Mark Richt might need 9-1 finish to keep job at Georgia
Georgia coach Mark Richt is 0-2 for the first time in his career. (Brant Sanderlin/AJC)
ATHENS – Nobody is going to admit now what tight end Orson Charles acknowledged two weeks ago: “Our first two games will make or break our season.”
Because when a team is 0-2 after two perceived make-or-break games, players and coaches must nonetheless publicly cling to a series of improbabilities. Otherwise the rest of the season morphs into a three-month death march.
But reality is that it will take a miraculous finishing kick for the Bulldogs to have a successful season and possibly save coach Mark Richt’s job. What does that amount to? Try 9-1 in the next 10 games.
That may seem extreme. But Richt’s contract situation, the backdrop of the past two-plus seasons, the demands of coaching in the SEC, the divided fan base and a cryptic comment at a recent athletic-board meeting indicates if the Bulldogs do anything less than win the SEC East, which may take a 9-1 finish, Georgia may make a change.
Richt insisted Tuesday, “There’s not a cloud hanging over us” after losses to Boise State and South Carolina. Maybe he just hasn’t gone outside.
He said the attitude has been positive since Saturday’s 45-42 loss to South Carolina, adding, “If the game went the other way, then Georgia’s the front-runner in the East and everybody starts thinking about the positive possibilities.”
The problem being that Georgia didn’t win, and the SEC isn’t about “ifs.” The game actually just reaffirmed what many have suspected. The Dogs have talent. They can compete with most teams when they play hard and, for the most part, smart. But they seem to have forgotten how to win these kinds of games, either because of a turnover, a special-teams breakdown or a penalty.
Richt would prefer that the rest of the season not be about his job status. It’s not exactly a conducive atmosphere for wins and pep rallies. But it’s reality.
Consider:
• The contract: Richt will have two years left on an eight-year deal after this season. That’s basically death in recruiting unless Georgia extends the contract, probably by at least two to three years. To not extend the contract also would set up the extreme rarity, particularly in the SEC, of a coach potentially entering his third straight “hot seat” season and working on a contract that had not been amended since after the 2007 season (when Richt received a raise).
• The schedule: Every remaining game is winnable. To put it another way, there are no “good” losses left. Florida? Maybe. But how would Richt dropping to 2-9 against the Gators go over with athletic director Greg McGarity, school president Michael Adams and the fan base? Losing to Florida means losing tiebreakers to both the Gators and South Carolina in the East. Beating Florida could salvage division hopes, but only with a strong finish.
• The record: McGarity probably doesn’t have a specific number of wins and losses in mind. But let’s look at this logically. Going 9-1 the rest of the way means a 9-3 finish, while 8-2 means finishing 8-4. Two losses mean the Dogs probably will have lost to Florida again. And/or Georgia Tech (making Paul Johnson 2-2 in the series). Or Mississippi State (for the second straight year). Or Tennessee (to Derek Dooley).
• The backdrop: It’s significant that at a recent UGA Athletic Association meeting, board member Tommy Lawhorne stated, “There are many of us who are really concerned about the status of the football program. Yet we have confidence in Greg McGarity to get us where we want to be.” Note that he referred to McGarity and not Richt.
Winning this week over Coastal Carolina, an FCS (formerly Division I-AA) school, won’t change the important numbers. If you take out wins over FCS (Tennessee Tech, Idaho State) and Sun Belt (Louisiana-Lafayette) schools, Richt is 11-14 overall since 2009. He’s 6-10 in the past 16 SEC games and 2-10 against ranked teams. To go 9-1 overall and 6-1 in the SEC the rest of the way is possible. But it would be a stark contrast to what we’ve been witnessing.
Richt said the South Carolina game “could’ve gone either way. Did we improve tremendously? There’s no doubt about that. I left the field sick about losing but encouraged about the team.”
Improvement is good. But winning saves jobs. Richt has left himself no room for error.
By Jeff Schultz
•
Follow me on Twitter @JeffSchultzAJC; friend me at 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
698 comments Add your comment
GR82BAG8R
September 14th, 2011
7:39 am
One of the NCAA penalties for Boise is they have to paint their field green.
