If you’re not aware, Georgia plans on honoring former head coach Mark Richt at halftime of the Missouri game. Plans have been in the works for a while to do so, but were sidetracked, as Seth Emerson relates ($$):
This week, Richt returns to Sanford Stadium for the first time. He will be honored at halftime of Saturday’s game against Missouri, with some other surprises planned outside of halftime, as the school that fired him now embraces him, in the same year it may finally get the ring that eluded Richt.
This was supposed to happen in 2020, the administration — including then-athletic director Greg McGarity — wanting to honor Richt “for all he had done for Georgia,” according to current athletic director Josh Brooks. When COVID-19 ended those plans, Georgia wanted to do it next year to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Richt’s first SEC championship team. But when Richt announced he had Parkinson’s disease, Georgia’s administration moved it up.
“I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him,” said Brooks, who first came to Georgia as a football operations staffer. “I’m indebted to him. He’s a great man, a great person, a great husband, a great father.”
The thought of McGarity honoring Richt is quasi-nauseating, as far as I’m concerned, so if that postponement is the one good thing to come out of the pandemic, that’s okay by me.
Anyway, the ceremony is deserved and I’m glad he’s being honored. His career in Athens wasn’t perfect by any means, but he’s got a list of accomplishments that certainly merit celebration. The only way to improve on it would be to hold a special ceremony for the man at Bobby Dodd Stadium. After all, Richt was perfect there.
Get The Picture 
Richt flipped the script against Tennessee, Auburn, and Tech and upset one of Fulmer, Tuberville, and Johnson’s best teams along the way.
That in itself should always be recognized.
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Richt was perfect at Bobby Dodd stadium while head coach at UGA, but he did lose there in his last season as Miami’s head coach.
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Guess I’ll worry about that if Miami decides to honor Richt. 😉
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He is a great man and always will be a DGD honoring him is well earned. If there was a four team playoff during his time he probably gets a NC.
Too bad there could not be be a part two on Mark Richt field. Even his worst teams proved to the nerds We Run This State.
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Definitely a few get it. After that, who knows? 2002 probably would have won.
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I’d put my money on the 2007 team. Playing better than anyone else at the end of the season and just ANGRY. I think they would have killed anyone else in January.
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Richt was the domino that started the Tennessee dumpster fire. I love him.
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Some commenters here are gonna be pissed their Saturday is ruined by honoring Poochie the Con Man.
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I hope those commenters decide not to watch the game this Saturday especially those that attacked Richt personally and those of us who supported him. I really hope those who actively rooted for us to lose to Florida in 2015 are miserable on Saturday afternoon.
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I am really looking forward to Saturday. I am an unabashed fan of Coach Richt. He didn’t win a national title and didn’t flip the Florida series (which eventually caught up with him), but he did everything else we could ask of him. He represents UGA with class and embodies everything positive about what we all call the Georgia Way.
To the fans in attendance, don’t leave your seats during halftime. He deserves to have the honor of a full 92,000+ in Sanford on Saturday.
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That full support is about more than what he did for those 15 years on the Georgia sidelines. He’s in the biggest fight of his life against Parkinson’s. I’m sure he and the Water Girl will appreciate our support in this phase of their life together.
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Should be a perfect autumn afternoon for football. Add to that Kirby’s open invitation to Blooper and all Braves players to attend the game and it should be a great atmosphere on Saturday (my understanding is that Blooper’s social media account has confirmed Blooper will be there…hopefully to run with that giant Braves flag around the field pregame).
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Blooper has confirmed to Kirby and Hairy Dawg that he will be there. He even asked Kirby for a chance to play on the d-line!
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I’ll debate the Florida series. It took him a while but he did get it about evened out near the end. He wasted a good three game winning streak though in ’14 (especially) and in ’15. The first half of his tenure though he certainly continued our struggles against Florida.
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That’s totally fair. My point is that he really pissed away his remaining political capital in the Florida and Fech games in ‘14 and the Bama, Florida and Georgia Southern games in ‘15.
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No doubt. 2015 was the final nail for sure.
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One of the finest human beings on the planet.
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Really disappointed to miss this one….
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The thought of McGarity is quasi-nauseating.
Fixed it for you.
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Why would the powers that be not give him the financial support they gave Smart? What difference does it make if Richt had an IPF or Smart did?
