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.
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131 comments Add your comment
Rooster
March 18th, 2011
11:26 am
Hell no Mike Smith would not have kicked no damn field goal.
tcdawg
March 18th, 2011
11:33 am
I like CMR, but I was skeptical his first year against Auburn. Chance to win the game in the final seconds, and CMR runs Sanks on the goaline on 3rd down with no timeouts! He didnt get out of bounds or score a TD. Time expired, and the Dawgs lose to AU.
dawgster
March 18th, 2011
12:05 pm
@TimboDog…tell you what…why don’t you go up to some of our players and call them losers or our coaches to their faces. thought so…you don’t have the guts, but you can sit behind the protection of your computer…Sorry, little buddy, but you are talking and bashing my school, a school you say you support…do us all a favor and find a team that you can support, that meets all your expectations….but please don’t support the dawgs or our coaches, we don’t need you…good luck with your other team….go dawgs
Ed (The Original)
March 18th, 2011
12:07 pm
“Why are we losing to Auburn and Alabama and giving ground to SOUTH FREAKIN CAROLINA?”
Our coach sucks, Timbodog. I hate the corner many Georgia fans find themselves in this year – we pull for UGA because we love it and that’s what we do, but Georgia’s success means at least a year or more of Richt mediocrity. An extra year or more of the obligatory loss to Florida. An extra year or more of watching some other SEC team go to the national title game. It’s lose-lose.
Ed (The Original)
March 18th, 2011
12:20 pm
“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…he instilled NO discipline and was not a particularly good game-day (Xs and Os) coach.”
Gotta call B.S. on you there, Timbodog. Except for the discipline part, which I’ll concede. But if you think Bobby Bowden was anything less than a coaching genius, you must be too young to remember him in the 70s, 80s and 90s. FSU didn’t start stockpiling superior talent until the early 90s, but Bowden did remarkable things before then with a program that was lower than UCF is today.
Bowden ran out of gas around 2000, and should have retired then. What happened the last decade was sad to see and it tarnished his legacy. But that doesn’t detract from what he was in his prime. He took FSU to places like Oklahoma and won back when Oklahoma was king and FSU wasn’t anything.
Spurrier was 5-8-1 against Bowden at the height of Spurrier’s success at UF. That alone should garner your respect.
dawgster
March 18th, 2011
12:27 pm
@ED(the original)…lets see until this year we had beaten Au 4 yrs running, guess what under Coach Richt, I believe he is 3-1 against Bama..9-1 against Tech…Wow, USC wins the east this year with one of their bast teams ever and yes they beat us, with one of our worst teams in a while…didn’t we beat them the year before?…Hey we did….The only valid or reasinable statement that you make is our lack of success against the gators…Well if memory serves me, alot of teams in the SEC have been in our boat and I believe our previous coaches had a tough time winning against the gators on any consistancy….We do need to get that fixed, no doubt..I assume another coach brought in here will guaratee that…Bottomline, is go find another team along with your “pal” ttimbodog…The majority of the dawgs fanbase support our team thru the hard times and the good times…Maybe you forget the 90’s…I haven’t…Does that mean any of us are happy about the last two seasons…no….and i can guarantee you that the players, coaches, AD and others that support UGA are doing everything in their power to try and turn things around…If that doesn’t happen this year or next, then i suspect you and timbodog will get your way…And then there you will be right back on the bandwagon…that is until we lose some games, maybe that FREAKIN CAROLINA…go dawgs
dawgster
March 18th, 2011
12:35 pm
tcdawg…don’t believe that Coach Richt is the first or only coach that has made a mistake during a game…I have seen some of the greatest coaches the game has seen make mistakes…Had Sanks scored what would your story be…great call….the point is that during a game situation alot of things, even though you work on the situations over and over…and let me tell you from direct experience, situations like that are worked on all the time and you try to prepare for game winning situations, when you don’t have any timeout just to name one scenerio….I have seen Coach Miles at LSU do some of the craziest things during a game, and fortunately it worked out alot of times, but it wasn’t because they practiced it that way, i can assure you….Anyway, don’t doubt Coach Richt’s ability to coach, no he doesn’t get it right all the time, but remember as with any staff, its the whole coaching staff that puts a gameplan together…go dawgs
AltamahaDawg
March 18th, 2011
1:18 pm
Wow! So any team that has lost to Auburn this past year, or Alabama during their best run in a long time, must have done so because their coach sucks? That’s a pretty crowded room.
As far as Carolin streaming past us, I would expect that a program with as much money, fan base, facilities as anyone else, employing one the better coaches in country with 4 decades of experience in several conferences and the NFL, would find a way to manage to not completely shoot themselves in the foot to have a decent (not even great) year every now and then.
dawgster
March 18th, 2011
1:26 pm
@AltamahaDawg…right back at you…great comments…exactly what i was trying to get across to the so called ‘dawg fans” …go dawgs
Dawg Fud
March 18th, 2011
1:56 pm
Zach Beiber…classic.
