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
♦
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713 comments Add your comment
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:17 pm
So what’s your education? You can’t leave me hanging.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:17 pm
you don’t read much. hell my lady friend now has bigger guns than I do. I am just 5′ 10″ and 185 lbs.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:18 pm
2 BBA’s +
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:18 pm
I don’t read much? I had errands to run so I might have missed that. My bad. However you still haven’t answered my question. Since UGA is so inferior as an educational institution I want to know where did you go?
1eyedJack
July 22nd, 2010
6:19 pm
POAD
So you’re saying your lady friend is “manly”?
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:20 pm
sounds like you are the computer geek hiding behind your computer. I just asked you to have a drink.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:20 pm
Sorry but I do believe you started it with snide comments on UGA and your screen name and comments on alumni of said school so I think what I’ve commented on has been all in response.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:21 pm
Yes she is a Bodybuilder. You might have seen her in nation magazines and adds.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:21 pm
I admit, I am a geek. Never said I wasn’t. It doesn’t change the fact that my superior intellect seems to rub you the wrong way.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:22 pm
She is 5′ 6″ 165 lbs. I bet your 165 lb. wife or girlfriend is FAT.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:23 pm
Is she dead? I know you’ve admitted your fondness for necrophilia.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:24 pm
Superior intellect? OK you win. Now where do I mail your trophy?
1eyedJack
July 22nd, 2010
6:24 pm
Yeah, and old too, but I can still whip her a$$. How ’bout you?
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:25 pm
Trophy? I get cold hard cash. Trophies are for losers.
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:25 pm
So come on Pi$$, regale us with your witty banter and tell us your school.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:27 pm
1eyed why would you want to whip her butt? Do you mean tie her up and spank her? If you mean to physically hurt a woman then you have real problems
pi$$drinkingtechie
July 22nd, 2010
6:28 pm
Like necrophilia isn’t?
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:30 pm
pi$$dr try checking old blogs and you can find the answer. You are so gifted you tell me. If you can find my rank and my business I will be real impressed.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:31 pm
doing dead chicks is a NO VICTIM CRIME.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:33 pm
MMO? don’t know what that is. Yes, I still have a job in the Armed Services.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:35 pm
It is only a felony if you get caught. Who is going to tell? If she was talkative then I would have to put a ball gag in her mouth.
1eyedJack
July 22nd, 2010
6:36 pm
POAD, you’re creeping me out. Are you a clown by any chance?
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:40 pm
You need to imagine Brooke Shields at 13-17 naked with her arm blown off and shrapnel in her body begging for you to help her as you have sex. It is like the drunk bimbos at UGA on a weekend in a frathouse. They just want your help. All you can do is join the party.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:44 pm
SEE you can say bad hings and find people really do care. You guys talk crap about everything, but you do have a limit. I work in a field you would not like and I deal with trash you don’t want to know about. Have fun and Just let it drop. Be Blessed and really hug the family and kiss the KIDS. There is real bad JUNK in the world you don’t want to deal with.
THUGA THUGA THUGA
July 22nd, 2010
6:46 pm
Jeff great article and true about UGA. All those dumb inbread Georgia fans hate to hear the truth about THUGA.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
6:50 pm
I did INBREAD once like in American Pie the kid an apple pie. HAHAHAHHA OH warm and soft HAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH
jawga boy
July 22nd, 2010
6:55 pm
Jeff, I can tell it in your rantings ( writings ) that you have it too…. the disease. Jus make sure you don’t get caught dui. I predict, it will happen. You are off the wall. Mark Richt is beyond reproach. Jus remember those boys that picked up Damon, can get you too. Watch your backside.
nub
July 22nd, 2010
6:57 pm
Richt is a class act……. maybe Schultz and the rest of these bugs could learn a thing or 2! WooF!… and remember “We RUN THIS STATE”!
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
7:01 pm
jawgaboy NO PERSON is above reproach. Richt is human and does make mistakes. He makes many mistakes everyday. jawgaboy name 4 people above reproach and I say you have not looked in the deep dark closets of their lives. Richt played for a second at the U and coached at FSU. Please don’t tell me RICHT is totally clean. PLEAS don’t e that stupid.
FLA DAWG
July 22nd, 2010
7:02 pm
I have written for three years that being a player’s buddy is the worst thing a coach can do at college level. Dooley learned that (remember “Dump Dooley”) the hard way. He took the tough road and became a huge success.
I don’t really sense a change in Richt from last season and that should concern all of us. Yes, he unloaded players who broke rules (and laws) but it took him two years too long to unload Martinez and he still has Bobo.
I really believe he has this season to make his salt. Unless this season is spectacularly bad he’ll be given one more. If no major accomplishments (remember the talent we now have) are accomplished by that time surely the man must go.
DawginLex
July 22nd, 2010
7:08 pm
POAD and PDT,
boys I believe your duel is a scoreless tie with a lot of injuries.
1eyedJack
July 22nd, 2010
7:09 pm
24 months probation?
jawga boy
July 22nd, 2010
7:11 pm
Pissonadawg….. when a guy says he only answer to his god and savior….. that puts him on a different level. you obviously don’t understand that. My comments to Schultz was this…..don’t go throwing stones at glass houses…. you may be next. I’m infinitely familiar with DUI and other stuff, my children have cost me deeply. Everybody runs to judgement, until they have to walk in the shoes. I can tell Shutlz is over the line….. you won’t find Richt wearing red panties. He’s beyond reproach.
jawga boy
July 22nd, 2010
7:15 pm
Pissonadawg… to answer your question….. 1) Jesus Christ 2) Paul the Apostle 3) John the Baptist 4) Mother Theresa 5) Martin Luther King 6) Vince Lombardi 7) John Wayne…. I don’t have time for you Pissona….. you obviously narrowminded. You went to tech?
