Georgia track and field teams pull McGarity’s nuts out of the proverbial fire.
As Georgia waited anxiously for the final race Saturday night that could have given it the NCAA women’s track and field championship, Greg McGarity was back in Athens pacing at his home and getting updates via text like he had during the meet.
The Bulldogs athletic director didn’t make the trip to Eugene, Ore., because sixth-ranked Georgia wasn’t expected to be in the position to make a run at the national title.
It didn’t happen because favorite Oregon won the final race, the 4×400-meter relay, but the Bulldogs’ best-ever runner-up finish in the meet along with a sixth-place finish from men’s track helped Georgia move up in the Directors’ Cup Standings to its current spot of No. 13.
Georgia has crunched the numbers and believes it will finish No. 15 in the final all-sports standings because Texas A&M and Florida State would move past it after baseball’s College World Series is completed.
That’s in the same ballpark Georgia has been the past four years: No. 15 in 2016, No. 14 in 2015 and No. 16 in 2014. Georgia was No. 10 in 2013, nailing the top-10 finish it shoots for annually.
“I think the narrative early on was we were not going to have a very good year,” McGarity said. “You never make that assumption until all the sports have concluded.”
That the AD was anxious about how things turned out and the athletic department has already done the math on the Directors’ Cup race ought to give you some indication of B-M’s awareness of the criticism it’s facing about the overall recent performance of its programs.
It’s nice to know that a fifteenth-place finish constitutes “a very good year” in Athens these days. That should make for a congratulatory next edition of “The First Word”.
Can’t wait to buy that UGA Pride t-shirt.
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Will the track team get rings?
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Nose rings.
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wow
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Maybe Don Imus is the Mayor?
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Well played.
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No but McG is busy writing himself a pay raise.
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Reserve fund/MaGill Society standings are all that matter
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FYI – After much criticism from those who seek to divide us, I changed the name of my updates from “The First Word” to “McGarity’s Minutes”.
Kudos to the womens track and field team. Competing for championships while maintaining a healthy reserve fund balance is what we’re all about at UGA.
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Thank you, Mr. McGarity for these very meaningful words.
Rest assured, we are all looking forward to the New Testament.
#COMMITTOTHEG
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I have a feeling that McGarity’s staff meetings open with a round table of how awesome he is as an AD and how much BM has accomplished during his tenure.
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Yes, right before they pass around the collection plate.
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“Woof! Woof! Woof!” – That’s my Black and Tan, Fannie May, and, boy!, is she pissed.
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My neighbor has a black and tan. Cool dog big voice. Plays with our Staffordshire Terrier, but is cautious around the Jack Russel. Which is really not unusual… All the dogs are.
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BM’s new motto; “University of Georgia Athletics, where good enough is good enough”. Combine this with the ever popular “best ever at Georgia” and everyone at BM is happy.
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Why the hell wasn’t McGoofy in Oregon?
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He didn’t go because he didn’t expect the team to do much…
“The Bulldogs athletic director didn’t make the trip to Eugene, Ore., because sixth-ranked Georgia wasn’t expected to be in the position to make a run at the national title.”
But then of course he still has the nerve to lecture about not making assumptions…
“I think the narrative early on was we were not going to have a very good year,” McGarity said. “You never make that assumption until all the sports have concluded.”
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You never make assumptions. -AdGM
You mean like not taking a trip to the track and field championships because you assumed we wouldn’t finish well?-Intern
Exactly….err….no…not ….errr…ummm. Go away. -AdGM
~AdGM whispers to himself~ I get to crow about finishing 15th AND I saved the airfare by not going to Oregon…June is looking good for you, Greggy-boy. Oh yes….it’s looking good.
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Us gotta love him!
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It’s a long, expensive bus ride.
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That’s for athletes his kind fly in private jets.
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Still though, good job to the Track Dawgs at Nationals. While men were a distant third, women were only 1.8 points behind Oregon for first. Good job on both of them
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On a semi-related topic, Vince Dooley was talking about the UGA-ND game in South Bend and had this to say to the AJC… “Greg McGarity invited me to go,” he said of Georgia’s current AD. “I haven’t heard anything since then though.” Sounds like the McGoofy we know, bet Vince gets an update real soon;-)
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Rest assured, we will contact Coach Dooley as soon as his check clears.
#COMMITTOTHEG
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Every day I think McG has said or done the dumbest things possible, he manages to do it yet again.
Good to know track and field is pulling up baseball and basketball and softball and gym. /facepalm
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I presume UF will be the highest rated SEC team.
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Who gives a rip?
The baseball program is in shambles, the hoops team missed the tournament, and we lost to both Vanderbilt and NERDS at home.
Fix the important stuff, Greg.
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This is too easy. How can anyone blame McGarity if the players don’t execute?!?
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