Here’s Barrett Sallee, going back to that well we know so well:
Here’s our list of coaches under the most pressure entering 2021. This is not a hot seat list. Again, this is NOT a story consisting only of coaches who may be on the proverbial hot seat ahead of this season.
Kirby Smart, Georgia
If not now, when? Georgia will enter 2021 with the best quarterback in the SEC (JT Daniels), the best running back room in the SEC (Zamir White, James Cook and a host of ultra-talented studs) and the best defense in the SEC — if not the country. It also has a chip on its shoulder as evidenced by the #UnfinishedBusiness hashtag that was used when several of those stars like Daniels, White and stud defensive lineman Jordan Davis. That mindset has a very “Clemson 2018” sort of feel.
All of that has led to a ton of optimism in the Classic City, but it also has cranked up the pressure on Smart. This Georgia team walked into Mercedes-Benz Stadium with a shot at the College Football Playoff in three consecutive seasons from 2017-19, and it has therefore raised the bar for Smart and the Bulldogs. Granted, they made the CFP in 2017, but we all know how Tua Tagovailoa put an end to that fairy tale. Georgia needs to make the CFP this year. Otherwise, Smart will start looking plenty like former Georgia coach Mark Richt.
To be fair to Barrett, at least he was consistent enough to include Lincoln Riley on his list, for many of the same reasons, plus this. But, damn, it’s only April and I’m already bored as hell with reading this. Sad to say, I am reaching the point where the joy of watching Georgia win a national title will be outweighed by the relief of knowing if that happens, I won’t have to see this tired take repeated ad nauseam.
Get The Picture 
Barrett has never had much enlightening material. I usually skip his stuff if possible.
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Very Rome like take. Fire the guy who finished in the top ten the last 4 seasons. Replace him with a better coach named …………
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And how many other places would fire their coach to get CKS.
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it’s the same jackass that said we were going to get “smoked” by auburn last year – SBIV said hold my beer muthafucka
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I’ve heard him on the radio. He seems like a nice enough guy; but his takes are usually awful. The one thing I will give him is that when he was wrong, he owns up. So there’s that. He’s typical… Most of these so called analysis, couldn’t hold their own in a room with most of our friends. Not about college football and especially about SEC football… Yes, it just means more down here… And that is clear to me, every time I read something from one of these so called pundits from somewhere else.
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I think he lives in Atlanta and went to Auburn, fwiw
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Believe you meant “analysts”….easy mistake….I was one for years!
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Barrett’s tales are as repetitive as the letters in his name.
Unless Kirby craters out this year and is caught with an intern, he’s not going anywhere. And neither is Lincoln Riley, unless he goes to the NFL.
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He has to write SOMETHING. Not like he can crank out an article about AU winning the SEC, Nix being a Heisman contender, etc. He seems like an OK enough dude, it’s just that he knows a lot of things that aren’t true.
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Barrett Sallee is what happens to your brain when you attend the Greater Opelika Cow College.
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Who said you had to possess a brain/brain cell to attend the prettiest little cesspool…
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You don’t have to, but if you do you definitely have more to lose.
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Double E,
I refer to it as the East Alabama Reform School (EARS), although the correct name is…
the East Alabama Reform School for Wayward Children at Auburn.
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Agree with most everyone here so far Barrett is required to turn in something to get paid. Original thoughts are not his strong point.
I
m happy that there is pressure on this team. It means they really have a shot. Id rather the players read stories calling them underachievers than how great they are. Either way I`m very grateful Georgia is loaded and looks to be so going forward.LikeLike
Couldn’t you have just put an ellipse between 2017, and Georgia? 😢
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“ Sad to say, I am reaching the point where the joy of watching Georgia win a national title will be outweighed by the relief of knowing if that happens, I won’t have to see this tired take repeated ad nauseam.”
This is exactly how I feel.. want to get it over with so I don’t have to hear fans of avg programs like Auburn, UT, GT repeat this tired take.
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I have already warned all my friends who root for other schools and repeat this tired trope they will hear about our NC from the moment we win it until the moment someone else holds the title. It will be obnoxious and it will be daily.
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This^^. I’ve not heard or read one fan of a rival program such as aubrun or uf that usually get’s it’s ass beat by the dawgs mention the thought; “You know, Georgia fans are pretty fucking obnoxious anyway. Those fuckers are going to be impossible to deal with once they’ve won the natty.”
Come on Kirby, I hate to miss the chance to be an obnoxious asshole to a rival program…
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We don’t have to pay attention to the guy who didn’t know his Instagram likes were public until a year ago.
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If not now, when?
