Once again, Evans backs Richt but makes his point
"Ball's in your court, Coach." (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Damon Evans keeps saying he has the utmost confidence in Mark Richt. “Our head coach is very good at what he does,” Evans told esteemed colleague Tim Tucker on Wednesday. But Richt’s boss also keeps saying, in a subtle yet unmistakable way, that he and Georgia fans are right to expect better.
Which would not seem to indicate that the AD has the utmost confidence in, say, Willie Martinez.
Twice now Evans has hit the proper notes. (He did it first in an e-mail to this correspondent last month, when he wrote he had “some concerns about where we are at this point of the season.”) Twice he has expressed full support for Richt, and twice he has said he expects the coach to take corrective measures.
Translation: I’m with you, Coach, but I also want action.
Without saying exactly what Georgia fans want to hear, Evans has nonetheless made it clear he feels their pain. (Evans to Tucker: “They are passionate about the Bulldogs, which I’m grateful for. Their expectations for our football program are high because we have high expectations for ourselves.”) No, he’s not going to fire Richt, but he wants the highest-salaried man in the big-money athletics department to know his high salary carries a responsibility.
There’s no reason Georgia shouldn’t win big under Richt. It has before, and its resources haven’t dried up. But the Bulldogs are 7-6 over the past 53 weeks and have yielded 40 points in five of those games. And it isn’t just that Georgia is losing; it’s that the Bulldogs seem to have lost direction.
Damon Evans didn’t hire Mark Richt, and he obviously doesn’t want to fire him. (Nor should he. Richt deserves the chance to coach his way out of this.) But Richt isn’t winning the way he did from 2002 through 2005, and when you aren’t getting results you must change your method. If that means hiring a new coordinator — or two new coordinators and two new line coaches — that’s what the man in charge has to do. And that’s what Richt’s boss keeps hinting he wants to see.
And if I’m a Georgia fan, that’s exactly what I need to know: That Damon Evans wants to win every bit as much as I do.
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273 comments Add your comment
Brandon from Warner Robins
November 5th, 2009
12:01 am
Am I first?
Good read, Mark. I agree with you and Damon Evans.
Courtney
November 5th, 2009
12:06 am
Let Martinez go!
Mark Bradley
November 5th, 2009
12:07 am
You’re first, Brandon. Kudos. (And thanks.)
some guy
November 5th, 2009
12:08 am
youd think id get tired of reading about the train wreck in athens, but i dont. keep up the good work.
Mutley
November 5th, 2009
12:08 am
Suzanne Youclan for AD and John Gruden for football coach.
Mark Bradley
November 5th, 2009
12:14 am
Thanks, Some Guy.
For what it’s worth, I can’t imagine any circumstance under which Martinez returns as defensive coordinator.
Drew
November 5th, 2009
12:18 am
If Willie Martinez is truly a friend to Mark Richt, he won’t force him to fire his DC. Willie should step up and be man enough to resign and forego his six figure salary because, let’s face it, in the business of college football results are everything. Willie hasn’t delivered, and he therefore isn’t earning the right to keep his position with the program. While I doubt Willie will step up and make this easy on his pal Mark, I am hopeful he’ll prove me wrong. After all, there should be a way out of this mess that allows Mark richt to remain the “nice guy” coach who stands by his staff, and still go out and get a new DC. With the resources GA football has, Damon Evans can give Willie a modest buyout in exchange for a resignation at the end of 2009.
Mark Bradley
November 5th, 2009
12:20 am
I imagine something like that will happen, Drew.
Tech Fan
November 5th, 2009
12:21 am
I’m a Tech Fan, as the name implies, and some may think I am biased for that. But I believe Richt is a fine coach and a good man and is good for UGA. Frankly, it’s difficult to sustain the “Good Old-Fashioned Hatred” for the Dogs with Richt there (and I’m not talking about W’s and L’s). But there are problems that need to be fixed and Richt needs to fix them. The so-called Jaw-Ja fans who want to fire him need to quit quaffing tractor fumes and let the man do his job. He’s had a lot more success at Georgia than his doom-sayers have had in their own jobs.
A DAWG in aubarn
November 5th, 2009
12:23 am
We all know that some changes are coming but UGA still needs to finish the season strong and with support from the fans. GO DAWGS!!!!!
Wheat
November 5th, 2009
12:27 am
Evans has done an excellent job in playing his role in the situation. A good sign for Georgia athletics as a whole. I am 100% on board with the need for Martinez to resign/get fired. But some of the loudest fans that are yelling for firings now need to relax. Ask Tommy Tubberville how firing his offensive coordinator in the middle of the year worked out for him. And Franklin was much worse for that program than Martinez is for Georgia. These types of decisions need to be made in early December, after the regular season, and while the quality coordinators that are open to moving are still available. Richt will make it right. As long as he’s been at Georgia, when things have broken down, he’s turned it around. How quickly us Dawg fans forget. Until he proves otherwise, I have confidence that he will do it again.
Mark Bradley
November 5th, 2009
12:29 am
I, too, have been impressed by Evans. This isn’t easy for for any athletics director.
Wheat
November 5th, 2009
12:32 am
And while I don’t want to see Richt take over offensive coordinator again, I would be very excited if he took the role of quarterbacks coach back. Would Stafford have reached all of that untapped potential with Richt, that he couldn’t quite unleash with Bobo? Will Bobo ever coach up two qb’s well enough to win heisman trophies?