NewnanDawg
September 14th, 2011
7:45 am
Stephen Garcia gift-wrapped that SC game for Richt and he STILL blew it. If Garcia could stay off the Jim Beam, SC may have dropped 60 points on GA last Saturday.
Richt is clearly in the bottom tier of SEC coaches now. GA is a top-tier program. He’s finished.
Stop drinking the kool aid
September 14th, 2011
7:47 am
Yes, lt is possible that UGA wins out. But it doesnt look it right now. UT, UF, MS ST, AU and GaTech are all winnable. Also, very loosable. UGA will split. 8-4. Unless the wheels fall off, UGA will get better. But so will everyone else. By late nov. AU and GTech will be very different teams. Should be fun to watch.
GT
September 14th, 2011
7:52 am
You are killing yourself in the market. I think there are 10 or 15 good kids that will go to Georgia any year no matter the record or coach. When Georgia is on top the whole state feels different including there are not as many out of state recruiters. A good SEC coach can take Georgia’s left overs and come in here and beat Georgia with better coaching. Tenn. is the next feeder school that will pass Richt. You are surrounded on all four sides then by superior coaching.
Buckeye
September 14th, 2011
7:54 am
GR82,
No kidding. I can’t even watch replays on ESPN of that blue smurf field.
Adams must go!
September 14th, 2011
7:54 am
michael adams is the reason for all this mediocrity in UGA athletics–after he fired Dooley, things went downhill. Adams must go! Ga needs to hire a president who understands the importance of athletics.
Richard Dawson
September 14th, 2011
8:08 am
Can you put a few more “may’s” in there, Jeff? Really bold writing.
FIRE MARK RICHT.
heart dog
September 14th, 2011
8:12 am
What does everyone think about Mario Cristbal as a Head Coach possibility? I was impressed with his FIU team when they played on ESPN the other night. ” Cristobal carries a reputation of being an excellent recruiter, setting up for his third season at FIU by putting together an impressive recruiting class of 23 student athletes, at least 20 of them from Florida.[2] He wears a customary shirt and tie along with dress pants for each and every game to honor his idol, Joe Paterno. He was also named the fittest coach currently in the FBS according to an ESPN blog to which he confirmed on The Dan Le Batard Show on May 29, 2009.[3] As of the 2009 season Mario Cristobal has retired the “shirt-and-tie” look and has opted to wear traditional collared shirts during games.
[edit] Conference ChampionshipAfter being predicted to finish sixth in the conference in the preseason by the Sun Belt Writers Association, Mario Cristobal led his young Panthers team to their first Sun Belt Conference Championship after four years at the helm. FIU who had never had a winning season prior to the 2010 campaign saw themselves atop the conference tied with Troy University who shared a similar 6-2 conference record. FIU did win their head-to-head matchup with Troy, 52-35. At the conclusion of the season FIU was selected to participate in their first bowl game, the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. They won with a field goal in the closing seconds against Toledo, 34-32 after Toledo went for 2 to take the lead 32-31. That win gave them a 7-6 record, their first ever winning record.”
big john
September 14th, 2011
8:14 am
It’s not about the hair and the afro sheen.It’s about smash mouth football you bunch of candy asses……If you want an excuse to leave college early a make the big bucks you have to be putting your dumb ass head up the other teams ass.Now get out there and act like a football team and not a bunch of second class beauty contestants….
Hobnail Boot
September 14th, 2011
8:17 am
JB
September 14th, 2011
7:33 am
If needed, coach’s NOT coming or asked to come
1. Meyer. Fla. loyalist, hated Gerogia, doesn’t need the money, look for him at Ohio St.
2. Gruden…pipe dream. a gamble besides. looks like he would bored real quick
3. Leach…Never. Not Georgia’s kind of man.
4. Peterson. might get a call….but then again. he hears from everybody. If he wants an upgrade, it’ll be a PAC school.
5.Patterson at TCU. Probably high on the list. solid, respectable, wins a lot with less.
