Richt gives no reason to believe he can turn Georgia around
Mark Richt finished with his worst record at Georgia (6-7) and the Dogs had their first losing season since 1996.
MEMPHIS – Mark Richt says he is disappointed. He says he has to make changes. He says the Georgia football program is not where it needs to be, and when a once-respectable SEC program ends its season by failing to score a touchdown against a team from Conference USA, nobody is going to dispute that.
Here’s the only matter up for debate: Does anybody believe Mark Richt can still get it done?
It didn’t look like it this season, when the Bulldogs finished with a losing record (6-7) for the first time in 14 years. It didn’t look like it at Mississippi State or Colorado or in Jacksonville (again).
It didn’t look like it Friday night, because if the average Georgia fan considers it humiliating having to win in the final week of the season just to become bowl eligible — and then get stuck with the Liberty Bowl — what do you call it when the Bulldogs lose to Central Florida, 10-6?
This is what it looks like: Mark Richt has lost control of this program.
At the very least, he has lost the benefit of the doubt. The win totals in the last four seasons: 11, 10, eight, six.
Before Georgia’s game against Tech, I stated that Richt’s early success in Athens (two SEC titles in five seasons) earned him another year and the right to fix the problems. A part of me still believes that. But there’s mounting evidence that’s not going to happen.
The Dogs open next season against Boise State. Is there any part of you right now that says Georgia will win that game?
Ten days before Auburn will play in the BCS championship game, four days before Arkansas is in the Sugar Bowl and on the same afternoon a story broke that new Florida coach Will Muschamp is on the verge of hiring Charlie Weis as the Gators’ offensive coordinator, Georgia lost a bottom-tier bowl game to a team from Conference USA, which is a hiccup ahead of the Sun Belt.
If the damage from this was limited, it’s only because Uga VIII stayed home with a stomach virus.
Hopefully, the dog wasn’t watching on TV when Richt sent the worst possible message to his team on their opening possession. The offense had just driven from their own one-yard line to the UCF three. But on fourth-and-1 — and in the first quarter of the Liberty Bowl — Richt opted for the field goal. He defended the decision afterward.
Is that how Richt now defines finishing the drill?
The Dogs didn’t necessarily look emotionless. They just looked pointless.
Central Florida, coached by the familiar George O’Leary, smacked them in the mouth. Georgia didn’t look equipped to smack back. They couldn’t run the ball. They couldn’t get tough yards. They couldn’t make a big play when they needed one. They were 3 for 14 on third-down conversions.
Aaron Murray completed his first seven passes. Then he went 14 for 31 with two interceptions. A.J. Green had eight catches but they covered only 77 yards (9.6 average, well below his 15.7 season average).
Say goodbye to A.J.: He didn’t make it official afterward that his next catch will be in the NFL but logic says that Liberty Bowl humiliation won’t be enough to keep him in college.
This is worse than Starkville, even worse than Boulder. It came at the end of a season, after a month of preparation, when Georgia should have worked out some of its problems.
Also, Colorado doesn’t play in a conference made by Fisher-Price.
In his typical postgame monotone delivery, Richt said: “We’re all disappointed. We didn’t want to finish with a loss. We didn’t want to finish with a losing record. Nobody would’ve predicted that. But it is what it is. There’s reasons why we ended up the way we did. We have to make changes. We have to make sure it doesn’t happen again in the future. We have to change how we go about our business. We’re going to improve. We’re going to get Georgia where it belongs.”
Do you believe him? Because from here, it looks like Georgia just turned into Kentucky – a school looking forward to basketball season.
Georgia loses almost annually to Florida. Now it loses to Central Florida. Get ready for 2012: Florida Atlantic is on the schedule.
Don’t laugh. It’s not that big of a step down. And things are headed in that direction.
– By Jeff Schultz
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2,265 comments Add your comment
one more thing
January 1st, 2011
9:45 pm
AND THE WINNER OF THE BIGGEST BUFFOONS OF THE YEAR CONTEST ENDING WITH A 6 AND 7 RECORD GOES TO:
2nd runner up: TN
1st runner up: Clemson
AND HANDS DOWN, NOT EVEN CLOSE, CONGRATS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
Big East = SEC East
January 1st, 2011
9:49 pm
Heck, I’m not sure I would lump Clemson in with UGA and TN. After all UGA got beat by Florida Auto Body and Diesel College.