Pick a year, any year going forward. Kirby has recruited such that we’re going to be in the conversation every year for the foreseeable future. It takes some luck to win it all. Eventually that little oblong ball will bounce our way
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One commonality with all those HC’s is time on the job (as an HC) except meeshigan hc… CKS is growing into that top spot, just like the huskers HC, from his ucf days, should Kirbs have struck lightning in 2017, who in the fuck knows what UGA football would be like today…#AUBURN SUCKS!
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Here’s the thing: Is he wrong?
Not about this “If not now, when?” part, but the part where Kirby needs to a win a damn national title or at least do a better job of getting to the CFB Playoff. We fired a guy who won a lot of football games because it became obvious he was never going to win a national title.
Well, the guy we hired has made all the necessary improvements and we can talk about how Bama and an all-time LSU team stood in his way, but we hired him to beat Bama because the other guy couldn’t, and one of the reasons he hasn’t is completely his fault for not coming here with a plan to modernize the offense (instead sending it back to the stone age for three four years).
So while I hate reading this and you hate reading this and we all hate reading this, is Sallee wrong? I say no.
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I didn’t say whether he’s right or wrong. I’m just saying after seeing it in print for the 500th time, it’s no longer as insightful as he thinks it is. YMMV, obviously.
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I say he’s wrong.
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I say yes, if you only judge success on winning the MNC, you’re watching the wrong sport, IMHO.
Yes, I use mythical, because you still have to be invited to participate. Politics are involved…ND had no business being there last year…
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BTW, on your “at least do a better job of getting to the CFB Playoff” complaint, how many active coaches have had teams play for a natty in their second season?
I’ll hang up and listen to your answer.
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That’s a good point, but my point is the expectations for Kirbs are honestly more than we’ve gotten the last three seasons because he was brought here to do more.
He was brought here to end Bama’s hold on us, and he hasn’t done that. Is it an impossible task? Yeah, it may be, but that’s what he was brought here to do and he hasn’t done it.
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Your last paragraph is why I’m glad you’re not the AD. 😉
I had this exact discussion with Barrett on Twitter yesterday and he conceded one reason the narrative exists as it does is because Smart did so well in 2017.
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Right, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Me, I’m enjoying the ride.
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Amen
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My take on the cks vs cmr – Cmr with years having a new qb – win loss 8-4. Cmr playing elite teams – would get embarrassed. Cks – competing with the elite teams – new qb years and playing a 4 string walk on – doing a pretty damn good job hanging in with the big boys. I do not think there is a comparison of the 2 coaches EXCEPT both have had some bad breaks keeping the natty from coming to Athens.
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Eh, think about it like this; if/when CKS wins a title do you see his program looking like FSU after their last title, or like Alabama? I am comfortable in saying that given the last years of CMR it would have been more likely to be one and done if he had won a title. I see CKS’ program as being more likely to stay in the conversation and compete for more titles more consistently.
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Doesn’t he know we don’t have a shot against Clemson? Thought that was common knowledge.
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That’s what the clempson homer who writes for “sniffin’ your jock” thinks….
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On a list of coaches under pressure, I would imagine that Smart has to be feeling a lot of pressure to win a title and beat Bama and all those things that all Georgia fans want to see.
That doesnt seem like a stretch.
Will Kirby need Seth Emerson to ask him about his teams propensity to “Georgia” in high stakes games to finally get this team over the hump?
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At Kirby’s current pace of winning, he will coach at UGA for as long as he wants as long as there is no big scandal (academic, NCAA or personal). That’s the truth.
Richt wasn’t fired because he didn’t win a national title (if that were the standard, he probably would have been out between 2008-10). He was fired because of 2 losses to Florida when we didn’t show up and 1 head-scratching win over Georgia Southern (the Bama 2015 loss put CMR on thin ice which then broke when he tried the Faton Bauta experiment in Jacksonville).
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If the standard isn’t winning at least one national title a decade, which can and should be done at a program with our resources, then why have ANY standards at all?
If Kirby hasn’t won a title by the end of his 10th season, he needs to go.
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That’s your standard, but I guarantee that isn’t the standard that the decision maker on North Campus is using. If Kirby is winning 11+ games per year, there is no way Morehead will make a move on Kirby unless he is losing consistently to Florida and we aren’t getting to Atlanta.
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there is no way Morehead will make a move on Kirby unless he is losing money
FIFY
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That’s a fair statement, Senator, but are the liquor barons and the Magill Society (therefore, the money) going to turn on Kirby for a failure to deliver a national championship or the failure to beat Florida consistently? You’re a hell of a lot more connected with those in influence than I, but my perspective is that it’s definitely the latter.
