketball every now and then) and all rely on the football revenue. Not making donations is the only way to send a message that will be heard and understood to the BM crowd. All the letter writing, message board complaining, phone calls, etc. are completely ignored as long as the checks keep coming in.
The only way there will be any change in the AD or the BM cabal is if the revenue starts dropping. Otherwise; the message is loud and clear, “we are completely happy with the way sports are at the University of Georgia, here is my check”.
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What’s sad is a fear that too many devalue athletics as a core mission of the university. Providing our young women and men the opportunity to excel at their chosen sport is not much different from providing research opportunities, advanced education, etc. Why we’ve let this deteriorate over the past decade is a problem with leadership at the very top…BOR, President, B-M, etc. Not much the average alum can do, but continued protesting and awareness so that the monied alum/influencers finally take notice is a start. Thank you Senator for at least writing about this on GTP.
P.S. I’d like to just blame Michael Adams, but it goes farther and deeper than him.
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Athletics provides an ever-growing stream of revenue to the University.
It is our responsibility and our duty to keep costs as minimal as possible.
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Athletics are not a core mission of the university but they are THE core mission of the UGAAA. The mission of the university is to quote the motto of the university “to teach, to serve and to inquire into the nature of things”. Being able to excel at a chosen sport is a “nice to have” thing. Research and advanced education opportunities are “need to have” things for a university.
I like and want the university’s sports programs to do well but I don’t consider their success or failure a measuring stick of the value of a University of Georgia degree or the responsibility of anyone outside the athletic director and the administration in BM. The deterioration of the athletic programs over the past decade lies directly at the feet of the athletic directors, coaches and BM administrators. The only responsibility the president of the university has is that he has allowed the athletic director to remain in his position. The BOR has no say or responsibility for the athletic success or failure at UGA.
Again, as long as the average alum/ticket holder continues to make donations and buy tickets, there will be no change.
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Frank Ros.
Matt Stinchcomb.
Homegrown. Incredibly intelligent. Extremely likable. Media savvy. Football captains. Well respected. Either would make an outstanding AD for the next 15 years. And it’s a job they’d both take. And neither would accept mediocrity.
I cannot figure out why this is so hard.
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It’s hard because the people at BM making six figure incomes don’t want to give up their cushy jobs. Excellence in athletics is a secondary consideration, far below account balances, diversity and job security.
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They’re not the ones making the decisions. The board is making the decisions. Everything rises and falls with leadership.
Jon Stinchcomb is the on the board. He’s like Obi Wan…he’s our only hope.
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True, but the board’s main concerns are; account balances, diversity, PC culture and looking out for their buddies. The actual on field/court results are a fair ways down the list of important items.
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Well, that’s the problem. The on field/court results drive everything.
EVERYTHING rises and falls with leadership. The right leaders make all the difference. Jon will be a good voice on the board.
When they figure out more winning equals more money, maybe that will help. It doesn’t seem that hard to understand.
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the problem is the losing doesnt equal less money.
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It’s the dirty little secret about professional sports which, let’s be real, college football is a professional sport for all intents and purposes with the added benefit of not paying players. Donald Sterling is pretty infamous for making gobs of money despite having a terrible team year after year with low attendance. You don’t need a competitive product on the field to turn a profit when you keep labor costs low (in Sterling’s case – he relied on signing not good players) and benefiting from a shared revenue model.
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Exactly, the fans don’t mind the losing bad enough to stop sending in the money.
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Meh…TV money is driving the ship these days. If you tune into watch any sports on SECN or any of the ESPN you are just as much to blame as any season ticket holder.
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UGA needs someone with a competitive demeanor as AD to start ridding the place of complacency. It would get ugly at first like when Evans wiped out the place his first day on the job. With social media and the AJC like it is now the university would be in for a skewering. My bet is the president and BOR would rather continue to lose than get skewered even for a 3 day news cycle.
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Carla Williams will be your next AD, if she is not already.
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“….if she is not already.” That may be the problem right there.
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Smart now reports to her. Initially, he reported to ADGM. That’s changed.
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Smart reports to both of them. She gets to deal with the day-to-day matters affecting the football program McGarity doesn’t want to deal with.
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Adgm will not be replaced until Carla gets her own gig elsewhere. We have a very qualified minority woman who is next in line. But we have been the administrator route with adgm and the results speak for themselves.
What is needed is a dynamic outgoing persona with vision and desire. Don’t know who that candidate is but doubt that the administration is ready to take on that search just yet… for multiple reasons.
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I really don’t care what they do in any sports except football, men’s basketball, baseball, and maybe women’s basketball. The 3 sports that pay the way should be what they worry about.
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Basketball is doing about all I expect until they replace Stegeman. No matter how nice they make the Stege recruits want to see a new arena.
I do want to see the Baseball in the CWS again and the last renovation effort was laughable with how cheap BM was.
McGarity has not done himself any favors but I do think BM was more lucky than smart with the success enjoyed under Landers and Yoculan.
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Except for recruits at Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas and UNC. Even Rupp is dated.
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Had a friend that went to concert there and he disagreed with Rupp appearing to be dated, Kentucky also gets a pass on a new stadium with the history of Rupp.
The Stege does not have the history of Rupp, and the program needs to make a statement if it is ever going to be the power that in state talent could make it.