Bobby Houseman
January 1st, 2011
9:52 pm
It’s not going to get any better. UGA will be lucky to win 5 games in 2011. In medicine, a flatliner is a person with no discernable brain waves. Mark Richt is a flatliner. Wonderful person, but a flatliner nonetheless. It’s not going to get any better until Richt is gone.
Perfect Fit
January 1st, 2011
9:54 pm
Pitt fired Mike Haygood. He would be a PERFECT fit in Athens as the next HC.
LMAO
Big East = SEC East
January 1st, 2011
9:55 pm
Signing day is going to be a bad day for the puppies.
NorthGaDawg
January 1st, 2011
9:55 pm
Hold everything. Dawgs will accept first place but 1st runner up has to be GT and their dimwitted high school coach.
Big East = SEC East
January 1st, 2011
9:57 pm
Snoopy would make a better HC than Richt but it will be 10 more years before your AD figures that out. Just think how far AU, AL, LSU and UF will have progressed by then?
Breaking News
January 1st, 2011
9:58 pm
Breaking News from Athens, GA.
UGA Football Head Coach Mark Richt has been selected to receive the Vince Dooley Coach of the Year Award.
5150 P.O.A.D.
January 1st, 2011
9:58 pm
Perfect Fit
Haygood is closer to Damon Evans minus the white chick.
Breaking News
January 1st, 2011
10:00 pm
From Athens, GA.
The UGA athletic director has just elected to accept the DEATH PENALTY for their football program. He stated that maybe in 10 years they can start new and make it back from obscurity.
NorthGaDawg
January 1st, 2011
10:00 pm
Big East
You forgot about Miss State, South Car. & Ark. Dawgs are sharing the cellar with Vandy & Ole Miss.
Ha ha
January 1st, 2011
10:02 pm
NorthGADawg……….
You just summed up the pitiful excuse of a football team UGA has by bragging about how UGA “owns” GT…9-1…9-1…9-1. That makes you proud? Even 10-0 against Tech would be no major accomplishment.
No offense to GT, but a state school with a rich football tradition and the ability to recruit like you do, you should NEVER lose to GT. That’s the problem…you set the bar too low and are ok with mediocrity.
Big East = SEC East
January 1st, 2011
10:05 pm
Good point NorthGaDawg….I guess I was going easy on them.
Big East = SEC East
January 1st, 2011
10:07 pm
Who cares if the Dawgs are 50-0 against the Tri-Lambs? The Dawgs still suck and haven’t won a NC in 30 years. When did the Tri-Lambs last win a NC?
Zack's Mettinburger's Mom
January 1st, 2011
10:10 pm
Coach Richt I have something for you from Zack. Zack would like to Thank You so much for kicking him off the UGA team. If you had let him stay his life would have been forever linked to the Terrible UGA BullDawgs. Zack is so happy to be going to LSU. He say he doesn’t fear that he will have to ever embarrass the dawgs on the field because UGA will never make it to the DOME.
The Absolute Truth
January 1st, 2011
10:11 pm
If Richt does not have the cohones to fire Bobo then he should be canned right away. I have been a strong Richt supporter, but the proof is in the pudding. He has become a lot like Ray Goff – a nice guy who doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. He needs to man up and make other heads roll before his does.
NorthGaDawg
January 1st, 2011
10:14 pm
Ha Ha
You miss the point. UGA should be playing at a much higher level. What I’m trying to figure out is just what does a Tech Jerk have to crow about? If UGA is at the bottom of big boy college football then Tech should drop down to Ga State’s level.
Bulldykes
January 1st, 2011
10:16 pm
We bull dykes like our strap ons. Red and black just like mark and rosie odonnell like it.
Ha ha
January 1st, 2011
10:17 pm
NorthGADawg
No I didn’t miss the point. You and several other UGA fans always want to retort to Tech fans (of which I am not one) by flashing your 9-1 record against them. Here’s the real point…so what? GT is a mid-pack team in a sub-par conference. With their admission requirements, if should be an absolute given that you never lose a single game to GT.
