Tom Crean, as a metaphor

I know this is a Georgia football blog, but the sheer ineptitude of the Tom Crean hire compels me to post something.

Tom Crean’s four years at Georgia:

11-21 overall, 2-16 SEC
16-16, 5-13
14-12, 7-11
6-26, 1-17

47-75 overall, 15-57 SEC

Crean inherited a program from Mark Fox that had five straight winning seasons. The goal was to take it to another level, and instead … well, here we are.

— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) March 10, 2022

He certainly took Georgia basketball to another level, alright.

The hire was another lazy McGarity one.  What’s most remarkable about it, though, was how expensive it was — when the dust settles, the total financial outlay should be in the neighborhood of $15 million.  Not exactly a great return on 15 conference wins.  What’s especially galling was shelling out that kind of money to an unemployed basketball coach.  It wasn’t like McGarity was having to outbid other schools for Crean’s services.

For an AD whose Job One was to guard the reserve fund hen house, that’s turned out to be a shocking waste of money.  We can’t even blame Jimmy Sexton for it.

"We know this is a tough business," Jerry Stackhouse said, "and you have to have success or else there's changes. But he is a great coach, and I know he will land somewhere." https://t.co/2pX0hkhmlr

— Marc Weiszer (@marcweiszer) March 10, 2022

Sigh.  That’s the kind of thinking that’s gotten men’s basketball in the hole it finds itself in.  It’s also what you get when there’s no accountability at Butts-Mehre.  In that regard, Kirby Smart turned out to be a blessing and a curse.  McGarity got a pass on so many mediocre to outright bad hiring decisions because he was lucky enough to give the boosters what they demanded for the football program.

And now, Josh Brooks is saddled with the task of cleaning the Augean stables.  He’ll be judged on his successes and failures on the hiring/firing front, as he should be.  At least by the fan base, anyway.  It remains to be seen if the higher ups care about anything more than football and making money.

Peeps, we get the Butts-Mehre we deserve.

For Kirby Smart, the NFL Combine is the gift that keeps on giving.

Bruce Feldman’s ($$) take on Georgia’s showing in last week’s Combine is borderline sexually arousing.

In the offseason, sources close to the Georgia program said they believed the Bulldogs were so loaded with studs on defense, they thought this team was like a stacked Miami Hurricane rosters from the Canes’ glory days. Georgia backed up the hype by leading the nation in fewest points allowed in 2021 en route to winning the national title. In Indianapolis, the stars of that defense wowed folks with their combination of size and athleticism.

… I heard several times from NFL coaches and scouts who met with Bulldog players about how well they’ve been coached. One NFL defensive coach said Georgia and Alabama players really stood out in the interview process, demonstrating how well they’ve been prepared to make the move to the next level.

If Kirbs isn’t putting together a binder of all the fawning media takes of his players at the Combine to show recruits, he’s not the Kirby Smart I think he is.

Hey, we’ve got one, too!

From Andy Staples’ mailbag today ($$):

Hey Andy,

Which SEC East quarterback has the best season this year? Spencer Rattler and Will Levis seem to have the best chances, but there are some other intriguing QBs like Hendon Hooker and Anthony Richardson.

— Noah

I find it intriguing/hilarious that Noah mentioned four SEC East QBs and omitted the guy who helped his team win a national title last season. At some point, we have to admit that Georgia’s Stetson Bennett IV is good, don’t we? Bennett was one of the most efficient QBs in the country last season, finishing third in the country with 10 yards per attempt. Sure, he’s got more talent around him, but he also is athletic enough to keep plays alive against SEC defensive lines and smart enough to keep the ball out of harm’s way most of the time. Bennett probably will get omitted from more of these lists, but he’ll probably have as much or more success than any other QB in the league.

Yeah, but Metchie and Williams something, something…

Your winnings, sir.

Talk about sending a mixed message…

In what is being billed as the first deal of its kind in the NCAA, the Mid-American Conference has signed a statistical data partnership and sponsorship agreement with Genius Sports, the league announced Wednesday.

The five-year agreement gives Genius Sports the rights to manage and market the stats for all sports in the conference. And it requires sports betting companies to pay for the MAC’s data if they want official statistics in real time, which are used to help set their betting lines.

As stances go, “kids, don’t bet on football; also, don’t pay attention to what we’re doing with gamblers for money” is certainly one of them, albeit not exactly a coherent one.

Eh?  What’s that, you say?  Oh, that never occurred to them.

All five states within the MAC (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio) have legalized sports wagering — the only FBS league with that status — but commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said the conference didn’t form the partnership to promote betting.

It just so happens that the deal is structured to require sports betting companies to pay for the data. What a lucky coincidence for you, Jon.

“We’re doing this to control our data, which ends up in the public domain anyway,” Steinbrecher told ESPN. “We want to manage that asset. We want that asset to provide value back to our institutions so that we can support our student-athletes, plain and simple.”

And there’s your tell — the “doing it for the kids” justification.  That’s how you know a conference commissioner’s taking a noble position on a matter.

There has been a perception in college athletics that NCAA rules prohibit selling statistical data to a sports wagering entity, but the MAC contends that’s not the case.

“We are of the opinion that the deal we’re entering into is consistent with NCAA rules and regulations,” Steinbrecher said.

In today’s college athletics, perceptions are fine as long as they don’t cost anything.

We recruit this state.

Tyler Atkinson is an eighth grader with a Georgia offer.

Tyler Atkinson just got offered by his “dream school” Georgia Bulldogs. The key thing here is not to trumpet the fact Georgia just offered a middle school prospect.

Or that Georgia Tech beat the ‘Dawgs in something by offering Atkinson earlier this month.

I’m not trumpeting that, Jeff.  I’m trumpeting this quote from former Dawg Marcus Howard, who’s been training Atkinson:

“I’ve been telling everybody about him for years now including you. Everybody. All coaches. All schools. I’m glad UGA was the first big-time school to offer.”  [Emphasis added.]

That’s how you diss Georgia Tech.