Coastal Dawg
November 5th, 2009
12:42 am
Agree with you entirely Mark. You have been spot-on with this blog and others. CMR should only be on the hot seat presently to make the changes is his staff. However, the really frustrating thing is that this decision should have been made at the end of last season. Anyone with a brain could see last year that the defense was spiraling downward. It doesn’t take a genius as you have pointed out in the past. That is the beef with CMR: that he has failed to acknowledge our problems and that he rather takes the point that we are clueless and have no right to question him. We aren’t in the “arena”. We know nothing about kickoffs. Many of us have competed in some sporting event on a high level and feel that comment is crap. You don’t have to be a chef trained at the French Culinary Institute to know if you are having a good meal.
CMR has been given a “pass” thus far and he has earned it. We expect him to continue to earn it. As Jeff S noted, there needs to be a little tension in Athens.
kfc
November 5th, 2009
12:43 am
Is CMR going to impale himself as a result of his inability to make changes. We all say he can coach, and yes he can or maybe, yes he has, is it past tense? Can he not see what we, the loyal alumni, the crazed fan, the local and national media, see? Are all of those factions stupid, too rabid to make a serious review, did we all get stupider than we were in 2002 thru 2005?? The program lacks accountability.
What if CMR bails and resigns, ala Bill McCartney. Don’t be surprised!
Zac
November 5th, 2009
12:47 am
Great read Mark. I know the talent has to “make the tackles” and it doesn’t always come down to X’s and O’s but with Georgia’s recruiting class always ranked so high, in your opinion, does any of this come down to recruiting the wrong type of players for the system?
Mark Bradley
November 5th, 2009
12:50 am
I think Georgia fails to play to its recruits’ strengths on defense. A talented team should force the issue, not backpedal.
observor
November 5th, 2009
12:52 am
I like and respect Richt as a person. However, I am starting to really call in to question his ability as a CEO, which is his ultimate job. The bottom line is that Richt has one year to show that he truly is a great HC/CEO by making the difficult, yet blatant, changes that are necessary for any organization to realize success. If UGA goes into next season with the same coaching staff, and fails to win an SEC championship, then Richt deserves to be fired at that point for complete negligence.
74 UGA grad
November 5th, 2009
12:54 am
Has it occurred to anyone that maybe this team just isn’t that talented, and instead of obsessing over the coach’s style and ability, there should be some examination of how much talent this team actually has?
The offense lost the No. 1 pick in last year’s NFL draft, one of the 2 or 3 best RBs in the country and a receiver who is starting in the pros as a rookie. While people keep dumping on Stafford’s replacement, he has done a better job than the trio of TBs and the non-productive group of WRs whose job it is to take some of the load off Green.
A big part of the problem in evaluating what has gone wrong in Athens this season is that so many people in and out of the media have bought the BS produced by the so-called recruiting gurus.
If the recruiting gurus say a player is big time, it must be true. If the player winds up a flop in college, it must be some reason other than the recruiting “experts” were wrong.
How much talent a team has is best borne out by how many of them are playing in the NFL a few years later, and how much they are producing. Not by how many of them were high school All-Americans four or five years previously.
There are not a whole lot of guys on the current team who are going to be playing on Sundays after they turn in their college jerseys.
A few years back, I watched one of the current Bulldogs play in a state playoff game at the Georgia Dome. It was obvious from just a cursory view that Georgia should not have offered him a scholarship. But they gave him one and he’s spent the last few seasons taking up space on the sidelines.
I doubt he’s alone in that regard. The Georgia coaches may or may not be doing a very job of coaching (whoever coaches the DBs definitely ain’t getting it done), but I really wonder how well they’re recruiting.
Just because the various recruiting guides say the ‘Dogs have great talent doesn’t make it so, and this team simply appears to be outmatched in talent by the other top tier SEC games. They’ve probably been out-coached as well, which hopefully will be rectified at the end of the season, when the defensive coordinator is finally dismissed.
I realize that columnists/commentators are paid big bucks to delve into every aspect of the performance of head coaches and QBs, but a little analysis of other elements of a team would be welcome.
kfc
November 5th, 2009
12:54 am
Agreed. We rarely “force our will” on the opponent. We rarely dictate, we mostly react, and we tend to react poorly.
David
November 5th, 2009
12:56 am
Mark,
In another AJC article (sorry I do not have the exact article or who it was by, but it was within the last two weeks) it was stated to a highly touted recruit that Willie Martinez was staying in place next year to assure the recruit to keep his commitment to UGA. I think he was a defesive back.
Was that an error in the article or did they just say what they needed to keep the recruit and after signing day will do what you think might happen and get rid of Willie in some fashion (resign, fire, buyout)?
That could be VERY PROBLEMATIC if they told a recruit that and then after signing day go against their assurance.
Can you check on that and verify if indeed they did tell this kid that Willie is staying next year and did not mislead him by demoting Willie to a position other than DC as the kid expects and why he is keeping his commitment with UGA and then post what you find out?
Even if Willie is on the staff and not the Defensive Leader (DC) and he will not have control of that defense they would have manipulated how they assured this kid and then future commits will go to other programs as other recruiters would use that against UGA in recruiting as an example of ethical practices and then all these 5 star kids will start to be 4 star kids coming to UGA.
That could be good if you think about it anyhow as 5 of the past 6 years UGA has top 10 recruiting classes and has talent out the ying yang at most every position two and three deep, but it is just not materializing on the field the way it should.
With that type of recruiting history UGA should have been recognized as a USC, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida on the national scene, but they are only really respected in the SouthEast as everyone else thinks of Florida, LSU & Alabama when thinking of SEC football and UGA is regarding as a second tier (although top of the second tier) program to everyone outside of the South.
I understand that some 5 star kids do not pan out, but going back to my question you have to get as many as you can so you get a Stafford, AJ Green, etc.. and if UGA’s staff did mislead this star recruit to get him in the program then fire or get rid of Willie Martinez in any fashion other than im being the head of the Defense next year have they not then taken a step back in credibility in the eys of future recruits?
