A reminder that winning consistently isn’t exactly a common thing in college football.
Richt had his flaws and Georgia has certainly upped its game with the changeover, but to act like winning 8-10 games a season on a regular basis was no big deal ignores reality. It’s no sin to acknowledge that.
Get The Picture 
I would never have guessed that the field of 8+ win teams over the last several years was so small. The fact that we’ve had just one season of fewer than 8 wins dating back to Donnan’s first year (1996) says a lot about the consistency of our program.
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And only Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Boise State have won more games over that time period.
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But We are Georgia…
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Exactly. How many of those teams have hedges? Those account for 4 wins all by themselves!
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It’s been a darn good run from 2011 to the present. Both head coaches and their staffs deserve accolades for that. If not for the last 7 minutes of the Fech game in ‘16, we would be in exclusive company.
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I still cannot believe that our 10 win SEC team did not earn a spot in the AP top 25 in Richt’s last year. I know the schedule was weak, but still….
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The irony of that season was that was quite possibly his best season coaching, he proved that he could win without an offensive line!
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“The irony of that season was that was quite possibly his best season coaching, he proved that he could win without an offensive line!”
Without an offensive line OR a quarterback. And a completely dysfunctional coaching staff.
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What is crazy is that in year 3 at Miami, he still doesn’t have an O-line or a QB.
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He made a good hire at DC with Pruitt.
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Just look what that got FSU this year….
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Or an OC with any clue about what the college game was about.
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Or a qb. But he did that in 2014 too.
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Mason was severely limited. He was also orders of magnitude better than Lambert or Ramsey.
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You Richtophile! I won’t settle for mediocrity! If you ain’t first, you’re last! Woo!
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We have been good, but hopefully Kirby is about to show everyone that we should have done better.
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Since 1997 21 seasons of 8 wins or more and 13 seasons of 10+ wins. 1 season under 8 wins (2010 – 6 wins).
Since 1982 we have three SEC Championships (02, 04, 17) and 7 outright SEC East titles (02, 03, 05, 11, 12, 17, 18).
After Dooley left and the Goff years UGA has been in a progression from mediocre program to consistent contender. Donnan started the turn-around, Richt got UGA moving in the right direction and our first SEC championship in 20 years. Kirby has turned the program from going in the right direction to contender and top 5 program in short order. Over the next 3 years we should expect to get into the playoffs every year. We just need to get over the gumps. Man I wish the 2019 season could start tomorrow.
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I hope you’re right. But if you look at the record, CKS’s W-L record is virtually identical to CMR’s record his first 3 years. Just sayin.’
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It sure is. The question is whether Kirby can keep it up. My opinion is absolutely yes.
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I think we have a different animal with Kirby here. We have not finished 2nd in the east in recruiting since he’s been here. We generally had a top 3 SEC class but rarely the top SEC East class under Richt. You can see what coach Richt did with recruiting and it was slipping away after 2012 with the balance of the conference talent switching to the west. We are a couple of plays away from taking down what most consider the greatest dynasty of all time in football in Bama under Saban. If you’re a Jimmie’s and Joe’s guy than you should be buying what Kirby is selling. It’s all about talent acquisition and then getting the most out of the players.
