No more excuses — Georgia’s arrests fall on Mark Richt
Mark Richt has been buried in police reports since March.
(UPDATED at 3:30 p.m. with booking and suspension.)
Before you dismiss this as just another trivial arrest in a 24-7, TMZ flip-cam media world, ask yourself this:
What would you be thinking if this was Florida or Alabama or Tennessee? Would your first reaction be, “This is no big deal. Everybody is picking on us”?
What if this was Nick Saban or Urban Meyer or Houston “I’m Just Trying To Save The World One Quarterback At A Time” Nutt? Would you really be absolving the head coach — in this case, Mark Richt — of any responsibility?
Georgia’s football program has hit nine on the arrest chart. That’s nine since March.
Kickoff is Saturday. There’s still time to run out of fingers.
Here’s the latest: Campus police have booked freshman safety Alec Ogletree on misdemeanor charges of theft by taking and he has been suspended for the season opener. Ogletree, a prized member of their 2010 recruiting class, is charged with stealing a $35 scooter helmet from the Rankin Smith Center on June 15 (police discovering only this week that the helmet was in his possession).
Forget that we’re only talking about a $35 helmet. There’s no such thing as a minor incident any more. There’s a cumulative effect.
I realize this is difficult for some people to accept. We live for this time of year, not just because of our obsession with college football but because, as Richt said this week, “It’s good to be undefeated.” What you feel in Athens, they feel even in Starkville.
But when nine players get arrested between spring and opening kickoff, something is wrong.
Please, no more apologies.
I’ve had it with apologists. They live among the fan base (who claim police are just out to get athletes). They live among the coaching fraternity (because to blame another coach sets themselves up for higher standards). They live among the media (some of whom are too afraid of burning bridges with the program and not having the coach smile at them any more).
Bottom line: This falls on Richt. It’s his program. It’s his responsibility. It’s on his watch.
He doesn’t have to be the one drinking-and-driving. Or hitting-and-running. Or drinking-and-groping. Richt recruited these players, signed these players and ultimately determined, “They will represent the University of Georgia well.” Either he is picking too many of the wrong guys, or he’s not saying or doing enough of the right things when they get here. Regardless, don’t deny the problem.
Richt said Friday he was “disappointed” and that Ogletree is “responsible for a poor decision and will serve a minimum one-game suspension.” He was so angry when running back Washaun Ealey was arrested for a hit-and-run — which occurred while he was driving with a suspended license — that he didn’t even want to speak to Ealey. That anger is justified. The question is whether his suspension of Ealey will last beyond the Louisiana-Lafayette game — because that’s a small notch above running steps in Sanford Stadium.
Forcing Ealey to miss the South Carolina game — that would hurt. Of course, that also would hurt Georgia, and the South Carolina game is really important, right?
When asked at his news conference this week if, in so many words, there was a flaw in his discipline structure, Richt responded: “The flaw is if a guy does something that deserves to be disciplined and you don’t discipline him. That’s where the flaw is. The flaw is in us as humans. We’re flawed, we’re human, we make mistakes. When we make a mistake, then we get disciplined for it. As long as we have 18- to 22-year old guys who are human beings, they are going to make mistakes. That’s just all there is to it. If you don’t discipline it, you have a problem. If they don’t learn from it, then they have a problem.”
Actually, it goes beyond that. If players don’t learn from it, Richt has a problem. And he does.
No more excuses. This falls on him.
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1,737 comments Add your comment
Brock
September 3rd, 2010
1:06 pm
Guess I need to clean up my posts huh Jeff? All I was saying is I can’t believe a player, captain, leader on this team has not kicked the crap out of some of these guys. Beat em to a pulp on and off the field. Will anyone take control of this problem cause Richt sure as hell won’t
Lefty LaRue
September 3rd, 2010
1:06 pm
“Why won’t Tim Tucker allow comments?”
Perhaps he does not suffer fools lightly.
McDawg
September 3rd, 2010
1:06 pm
and pls foregt that the accused is innocent until proven guilty
BigDogEats
September 3rd, 2010
1:06 pm
WE RUN THIS JAIL CELL
fire dawg
September 3rd, 2010
1:07 pm
I agree 35 bucks does not warrant police intervention. Still,they are in an academic environment. That means “teach the lads a lesson”. SCOUT TEAM for both. Maybe they will be better players & better men by October.
