Dogs know all too well spring can be a mean season
Zach Mettenberger wound up playing junior college ball in Kansas after his spring break transgressions last year. (Butler Community College)
The Georgia Bulldogs are on spring break, and for those of us who are emotionally invested in the fortunes of the Red and Black football program it’s sort of like waiting up for your teenager to make it home safe and sound on New Year’s Eve.
Mark Richt’s team has scattered far and wide (which, come to think of it, is probably a good thing, as away from UGA they’re much less likely to run afoul of campus cops lurking to find unsuspecting athletes breaking rules about emerging from alleys and such). So far, thankfully, the only report we’ve gotten from any off-campus adventures is the four Dawgs who stopped to help at a wreck on on I-95 outside Miami on their way to Key West.
But while the alleged robbery crew from Auburn appears to have assured UGA of not winning a second consecutive Fulmer Cup, we all remember last year and the kind of havoc spring break can wreak on a depth chart. And so it is that Zach Mettenberger, whose height and big arm looked so promising in last year’s G-Day game, now resides on the roster of the LSU Tigers after spending the past season throwing for 2,678 yards and 32 touchdowns in leading Butler Community College to the JUCO national championship game.
It’s been a quiet year so far for the Bulldogs (knock on wood), with the only real eyebrow-raiser of late being Washaun Ealey’s brief suspension from the team for missing some early morning running. Richt said the suspension was aimed at getting Ealey’s attention, but I suspect it also was meant to send a message to the rest of the team that the coach known more for spreading love than invoking fear isn’t messing around any more when it comes to discipline.
A good example of the benefits of emphasizing the tough in tough love, came up in the basketball Dogs’ pre-NCAA press session in Athens Wednesday. Mark Fox and some of his players talked about the mess the coach inherited from Dennis Felton, who seemed to constantly be having to kick players off his team. Trey Thompkins noted that when Fox first arrived “we were a team full of problems. We had little things as far as academics and taking care of stuff off the court. Coach Fox came in and helped us fix it.”
The fix involved Fox taking his team to Sanford Stadium and making them run the steps. Said Thompkins: “That was enough for all of us to wake up. … He took us to the stadium and we ran all of our problems off.”
Fox said he thinks that’s one reason Georgia is back in the NCAA tournament. “You can’t be successful consistently on the basketball court if you’re not successful off it. I think there’s a real correlation between guys who can function as students and as good citizens also play[ing] well. I think if you have issues off the floor, all it does is take your time and energy and focus away from playing the right way on the floor. So we did talk a great deal about trying to become issue-free, socially and academically.”
Substitute football field for basketball court and the same thing applies. I don’t think it’s at all coincidental that the past two disappointing seasons of play by Richt’s Dogs also saw a rash of disciplinary problems away from the field.
Let’s hope while the players are enjoying spring break they keep one thing in mind: Coach Joe Tereshinksi and those Sanford Stadium steps await back in Athens.
Find me on Facebook.
Follow me on Twitter.
— Bill King, Junkyard Blawg
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
131 comments Add your comment
1eyedJack
March 17th, 2011
2:46 pm
Timbodog, chill man before you give yourself an embolism. Forget the past and embrace the future. And my Daddy told me a fool and his money are soon parted and if you can’t afford to lose it don’t gamble it.
Timbodog
March 17th, 2011
2:48 pm
And here is the point I am getting at: the lack of discipline is directly related to our going downhill.
Like I said, Mark is a Bobby Bowden disciple. Bowden’s “genius” was in getting the most talented players and turning ‘em loose.
Why did Bobby go downhill? It wasn’t because he got old, or because he “lost his edge,” or anything like that. It’s because he wasn’t a great all-around coach to begin with. Or maybe he was before he got to FSU, but once he was there, he relied SOLELY on bringing in talent. He instilled NO discipline and was not a particularly good game-day (Xs and Os) coach.
What happened to Bobby is something we’ve all noticed…in recent years, strength and conditioning programs have gotten EXPONENTIALLY better. There are still physical freaks, but the difference between the really good athletes and the average ones has gotten MUCH smaller.
Bobby couldn’t just bring in the best horses and watch them run. Same story for Miami and Larry Coker.
So…after our worst season in recent history, what is Mark’s solution? The “Dream Team.”
Now, I’m not talking bad about the kids we brought in. They are an immensely talented group of players. But Richt/Bobo are still coaching the offense…as mentioned, Richt is NOT a disciplinarian and I don’t see this leopard changing his spots. And he’s never been very good at making game-day adjustments.
WE NEED A NEW COACH.
Anyone can get great talent to come play for us between the hedges…I want someone who can discipline them and make some good gameplans and adjustments.