Recruiting ranking 247 composite
2001 (LSU, UT, AU, Ark, UGA – 6) 2nd in east
2002 (UT, UGA -2, UF) 2nd in east
2003 (UF, LSU, UGA -3, UT) 2nd in east
2004 (LSU, UF, UGA -3, UT) 2nd in east
2005 (UT UGA -2, UF, LSU) 2nd in east
2006 (UF, UGA -2, LSU, AU) 2nd in east
2007 (UF, UT, LSU, SC, UGA -5) 4th in east
2008 (Bama, UF, UGA -3, LSU) 2nd in east
2009 (LSU, Bama, UGA -3, UF, UT) 1st in east
2010 (UF, Bama, AU, UT, LSU, UGA -6) 3rd in east
2011 (Bama, AU, UGA -3, LSU, UF) 1st in east
2012 (Bama, UF, UGA -3, AU, LSU) 2nd in east
2013 (Bama, UF, LSU, OM, T A&M, AU, UGA – 7) 2nd in east
2014 (Bama, LSU, TA&M, AU, UT, UGA – 6) 2nd in east
2015 (Bama, UT, LSU, UGA- 4, AU) 2nd in east
2016 (Bama, LSU, OM, UGA – 4, AU, UF, UT) 1st in east
2017 (Bama, UGA -2 , LSU, AU, UF) 1st in east
2018 (UGA -1, Bama, AU, UF, LSU) 1st in SEC
Notable coaches during this period in the SEC
Nick Saban LSU 2000-2004, Bama 2007-2018 – West
Urban Meyer UF 2005-2010 – East
Steve Spurrier 2001 UF, USC 2005-2015 – East
Phillip Fulmer 1992-2008 – East
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I actually like Shreveport, I was stationed there for 4 years in the 90’s when they didn’t have as much tourist attractions to boast of.
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Richt had a natural in state talent poolhis competitors did not. Any coach at UGA would do that. The baffling thing is why he can’t recruit better at Miami
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The two coaches who preceded Richt didn’t.
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and they were both fired for performance. Winning 10 games in a 12 game season and failing to make the SECCG repeatedly is that much better than winning 8 games in an 11 game season and failing to make the SECCG?
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Let’s see…
Number of SECCG appearances under Goff: 0
Number of SECCG appearances under Donnan: 0
Number of SECCG appearances under Richt: 5
Think I’m gonna have to go with yes here.
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I don’t get the hate for CMR. He was a fine coach. Would have loved to see what he could do with the support CKS has. UGA admin never really supported our coaches the way they do now. I won’t ever forget CMR reaching into his pockets to pay assistants. Damn shame. Not to mention that UGA was the last SEC team to get a full indoor practice facility.
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Long con worked on you I see…
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Ah, one point for “long con”. Work in “preacherman” or “rings gather dust” for a couple more. “Threw the ’15 WLOCP” gets you five.
Well done.
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I am happy where we are right now. And even at that, I am with you 100%.
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+1
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Totally agree.
I’m 100% pleased with what Kirby has been able to do, but I will never understand why there is such vitriol for CMR from some Georgia fans. It was time for him to go after 2015, but he was a fantastic coach for Georgia during his time here. I’ll never forget that 2002 season…and the ’05 SEC championship was an unexpected bonus, too. We can focus on the negatives during his tenure (of which there were several), but why? He’s now part of Georgia’s history…and his accomplishments should be lauded as well.
Throw on top of his coaching career at UGA that he was basically a very decent man and cared a lot for the players and the Georgia people and we should hold him in high esteem as a former Georgia coach. Doing so doesn’t mean we detract from what Kirby is doing at Georgia now in any way.
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He denied the haters their natty balloons and they be mad.
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Just stop, GA tech and VA Tech both had longer bowl streaks than us until last couple years….move on
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I’m not sure what this comment means. Our bowl streak is 1997-present. Georgia Tech has a bowl streak that went from 1997-2014, but it ended when they went 3-9 in 2015. Virginia Tech has a current bowl streak that’s actually a bit longer than ours, but they are the ONLY team in the country with a longer current bowl streak. I’m not sure that it’s a bad thing to have the 2nd-longest current bowl streak in the country. It doesn’t signify greatness, but it does signify consistency.
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I do not get some of you. I get it, we did not win the east under Richt as much as you think we should. That is a reasonable opinion; I may not agree with it, but I understand it and will not argue with it.
What I do not get is the refusal to accept that we were consistently good from 2001 through 2015. Accepting that we were does not diminish Smart one iota. I am proud as I can be our 2017 and 2018 teams, but the past two years does not mean Richt years stunk.
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David, it means much lesser programs have done the same with much less, which is not saying we need to celebrate too loudly about this. Competing for championships consistently is a whole other plataeu.
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