Hate On
September 3rd, 2010
1:07 pm
Your a fag jeff, quit banning everyone that disagrees with your moron ass stories – homo.
Rodster
September 3rd, 2010
1:07 pm
You’re right Jeff. This does reflect badly on Richt and he honestly needs to make an example out of the guys who break the rules. It ultimately comes down to how serious do the players take Richt in terms of what kind of punishment they’ll get if they chose to do something they know they should not. 9 arrests since March? Apparently they don’t believe the consequences will be too tough.
BMDPD
September 3rd, 2010
1:07 pm
Richt needs to make a statement. He should sit out first and second string this week. If we take the loss, so be it. This has got to stop! I did stupid stuff when I was young too, but my education wasn’t being paid for by scholarship. I didn’t represent a whole University. They have to be held to a higher standard. Punish the whole dang team, then maybe they will police themselves! This is getting out of hand!
Atticus
September 3rd, 2010
1:07 pm
Can you please do some actual work and report WHY they waited two months?
Tampa Wreck
September 3rd, 2010
1:08 pm
The problem isn’t that these kids were offered scholarships. As many have pointed out, virtually every coach would have offered these kids. The issue is how they have been handled since then. Coaches need to pound in to these kids that they are not just students. They are representatives of the university and their actions reflect on the team and the university. This is an added responsibility, but in exchange they are being given a great opportunity to get a free education and perhaps some day be paid for playing football.
It needs to be made clear to them from the get go that screw-ups (regardless of whether other students do the same thing) will not be tolerated, and that the consequences for screw-ups will be severe. This isn’t about treating them like other students.
Jack in Macon
September 3rd, 2010
1:08 pm
Wrong Schlutz: It belongs on the parents. Richt didn’t father these kids. Right and wrong has to be taught in the family and it begins at an early age.
Bull Dog 2006
September 3rd, 2010
1:09 pm
It appears to me that this entire incident was a set-up to make CMR look bad
$35 ??? come on…
Yellow Journalism
September 3rd, 2010
1:09 pm
PS If any tech fans have anything to say, just look at what the city of Atlanta is. There are much bigger problems for the ATL PD to deal with than drinking under age. Went to school at athens and knew alot of people who got in trouble for underage drinking. Got caught at a downtown atlanta party drinking under age and the police checked me for keys (didn’t have any) and told me to stay out of trouble. Theres your difference between the two departments.
doggoneit
September 3rd, 2010
1:09 pm
FINE, let CMR takes responsibility for these kids. Just make sure President Adams takes the fall for the Damian Evans fiasco !
Destin Dawg
September 3rd, 2010
1:09 pm
really after 3 months ???? just before 1st game…. and the helmet was left for 6 hours……. give the helmet back !!! FIRE SCHULTZ…. cancel AJC…..my .subscription.. Go Dawgs !!!!
Tech Buzz
September 3rd, 2010
1:09 pm
Well except for our player that beat the crap out of his girfriend. CPJ only gave him a slap on the wrist.
Bailey
September 3rd, 2010
1:09 pm
Uh, a $35 scotter helmet was allegedly stolen, you guys still talking about this?
Atticus
September 3rd, 2010
1:10 pm
Did you report the same thing when UF had all their issues?
reality check
September 3rd, 2010
1:10 pm
If this was any one of the three amigos (Meyers, Saban, Miles), this would have been covered up. That actually has less to do with the coaches and more to do with the alliance between boosters and cops in places like Gainesville.
My jabs at the “big three” aside, the responsibility does fall on Richt, but not before it falls on Ogletree. Theft is theft and should be punished severely, that is, if he is guilty (sorry but assumptions are foolish). I don’t care if the helmet was worth 50 cents, if he is guilty, he should be held accountable. Richt needs to start thinking of more creative off the field punishments and needs to start sticking the players with 2 to 4 game suspensions on first mid-major offense. The missed game against the little sisters of the poor doesn’t seem to deter stupidity. And if we’re going to go along with the wishes of the Georgia Tech alumni, we need to ban them from downtown and make them wear chastity belts… I am against drinking underage 100%, but Techies pointing those arrest out is kind of stupid seeing that the vast majority of them drank underage.