6. Kirby at Bama and a Georgia boy. Ace in the hole hire if top of list guys turn McGarity down.
7. Wildcard:___________________ who knows??????
Rich Rodriguez
Rich Rod is an established Head Coach. He’s available now — no waiting out the bowl season prior to hitting the recruiting trail.
This is what Rich Rod did at WV during CMR’s “good years”:
2001 West Virginia 3–8
2002 West Virginia 9–4
2003 West Virginia 8–5
2004 West Virginia 8–4
2005 West Virginia 11–1
2006 West Virginia 11–2
2007 West Virginia 10–2*
*Departed West Virginia for Michigan before the Fiesta Bowl
Some Michigan players didn’t like Coach Rodriguez because he expected them to work too hard. Wouldn’t that be a breath of fresh air in Athens?
tndawg
September 14th, 2011
8:18 am
I agree!
1, he stays
2, he is on the fence
3 or more, he is out of here.
I hate to say it but I think as Dawgs fans we would be better off if he lost 3 or more. That way we would have a chance of something better in the future.
Mark is a good man but not a good coach. He needs to go.
georgedawg
September 14th, 2011
8:18 am
Jeff, write some insightful columns or your gone, You and Bradley smell.
Boise Dawg
September 14th, 2011
8:21 am
Jeff I agree with your assessment mostly. I suspect some will just depend on how we look in all these games and if we suffer any more major injuries at key positions. I think if we lose to Florida, Richt will need to go 9-1 and finish with a bowl win to get to 10…. he could possibly go 8-2 with losses to say either Mississippi State, Auburn or Tennessee… so I will say finishing 8 – 4 with wins over Florida and Tech and then a bowl game win getting him to 9 total wins and he could save his job.
So bascially if we lose again before the Florida game that becomes a must win game. Tech probably becomes a must win as well given how late it is in the season…. there won’t be a lot of optimism in Athens if we lose the last game to Tech.
Hobnail Boot
September 14th, 2011
8:24 am
Do you guys really want to spend all of next season debating how bad things will have to get before we consider making a coaching change? I got tired of it last year. Poop, or get off the pot.
David
September 14th, 2011
8:26 am
Come on Jeff, you know this report is incomplete. You are supposed to list his buyout, dummy. It might be large or small, but his buyout is everything. CMR is not making thousands, he is making millions. Knowing you, you probably thought of it, but did not know what the figures were. Either way, poor job.
no dog
September 14th, 2011
8:26 am
Bet the dogs will never ever start another season with a ranked team.
Hobnail Boot
September 14th, 2011
8:27 am
If Dooley or Muschamp wash out, then we’ll be seeing Rich Rod between the hedges. I’d rather see him wearing Red & Silver.
bryce
September 14th, 2011
8:27 am
Schulttz needs to go 9-1 on his picks and win Pulitzer to keep his job
Phil
September 14th, 2011
8:28 am
Finish 9-1? No way, more like 5-5.
For all of those who say Kirby Smart is not the answer. Well, he has
tutored under the best teacher out there, Nick Saban. He is a Georgia boy so I think his heart and soul would be into getting this program back to where it needs to be. Richt’s desire went out the window about 3 years ago.
I think Kirby would have enough sense to go out and get a top notch offensive coordinator like Mike Leach, someone like that. He wouldn’t even consider keeping a clown like Bozo.
Even though he doesn’t have the head coaching experience, I think he would be a perfect fit. Chances are we aren’t going to lure away Peterson or Mullen or any of those big names.
Whiskey Breath
September 14th, 2011
8:32 am
What is really funny, is the same people posting above have changed their tunes. Very typical Ga. They spend 9 months beating their chest about Ga and Richt, now they speak the truth. What a crappy fan base.
Hobnail Boot
September 14th, 2011
8:33 am
Mullen is not a “big name” coach. He’s an assistant hoping to make his mark as a HC. He might be a great HC one day. He might not. Time will tell.
Georgia deserves an established Head Coach. We don’t need to promote another apprentice.
Opinionator
September 14th, 2011
8:35 am
Why does your opinion matter? You have no fact or evidence that 3-7 the rest of the way won’t keep his job. It probably won’t but the fact is you do not know squat. You are simply trying to beat a dead horse until something happens. Hey I hear Mike Smith may need 10-5 the rest of the way to keep his job.