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Thinking UGA is going to turn bb around by spending millions on a new arena is a pipe dream. The practice facility where the teams spend most of their time is supposedly state-of-the-art. A new arena would likely have to be built off-campus where the players would only see it on game days. Recruits who might be there 1-4 years for 15-60 games don’t give a rat’s behind how flashy concourses and seats are. It would fill up the first year but wane if the team doesn’t win.Spending that money would only be a temporary signal that the university cares about bb, not a long term solution. When bb gets good enough to pack 10,000 in every game only then do you talk about building a new arena. The biggest problem with the Stege is the upper level seating on the round end is overpriced barring a Tuesday ticket deal.
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The Stege isn’t everything but it is an obstacle.
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Basketball, like most sports, is all about who the coach is. When Tubby was HC he had the team turned around–then he left for UK. Say what you will about Jim Harrick but he won everywhere he went–including Georgia. Al we need is to find the right coach and that is the AD’s job. I feel sorry for Fox. He is a good–not great–basketball coach who tries to do things the right way in a sport where most of the successful people do things the wrong way.
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I respectfully disagree with the Stegeman complaints. The Dean Dome in Chapel Hill has dark, dated concourses and not a great atmosphere for many games. I’ve been twice to Cameron Indoor and sat behind Duke bench both times . . . on padded bleachers (Grant Hill sat next to me at one game). Not even seat backs in their nicest seats. It felt like the coolest high school gym I’ve ever seen. Georgia Tech renovated “McCamish Pavillion/Alexander Memorial”, re-opened it in 2012 and it got them . . . a fired coach in 2016 and zero tournament appearances since it re-opened. Ole Miss built a new arena last year and they are currently ranked 43rd in recruiting . . . one spot behind Georgia.
Stegeman, as a facility, is now fine. The problem is the atmosphere, which is a bit chicken/egg, as who can blame fans for not exactly getting fired up for a poor offense, losing most big games and finishing somewhere south of the bubble. If Georgia could break through with a big class one of these years and show some life, the Steg gets packed again and no one is concerned. Tradition and atmosphere matter more than luxury seats and scoreboards, and that’s what we lack.
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I agree with you. The Steg isn’t the basketball version of Jerry World, but it’s a 100 times nicer than Cameron. The facility isn’t holding us back, it’s the commitment to putting a top flight team on the floor that’s holding us back. If all you changed was the arena, nothing would change. If you brought in someone like Tom Izzo, or Mark Few, or that kind of top flight leader, you could play home games at Clarke Central and we’d be doing better.
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^This. Same old problem we have with football. The hangers-on at B-M who don’t care about winning just doing enough to keep that paycheck rolling in. If someone committed to winning got hired for a staff position (by accident of course) the others at B-M would make that person’s life miserable until he/she quit. Sort of like how all the slackers in the class hate the really smart kid who keeps busting the curve. The change has to come from the top down IMHO.
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The Ice Dawgs just won the SEC in hockey.
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The hockey team is not funded through the Athletic Department.
They are not part of The Georgia Way.
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If you think about it, the last good AD Georgia had was Joel Eaves. Dooley was competent and kept things afloat but after Dooley the trajectory started down and we have been going further downward ever since. The country club sports and women’s teams are the only things that save us and our strongest women’s program, the GymDawgs, has gone down ever since Suzanne Yoculan retired. Women’s basketball will be the next thing to fall. We desperately need not a competent AD, but a GREAT AD, and a complete restructure of B-M.
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Dooley didn’t enjoy the cash flow that ADs have today and his strength was he could make a dollar go a long way. That’s why he knew the 600 level at Sanford Stadium was necessary to put visitors and sell more season tickets. McGarity should be compared to the ADs that we compete against today, not Dooley.
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I’m starting to believe that the athletic board wants to be revered in the same vein the Augusta National board is. Maybe the Augusta Board should take over the UGAA.
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Remember, your Hartman Fund contribution deadline is Wednesday.
http://thegeorgiabulldogclub.com/donate-now
#COMMITTOTHEG
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As long as the SEC is distributing millions of dollars to UGA, the donation I could possibly make is not a fleck of dust to BM. They could give a shit whether I donate or buy a ticket. That’s why there is not accountability, the cash cow that is the SEC network will keep the wheels greased no matter what those of us relatively normal Joe’s contribute. If that dries up…. then the situation may change, but I don’t see that happening, no matter what Mickey whines about.
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Don’t kid yourself. The donations and ticket purchases are the vast majority of the revenue and huge numbers of empty seats are embarrassing to the AD and the folks running the show. When there are empty seats and unsold tickets there is no way to spin it as “things are fine”. Of the approx. $100 million in total sports revenue, only about $18 million came from tv.
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Not sure where you’re getting that random $18 million figure, but TV $ is certainly driving the bus.
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Must have been an old number when I googled. If it does turn out that tv money makes the fan revenue irrelevant, that will completely take away the leverage the fans have on BM. At some point does the AA stage the games in a studio setting and not worry about the fans?
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That is where college football is headed. Already you can see THOUSANDS of empty seats at most bowl games. It is going to all be made for TV. Watch a Group of 5 football game on the tube sometime. The cameras usually try not to show it but every now and then you get a glimpse of the stands and they are…….empty. It won’t be long ’til that infects the Power 5 teams, too. Seen a GA Tech game on the tube lately? Empty, empty, empty unless they get Clemson or Georgia at Grant Field. Then the stands are filled with the visiting team’s fans.
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We place great value on our relationships with the Southeastern Conference, Learfield Sports, and Aramark, but make no mistake, your contribution is important to us.
Be sure to visit our website to understand your responsibilities on game day regarding parking, tailgating, dining, recycling, and ticket resales.
https://gameday.uga.edu/
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LOL…”your responsibilities”. Well played.
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