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Who knows? I tend to think it was Michael Adams. A real IPF was on the drawing board when Richt was fired because Morehead knew the football program needed to catch up in the facilities arms race.
The football program wasn’t the only program that suffered from lack of financial commitment under the combination of Adams and McGarity. That’s why I think this was all about Il Duce.
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Yep, I’ll agree with that. Il Douche Bag Adams couldn’t stand to have anyone steal any of his spotlight. Plus, he needed the money for his Tuscany and Ecuador estates…er, campuses.
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Costa Rica, but your point is taken.
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Posted on the ticket exchange this morning but…if you don’t mind Senator.
I have one ticket section 327 row 11 seat 12.
$80 plus parking pass for east campus deck. austincope@walkerschools.org
I hurt my knee yesterday and I don’t think I can make it to this as much as it “pains” me to miss sending Coach Richt off. Got to heal up before the road trip to Obnoxville.
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So glad we will be there to celebrate him and that McGarrity will not.
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“The thought of McGarity honoring Richt is quasi-nauseating, as far as I’m concerned, so if that postponement is the one good thing to come out of the pandemic, that’s okay by me.”
I agree. Tell me McGarity will not be there Saturday.
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Richt deserves all the good things he gets in this life. He has earned them. I know Richt would be magnanimous if McGarity was there, but I am happy he doesn’t have to be. F#$@ McGarity and the horse he rode in on.
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I didn’t love McGarity by any means but he did get rid of Richt and hire Kirby and I’m grateful for that.
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Bah. He did what he was told to do.
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My youngest attended the early CMR football camps. He was maybe 9 or 10 years old. They played round robin touch Football tournaments and crowned champions. The coaches sons were on one team. All these kids look like skeletons running around. LOL.
The coaches kids met the team my son was on in the Semi’s, with the coaches kids losing in a very tight game. And the team my son was on went on to blow out the last team to win it.
The coaches kids were devastated that they lost. CMR pulled them into a group not too far for me. He picked them up and then ended with the following: “How did we begin this?”. His son answered – “with prayer”. And coach Richt commented “and that is how we end this”. And they prayed. I had a 35MM in my hand and took that picture. Had two prints made. One that sat in my son’s room until he went off to college and the other went to Coach Richt’s assistant.
Thought to myself at the time, that I wasn’t sure how good of a coach he was going to be, but was darn sure of what a good man CMR was. Never worried about ethics, while CMR was at Georgia.
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I have a friend who hasn’t made it to a game this year who decided to fly in from Orlando Saturday only because she didn’t want to miss Mark Richt being honored. What happened with the end of his tenure happened for a reason, it needed to happen, and I have zero regrets and I’m happy that Kirby Smart is our head coach now. That doesn’t mean that I don’t love Mark Richt and I am very grateful for everything he did for the University of Georgia. He fielded three teams that I believe would have won the national championship if they’d had the opportunity to play for it. He fielded several others that I think would have had a chance. It didn’t work out. He’s a great person, though, and frankly he was a great coach. I’m proud that he still considers himself a Bulldog. I’ll be happy to see him Saturday.
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Off Topic – but Dooley, Goff, Donnan, and Richt all live in the Athens area…
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Thankfully, so does Kirby. And I say that as one who LOVES Coach Richt.
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Unfortunately, those of us not at the game will not get to see the ceremony. Nothing but commercials during half-time.
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Yep, hopefully someone will record it and post it for those of us that can’t be there.
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Send the AA a request to have it live-streamed on georgiadogs.com. At a minimum, ask them to video it and post it.
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You think GT offers UGA a Suite for use during the game is Atlanta? IF so, I think Richt deserves an offer to attend from UGA. 🙂
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I love CMR. Gonna be a lotta well-deserved love for that man at half-time.
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The thought of McGarity honoring Richt is quasi-nauseating,
Well said, Senator.
I would enjoy never hearing McGarity’s name again.
It is great to honor Coach Richt
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Would love to get a good chant going when he is honored. I’m not sure what that would be though. Any ideas? Maybe DGD.
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What, a standing ovation’s not good enough?
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It just means more.
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I have a feeling he’s going to hear a lot of barking to go along with that standing ovation.
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Barking like we do for the players that get honored would be just fine.
I wonder if he’s going to be on the “It’s Saturday” video and to announce “It’s time to release the Junkyard Dawgs!”
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