Chillahill43
January 1st, 2011
10:24 pm
Where have i seen this GA act before?
Hummmm
NO Heart? NO Brain? NO Courage?
Hmmmmm. A pituful dog ?
The Wizard of Oz and UGA the same story
just 70 years apart… Whos behind the curtain?! Pull the switch!
This UGA team is a sorry excuse for a SEC team can the SEC trade UGA and Vanderbilt for
TCU. ? Thats a program that plays with heart and soul! Not a bunch of panty waste pathetic leg humpers… You cant spell ” Pathetic Excuse for a Football Program” without UGA.
Caleb King just called and said he’d be good for the spring game!!! CMR is gonna finish the drill, yea the drilling he is giving the “Bulldawg Nation”.
Smell that? Its the aroma of Waste Management coming from Athens! And yall are happy!!! Sit stay roll over play dead!! Yep thats a good dawg!!
Ha ha
January 1st, 2011
10:35 pm
Top UGA Cliches:
1. Wait ’til next year…
2. Our recruiting class is filled with 5 star players…
3. We didn’t get beat, we beat ourselves…
4. If it hadn’t been for that blown call, we would have won…
5. If it hadn’t been for that dropped pass, we would have won…
6. If it hadn’t been for the turnover, we would have won…
7. If the ball had bounced our way, we would have won…
8. We’re the best (fill in the blank) loss team in the country!
UGA has never lost a game it ever played…if you don’t believe me, ask a UGA fan…they will explain how UGA actually should have won. You see, you never really beat UGA, they just somehow, inexplicably, fail to beat you.
NorthGaDawg
January 1st, 2011
10:42 pm
If it hadn’t been for our idiot OC, we would have won.
If our coaches had a game plan, we would have won.
If our HC would worry more about playing than praying, we would have won.
Zack's Mettinburger's Mom
January 1st, 2011
10:43 pm
Todd Grantham’s new D scheme keeps teams from scoring about as well aa a UGA freshman Phi Mu does to Phi Kapps on a Friday Night.
Ha ha
January 1st, 2011
10:49 pm
NorthGADawg
Why is it a crime to be a nice, Christian man? You can win football games and be a good person at the same time. The two are not mutually exclusive. You don’t have to be Urban Meyer or Nick Saban to win.
NorthGaDawg
January 1st, 2011
10:50 pm
Can’t help but notice that UConn’s cheerleaders are about as ugly as Uga’s butt.
Phil
January 1st, 2011
10:52 pm
Richt should run for political office, he sounds just like a politician. He’s been saying for years we have to fix things and get the program back on track. Yet he doesn’t do anything to fix it.
To be supposedly such a man of moral character, he’s not showing it. Just look at the character of the recruits he has been bringing in. Twice as many arrests as wins. These thugs he keeps bringing in stay more in jail than they do on the field. Horrible job of evaluating character.
Speaking of recruiting, I think he’s done a horrible job of that on the talent level as well. Recruited Cam Newton as a tight end. Let Eric Berry go to Tennessee. Did anyone watch the Chick-Fil-A Bowl last night? Greg Reid was voted the Most Valuable Player. The same Greg Reid Richt didn’t recruit very hard out of Lowndes County because he wanted Branden Smith instead. Greg Reid made more plays last night than Branden Smith has made his entire career at UGA. Richt won with Donnan’s recruits, hasn’t done much since.
Coaches. Horrible staff he has. The sign of a good staff is when year after year other schools come calling wanting to lure your guys away. Name anybody on Richt’s staff that has been courted by another school. Anybody? Didn’t think so. These clowns couldn’t get another job, well maybe at a high school somewhere.
Grantham is a joke. Should have been suspended or fired after the Florida game with the choke sign embarrassment. Yet Richt just brushed it off as nothing happened. That right there told me what kind of moral character Richt really has. To allow a coach on your staff to act like a juvenile punk is not acceptable. Richt could care less and it shows.
Like many people on here have said, Richt doesn’t have the passion anymore, the desire, the energy. He looks like he has lost his dog. He could care less what the players do, let them party night and get arrested, he could care less.
At least Urban Meyer had the decency to step aside when he lost his desire. You would think a man of such moral character like Richt would do the same thing and quit milking the university for $3mil a year.