Dawg Fud
March 18th, 2011
1:57 pm
Ed (The Original)
Ditto. Well said re: Bowden.
7576DAWG
March 18th, 2011
3:27 pm
CMR has done a great job making UGA a respectable power in the SEC. Coaches have to prepare very hard every year for UGA , Florida take the week off before every Georgia game. That’s how serious they are about the Georgia game.
Donnan was a great coach and recruiter but couldn’t beat Tech. I think most of the big money and power players that back Georgia will always put must wins as Georgia Tech, Auburn and Florida. If we are competitive against Auburn, Florida , Tennessee, Alabama and LSU , and beat them at least half the time most can accept it as long as the overall record is 9-3 or no worst than 8-4. But lose to GT and you will get fired, as Donnan found out.
For me personally I like GT and Florida because my Father is from the state of Florida and I grew up liking the Gators and my brother graduated from GT but I have a strong dislike , and I am being nice, for Auburn because their program has not had the integrity and other values I expect from the SEC schools ever since the Shug Jordan days when I was at Georgia.
jalexan49
March 18th, 2011
3:48 pm
Coach Richt: Just continue doing what you and your staff are doing. There’s no need to let armchair coaches and quarterback like myself get to you guys. I wish you and the Georgia program the best in 2011. I personally believe with the new conditioning program and if Coach Bobo let’s the offense be more explosive and creative coupled with what Coach Grantham and his staff seems to be bringing together, it could be an exciting season for Georgia fans.
I hope the “Junkyard Dawgs” statement comes back into play. Let’s get an identity for this team and what could be more prominent and decisive than this statement?
I’ve been a die-hard fan of Georgia for many years and believe that all is not lost, and there is a new direction and winning tradition once again, upon this team. Players stay focus, give all for your school, your fans, and your family. Everytime you step on the field you are representing all of these entities whether you want it to be or not. So get it right.
To those that haven’t gotten the coaches attention.. What the h__ll are you waiting for? Your time at Georgia will be over before you know it, and then all you have will be could’ve, should’ve and what might have been.
To those that aren’t giving your all.. then take off the uniform and get another set of colors, because this is not what these colors represent.. If you don’t believe it, then take time to view people who have played your position with passion and commitment and see how “you stack against them”. If you can’t compare, then either increase your level of play or go bye,bye, because you are disrespecting the uniform, school, and players who committed and gave their all before you.
Your time at Georgia has to have value and something that you can look back on as a defining moment in your life, otherwise??
To all who are dedicated and committed to the program.. I salute you and it’s an honor to say “that’s a Georgia football player and a Junkyard Dawg”.
AltamahaDawg
March 18th, 2011
3:59 pm
Well actually dawgster, I am not really that big on putting folks folks into the “not a true fan” camp. As far as I know everyone in here (excluding the trolls) are all great fans, big fans. Some more than others I suppose depending on a personal definition. I suppose one could consider the definition of a fan, and the only real defined job of a fan, and use that, but clearly in these days of internet and high drama, the lines are way past just giving it that Ol’ college try. So to me being hyper-critical does not mean not being a real fan.
I do find it completely hypocritical and pompous when I see somebody suggest that they are MORE of a fan based on how loud they complain when things don’t go well, especially when they don’t actually DO anything about it but can still belittling everyone else as losers or appologist for doing no less. If that were true then also they would be proportionately that much more proud and supportive than anyone else in the good time, and I don’t think so.
So to me, when I see folks in blog insisting that UGA should fire the head coach of the football team in the midst of spring practice, It neither impresses me with their passion, nor causes me to question their fandom. (I question thier and scope of reality), but not thier colors.
In fact I don’t think the over the top negative attitude really has much to do with the coach, game, or sport, to be honest. I think that’s just a personal thing.
AltamahaDawg
March 18th, 2011
4:02 pm
thier *grasp* and
Ed (The Original)
March 18th, 2011
7:56 pm
“CMR has done a great job making UGA a respectable power in the SEC.”
Butts and Dooley did that. All Richt did was start off like Dooley but morph into Goff once his top assistant left.
AltamahaDawg
March 18th, 2011
9:19 pm
Dooley put out some teams that he would have traded for any that Goff had. Figured it out and recovered. Several time as a matter of fact.
Hut hut hut
March 18th, 2011
9:29 pm
I wonder if any of the books about UGA football include the perspective of someone speaking for the late Jan Kemp? The perspective that “student” athletes like Lindsay Scott were playing years without taking college level courses? That the proudest moment of the football program was earned by players who never earned a single college credit?
