Richt’s words, actions haven’t changed ugliness at Georgia
HOOVER, Ala. — Mark Richt says he has “really enjoyed this summer.”
Given that seven of his players have been arrested, three have been kicked out of the program, another transferred after being suspended for half the season, his boss was arrested for a DUI and ultimately was forced to resign and the NCAA just phoned to announce their impending arrival in Athens, we’re left to wonder: Just how low does Richt set the bar for his summers?
Mark Richt has had a tumultuous summer. (AP photo by Butch Dill)
Or has he just become used to this sort of thing?
“It’s like, you know [something is] gonna happen,” he said Thursday morning. “It’s just like a ballgame. You know there’s going to be a penalty or a turnover, even though you don’t want there to be. Now you have to decide: How are you going to react to that? You can lose your cool and start spouting things you wish you didn’t say. Or you can just take care of the issue and move forward. That’s what I try to do.”
Problem being: It’s not working.
We can go round and round about how players are individuals who make individual choices (sometimes dumb ones). We can talk about how a coach, who has given a thousand speeches and made a thousand threats, may be on a remote tropical island while his quarterback is drinking himself into oblivion and groping a woman in a small-town bar. But does it really matter?
Whether Richt is saying the right or wrong things, or recruiting the right or wrong players, or setting the right or wrong tone, this is his program. He knows that. Anything that happens, whether it’s a stirring win in Tuscaloosa or an ugly arrest in Remerton, reflects on him.
Right now, the ugliness reflects on Mark Richt.
When he met with a small group of media members Thursday, prior to his main news conference at SEC media days, Richt was typically calm and cordial, even as a storm swirled around the program. Some would say that’s one of his strengths, not seeming like he’s going to put his fist through a wall every time something goes wrong. The downside to that is it gives others the perception, whether accurate or not, that he’s either bringing in the wrong players or he’s not a strong enough disciplinarian when they get here.
Question: Do you get a sense that when Nick Saban walks into a locker room that every one of their players is just a little bit intimidated. If so, do you get that same sense with Richt?
“I’ve got a process of handling these situations and I think I do a good job of it,” Richt said, calmly.
He was asked if he has tightened restrictions on player, in light of the arrests this summer. He declined comment.
He was asked later about some media outlets having him on a “hot seat,” partly because of last season’s 4-4 conference record.
Insulted?
“Not really. I understand the business,” he said. “I don’t worry about it. My goal is to focus on the important things and the things I can control.”
Coaching at the same SEC school for 10 years will grow a man some thick skin.
“In the end, we’re still in process of educating young people: How to handle adversity and rebound from that,” Richt said. “[Former UGA linebacker] Dannell Ellerbe. He had an issue early in his career: a DUI and a car wreck. I said, ‘Look, what you did damaged your reputation and Georgia’s reputation. But it didn’t destroy it. It only destroys it if you let it destroy it. If you allow this to put you in the tank, then you’re probably not going to make it.’ He was on his last leg at Georgia. But he got his act together.”
He has had those success stories. But arrests and losses have a cumulative effect. To use Richt’s words, they can damage the reputation of a man and a school.
♦
Previous SEC/Georgia posts
♦ SEC media days: Waiting on Richt as NCAA hovers at Georgia
♦ NCAA inquiry is the last thing Georgia and Mark Richt need
♦ It’s no coincidence Saban suddenly is concerned about agents
♦ SEC media days: Hey, who let the BCS in here?
♦ We’re LIVE at SEC media days (with no shortage of storylines)
♦ NCAA reportedly investigating Florida (but temper excitement)
♦ Can Dogs end Alabama-Florida monopoly in SEC title game?
♦ Listen up, Ole Miss: I’ve got Colonel Reb’s replacement
♦
Follow me on Twitter @JeffSchultzAJC and Facebook.com/JeffSchultzAJC
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
713 comments Add your comment
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
5:48 pm
HAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AND UGA is a great school too right pi$$drinking? Wow you do know what facebook is! I talk to my nieces and nephews in Germany, Ireland, and Korea with facebook.
Tony Martin
July 22nd, 2010
5:49 pm
If Schultz had been a coach rather than a Journalist his article would have read a little differently.