Ha ha
January 1st, 2011
10:54 pm
Phil
Good post.
Ekim
January 1st, 2011
10:55 pm
It’s not the $3 mil a year; it’s the Ford F-150.
Ha ha
January 1st, 2011
10:56 pm
Phil
Speaking of Berry, he recruited him as a receiver. He didn’t even know what position Berry played. According to Eric, that really turned him off.
NorthGaDawg
January 1st, 2011
10:57 pm
Great post, Phil.
Who would you like to see wearing the headset in the Fall?
Ha ha
January 1st, 2011
10:59 pm
I would like to see Fulmer. Won 75% of his games…has a NC ring. Great recruiter.
5150 P.O.A.D.
January 1st, 2011
11:02 pm
Ha ha
Berry was recruited as an Athlete at UGA. Eric played QB and DB for Creekside. They had Eric possibally playing on either side of the Ball.
Ha ha
January 1st, 2011
11:03 pm
5150
I know where Eric played. I watched him play in high school.
I also read Eric’s interview about when Richt recruited him. He said that MR didn’t even know what position he played, and had to read notes he wrote on the palm of his hand.
Lost Faith in Richt
January 1st, 2011
11:05 pm
My belief was Coach Richt deserved another year but I do not even consider this now,he has to go along with the whole coaching staff.The state of Georgia is loaded with talent and the most average coach could go 8-4 or 9-3,but Richt has lost control of every aspect there is TIME TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NorthGaDawg
January 1st, 2011
11:07 pm
Fulmer? Nice record and NC ring but like Richt too attached to his staff.
Also, he is getting a little long in the tooth.
Phil
January 1st, 2011
11:07 pm
NorthGaDawg,
Ive been saying since about mid-season they should go after Jim Harbaugh. Now that McGarity has drug his feet, Michigan and the NFL and everybody else will be going afte Harbaugh. So no chance of getting him. Muschamp probably would have taken the job but we drug out feet on him as well. Kirby Smart would probably take it if somebody doesn’t snatch him up first.
All this crap about giving Richt one more year is doing nothing but letting the good coaches out there get away.
Who do I want on the sideline next year? Anybody but Richt and his clowns. I would take Kirby Smart right now.
Ha ha
January 1st, 2011
11:08 pm
NorthGaDawg
Probably true about his age. However, he did have a good staff. Cutcliffe? Chavis? Lovie Smith?
Hunker Down
January 1st, 2011
11:24 pm
Only high school offense I saw banged in 2 FGs against the mighty UCF
Phil
January 1st, 2011
11:25 pm
The Richt fanatics on here say we’re not true UGA fans just because we want our program to be better. I’m pretty sure if you go ask the Auburn fanatics who supported Tommy Tubberville are they glad now that Auburn made the move to force out Tubberville and hire Chizik, I think the percentage would be 100% yes.
If Auburn can come out of being a mid-level SEC team and get to the National Championship game, then why can’t we? Why can’t we have that same dream?
It takes some balls by McGarity to make that happen though. Tubberville had bottomed out at Auburn, Richt has bottomed out at UGA. Don’t know why you Richt fanatics can’t come to terms with this.
NorthGaDawg
January 1st, 2011
11:36 pm
I remember when Goff was given one more year. Just a wasted season.
Kirby would bring fire and should be smart enough to kick Bobo to the curb.
But are we seeing Kirby’s D or is it Nick’s? Kirby or someone like him is what we need.
A man with fire, success and a history recruiting the South. A coach like Glenn Mason (remember him) would never have success recruiting in the deep South.
NXS
January 1st, 2011
11:38 pm
Sure would be nice if we could convince Tony Dungy to come out of retirement. What a great coach and a teacher of young men… a real class act. I know, it’ll never happen, but he’s the man who would have Georgia playing for a NC within 5-6 years- guaranteed!
Dogfaddle
January 1st, 2011
11:39 pm
For god’s sake CMR just hand in your resignation. Do you have no shame? How can you show your face in Athens? You’ve turned Georgia football into a joke. You’re a disgrace to the SEC. Just like a politician you keep saying there are going to be changes. It’s too late. You’ve shown that you don’t have a clue. No one supports you at this point. Get out of Dodge!!!!