I apologize for the long post, but I just hope the other article had an error or was misinformation as these star recruits do not need to be lured into false beliefs and then if they want to transfer out due to something not being the way they were led to believe before signing these kids are the ones that suffer as they could not play DIV1 football for a year and would have to sit out or play D1AA or whatever they call it now.
Again can you find out if indeed UGA stated to this star defensive recruit that Willie WILL be there next year and what they told him exactly and then let us know?
I will check back in the morning and thanks Mark,
Dave
garry
November 5th, 2009
12:58 am
I think to be a Championship team you must start with a defense first and formost Florida and Bama are good now because they stress tough physical defensive play in our Glory years we were the Junkyard Dawgs that was defense.Rennee Currian is probably florida and bamas only starter.Lets bring Kirby Smart back to UGA to run our defense and put all the blue chippers on that side of the ball.
Dawgaholic
November 5th, 2009
1:01 am
Get ready for Murray in 2010, and the fun and gun offense!!! Also get ready for Tommy Tubberville on the sideline with Richt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go Dawgs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
kfc
November 5th, 2009
1:03 am
Why not TT as DC!
observor
November 5th, 2009
1:05 am
Hey 74 — Has it occurred to you that these are the coaches that are recruiting these players??? Has it occurred to you that they are the ones charged with coaching up these players??? The bottom line is that every major college out there recruited and offered scholarships to most players on our roster. However, they still play like a bunch of clueless idiots most games. I wonder why that is????
While I think the recruiting gurus are vastly overrated, I find it interesting that all the other schools that are recruiting in the same class as us are playing much better then we are. This makes me believe that perhaps the recruiting guys are perhaps correct and our coaches are becoming lazy and complacent. Let’s face it, our recruiting rankings are right there with USC, UF, Bama, LSU, OSU, OU, Texas, etc…..yet we are the one program that seems to completely underachieve. I don’t blame the recruiting services, as the other schools have vindicated their rankings. I blame the coaching staff at UGA for being completely complacent and inept fools.
BugKiller
November 5th, 2009
1:08 am
If certain “insider” reports can be believed, and the source of this information is never one to flout any special knowledge or self-promote his ties to inside info like some guys (ahem, Mike Florio, ahem), then the news is not good.
It seems, this coming from someone inside Butts-Mehre, that Mark Richt is “fanatically” devoted to Willie Martinez and has absolutely no plans to fire him or anyone else on his staff.
On Richt’s call-in show Monday night, Fred from Savannah laid out the exact same FACTS about Willie’s horrible tenure as Georgia’s worst DC ever that I have been quoting for two years: How under Martinez, the Dawgs have given up more yards per game and more points per game, EVERY YEAR.
When Fred was done and implored Richt to do the right thing for his team and replace Martinez, Richt very tersley thanked him and made a remark about Fred’s “opinion.”
This is what we Georgia fans have to deal with in Mark Richt now.
He refuses to see the truth. He refuses to see the facts.
A man puts it out there for him in undeniable truth, and Richt thanks the man for his “opinions,” as if it were possible that the information wasn’t factual and accurate.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Mark Richt LOST the moral authority to coach this team the moment he put his personal relationship with Willie Martinez ahead of what was and is in the best interests of our team. He no longer deserves to coach the Dawgs. He has lost that privledge.
The Georgia Bulldogs deserve a man who is willing to do whatever it takes to win (within the rules) and is willing to put his program in the best position to win, both NOW and in the future.
Richt has shown, time and again, that he is not that kind of man. Sticking with Joe Cox now means that next year, with no Teblow in Florida and the East there for the picking, Georgia is AGAIN behind the 8 Ball, with no QB who has any kind of meaningful experience.
I’m sorry to have to be the realist here, Coach, but the season IS OVER. I’m sorry for your seniors, but the season IS OVER! You’ll be LUCKY to finish 6-6. Me, I can’t see this undisciplined mess of a football team beating Kentucky, let alone Auburn or Tech. I believe we finish 5-7, and I’d like to see Evans NOT fire Richt if that happens. There’d be a riot with the boosters, making life miserable for him AND Adams.
That brings up another point: for over two years now, this team has been playing stupid, undisciplined football, and the guy at the top has had a cavalier attitude about it the whole time.
Do you think Meyer, Saban, Miles, or even Kiffin, would allow their teams to be so stupid and undisciplined, beating themselves time and time again?
Richt has fostered a kind of attitude in his program that goes against everything that Georgia SHOULD be about. Does anyone one of y’all actually doubt the fact that Spikes WAS retaliating for something one of our guys did to him? I believe him. I believe one of our players cheap-shotted him or tried to hurt him with a dirty ploy. And THAT is the kind of team we have representing our beloved University now.
119th out of 120 in penalties.
119th out of 120 in turnovers.
I’m sorry, but this is NOT a football program we can be proud of, and it all falls on Richt.
I said at the beginning of the year that this program lacks accountability, particularly with Richt’s favorite players (Cox) and his coaches. Jeff Schultz just cribbed off of some of my rants during the Okie State game and wrote a blog about just that.
This is a program in DEEP decline.
Fire Mark Richt NOW. End the decline. Stop the bleeding. You know coaches have NO legs to stand on when they start talking about their overall record. Larry Coker did the SAME thing before he was fire. “I have a great overall record at Miami!” And Coker WON A CHAMPIONSHIP! But he let his program devolve into horrible behavior and undisciplined play and it turned into losses on the field. The SAME situation we’re in.