Maybe the perspective changes when the playoff expands to 8, but I just don’t see it right now.
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So you’re relegating us to the standard of Michigan to Bama’s Ohio State?
I’m sorry, but that should not in any way be acceptable at a program like Georgia in a state that produces so much talent and for a fanbase that gives and gives and gives so much money.
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Except for the fact that Michigan loses to Ohio State every year because they are in the same division, it’s exactly the same. If we won a national title and didn’t have to beat Bama to do it, would it change anything in your eyes? Michigan has to beat Ohio State just to get to the game in Indianapolis … just like Georgia and Florida have to beat one another to get to Atlanta.
If you’re equating Georgia under Kirby Smart to Michigan under Jim Harbaugh, you are definitely comparing apples to oranges. If Kirby had Khaki Pants’ record against the Handbags, I would likely be asking when is he on the hot seat.
If Kirby starts losing consistently to Florida, he’ll be on a scalding hot seat before he knows what hit him. If he’s losing to Alabama in a de facto quarterfinal game in Atlanta, you fire him … you better bring in someone better like your handle’s namesake or someone similar.
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The odds are, if we win 3 out of every 4 Eastern Divisions the next 8 years, 5 of the 6 times we go to Atlanta we’d have to beat Bama to win the SEC Title. Not to mention that once in those 8 years we’ll play them in the regular season.
Are you telling me that over the next 8 years you’re okay with losing to Bama 6 times for a total of 0-9 in Kirby’s career? Because I’m not okay with that. At all. Kirby was brought to Georgia to beat Saban and Bama. He was brought here to win that game, and he’s 0-3.
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I’ll use my version of extreme logic to prove my point just as you have done. If I have done my projections correctly, we would be approximately 103-9 over the 8 year period with no national championship, 2 SEC championships (losses in the CFP championship game), 8 New Year’s Six bowl wins (including 2 playoff games), 6 SEC East titles, and owning the Big 4, you would support firing Kirby Smart for that record. If so, good on you for sticking to your guns and good luck finding someone proven who would want to step into that pressure cooker. Maybe I’m looking at it a bit more nuanced by saying I look at the total body of work.
Richt was not fired for his failure against Nick Saban’s Alabama (and Kirby won’t be either) … he was fired because the loss to Florida in 2014 put him on the frozen pond, the pond started cracking when the 2015 Alabama loss occurred, and he went into the freezing water the way we lost to Florida. The celebration after beating Georgia Southern cemented his fate with the big donors.
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How would we win a national title or SEC title or make the playoff if we’re 0-5 versus Bama in 6 trips to Atlanta?
You counting on that one chance of beating another all-time LSU team? I’m not.
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Ok – my bad (I scribbled it out on a piece of notebook paper). I made the assumption we would beat LSU, Auburn, or Texas A&M in the 1 year we didn’t play Alabama and lose in CFP championship game (sort of like 2017). It changes the record to 102-9 with 1 SEC title.
It still doesn’t change the analysis or the conclusion in my eyes.
Using your logic, we should just fire Kirby now and get it over with because you don’t believe he’s going to win another SEC championship because he’s going to stub his toe against Florida and be left out twice and lose 6 straight SEC championship games (de facto quarterfinal games) to Alabama and some other West team.
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That’s not what I’m saying. I’m not saying he can’t beat Bama and win a national title in the next 5 seasons, which would be 10 years. I’m saying that if at the end of 10 years he hasn’t done those things, he doesn’t need to be our coach anymore.
You always give people the rope to hang themselves. You let them do it to themselves. If after 10 years, Kirby hasn’t done what we brought him here to do, which has always been explicitly understood that we fired a “Close and Almost” coach to get a coach to get us to the next level, which is winning a national title, then no, he should not be Georgia’s coach.
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We’ll just have to agree to disagree on this. I appreciate the perspective, but my perspective is that Richt wasn’t fired for the failure to deliver a national title (and, in my opinion, Kirby won’t either). He was fired for the lack of an SEC title between 2006-15.
Throw in the underachieving team of 2008 that corresponded to the rise of Saban at Alabama, the 2009 team that went to the Independence Bowl, the 2010 team that lost to George O’Leary’s UCF and started 1-4 because of McGarity’s treatment of AJ, the 2011 team that lost to Boise and blew a big lead to Michigan State, the 2012 team with the heartbreaking loss in the SEC title game, the 2013 team that lost its offense in Kneeland, the 2014 team that McGarity hamstrung by throwing TG3II under the NCAA’s bus, and the 2015 team that was dysfunctional by season’s end.
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We can definitely agree to disagree for sure, but that’s not what I’m saying.