I coached high school football for forty years ,and had some of the same problems that coach Richt has had. They are decisions sometimes that come from the heart you make them and sometime they are right sometime they are wrong. When a former player comes back one day a tells you he is a better person for having gone through your program it means so much more than your won, loss record. Drinking, will be a problem in college athletics as long as the drink is sold. It is a problem in High School athletics. Give me an athlete who drives a pick up carries a shotgun in his gun rack and sometimes drinks a beer and I will win ballgames.
Calhoundawg
July 22nd, 2010
5:50 pm
BeefATL72, thankfully the AJC stopped delivering their crap to Calhoun a couple of years ago (45 minutes from Atlanta was just too far away). I retrieve the Chattanooga Times-Free Press from my mailbox these days and highly recommend it to all North Georgians who may be able to receive it. You made the right choice. Go Dawgs !!!
CobbDawg
July 22nd, 2010
5:51 pm
This article is a joke. I will no longer read anything Shultz writes, and I encourage all dawg fans to do the same.
Break the Chain
July 22nd, 2010
5:52 pm
Enter your comments here
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
5:52 pm
Know what Facebook is yes? Want to join the mindless drones? No thanks. I can web cam, email, telephone and not have Facebook playing snooker with my personal info. And yes UGA is a great school, you get a great education if you want, or you can “benge” drink yourself into oblivion. It’s up to the individual. Much like your necrophilia.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
5:53 pm
And, BTW, we know those aren’t nieces. I have a feeling they’re poor souls you met on your sex tours.
Chris Phillips
July 22nd, 2010
5:54 pm
Jeff your article lacks a solution. You are very opinionated when it comes to Richt’s leadership. But you offer no help, no solution, and no opinion on how Richt might “solve” the arrests and losses that you mention in your article. I can sense your frustration but you offer Coach Richt and your readers no solution and no help. Suppose you had two kids who played football for two different coaches. One of your kids learned to make right choices in life out of fear because he was intimated by his coach. The other learned to make right choices in life out of respect for his coach because he was led by a man of integrity. In the end, who will be a better football player? Who will be a better man? Which one is more important?
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
5:54 pm
Oh and you didn’t spell Ha Ha correctly. Just saying.
gadawgs
July 22nd, 2010
5:54 pm
Jeff, this is very weak. It does not reflect bad on Coach Richt at all. When you write crappy columns such as this does it reflect on your journalism professor? Try again next time cause this is crap.
Memphisdawg
July 22nd, 2010
5:54 pm
Hey Schultz, You are an embarrassment to all media. Just like with that racist Moore, you have forced me to boycott your columns from here on out.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
5:55 pm
Everyone please look up Pi$$ on Facebook, I’m sure that’s also the moniker he goes by there. Friend the man and help him with his farm. He may be starving.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
5:55 pm
COBBmutt just go read bill “THE BUTT SNIFFER” king. He is so smart and such a great mutt. I bet you don’t believe the teacher when she says your kid is not working to IT’S potential. You kid is not passing Butt sniffing and crotch licking 101.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
5:56 pm
Come on please tell us of your higher education. Where did you matriculate? Scared to say? I know it wasn’t GT. Come on, entertain us.
jerry
July 22nd, 2010
5:56 pm
Richt made a mistake in hiring Willie. He has corrected that mistake. There is nothing wrong with the Georgia program that is not wrong with many others. Richt’s method works as well as anyone else’s.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
5:57 pm
Hey it “not working to its potential”, “It’s” is the contraction for it is. Also it’s your kid is not passing butt sniffing, not you kid. Man you’re a walking grammatical nightmare.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
5:58 pm
I did give you points for spelling butt correctly, that’s an easy one to miss.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
5:59 pm
We’re waiting for your declaration of alumni-ship. University of Phoenix (online that is, so you won’t miss any Facebook time)
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:00 pm
Hey c’mon play, it’s not fair to hide something. Are you ashamed of your less than high school education?
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:01 pm
Don’t be glum chum, there’ s a whole third world population out there with less schooling than you. You can at least claim that throne.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:01 pm
Throne….pi$$. Lol I’m a funny guy.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:02 pm
Momma ring the chow bell? I feel I’ve been abandoned. It’s growing dark and cold, the internet is so empty without you.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:03 pm
I know this is a one sided conversation, but then you’re so stupid it always was.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:04 pm
I know your admission to college just arrived, that must be it. Congratulations!