That guy won an MNC and was fired. And we can’t fire Richt? How does that make sense?
Our program deserves much better than Richt.
Our program deserves Kyle Whittingham. Our program deserves Brian Kelly.
The problem is, because Evans has no spine, he’s not going to fire Richt, who will refuse to fire Martinez, and next year, we’ll be in the same exact place.
But Whittingham and Kelly will be coaching at Michigan, or West Virginia, or Clemson, or some other big program, and we’ll be stuck with crap.
Fire Mark Richt now, and make the bleeding stop.
Tech Guy
November 5th, 2009
1:09 am
Tech Fan hit the nail on the head…It is hard to hat Richt…I know him from FSU..I liked him there…He needs to Shake things up…No offense..but loyalty to friends has no place in business relationships…
BugKiller
November 5th, 2009
1:10 am
If certain “insider” reports can be believed, and the source of this information is never one to flout any special knowledge or self-promote his ties to inside info like some guys (ahem, Mike Florio, ahem), then the news is not good.
It seems, this coming from someone inside Butts-Mehre, that Mark Richt is “fanatically” devoted to Willie Martinez and has absolutely no plans to fire him or anyone else on his staff.
On Richt’s call-in show Monday night, Fred from Savannah laid out the exact same FACTS about Willie’s horrible tenure as Georgia’s worst DC ever that I have been quoting for two years: How under Martinez, the Dawgs have given up more yards per game and more points per game, EVERY YEAR.
When Fred was done and implored Richt to do the right thing for his team and replace Martinez, Richt very tersley thanked him and made a remark about Fred’s “opinion.”
This is what we Georgia fans have to deal with in Mark Richt now.
He refuses to see the truth. He refuses to see the facts.
A man puts it out there for him in undeniable truth, and Richt thanks the man for his “opinions,” as if it were possible that the information wasn’t factual and accurate.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Mark Richt LOST the moral authority to coach this team the moment he put his personal relationship with Willie Martinez ahead of what was and is in the best interests of our team. He no longer deserves to coach the Dawgs. He has lost that privledge.
The Georgia Bulldogs deserve a man who is willing to do whatever it takes to win (within the rules) and is willing to put his program in the best position to win, both NOW and in the future.
Richt has shown, time and again, that he is not that kind of man. Sticking with Joe Cox now means that next year, with no Teblow in Florida and the East there for the picking, Georgia is AGAIN behind the 8 Ball, with no QB who has any kind of meaningful experience.
I’m sorry to have to be the realist here, Coach, but the season IS OVER. I’m sorry for your seniors, but the season IS OVER! You’ll be LUCKY to finish 6-6. Me, I can’t see this undisciplined mess of a football team beating Kentucky, let alone Auburn or Tech. I believe we finish 5-7, and I’d like to see Evans NOT fire Richt if that happens. There’d be a riot with the boosters, making life miserable for him AND Adams.
That brings up another point: for over two years now, this team has been playing stupid, undisciplined football, and the guy at the top has had a cavalier attitude about it the whole time.
Do you think Meyer, Saban, Miles, or even Kiffin, would allow their teams to be so stupid and undisciplined, beating themselves time and time again?
Richt has fostered a kind of attitude in his program that goes against everything that Georgia SHOULD be about. Does anyone one of y’all actually doubt the fact that Spikes WAS retaliating for something one of our guys did to him? I believe him. I believe one of our players cheap-shotted him or tried to hurt him with a dirty ploy. And THAT is the kind of team we have representing our beloved University now.
119th out of 120 in penalties.
119th out of 120 in turnovers.
I’m sorry, but this is NOT a football program we can be proud of, and it all falls on Richt.
I said at the beginning of the year that this program lacks accountability, particularly with Richt’s favorite players (Cox) and his coaches. Jeff Schultz just cribbed off of some of my rants during the Okie State game and wrote a blog about just that.
This is a program in DEEP decline.
Fire Mark Richt NOW. End the decline. Stop the bleeding. You know coaches have NO legs to stand on when they start talking about their overall record. Larry Coker did the SAME thing before he was fire. “I have a great overall record at Miami!” And Coker WON A CHAMPIONSHIP! But he let his program devolve into horrible behavior and undisciplined play and it turned into losses on the field. The SAME situation we’re in.
That guy won an MNC and was fired. And we can’t fire Richt? How does that make sense?
Our program deserves much better than Richt.
Our program deserves Kyle Whittingham. Our program deserves Brian Kelly.
The problem is, because Evans has no spine, he’s not going to fire Richt, who will refuse to fire Martinez, and next year, we’ll be in the same exact place.
But Whittingham and Kelly will be coaching at Michigan, or West Virginia, or Clemson, or some other big program, and we’ll be stuck with crap.
Fire Mark Richt now, and make the bleeding stop!
kfc
November 5th, 2009
1:11 am
I agree with observor. Did we offer to anybody at Cincinnati, Boise St. TCU, etc, or guess what, Georgia Tech? Good point observor!
observor
November 5th, 2009
1:12 am
kfc — There is no way TT will come here or anywhere else as a DC. The man will have plenty of opportunities to become a head coach again….
BugKiller
November 5th, 2009
1:13 am
If certain “insider” reports can be believed, and the source of this information is never one to flout any special knowledge or self-promote his ties to inside info like some guys (ahem, Mike Florio, ahem), then the news is not good.
It seems, this coming from someone inside Butts-Mehre, that Mark Richt is “fanatically” devoted to Willie Martinez and has absolutely no plans to fire him or anyone else on his staff.
On Richt’s call-in show Monday night, Fred from Savannah laid out the exact same FACTS about Willie’s horrible tenure as Georgia’s worst DC ever that I have been quoting for two years: How under Martinez, the Dawgs have given up more yards per game and more points per game, EVERY YEAR.