I’m saying that Richt was fired because it became obvious he never would win a national title, which is not the same thing as haven’t won one. He simply didn’t have it in him to change to keep up to put himself in a position to win it all. That’s why he was fired. Even if he had won a national title back in 2002, I still think he gets fired in 2015.
Kirby was brought in with the expectation that he WOULD win a national title. That he WOULD beat Bama. Those are the expectations of the people who give all the money.
So how long does he have to deliver? How much rope does he get? What I’m saying is 10 years is more than enough. We’ll see what the people who hired him (boosters) have to say about that. I’ll say for me is if he doesn’t deliver by the end of season 10 and gets an 11th season, I’ll be disappointed because it means the people in charge truly don’t give a shit about winning it all.
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If Richt wins the SECCG game in 2012 and loses to Notre Dame in the BCS championship game, Mark Richt is still the Georgia head football coach in 2016 (maybe on a hot seat, likely not because there were plenty of people who supported him). If he wins the game in Miami and delivers the national title, he eventually retires on his own terms at the University of Georgia (and is on the SEC Network rather than the Almost Competitive Conference Network).
Let’s use your scenario over the next 5 years.
2021 – 13-1 (lose to Bama in Atlanta)
2022 – 13-1 (lose to Bama in Atlanta)
2023 – 14-1 (win the SEC and lose in the national title game)
2024 – 12-1 (lose a regular season game and not make Atlanta)
2025 – 13-1 (lose to Bama in Atlanta)
Kirby’s record is currently 52-14. If he went 65-5 over the next 5 years with no national championship and no win over Alabama, he would be 117-19 in his first 10 years as a head coach. Using your standard, the University of Georgia should relieve Kirby Smart of his duties as head football coach. Tell me why that would indicate “the people in charge don’t give a shit about winning it all.”
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Some people discount the impact of the loss to Fech in 2014 on Richt’s eventual demise. A win there with the subsequent bid to a New Year’s Six game likely changes the hot seat trajectory as opposed to the rumors that Richt was going to resign or be fired after the Belk Bowl.
Just my $.02.
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And I don’t want to hear about “close” and “almost” Kirby has been to beating Bama. We’re the fucking King of Pain when it comes to close and almost.
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That’s my nomination for a musical blog post, Senator. Nothing describes the general state of DawgNation than The Police’s all-time classic, “King of Pain.”
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You think the decision maker for football is on North Campus?
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Yes, he may be taking input from big donors/the liquor barons, but Josh Brooks ain’t making that decision.
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I don’t see anyone putting “pressure” on Smart to win. He does enough of that to himself. He is not the kind of person that worries if the AD wants him to win it all because he wants to win it all.
Smart isn’t about to go anywhere, Butts-Merhe isn’t going to fire him. They would not fire him for any coach in the country, Saban included. Anyone who thinks otherwise is drinking to heavy. He is raking in the money, glad handing all the big $ donors and putting UGA in the conversation and everyone feels it is only a matter of time before he brings home the Natty.
Once he does the hot take will be can he do it consistently like Saban and Dabo? It will always be something so the UGA fan base, where it just means more, will click on some link to keep people like Barrett employed.
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The same folks that got tired of the last guy, are going to get tired of this guy. Not sure why folks think the shot callers have changed.
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I am not so sure they got tired of Richt as much as saw the guy they had on the back burner going to take the job at uSC.
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When approximately 1/3 of the comments are written by one person, the blogosphere has tilted in an unfortunate and stifling direction. This comment is not restricted to one person only.
Sigh…
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See, you say that, and yet if you look on most of the Senator’s posts most week, I don’t comment a lot or at all, and in this post some who sometimes also comment a lot haven’t commented at all. That’s the way it usually goes. He posts a variety of topics and something might catch on, and something may not, with certain individuals.
If you have something to say, please, by all means say it. The only person preventing you from saying what you want to say here is you. 👍🏼
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This is a pretty amusing exchange, y’all.
Odonto, WP lets me track who comments the most over the most recent 1000 comments. Your 1/3 estimate is wildly off. At peak, and it’s rare, I’ll have a single commenter contribute 10-11% of total comments, but like I said, that’s very unusual. The normal pattern is for two or three commenters to each make 5-6% of the total comments.
That being said, all you’re guilty of here is a little exaggeration. As I type this, Corch is at 10%.
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Guilty as charged.
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I said exactly what I wanted. Thanks for granting permission though. You may also note that I specified this includes more than one commenter. Or you may not. Permission granted. 👍🏻
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Man, Fuck Bama.
But first, Fuck Clemson.
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And really, really, REALLY fuck Floriduh!
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