Phil
January 1st, 2011
11:49 pm
NorthGaDawg,
Exactly. One more year is just one more year wasted when we can begin the rebuilding process now. Next year will be worse than this year. I see 8-9 losses next year. How can next year be any better with the same coaching staff minus our best player in AJ Green? Count out Justin Houston, Kris Durham and a few other starters as well.
Can somebody tell me how we are going to better next year?
stevo775
January 1st, 2011
11:49 pm
I have and always will be Dawg fan no matter what but that performance yesterday was FREEKING PATHETIC!!!! If things don’t start to change around here pretty soon we wont have those 4 & 5 star recruits coming our way anymore.
5150 P.O.A.D.
January 1st, 2011
11:54 pm
Add to the list of missing dawg posters
UGAbugkiller
BobbyDawg
January 1st, 2011
11:56 pm
McGarity said in an interview with AJC that Richt and staff will be back for the start of the 2011 season. I’m still sick!
NorthGaDawg
January 2nd, 2011
12:00 am
Richt’s one more year was this year. Let’s start rebuilding now!!!!!!
Called the Athletic Department after the game and got some guy named Peggy.
Phil
January 2nd, 2011
12:03 am
BobbyDawg,
I’m sick too. What we have next year is the same lousy team we say yesterday minus some of our best players. So a 6 win season this season turns into about a 3 win season next year. How does doing nothing improve our team for next year? It doesn’t. It’s going to be a long season next year and it starts by getting embarrassed by Boise State.
Phil
January 2nd, 2011
12:05 am
Good one NorthGaDawg.
PHIL(the real one)
January 2nd, 2011
12:05 am
Phil (the idiot one), first, I see you are near the top of the posts on this column and are the last one. Obviously you don’t have anything else to do in life except sit at your computer. You and the minions like you who have no life, get all their pride and esteem from a game played by 20 year olds. You probably aren’t much older than that yourself. So one, you need a life.
2, if you truly believe that Auburn will be happy with Geno in 3 or 4 years you are a moron. Due to the things that he allowed while on his watch Auburn might not even have a football program in 4 years. If the trustees are involved in what has gone on their like it seems they are they will lose their SACS accreditation which will mean they can’t belong to the SEC which will mean no football on the plains. Couldn’t happen to a better bunch. The reason these guys ran Tubberville off is because he would not allow the program to be ran in the illegal manner that they wanted to run it in. These guys know that without breaking the rules Auburn can’t out recruit Alabama now that that program is going strong . You are showing your IQ if you believe that a coach who is 0 fer at Iowa State can suddenly come to Auburn and turn a 7-5 team into an undefeated national champ in a year. How could a coach who has a losing lifetime record talk the number one player in AL, MS, AR and LA plus the number one JUCO player in the country to come to freakin’ Auburn?? You ever been to Auburn, AL? It was the rigged slot machines and the anonymous bank cards that Trooper promised that got the kids to Auburn, Not Chizik. He was handpicked because they knew they could manipulate him. Grow a brain.
You have every right to base the total enjoyment of your life on a game. It’s a free country at least for now. But you, and the rest of the so called fans that are always here spouting off on things they know nothing about, have seriously flawed character to believe that it is more important to win football games than it is to represent my alma mater the way that Coach Richt represents it compared to the way that Saban, Meyer, Dooley, or Chizik represent theirs schools.
Every team is not going to be good every year, especially goes for SEC teams. Alabama wasn’t very good not long ago, Arkansas wasn’t even good enough to beat us last year, it’s cyclical. If you play with OH State or TX or USC there are only one or two other teams in your whole conference that can compete with you for players. You play two games a year and the rest are practice games. In the SEC you compete with schools for players and you compete at a high level every week Georgia will be back with or with out CMR. It won’t have anything to do with the coach. It might have something to do with the recruiting ability of the coach, but it’s the players that make the difference, not the coach. Just look at the ones Auburn bought and you can see that it’s the players that make the difference not the coach.
Again, for now this is a free country. You have every right to your opinion no matter how baseless , misinformed, and misguided or just plain stupid it may be. You are a microchosm of society as a whole that places winning a child’s game over anything. It’s the authoritativeness and the quantity with which you post that allows everyone to know that you are a moron.