When Fred was done and implored Richt to do the right thing for his team and replace Martinez, Richt very tersley thanked him and made a remark about Fred’s “opinion.”
This is what we Georgia fans have to deal with in Mark Richt now.
He refuses to see the truth. He refuses to see the facts.
A man puts it out there for him in undeniable truth, and Richt thanks the man for his “opinions,” as if it were possible that the information wasn’t factual and accurate.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Mark Richt LOST the moral authority to coach this team the moment he put his personal relationship with Willie Martinez ahead of what was and is in the best interests of our team. He no longer deserves to coach the Dawgs. He has lost that privledge.
The Georgia Bulldogs deserve a man who is willing to do whatever it takes to win (within the rules) and is willing to put his program in the best position to win, both NOW and in the future.
Richt has shown, time and again, that he is not that kind of man. Sticking with Joe Cox now means that next year, with no Teblow in Florida and the East there for the picking, Georgia is AGAIN behind the 8 Ball, with no QB who has any kind of meaningful experience.
I’m sorry to have to be the realist here, Coach, but the season IS OVER. I’m sorry for your seniors, but the season IS OVER! You’ll be LUCKY to finish 6-6. Me, I can’t see this undisciplined mess of a football team beating Kentucky, let alone Auburn or Tech. I believe we finish 5-7, and I’d like to see Evans NOT fire Richt if that happens. There’d be a riot with the boosters, making life miserable for him AND Adams.
That brings up another point: for over two years now, this team has been playing stupid, undisciplined football, and the guy at the top has had a cavalier attitude about it the whole time.
Do you think Meyer, Saban, Miles, or even Kiffin, would allow their teams to be so stupid and undisciplined, beating themselves time and time again?
Richt has fostered a kind of attitude in his program that goes against everything that Georgia SHOULD be about. Does anyone one of y’all actually doubt the fact that Spikes WAS retaliating for something one of our guys did to him? I believe him. I believe one of our players cheap-shotted him or tried to hurt him with a dirty ploy. And THAT is the kind of team we have representing our beloved University now.
119th out of 120 in penalties.
119th out of 120 in turnovers.
I’m sorry, but this is NOT a football program we can be proud of, and it all falls on Richt.
I said at the beginning of the year that this program lacks accountability, particularly with Richt’s favorite players (Cox) and his coaches. Jeff Schultz just cribbed off of some of my rants during the Okie State game and wrote a blog about just that.
This is a program in DEEP decline.
Fire Mark Richt NOW. End the decline. Stop the bleeding. You know coaches have NO legs to stand on when they start talking about their overall record. Larry Coker did the SAME thing before he was fire. “I have a great overall record at Miami!” And Coker WON A CHAMPIONSHIP! But he let his program devolve into horrible behavior and undisciplined play and it turned into losses on the field. The SAME situation we’re in.
That guy won an MNC and was fired. And we can’t fire Richt? How does that make sense???
Our program deserves much better than Richt.
Our program deserves Kyle Whittingham. Our program deserves Brian Kelly.
The problem is, because Evans has no spine, he’s not going to fire Richt, who will refuse to fire Martinez, and next year, we’ll be in the same exact place.
But Whittingham and Kelly will be coaching at Michigan, or West Virginia, or Clemson, or some other big program, and we’ll be stuck with crap.
Fire Mark Richt now, and make the bleeding stop!
dekalbdawg
November 5th, 2009
1:16 am
Damon Evans is RIGHT No Coach should be Fired b4 season’s End! What good would this do! I think we are going to lose to Kentucky, Auburn and I know GT! If this happens we will not make a bowl this Year and that will be enough AMMO to FIRE CWM and the Special Teams Coach and anybody else who has been performing Under par..
Coastal Dawg
November 5th, 2009
1:16 am
74 Grad,
Do you not realize that all the other schools have offered most of the recruits we get? Do you think that all of our recruits don’t pan out but the ones that go elsewhere do pan out? Maybe occasionally, but it has to be what happens to these kids once they get here. Hopefully, changes will be made very soon or these recruits will catch on and stop signing with us.
Dave,
Saw the same article and wondered the same. They should not mislead a kid and we don’t know what they told him. His family just said he was satisfied. For the above reasons,(NFL,etc.) defensive recruits should and will begin stating that they will not sign unless a change is made and not vice versa!
Coastal Dawg
November 5th, 2009
1:20 am
dekalb,
There is more than enough AMMO already. Shouldn’t happen in season, but should have happened after LAST season!
Steve
November 5th, 2009
1:20 am
We have not recruited well in the secondary, and that is hurting us. And with the DT’s we have (3 very good Sr’s and DeAngelo Tyson), how are we not getting major push up the middle? And we are thin at DE. Our LB’s are as deep and talented as any team in the country, but their play is not reflecting it.
On the other hand, our offense will be fine next year. Caleb King is really flashing brilliance, but a hamstring keeps him out of 2 games, then a concussion and a broken jaw can’t be helped. Next year, if we can find a QB, our offense will be fine. Wish I could say the same for the Defense.
Bottom line on Offense – Cox is not as good as advertised. That arm/nerve thing must be affecting him more than we know. Great kid though.
BugKiller
November 5th, 2009
1:23 am
If certain “insider” reports can be believed, and the source of this information is never one to flout any special knowledge or self-promote his ties to inside info like some guys (ahem, Mike Florio, ahem), then the news is not good.
It seems, this coming from someone inside Butts-Mehre, that Mark Richt is “fanatically” devoted to Willie Martinez and has absolutely no plans to fire him or anyone else on his staff.