Timbodog
March 17th, 2011
2:49 pm
Your daddy was a bum if he didn’t tell you how to treat women right.
stevo
March 17th, 2011
3:08 pm
Hey insider…if the SEC goes down so does all of college football. To think the problem is exclusive to the SEC is just BS. Look at Ohio State, USC and UNC and a host of other schools. I think that covers the Big 10, Pac 10 and the ACC. Whatever dude…
Timbodog
March 17th, 2011
3:20 pm
Give me a break…scandals are rampant throughout the college football world. We shouldn’t be surprised, but we also shouldn’t use it as a reason to excuse it out of our own players.
This is what saddens me…a story breaks about a Georgia player messing up and all I see are “fans” bringing up the transgressions of others. You are setting a bad example for our guys by excusing their actions.
We should expect more of them because they are our guys.
My dad taught me a long time ago that a true friend doesn’t stand by and let you mess up.
mags
March 17th, 2011
3:31 pm
Too bad UGA didn’t have the ability to “hush” things like Spurrier…all that is reported is Garcia is suspended for the first week of spring football for breaking team rules (how many times now??).
SugarHillDawg
March 17th, 2011
4:08 pm
Does anyone else think Mettenfondler looks like Ashton Kutcher??
MOG
March 17th, 2011
4:10 pm
Mettenberger: the next Cam Newton
Murray: the next Mike Boo boo
Enough said!!!!
UGA Insider
March 17th, 2011
4:28 pm
Stevo,
I NEVER said the the problem was exclusive to the SEC! Where did you pick that up at?? All I said was that we are going to get hit on several different levels and it is going to give the perception that all SEC teams are cheating because it is going to lead directly up the SEC front office and Mike Slive. Auburn and UT are about to bring this entire conference down.
Buckeye
March 17th, 2011
4:30 pm
Why is it pronounced “Jerdan” Haire but spelled “Jordan”??
Is it a Southern dialect thing?
Beast from the East
March 17th, 2011
4:37 pm
UGA Insider,
You’ve been spewing that same trash for weeks now. How about provide some form of proof.
Averyboy
March 17th, 2011
4:38 pm
THuga is the most out-of-control program in the country. You have more players arrested every year than any other program. And the fans excuse it….time…after time….after time…because THuga fans could really care less about their program being a clean one, just so long as you find a way to win baby!!
Beast from the East
March 17th, 2011
5:01 pm
UGA Insider,
Just as I thought. No proof. Just one BS post after another.
Put a tiger in your tank
March 17th, 2011
5:23 pm
UGA fans don’t seem to care about anything but football, and they don’t care if their players are enrolled in silly majors that no parents who are paying the bills would send their kids to UGA for. The very few football and basketball players who graduate have no job opportunities and end up unemployed or working in menial jobs that hardly require a college degree.
Georgia Tech is a real school with serious academic standards, and that includes scholarshipped athletes. UGA has a long history of being a party school, where parents send their kids for an easy degree, even if the degree itself is practically worthless.
Jan Kemp exposed the crap going on at UGA with athletes being enrolled in courses a ten-year-old kid could pass. That was almost three decades ago, and nothing has changed. If anything, the abuses are more blatant today. Way too many illiterate morons are being recruited, and the very high arrest rate shows clearly that Richt does not care if his players have any morals or self-discipline.
Pulpwud Smiff
March 17th, 2011
5:26 pm
I’ve never understood how anyone – even an alumnus – could support and take pride in UGA’s football team. When you look at their history for the past forty years, how can anyone ignore Jan Kemp and the “remedial studies” scam, the Jim Harrick fiasco, the DUIs in the athletic office, the DUIs and other arrests of players, the #1 party school tag (i.e., the most drunk students), the suspensions and outright dismissals, the Fulmer Cup, and on and on?
As disgraceful and humiliating as it is, I don’t see many alums and fans demanding an end to this sordid activity. It sets UGA apart as the kind of school most people abhor, and it’s become an embarrassment to the whole state of Georgia.
Will it never end? Apparently not while Mark Richt is at UGA. Richt is perhaps the biggest hypocrite in the United States. But even with all the cheating and lawlessness that he ignores, he still can’t win the SEC.
So you’re paying him to be BCS champions, but he can’t even win his SEC division. So why do you pay him millions of dollars a year?
Just asking.
AUBURN 'S ROBBERS
March 17th, 2011
5:32 pm
HA,HA,HA,HA,HA,HA, AUBURN PLAYERS ROBBING TRAILER PARKS!!!!!!!!
AltamahaDawg
March 17th, 2011
5:42 pm
No, it’s probably not purely coincidental, but it is also a lot more complicated than just what some folks want to lump it all together as “discipline” as a generic term.