15 games, 6 W's and 9 losses
September 14th, 2011
8:38 am
When Miss State nails the dawgs two years in a row, what are you going to say about Mullen then “Hobnail”? He will be applying the coup de grace to Richt.
Hobnail Boot
September 14th, 2011
8:39 am
“You have no fact or evidence that 3-7 the rest of the way won’t keep his job.”
The evidence, so far, indicates that he’ll keep his job no matter what. If that’s the case, then maybe we should move to the ACC after FSU leaves for the SEC. Maybe then we could compete.
Hobnail Boot
September 14th, 2011
8:40 am
@15 games, 6 W’s and 9 losses
Yep… Just like Croom applied it to Mike Shula. I still don’t want to hire Coach Croom.
gahillbilly
September 14th, 2011
8:41 am
You all need to get a life, every one of you. It’s just a freakin’ game. There are many many things in life that are so much more important. Keep the game in perspective.
Paul
September 14th, 2011
8:42 am
Penalties, unforced errors, turnovers are primarily the results of coaching and historically the reasons for the losses at UGA. What other criteria do you need to judge performance? Winning happens when you stop making mistakes particularly in the early season. Too many Bulldog seasons in the Richt era have been defined by the penalties that have cost them from winning games.
Hobnail Boot
September 14th, 2011
8:42 am
Don’t get me wrong. Coach Croom is a really nice guy. He’s just not a great Head Coach.
Hmm… Reminds me of someone else.
JR
September 14th, 2011
8:42 am
Patrick
September 13th, 2011
10:42 pm
I’m not knocking Goff…met him a few times when i worked at Aaron’s corp offices in Buckhead. I’m just saying people have short memories and it would serve them well to remember what the last 15 to 20 years of UGA football was like before Richt…mediocre
Georgia has one of the better all time records in the SEC. But the argument about tradition in today’s college football only gets you so far. Michigan has only won 1 split national title since 1954. Florida never won the SEC before Spurrier 20 years ago. The quality of a college job has to do with resources, pay, and the support of the administration. How many National titles USC or Ohio State won in the 30s, 40s, and 50s really does not matter when discussing whether a coach with the best credentials would only take one of those jobs and not the one at Georgia. It really boils down to money and how successful a coach believes he can be on the field with what he is given. All of this people on this blog that throw out the bluster that UGA cannot get a top level coach because the program is second or third rate do not know what they are talking about.
15 games, 6 W's and 9 losses
September 14th, 2011
8:44 am
Richt has no chance of going 9-1 from here. For crying out loud, he hasn’t beaten a team with a winning record in 15 games. He will lose th Miss State and Florida given, and then Richt always loses to a team he should beat-Tenn, Kentucky, Vandy or Auburn. Another thing Georgia will only be favored in 2 of those 6 games.
Here comes 7-3 and 7-5 over all -see’ya Richt.
commonsense
September 14th, 2011
8:47 am
you people are crazy to get rid of richt… and even more dillusional if you think derek dooley is your next coach… it will come outside of the box…. just like a derek dooley to ut… and a muschamp at uf…. if richt is gone… the next hire will not be the one thats expected… just necessary to start a new way of football in athens
te29wr
September 14th, 2011
8:47 am
When you talk to President and the AD then you come back and tell us what they said and quite the BS They will make the call not the athletic board no matter what you think. Everyone is concerned
Money money money
September 14th, 2011
8:49 am
This “good Christian man” will refuse to resign so that he can grub a few more million dollars from UGA.
And the money is all that’s keeping Richt in Athens. He’ll never do the decent thing and resign as long as he’s raking in millions of dollars every year. It’s pure greed, combined with a total lack of ethics and integrity.
So the only way to get rid of this chump is to fire him before he bleeds the athletic coffers dry.
15 games, 6 W's and 9 losses
September 14th, 2011
8:51 am
Must disagree Hobnail, if a good SEC of other major conf. have a job became open, Mullen would get one of the first calls. Richt’s phone would never ring. Once he is fired he will never be a HC again.