On Richt’s call-in show Monday night, Fred from Savannah laid out the exact same FACTS about Willie’s horrible tenure as Georgia’s worst DC ever that I have been quoting for two years: How under Martinez, the Dawgs have given up more yards per game and more points per game, EVERY YEAR.
When Fred was done and implored Richt to do the right thing for his team and replace Martinez, Richt very tersley thanked him and made a remark about Fred’s “opinion.”
This is what we Georgia fans have to deal with in Mark Richt now.
He refuses to see the truth. He refuses to see the facts.
A man puts it out there for him in undeniable truth, and Richt thanks the man for his “opinions,” as if it were possible that the information wasn’t factual and accurate.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Mark Richt LOST the moral authority to coach this team the moment he put his personal relationship with Willie Martinez ahead of what was and is in the best interests of our team. He no longer deserves to coach the Dawgs. He has lost that privledge.
The Georgia Bulldogs deserve a man who is willing to do whatever it takes to win (within the rules) and is willing to put his program in the best position to win, both NOW and in the future.
Richt has shown, time and again, that he is not that kind of man. Sticking with Joe Cox now means that next year, with no Teblow in Florida and the East there for the picking, Georgia is AGAIN behind the 8 Ball, with no QB who has any kind of meaningful experience.
I’m sorry to have to be the realist here, Coach, but the season IS OVER. I’m sorry for your seniors, but the season IS OVER! You’ll be LUCKY to finish 6-6. Me, I can’t see this undisciplined mess of a football team beating Kentucky, let alone Auburn or Tech. I believe we finish 5-7, and I’d like to see Evans NOT fire Richt if that happens. There’d be a riot with the boosters, making life miserable for him AND Adams.
That brings up another point: for over two years now, this team has been playing stupid, undisciplined football, and the guy at the top has had a cavalier attitude about it the whole time.
Do you think Meyer, Saban, Miles, or even Kiffin, would allow their teams to be so stupid and undisciplined, beating themselves time and time again?
Richt has fostered a kind of attitude in his program that goes against everything that Georgia SHOULD be about. Does anyone one of y’all actually doubt the fact that Spikes WAS retaliating for something one of our guys did to him? I believe him. I believe one of our players cheap-shotted him or tried to hurt him with a dirty ploy. And THAT is the kind of team we have representing our beloved University now.
119th out of 120 in penalties.
119th out of 120 in turnovers.
I’m sorry, but this is NOT a football program we can be proud of, and it all falls on Richt.
I said at the beginning of the year that this program lacks accountability, particularly with Richt’s favorite players (Cox) and his coaches. Jeff Schultz just cribbed off of some of my rants during the Okie State game and wrote a blog about just that.
This is a program in DEEP decline.
Fire Mark Richt NOW. End the decline. Stop the bleeding. You know coaches have NO legs to stand on when they start talking about their overall record. Larry Coker did the SAME thing before he was fire. “I have a great overall record at Miami!” And Coker WON A CHAMPIONSHIP! But he let his program devolve into horrible behavior and undisciplined play and it turned into losses on the field. The SAME situation we’re in.
That guy won an MNC and was fired. And we can’t fire Richt? How does that make sense?
Our program deserves much better than Richt.
Our program deserves Kyle Whittingham. Our program deserves Brian Kelly.
The problem is, because Evans has no spine, he’s not going to fire Richt, who will refuse to fire Martinez, and next year, we’ll be in the same exact place.
But Whittingham and Kelly will be coaching at Michigan, or West Virginia, or Clemson, or some other big program, and we’ll be stuck with crap.
Fire Mark Richt now, and make the bleeding stop.
Gator Growl
November 5th, 2009
1:23 am
Oh yeah, the old “vote of confidence”. The beginning of the end…
BugKiller
November 5th, 2009
1:23 am
seriously… what the heck is the issue with posting???
BugKiller
November 5th, 2009
1:24 am
If certain “insider” reports can be believed, and the source of this information is never one to flout any special knowledge or self-promote his ties to inside info like some guys (ahem, Mike Florio, ahem), then the news is not good.
It seems, this coming from someone inside Butts-Mehre, that Mark Richt is “fanatically” devoted to Willie Martinez and has absolutely no plans to fire him or anyone else on his staff.
On Richt’s call-in show Monday night, Fred from Savannah laid out the exact same FACTS about Willie’s horrible tenure as Georgia’s worst DC ever that I have been quoting for two years: How under Martinez, the Dawgs have given up more yards per game and more points per game, EVERY YEAR.
When Fred was done and implored Richt to do the right thing for his team and replace Martinez, Richt very tersley thanked him and made a remark about Fred’s “opinion.”
This is what we Georgia fans have to deal with in Mark Richt now.
He refuses to see the truth. He refuses to see the facts.
A man puts it out there for him in undeniable truth, and Richt thanks the man for his “opinions,” as if it were possible that the information wasn’t factual and accurate.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Mark Richt LOST the moral authority to coach this team the moment he put his personal relationship with Willie Martinez ahead of what was and is in the best interests of our team. He no longer deserves to coach the Dawgs. He has lost that privledge.
The Georgia Bulldogs deserve a man who is willing to do whatever it takes to win (within the rules) and is willing to put his program in the best position to win, both NOW and in the future.
Richt has shown, time and again, that he is not that kind of man. Sticking with Joe Cox now means that next year, with no Teblow in Florida and the East there for the picking, Georgia is AGAIN behind the 8 Ball, with no QB who has any kind of meaningful experience.