NoDawginthefight
September 3rd, 2010
1:10 pm
Uh-oh, you’ve done it now Jeff.
How dare you suggest that perhaps Mark Richt isn’t recruiting the right guys or that he isn’t properly supporting (or scaring?) them into being halfway decent human beings.
All the Bullpuppy fans are going to log off the Glenn Beck Facebook fan page and come tell you what’s what.
Just because UGA has had nine players arrested in less than 6 months … you’re saying there’s a trend there? I’m sick of you media types blowing things out of proportion.
Your column means nothing, because at the end of the day, the UGA football program is every bit as high-quality OFF the field as it is ON the field these days.
Oh wait …
tbone
September 3rd, 2010
1:11 pm
look people these kids are there to play football nothing more nothing less….. people are gonna get in trouble. mark richt can’t be blamed for his player’s personal lives and bad decisions. he is their football coach not their parent. schultz you are an idiot.
Tootsie
September 3rd, 2010
1:11 pm
It figures. Look at where Richt comes from. He played for the U of Miami, the original thug school. It got in his blood then. Then he went to FSU as a long time assistant. He was there during Free Shoes U and all the other years of thuggery. It just goes to show you can take the boy out of the U but you can’t take the U out of the boy.
82Dawg
September 3rd, 2010
1:11 pm
Where is the big write up on the Alabama player that got suspended by the NCAA yesterday? I saw one small article and no blog to let Saban get trashed for not knowing where his players are all of the time….Come on Jeff fair is fair
doug dawg
September 3rd, 2010
1:11 pm
once i was proud to bleed red and black, and live or ‘die’ with the dawgs. my family was poor, but i put myself through uga, graduating cum laude. i have loved georgia all my life. but this is just enough. the whole place has degenerated, and i am helpless as to know why. i remember men of honor on the field, like vince dooley, hershel, scott, tardits, woerner, stanfill, cavan, tarkenton, and on and on and on. there are none like them on this team. in the words of the renaissance composer, gibbons, ‘alas, more geese than swans; more fools than wise.’ enough
DP
September 3rd, 2010
1:12 pm
I see that not only did Georgia just win the Fulmer Cup, but their opponent on Saturday, Louisiana Lafayette, finished tied for 7th. Better lock up the women and children in Athens on Saturday.
dawgster
September 3rd, 2010
1:12 pm
Jeff, your answer to Uncle Rico, is not truthful and you know it…there have been numerous players arrested at these schools and more around the country, but i don’t see you bashing their coaches like you do Coach Richt..I agree that we need to find someway of reaching these kids, but these are the same kids that all the schools recruit so for people to say stop recruiting them, doesn’t make much sense in the real world…Why do you and the others not report some of the problems that are occurring with similar incidents at other schools…I know your main coverage is the dawgs and tech, but your comments and articles make it appear that we are the only school that has this problem..Why don’t you tell us Jeff how you would handle these kids…Thank goodness that you are not in that type of position and that goes for alot of you on here…You can call me a homer, but i too, am dishearted by some of the actions of our players, but when people get on here and call young 18-19 year old thugs, and yes they need to pay consequiences for their actions based on the incident itself…You can’t kick everyone off the team for any incident as some would have it..Would you do that to you own children…No, you try and teach them the right way things should be done, and when they mess up you punish them accordingly..Obvisously, there are many on here that believe Coach Richt is not doing all he can, and maybe they are right, but most of the players are doing what is right,, so doesn’t Coach Richt get any credit for that…I know if you talk to players that have graduated an played under Coach Richt, they have the highest regard for him and his beliefs..Many of these kids come from homes that may or may not have had the opportunites that alot of us have had…Maybe Jeff you forget that sometimes….That doesn’t mean we should accept their actions when they are wrong, and sometimes they unfortunately are not abled to be helped, but I truly believe Coach Richt will do and has done all he can to help a young man to do things the right way…But at some point, the kids themselves have to be responsible for their actions…You know many of you on here forget that at one time the players stayed together in dorms, doesn’t mean they couldn’t get in trouble, but the coaches had more control of what they did…go dawgs
Dee
September 3rd, 2010
1:12 pm
Jeff-
Why don’t you list all the arrests, break down, so we can see how serious all are.