Whiskey Breath
September 14th, 2011
8:51 am
I realize you Ga guys are slow, but Richt sure isn’t sweating the hotseat. The dude is putting on weight, meaning he is not stressed. Believe it or not I want them to extend his contract. Mainly because I hate Ga and know he is a poor coach. However, he uses the Christian card to insure his security. I have to admit, pretty smart. But as far as being a coach, he couldn’t motivate his dog to go out and use the bathroom.
And another thing, he is about as true a Christian as I am the devil.
Moves like Jagger
September 14th, 2011
8:51 am
Shoulda hired Spurrier wheb Dooley retired. He’s said he wouls have came. Woulda had 7-9 more SEC amd a few MN Championships by now.
Hobnail Boot
September 14th, 2011
8:53 am
I’m not a Dan Mullen hater, but don’t convince yourself that he’s the second coming of Vince Lombardi just because he beat Georgia.
Beating Georgia just ain’t something to write home about anymore. Sad… but true.
Doug
September 14th, 2011
8:54 am
Outside looking in, this article seems totally unfair. It appears to me that the entire UGA worlds expectations were way too high this year. How do you expect a team that was 6 – 7 to overnight become a 10-2 or 9-3 team? They are a good team. They just played two top 15 teams. A lot of teams would be 0-2 at this point. Lay off the Coach and Team and be realistic. A great season can still be had.
Dawgbreath
September 14th, 2011
8:56 am
SC played their worst, UGA their best. UGA loses 3 more and SC just one if that.
Hobnail Boot
September 14th, 2011
8:57 am
The state of Georgia football: We can’t expect to beat Top 15 teams.
Oh My God! When does volleyball season start?
Georgia Boy
September 14th, 2011
9:00 am
I hate reading all the negative stories you & the AJC develop to sell papers. You don’t help the team in this way nor the fan base! You help sell papers and create negative opinions. Focus on the positive and get on the Energy Bus!
Go focus on the President and do something constructive! This is the kind of garbage that caused me to stop the AJC.
Birmingham Jacket
September 14th, 2011
9:01 am
You Dawg fans are hilarious.
There can’t be bigger homer fans, in all of college football.
To listen and read the posts, you would think UGA is a Florida, Texas or USC.
PSSSST…. YOU’RE NOT THAT GOOD! NEVER HAVE BEEN, NEVER WILL BE!
Enough with the Kool-Aid
September 14th, 2011
9:01 am
Stop swilling the Kool-Aid and get with the program: http://firemarkricht.net/
Buckeye
September 14th, 2011
9:03 am
gym dogs……………….
Your only ray of hope.
JB
September 14th, 2011
9:04 am
I’m not sold on Richrod. He had those real two gifted athletes in the back field that won him a lot of games.Would he be an improvement over Richt. Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t think he gets called.
JB
September 14th, 2011
9:06 am
B Jacket……………..Good enough to own Tech…..But then again, that’s nothing special lately…since Dodd anyway.
DawginLex
September 14th, 2011
9:06 am
whiskey idiot
How do you know Richt is not a Christian?
You talk to Jesus?
You keeping a scorecard?
I know you hate UGA but at least try and show some portion of some sense before you post something so idiotic.
Hobnail Boot
September 14th, 2011
9:06 am
@Georgia Boy
Would you mind making the AJC writers a list of all of the “positive things” that they should be writing about Georgia football?
I’m racking my brain, and I can’t come up with anything. Maybe they should just stop writing altogether?
Hobnail Boot
September 14th, 2011
9:09 am
You’re right JB. Rich Rod wouldn’t have won all of those games if he hadn’t recruited such good players.
I didn’t think about that…
FloridaDawg
September 14th, 2011
9:10 am
You people who want to criticize Jeff for writing this article needs to put forth your own “positive” view.
If there were something “positive” to write about, my thinking is Jeff would write it.
There is nothing “positive” to write Georgia football at this time.
If there is…tell me.
Oh I forgot, we will be able to get Ga-Fl tickets cheap this year….if you call that positive.