I’m sorry to have to be the realist here, Coach, but the season IS OVER. I’m sorry for your seniors, but the season IS OVER! You’ll be LUCKY to finish 6-6. Me, I can’t see this undisciplined mess of a football team beating Kentucky, let alone Auburn or Tech. I believe we finish 5-7, and I’d like to see Evans NOT fire Richt if that happens. There’d be a riot with the boosters, making life miserable for him AND Adams.
That brings up another point: for over two years now, this team has been playing stupid, undisciplined football, and the guy at the top has had a cavalier attitude about it the whole time.
Do you think Meyer, Saban, Miles, or even Kiffin, would allow their teams to be so stupid and undisciplined, beating themselves time and time again?
Richt has fostered a kind of attitude in his program that goes against everything that Georgia SHOULD be about. Does anyone one of y’all actually doubt the fact that Spikes WAS retaliating for something one of our guys did to him? I believe him. I believe one of our players cheap-shotted him or tried to hurt him with a dirty ploy. And THAT is the kind of team we have representing our beloved University now.
119th out of 120 in penalties.
119th out of 120 in turnovers.
I’m sorry, but this is NOT a football program we can be proud of, and it all falls on Richt.
I said at the beginning of the year that this program lacks accountability, particularly with Richt’s favorite players (Cox) and his coaches. Jeff Schultz just cribbed off of some of my rants during the Okie State game and wrote a blog about just that.
This is a program in DEEP decline.
Fire Mark Richt NOW. End the decline. Stop the bleeding. You know coaches have NO legs to stand on when they start talking about their overall record. Larry Coker did the SAME thing before he was fire. “I have a great overall record at Miami!” And Coker WON A CHAMPIONSHIP! But he let his program devolve into horrible behavior and undisciplined play and it turned into losses on the field. The SAME situation we’re in.
That guy won an MNC and was fired. And we can’t fire Richt? How does that make sense?
Our program deserves much better than Richt.
Our program deserves Kyle Whittingham. Our program deserves Brian Kelly.
The problem is, because Evans has no spine, he’s not going to fire Richt, who will refuse to fire Martinez, and next year, we’ll be in the same exact place.
But Whittingham and Kelly will be coaching at Michigan, or West Virginia, or Clemson, or some other big program, and we’ll be stuck with crap.
Fire Mark Richt now, and make the bleeding stop!
kfc
November 5th, 2009
1:26 am
Cox is a fifth year freshman, we would have been better off playing a first year freshman. Would we be worse off?. Who will be better next year, USC or UGA? Which team went with the true freshman? Do Pete Carroll, Nick Saban, Jim Tressell worry about giving that fifth year senior a “chance”? We redshirted Knowshon Moreno, need I say more?
BugKiller
November 5th, 2009
1:28 am
amazing… frakking amazing. trolls can take over an earlier blog with their pathological hatred for the Falcons’ QB, yet I can’t post something that may take a hard line on Richt, yet at least has some kind of logic about it.
observor
November 5th, 2009
1:32 am
Lets face it, our coaches suck at talent evaluation. One of the most important jobs of any college coach is the ability to evaluate talent. I find it interesting that since BVG has left town that our defensive talent has pretty much sucked. Keep in mind that BVG found Thomas Davis at a HS basketball game and due to his brilliance in defensive football (BVG that is) some how detected that TD would be a great player. Willie “water head” Martinez not only sucks at evaluating talent, he also sucks at game day tactics and overall coaching. As long as that functional retard is coaching at UGA, we will never win or compete for another championship.
Dawg fans, we have to stay vigilant on this one. If Richt fails to do his job as a 3 million dollar a year CEO and keeps Willie the water head on staff going into next year, then he needs to be fired if UGA doesn’t win an SEC championship.
Gravy Train
November 5th, 2009
1:37 am
Good input Mark…much better than simply kicking Richt in a down year. Coach Richt will fix this. I have seen him in action on the sidelines and locker room lay into folks when needed. I talked with him once on the difference between high school kids today versus ten to fifteen years ago. I told him that I felt his focus on player character development was a great thing as a lot of kids come from broken homes these days. Some kids don’t even have a positive male role models readily available. At the end of our discussion, Coach Richt told me that people will ultimately guage the program by is wins. “My job is to win football games,” he said.
There is fire and desire living within Coach Richt and those who have had the priviledge of being close to the program know it. I don’t think Coach Richt will walk away from this program. He has brought his family here with him. He took this job with the intentions of staying as long as we would have him.
As an aside, it is rumored that the FSU crowd wants Kirby Smart in Tallahassee next season. That’s gonna drive up his value for either Alabama to retain him or his next employer.
Dawgman
November 5th, 2009
1:47 am
Mr. Bradley you have to be a fool if you really think Mr. Evans has any power in the UGA AD. Please do more research sir, you have a duty to look into this matter further.
JMG
November 5th, 2009
1:53 am
I agree with many comments on here… yes, Richt is a fine man and a very good coach and he did not get “dumber” in the last couple of years. We need to remember (myself included) where we were under Goff & Donnan… we were South Carolina, for gods sake, going 6-5 or 7-4 every year. Richt came in and won big and raised expectations and pretty much dominated Tech, Tennessee, Carolina, etc.
What he needs to do now is read Bradley’s and Schultz’s observations and do what he hasn’t had to do in 8 previous seasons: fire some coaches, throw some chairs around the room, and light a fire under his team’s butts. He needs to have an accountability session starting the first day of post-season workouts… every man, from head coach to player to water boy, MUST improve and MUST expect excellence in 2010. If not, heads need to roll.