The off field trouble is one issue, the football field trouble is another issue. Obviously Richt has less distractions and more time to concentrate on fixing the later, if he isn’t fighting the first. While I believe he has done a better job this year finally convincing somebody of that, I disagree with the idea that he has somehow just now figured that out.
AltamahaDawg
March 17th, 2011
5:58 pm
Timbo, I am pretty sure I have read most of the comments over the years about UGA player transgression, and you are absolutely baseless to claim there is any significant percentage of UGA fans “escusing” thier action by saying other it do too. Thats ALL you see? Really? Not sure where you are looking. Sounds you are completely exagerating, if not purely making that up.
There is sometimes comparison drawn to show that while trouble is never good, the action of our guys usually pale in comparison to the seriousness of some other, thus unfair to lable them as “thugs” and the like. That we think the story gets blown out of proportion always.
Condoning and looking at things in perspective are not the same thing.
Troll Power Ratings
March 17th, 2011
6:17 pm
The Tech Dawg haters are out in force. Thanks for caring.
Dawg48
March 17th, 2011
6:54 pm
I think tmbodog is mark Bradley the way he talks about getting rid of richt
AltamahaDawg
March 17th, 2011
7:24 pm
and really? Bobby? Bobby Bowden? That’s the problem? That is soo played. Although the perfect way to begin that litany of other worn out cliches’.
AltamahaDawg
March 17th, 2011
7:26 pm
The rest of the conference is leaving us IN THE DUST
Who?
ADMan
March 17th, 2011
8:01 pm
Hey Timbodog….please go take a valium….kiss yourself in the mirror…and pat yourself on the back…cause no one else will.You’ve got all the answers but thier all wrong…love the part about “all the coaches you’ve ever had”…yah right…it’s clear you don’t know sh-t about football, Georgia or CMR…..Let the big boys take care of all the problems…you have a hard enogh time just taking care of yourself!
jimmymack
March 17th, 2011
10:09 pm
please let it work
Lakedawg
March 17th, 2011
10:26 pm
Timbo and Pulpwud both tech trolls on spring break. Dawgs ar e at the beach chasing women, drinking beer, these trolls are locked in with computers.
AltamahaDawg
March 17th, 2011
10:38 pm
Is it just me, or does it get really tiresome to read the same old worn out reteric posing as original content in the latest version of “A Characature of the Angry Dawg Fan”?
AltamahaDawg
March 17th, 2011
10:38 pm
game plan and adjustment
AltamahaDawg
March 17th, 2011
10:39 pm
and discipline
AltamahaDawg
March 17th, 2011
10:39 pm
and some other (fill in the blank) team of the moment
college is forever
March 18th, 2011
2:11 am
http://collegelunchboxes.com Don’t do anything stupid on Spring Break. (Like we did when we were your age) Go Dawgs!!
AltamahaDawg
March 18th, 2011
7:12 am
I suspect we will see Timbo back real soon as somebody new, posting exactly the same and pretending it’s original thought. The characature must continue to be perpetuated.
Reginald
March 18th, 2011
7:54 am
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Bremen Dawg
March 18th, 2011
8:23 am
Meyer put a criminal back on the field before they played us and beat us. I don’t they would have won without him.
Rooster
March 18th, 2011
8:47 am
Timbo, are you obsessed with Ealey and King? Why don’t you say what you want to their faces. You won’t because you hide behind a computer screen chickens@&/#!!!!!
Timbodog
March 18th, 2011
8:49 am
Nah I’m still here, “Altamaha.”
And I see you haven’t refuted anything I’ve actually said…you’ve just called me names cuz you don’t like hearing the TRUTH.
Markie is AVERAGE, and I do not understand why y’all keep defending him.
The longer we wait to get rid of this CHUMP, the harder it will be to get a REAL coach like Dan Mullen, who is strong in all three phases of the coaching game (recruiting, discipline, and scheming/making adjustments)
Timbodog
March 18th, 2011
8:56 am
Rooster,
I have said nothing negative about the kids themselves. RICHT is the one not disciplining them. He is the adult. They are kids who have not been taught any better. The “adults” in their lives have failed them.
Anything I have to say about Caleb or Washaun I would gladly say to their faces. Washaun showed a complete lack of respect for his teammates, coach, and school when he declined to show up for his punishment and he knows it.
Caleb has been accused of something far more dastardly, blackmailing a woman over $500 by threatening to humiliate her over the internet. IF Richt had done what he was supposed to do he could clear it all up. He could either confirm that he is convinced it didn’t happen or remove Caleb from the team. To do neither and just sweep it under the rug is entirely unacceptable.