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:04 pm
Sorry my nieces and nephews like to use facebook. I don’t play those games but they do sound fun but too time comsuming. SKYP is nice too. You would not know me on facebook. I am sure I look very different than you DAGS think. It would be funny though. I do play a great deal of on-line Poker. That is my addiction other than College football. I have killed a few hot women and when the guys were not watching I get do the unmentionable. Does that make you happy? Just know your mom ain’t the only one. If I had been around I would have done each half of THE BLACK DALIA and liked it. Now please stop with the nasty crap. i didn’t go there you did now drop it. OK
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:04 pm
I hope your “benge” drinking hasn’t done you in. I was having ever so much fun.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:06 pm
It’s Skype btw. Me drop the nasty crap? Never. You are the one with Pi$$ in your name. So as the French would say, F*ck you.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:06 pm
Now I want to know what post-secondary education you have, especially since UGA is obviously beneath your level.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:07 pm
Wow a confirmation of necrophilia. I “was” joking. Ewwwww.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:07 pm
are you local in georgia? like metro atlanta?
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:09 pm
Nope like Athens lol
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:09 pm
HELLO are you there?
ReddJonn68
July 22nd, 2010
6:09 pm
Look this really is no longer the glory days when college football was fun, not a business. This Monster the BCS created is not going away, everybody’s got a camera or cell phone. Basically a head coach can do nothing, but talk to his kids & pray they steer clear of anything news worthy. Mark is not the Pete Carroll type he’s not walking around like a blind man & the NCAA knows that. How many people out there have ever attended a party while in college knowing there may be repercussions & suddenly think to yourself WTF am I doing here ???
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:10 pm
Want a date? Sorry I’m flattered but I’m hetero. There is a nice gay scene here in Athens so you could try that.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:10 pm
That is METRO nuff. Do you know where Barnacles Gwinnett is?
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:11 pm
Hello? What’s your education? It’s the question of the day.
BT
July 22nd, 2010
6:11 pm
Bradley,
Decide if you think Richt is a man of tremendous character who UGA fans should be proud of, or that he is an impetent, clueless leader with no teeth in his dog bite. You have written numerous articles after victories or off the field incidents praising Richt and the man he is. Then you go poking him in the eye over things that are out of his hands. UGA has a police force hell-bent on watching and catching UGA football players. The NCAA is probing as many schools as possible involving unaccountable sports agents.
I understand the summer is slow and you need to provide filler articles but quit firing shots at our coach! If you want to find something wrong with Mark Richt then stretch a little further!
myn. dawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:11 pm
i am so relieved that in this state of georgia that we have sports writers that are perfect in every way. i think that we all should just listen to them blow off so that we can pattern our lives after them. they are my heros. [if you believe this, then i have some beach front property in arizona that i will let you have it cheap] don`t get caught up in any thing any of these so called sports writers has to say. just believe the opposite of what they say.
GO DAWGS, SIC EM. TO HELL WITH THE WRITERS AT A J C
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:11 pm
You have such a big mouth do you want to have a DRINK and talk further?
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:11 pm
I think so. Like I said straight, but it’s flattering none the less.
1eyedJack
July 22nd, 2010
6:12 pm
Congratulations Jeff, you’ve just been promoted to Tech beat writer.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:13 pm
I’m surprised you didn’t say I had a “purty” mouth. But I don’t drink, other than Coke and water or tea lol.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:13 pm
Don’t worry you can wear your JOCK and I will make sure I just kick up around your ears.
1eyedJack
July 22nd, 2010
6:13 pm
I find myself in the middle of a “pi$$ing” contest.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:14 pm
LMAO I’m sure at 350 lbs you could fall on me and flatten me. However I’m guessing endurance is not your strong suit. Just like brains.
BT
July 22nd, 2010
6:14 pm
Schultz that is!
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:14 pm
Hehe good one Jack.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:15 pm
They now have Sweet Tea. The Owner is a gator fan but the Georgia people finally made him get sweet tea a few years ago. You can have anything on the menu you want I will pay.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:15 pm
I seem to have really struck a nerve. I really am enjoying it.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:16 pm
Yeah who wouldn’t respond to an invitation to bodily harm. I may have gone to UGA but as you can tell I’m not the stupid one.