Are all 9 stuff like $35 scooter helmets or dinging a car?
Accountability
September 3rd, 2010
1:13 pm
Honest question:
Do any Georgia fans think there is any correlation between all the arrests over the past few years to the amount of on-field penalties committed? Or is it just coincidence?
reality check
September 3rd, 2010
1:13 pm
BMDPD, how gay is it when other teams’ fans pose as Georgia fans and make asinine comments on how UGA should just go ahead and commit suicide? Are your ears burning?
wintervilledawg
September 3rd, 2010
1:13 pm
So what is your opinion of kicking off the 2nd string QB for a serious offense? It especially weakens the team’s options at QB. But, Richt just doesn’t do enough for you.
Old Dawg
September 3rd, 2010
1:13 pm
Back in the days before Dinosaurs, I played high school football. Whenever someone screwed up – around school, in a game, whatever – the entire team was punished, running laps, updowns … hell, we even had to run up the mountain in full pads after a guy slept through an entire practice. Granted, it was a boarding school and we had ways to inflict punishment in the dorms (not the UK variety) so the message was delivered loud and clear.
Those tactics would be considered abusive now, though I agree with several folks that the entire UGA team needs to get up at 5:30 am and run with whomever causes the team and university embarrassment.
I also agree that other schools are better at keeping these issues under wraps. And the majority of mishaps this year have been infractions that make the things most of us did in college look like scenes from Happy Days. But times have changed. Like Darth Visor said earlier this summer, in the past the cops would help players home, ask for an autograph and leave it in the dust of history.
So make ‘em run coach. Make ‘em all run until they puke. And if they don’t change their behavior, make ‘em run again. The eyes of Georgia, and the nation are on you!
footlong Dawg
September 3rd, 2010
1:14 pm
campus cops are a JOKE !!!! always have been…
BMDPD
September 3rd, 2010
1:14 pm
Regardless, Coach Richt needs to do something drastic. He needs to scare the heck out of them!
Dawg Fud
September 3rd, 2010
1:15 pm
Did someone from Arkansas just call me a redneck? Ouch. That’s a new low.
AltamahaDawg
September 3rd, 2010
1:15 pm
Police blotter if you can give us example of similar situation…..and THEN solid facts about the concequences at UA and AU, THEN you can claim you know what is working. My guess is that all you know is what you read, and you assume that you know more than you actuall do. Are you seriously trying to say that you do NOT think that the 300 players at those schools are getting themsleves in to petty little incidents. Not one time? Never? Just not knowing about something is not proof that its doesnt happen.
I have said on here that if Saban knows something that works better than something else, there is NO WAY they he hasn’t already discussed that with other coaches, including the SEC meetings and conference calls where it is certain that the league would insisting on it. (and I believe he woudl be glad to anyway)
And what about all these other big school who have had multiple coaches in the past several years, none of whom would look at disclipline the same way, Or smaller schools. Is the lack of you hearing anything from there proof that it never happens?
Tampa Wreck
September 3rd, 2010
1:15 pm
Yellow Journalism, I’ll have to suggest that to Coach Johnson as a new recruiting tool.. Suggest to kids that if they get caught breaking the law, the police won’t prosecute and nobody will know.
Plain and simple, these kids need to understand that the world isn’t always fair.. They may or may not get away with it, but if they get caught, their will be real consequences. Same as the real world
wintervilledawg
September 3rd, 2010
1:15 pm
If he strictly punishes and we lose, people will say fire him. If he doesn’t punish publicly then you say he is too weak (but you really don’t know what he did to punish them).
reality check
September 3rd, 2010
1:16 pm
Accountability, this generation of kids is screwed. They’re doing this stuff all over the nation and especially in Gainesville and Tuskaloosa and Atlanta- the difference you might ask? Few police departments prosecute athletes and even fewer bother with petty crime. Though I am often frustrated by this aspect of Athens cops, I’m thankful they’re willing to do their job and that they have nothing better to do than pick on students.
Golden Rule
September 3rd, 2010
1:16 pm
Sanford Stadium…aka Cell Block D
That Guy!