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
7:16 pm
pi$$DRINK the bleeding? Are you really a girl and it is that time of the cycle? After Hunting and Killing I fear anything that can bleed that much for 72+ hours and still walk and bit.h at you. HAHAHAH
GT123
July 22nd, 2010
7:16 pm
Three words “Spray On Tan”
heeldawg
July 22nd, 2010
7:17 pm
SC Boy: Your comments are ridiculous. South Carolina has had dozens of players arrested under Spurrier. Garcia’s still with the program after multiple alcohol-related offenses. Your starting tight end is a player who actually was in attendance at the fabled agent party in Miami (unlike AJ Green, who was at home in Summerville). Sorry, but Spurrier’s not untainted in all of the ugliness here.
And Jeff: if your goal is to sell newspapers (or virtual newspapers), I guess you’ve succeeded. Lots of responses here. I suppose Damon’s behavior is Richt’s fault. I suppose all of the marijuana smoke that seems to hang over the Georgia Tech program is CPJ’s fault. And I suppose that this simplistic, half-witted, sensationalistic and ultimately pathetic excuse for a journalistic exercise is your fault. This last attribution I can establish causality for without any equivocation whatsoever.
Poor article. Jeff. Journalistically as weak as dishwater. Let’s try a little harder for substance over incendiary fluff next time.
1eyedJack
July 22nd, 2010
7:20 pm
I think at times like these a Head Ball Coach tends to get more “hands on”. That can be a good thing.
The way people go on here you would think they beleive Richt has the same persona on the practice field that he has in public or on TV. I’ll bet some of his former player’s have tales to tell.
My high school ball coach was the nicest man you would ever want to meet…unless you were meeting him for the first time on the football field.
One night at practice somebody stepped on my hand and broke it. When I told Coach he said “Tell me about it next week son, I’ve got a ballgame Friday night”. I was horse-faced with my middle finger hanging limply. I finished the practice and then headed on over to the hospital.
He apologized to me and called my mama the next day. I would of went one-on-one in the board drill with Mt. Cody for that man.
1eyedJack
July 22nd, 2010
7:25 pm
Mel, don’t you have some community service to do or something?
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
7:27 pm
JAWGA really? that is your list? CHRIST yes. Paul was not without sin. Christ’s message to him made Paul change his life, but he still made mistakes. John the guy that Lost his Head the Baptist? Are you really going to put your eternal soul on the fact JtB is above reproach? You must be cathloic if you say Mother Theresa. You do know how bad her life was before she became a nun? She is still not above reproach and she made many mistakes everyday too. Martin Luther? or Martin Luther King Jr. that cheated on his wife regularly. That is documented. Please! Vince ahhshaahahahhahah now you are trying to make Satan Blush. I guess Steinbrenner is on your list too. AHHAHAHAH
The Grinch
July 22nd, 2010
7:37 pm
As anyone else having a big smile watching the UGA program circle the ceramic?
n lerch
July 22nd, 2010
7:43 pm
I grew up in Atlanta, I now live in Athens area,,, My point is my dear old departed father used to say the AJC was good for one thing, and that was to wrap dead fish,,, Its good to see that somethings never change, just add some new “writers”. Maybe now we see why so many papers are going under, they cant afford to hire anyone who can write and see past their own ego… Anyone got some dead fish to wrap, I have some newspaper to wrap it in.
Pi$$onaDawg
July 22nd, 2010
7:52 pm
n lerch maybe if UGA could recruite a few players that could see past their own ego there would be no issues at UGA. Well, UGA can’t get great black kids come to UGA unless they play a sport. YES, we do have some DEAD FISH to wrap in the AJC and the fish are listed on the UGA football roster.
HugoStiglitz
July 22nd, 2010
7:55 pm
n lerch, if you hate the AJC and your father used to tell you how much he hated it then why are you reading it now and contributing to the blog? Doesnt sound like you learned much from him. You should read something else that is up to your families standards.
your wrong jeff
July 22nd, 2010
8:08 pm
stupid article.
coach smith
July 22nd, 2010
8:08 pm
HOW in the @*@#&#* does what Damon Evens did have naything to do with Richt OR the football team?????????????????????????
Your Techie side is REALLY showing lately JEFF
Fla Gator N
July 22nd, 2010
8:09 pm
If georgia scores against florida (not a given), what type of new taunting dance will richt come up with this year?
Duluth Dawg
July 22nd, 2010
8:10 pm
Jeff Schultz,
The AJC is losing money. Are you solely responsible? You certainly contribute to your employer’s demise with your crummy articles, but are YOU the only reason? Why blame Richt for Damon’s problems. I await your reply.
coach smith
July 22nd, 2010
8:11 pm
Funny how soooooooooooooo many Techies have made it to the UGA Blog!
You know what Tech fans and Dawg fans have in common?
THEY ARE BOTH OBSSESSED WITH THE GEORGIA BULLDOGS!!!!!!
James
July 22nd, 2010
8:11 pm
You know Schultz, I did not read your article and I apologize if I am wrong, but I am sure it is more of your crap against Coach Richt and UGA. I also feel it is followed by many,many ignorant comments from rival fans as they sniff the junk you are cooking. I am tired of it and this will be the last time I look at this sorry excuse for journalism. Good bye and good riddance!