Just maybe the .............
March 18th, 2011
8:58 am
ZM at UGA QB might have been a loser, happy go lucky personality at QB, vs the uptight, tense, nervous, choker, Batman gloved guy that ended up playing. Maybe the squad prefered the other guy, thusly a 6-7 season.
Who knows? History now.
2011 is the year for all to produce or the CMR regime is done. Murray has been in the UGA system now almost 3 years and he needs to win BIG, otherwise, he like Eric Zeir, will just have empty stats and forgotton soon.
Go Dogs.
Timbodog
March 18th, 2011
8:58 am
You see, telling a kid about their mistakes is not mean or rude or disrespectful. On the contrary, if you CARE about someone, you will gladly tell them about their mistakes and HELP them. These are still just kids, and the “adults” in their lives are failing them by not disciplining them.
Timbodog
March 18th, 2011
9:00 am
TOTALLY unfair to call Murray a “choker.” The kid was our best player last year. Did you expect that out of a freshman?
The AU home invaders are .........
March 18th, 2011
9:03 am
The AU home invaders are only the warm up act. The curtain will rise soon on the FBI’s extensive, exhaustive investigation of the systemic corruption between the AU staff, Alabama gambling thugs from Victoryland and winning tickets for Scam, Pappy Newton and half the AU team, for dog races that were never run.
AU ……………. the NFL is concerned about “character issues” ( lacking character) in Scam as a top draft choice. Are y’all still proud? I know AU grads and they are ashamed of Scam.
FBI will reveal it all and soon.
Nick
March 18th, 2011
9:33 am
Jury’s out on Mike Bobo. Richt’s given him a pass for AWFUL performance.
Bobo’s 2-9 against ranked teams over last 2 seasons.
Bobo is a whiz at the chirade of making his OVERALL STATS look great, while in reality, his team can’t perform well against good teams.
Bobo was 11th in scoring in the SEC against ranked teams. Averaged 18 points a game.
Nick
March 18th, 2011
9:35 am
Meant to say Bobo was 10th in scoring in SEC against teams with a winning record. 18 points a game ain’t good enough when leaders are at 30+
Timbodog
March 18th, 2011
9:42 am
Nick,
MARK is the boss…if Bobo has failed for so long, as you say, and Mark has done nothing about it, it is Mark’s failure…quit passing the buck.
Honestly, why does everyone constantly make excuses for Markie? MARK is 2-9 against ranked teams over the last 2-9 seasons. Nowhere else do the coordinators get the credit for the losses except in the minds of Richt apologists.
AltamahaDawg
March 18th, 2011
9:46 am
Timbo, Not sure what you would have expected me to refute. You state some overly simplistic theories laced with almost cartoon character type cliche’s like “scheming/game adjustment”, then declare yourself as having some insightful patent on truth.
Yea, we GET it. You Like Georgia, and the football team lost too many games. Guess what? They ain’t firing their head coach in the middle of March. And pretending like if you say it enough in a blog it might just happen, sounds juvenile. Try not having a college football coach be entirely responsible for carrying your nutsack from now on.
Nick
March 18th, 2011
10:00 am
If you compare Richt’s record againt winning teams when Richt was OC at FSU or Georgia, to Bobo’s, you’ll see the light.
Whisky Breath
March 18th, 2011
10:35 am
Mark Richt and discipline? Come on Bill, in 10 years he has never been known for a hard ass. He kicks players off because he had to, not because of a strong moral fiber. In fact, he probably considers discipline to much work. I guess this is what the homers want to hear. The only hard ass coaches left are people like Steve Spurrier. I know, I am not supposed to bring up his name. You must have caught to much crap about your last article.
Rooster
March 18th, 2011
10:36 am
I said it before and I’ll say it again, Richt should have been fired after the bowl game whe he didn’t go for it on fourth and inches. He showed his true coaching abilities at that point. And now he showed us agin with this Crowell incident.
Timbodog
March 18th, 2011
10:48 am
Agreed, Rooster…you think Mike Smith would have kicked a field goal in that situation?
Coach Richt
March 18th, 2011
10:54 am
Moral fibre? I invented moral fibre! Mark Richt was displaying rectitude and high-mindedness when you was still messing in yore drawers!
buckeyedawg
March 18th, 2011
11:12 am
sports illus. and cbs news reported schools with most drug, violent and serious offenses reported:1-pitt 2-iowa 3-arkansas 4-penn st 5-BOISE ST 10-MIAMI 11-OHIO ST 12FLORIDA 15-ALA 19-GA TECH 22-LSU 25TCU.. And if i understood correctly our DAWGS finished outside the top 25!!! I guess we are soooo bad.