Dawgtards love to return to 1980, but their memories are really short when it comes to remembering an earthshaking event that happened a few years later that showed the world what a joke UGA athletes were and what a scam artist their beloved Vince Dooley was (and is). So for all those dawgtards with short memories or who think their athletes are actually taking real courses and trying to graduate, here’s the quote that broke the trial wide open and showed what a slimeball Dooley is:
O. Hale Almand Jr., a lawyer for the defense, offered a justification for the favorable treatment accorded the athletes, citing a hypothetical player. “We may not make a university student out of him,” he told the jury, “but if we can teach him to read and write, maybe he can work at the post office rather than as a garbageman when he gets through with his athletic career.”
Nothing has changed at UGA, they just do a slightly better job of keeping things quiet, but that’s hard to do when 44 of your player-thugs have been arrested, isn’t it?
UGA: WINNER OF THE FULMER CUP AND THE CESSPOOL OF THE SOUTH.
IRISH DAWG
March 19th, 2011
12:33 am
AT LESS, GEORGIA PLAYERS ARE NOT OUT ROBBING TRAILER PARKS IN AUBURN. AUBURN THE FULMER CUP WINNERS FOR 2011.
legionaire
March 19th, 2011
7:09 am
As long as thugs are recruited, there will be problems, i.e. Auburn. 17-21 year olds will do crazy stuff. I think back to my youth and the only thing that staightened me out was a hitch in the Army. I went back and got my degree after I was discharged. Good luck to CMR this season.
Timbodog
March 19th, 2011
9:11 am
“dawgster,”
You sound like more of a Mark fan than a Dawg fan. I have not ONCE called any of the players losers, but nice try…I have called Mark a loser and I would have no problem calling him that to his face.
Your ad hominem attacks towards me and others who disagree with you show your true colors. You’re nothing but a Richt apologist.
AltamahaDawg
March 19th, 2011
10:09 am
You have to admire UGA for doing a better job of keeping things guite now. I guess the internet and 24 hr news cycles weren’t as easy to tame 20 years ago.
AltamahaDawg
March 19th, 2011
10:27 am
It’s a good thing that actions, or actually having any plan whatsoever to do something even slightly different than the Richt apologist, isn’t the criteria to judge who is one and who is not one in here.
Coach Richt
March 19th, 2011
10:47 am
Apologize for what? Giving you the best run since the early 80’s?
AltamahaDawg
March 19th, 2011
1:13 pm
Yea, I’ve never understood the term either. Who is apologizing? And what for? And why would it be any one’s place to apologize for somebody else. And what would be gained from doing that? Just another worn out term, cut and copied in here, as a substitution for an actual point. Richt is a grown man and perfectly capable of explaining his own actions, is solely responsible for turning the team back to it’s normal winning ways, and that will all work out one way or the other.
The only apologies I have right now is: “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I don’t buy this pretence of actually suggesting that we are going to fire the head football coach in the middle of spring practice having anything to do with him at this point, and not just the miserably disguised ego stroke that it is”.
AltamahaDawg
March 19th, 2011
8:03 pm
Enter your comments here
TImbodog
March 20th, 2011
1:46 pm
You’re a Richt apologist cuz you’re making excuses for him as if you’re his wife or something. You’re elevating Richt above the program. Honestly, what has Richt done better than Donnan? Richt can’t beat Florida, just the same as Donnan.
And no, we’re obviously not going to fire him right now, but it would have been a good decision after that pathetic showing in the Fight Boredom Bowl.
AltamahaDawg
March 20th, 2011
2:42 pm
What excuses have I made for him? Name a few.
What have a I said that leads you to say I am elevating him above the program? Anything specific?
Beating one particular team is not how I define my college football experience.
And great, you think they should have fired him, THEN. That’s a perfectly fine opinion. But you have a decision to make, NOW. You haven’t done a very good job or doing that yet. You’re still pretending.
AltamahaDawg
March 20th, 2011
3:03 pm
And even though I fully expect the fellow who claims that he “would call Mark Richt a Loser to his face”, (you had to feel the entire room smirk and roll thir eyes when you said that) will adamantly disagree with this, I am certain had YOU been sitting in Greg McGarity’s chair after the bowl loss, you would not have fired your head coach at that point. Because you would have a tad more to consider than your own false bravado.
AltamahaDawg
March 21st, 2011
10:23 am
Is this like some sort of circular logic test?
If you don’t say we need a new coach in the middle of March, that makes you an apologist.
What apologies?
You are an apologist becasue you make excuses for him.
What excuses?
You make excuses for him by not saying we need a new coach in the middle of March????
AltamahaDawg
March 21st, 2011
5:48 pm
Timmy?
Timmy?