September 3rd, 2010
1:17 pm
dawgster – I tried to get an answer from Jeff as to why he didn’t mention a thing about the two UF players getting arrested that hit news a couple days ago and he suddenly disappeared and hasn’t made a comment since my post. Funny how that worked out isn’t it?
DawgNation
September 3rd, 2010
1:17 pm
Old Dawg I just heard the head hitting the nail with your last post. Bravo and dead on.
Really?
September 3rd, 2010
1:17 pm
Really UGA POLICE & ACC POLICE. Yon don’t have any real crime or issues to solve. A F*($cking $35 helmet.
dawgfacedboy
September 3rd, 2010
1:17 pm
Hotbobby- not sure what ESPN site you are looking at but on my computer I have the ESPN CFB Homepage up as we speak and there isn’t a thing about it.
Sick of the high and mighty media...
September 3rd, 2010
1:17 pm
Jeff,
What are you trying to do, take over for that idiot Terrence Moore?? First, how can you blame Coach Richt for all this? Sure he recruited the kids, but he can’t help certain character flaws! He recruits most of these star athletes out of bad homes, bad neighborhoods and gives them a chance. Sometimes it turns a guys life around, and sometimes it doesn’t. Just like the young man that is missing now that played at MSU. Sometimes you take a chance and it backfires. Please STOP with the witch hunting on Mark Richt. He dismissed the kids that had major violations! You expect him to turn his back on these other kids completely? He has disciplined them. Maye not enough for you media people but a fender bender and a speeding ticket and underage alcohol consumption(which happens at every school BTW) do not merit throwing these kids off the team and out into the street. This stuff has happened always. Just like when Vince was here in 80 and the team stole a pig before the season started. Only problem is back then you dumb no life media types weren’t sulking around like vultures waiting to put something racey and controversial on the internet. I used to think you wrote a pretty good article Schultz before i read this trash. Step off! You don’t convict a good man like Mark Richt because of some childish acts of some of his players. Why don’t you go back and pull the arrest record of ALL the students at UGA this year. Oh yeah thats right. Thats not news worthy enough i guess. What if the Miami papers and the police were like the vultures you people are back in the 80s with Michael Irvin and the gang. They would have had to shut down the program. Just because you and some of you buddies don’t like the UGA football program and its fanbase doesn’t mean we should start firing coaches and terminating the program like i’m sure you and alot of others would like. Do your job and report that news without all the left wing slant. Maybe you should go ask your buddy Furman Bisher about having “class” about writing.
Destin Dawg
September 3rd, 2010
1:17 pm
probably a drug related gang robbery… with hand guns…. 3 shot ?????
doug dawg
September 3rd, 2010
1:18 pm
right now, i’m in a mood to say i hope we lose every game this season. nothing short of this will convince anyone of anything. and i am sad to say it because i love my alma mater. and i love the ‘concept’ of the dawgs, but not as they are now.
BMDPD
September 3rd, 2010
1:18 pm
reality, forgive me for having some integrity. Forgive for loving my team and hating seeing these blows to our credibility. Coach Richt has a serious problem. There is lack of discipline on this team. He needs to right the ship and quickly.
AltamahaDawg
September 3rd, 2010
1:19 pm
And you Nancy Girl fans out burning your red and black shirts because you are so thin-skined that a scooter helmet is the difference in your self esteem for the day……..do I need to say it?
c
September 3rd, 2010
1:19 pm
doug dawg…..sorry, man… If you’re looking back at those days thinking that things were better: you’re clueless. Their behavior was far more outlandish than what we’re seeing now…. Drunkeness was pretty much status quo. And Mettenburger would still be on the team–no doubt! The difference? now we have an incompetent police department who have no common sense and no discretion (with athletes or any other student) and a wh*ring media that thinks this is a story.
Sorry…that’s just reality.
As I’ve said in a couple of my other posts: this is a non-issue. Could have/should have been handled responsibly without becoming a mountain out of a molehill… And if anyone can figure out why this “story” is just coming out now, we’ll be a lot closer to knowing the real “story.”
R-Dawg
September 3rd, 2010
1:19 pm
Other schools have the same problems as uga, but they just cover it up and sweep it under the rug to keep the players eligible.