For the first time ever, I’m starting to wonder about Richt’s ability to do this… he’s never had this situation (even in 2006, remember that those Dogs were young, inexperienced and only struggled half a year… by mid-season, that team turned it around and destroyed Auburn, Tech and Va. Tech to end the year). This team had a ton of seniors and should have gotten a “wake up call” from last year’s debacles against Bama and Tech, not too mention the poor performances in wins over LSU and Auburn.
All that being said, I’ll give Richt the benefit of the doubt… but come next August, if the same coaches are making the same decisions, and if the first game or two next year sees the same players making the same mistakes… then we’ll be no better than an 8-4 team from here on out.
I believe and hope and pray that Richt will get this done. Say what you want about “not giving up on 2009″, but this is a lost year and we all know it. Starting Saturday against Tennessee Tech, we need to start planning for 2010: play young players, change our methods and schemes and make a renewed commitment to excellence and accountability.
If not, we’d be just as good having Goff or Donnan back, and we’d better expect to be South Carolina-Athens campus from now on.
Go Dogs!!!!!!!
Coastal Dawg
November 5th, 2009
1:55 am
“My job is to win football games.” Duh.
Dawg4Life
November 5th, 2009
1:58 am
part of the UGA biggest problem is CMR “nice guy” image. I am not looking for someone who is a complete a-hole but at the same time these student athletes need a stronger leader. They need to have a standard to work for. Go back to ‘07 after the Tenn beating and reread CMR quote about looking around on the sideline. That was the exact same situation we found ourselves in this years Tenn game as well.
On any other team i would be willing to bet that Joe Cox would have been sat down by now and a red shirt would have come off either Murray or Mettenberger (how you decide to redshirt two freshmen QBs in the same year is beyond me). Could they lose a game that Cox might have won yeah probably so but by the same token that QB would be gaining invaluable experience for next year. Everyone talks about well you pull the redshirt now you basically lose a full year, true but unless what do you expect next year to be like with a untested redshirt freshman QB in the SEC. Do you really think we will suddenly contend for SEC championships? Much less a NC?
Dark Days - At the Bottom
November 5th, 2009
2:06 am
I’m glad to hear Evans say changes will be made as long as he’s not talking about uniform change. Georgia is the most “outcoached team” in the league. We desperatey need a RB and what do we have for this year …. Malcome… that’s all. Ealey don’t look like the star we need. What I want more than anything at Georgia is passion, fire, give it all, play with pride, play to win. I know Georgia has some fine young men but the way many of the players look, act and present themseles … Georgia sometimes looks like a collection of street thugs just off the streets of Atlanta. The dreadlocks, tatoos, burns, loud rock music … big man attitudes …. not obeying the law … what does all this say? It says Georgia just wants players with athletic skills not smarts and moral qualities. The presentation of the players on the Georgia team could use “an extreme makeover”. We’ll see if Damon Evans will accept the program as it is or force changes that must come.
We’ll go through another rebuilding year next year so why not change the OC / DC coordinators … make a clean sweep … and start fresh. If this is done, the UGA fans will understand what CMR is doing and give him full support.
David
November 5th, 2009
2:12 am
Coastal Dawg,
You are right and thanks for reminding me about that point as you are right that the kid and his family are satisfied with the answers they got about Willie and next year.
My reading comprehension might have been off a little or it is just my memory as I do not have that article in front of me, but I recall that they lead in (that blog/article) with that Willie will be there next year and his position is safe so that the recruit and his family are satisfied in knowing that Willie WILL be there next year.
That would go against the feel you get from Mark’s article stating Damon wants something to be changed up in the program and we know Richt will be there as he is some 60 games over 500 and one year the ball is just going bounce the other way and give a couple losses instead of wins. How many years in the past 5 or 6 have they made a last minute play, stop, etc.. to beat Auburn, Kentucky, even Vandy and if they did not get a fumble in the red zone or make a last minute play that they could have had 4 loss seasons instead of 10 win seasons?
That is why I would like Mark to reply as it was from one of his associates in the ajc sport’s department that wrote that and must have more insight into it.
I just want to know is the understanding from the recruit that the UGA staff assured him to keep his commitment as Willie WILL be there next year or was it that they were satisfied with something else like the staff PLANS for Willie to be there next year.
If the kid thinks he WILL be there and he is not after signing day the kid might be mad, go public, etc.. and that harms recruiting whether anyone thinks or not..
These recruiters are salesmen and EVERYONE in the SEC will pound that into top recruits and if they use that to steal away a Stafford or Green caliber player that would have otherwise signed with UGA then the staff should have used the great COACH speak and told the kid WE PLAN TO KEEP WILLIE NEXT YEAR; HOWEVER, ONCE THE YEAR IS OVER, AS WE DO EVERY YEAR, WE WILL EVALUATE EVERY COACH AND DO WHAT IS BEST FOR UGA..
If Mark can find out if the kid was told it in that type of way and is satisfied with that answer then they can get him and still get rid of Willie, if they worded it in a way that it is highly unlikely that Willie will not be there next year then that could create problems.
Why even tell the kid he will be there next year when they all can do the COACH SPEAK and simply tell the kid that Coach Richt has zero intentions to remove Wille and that would be truthful and then after signing could easily say that Coach Richt fought for Willie and Damon pressured him into removing Willie.
They should know how to sidestep these land mines and it just seemed that the wording in that article (I wish I knew who wrote it) lead the family and the kid to be satisfied with the belief that Willie WILL be there next year.
Mark, once again can you simply just let us all know how that article was supposed to be conveyed as I took it to mean that the UGA staff went to this kid to reassure him Williw will be there next year and now I read your article that Damon wants some changes….
You can not burn bridges anywhere and if the family believes he will be there and is not then you might miss out on the next Herschel (well you know what I mean as there will never be anyone that dominating again) simply due to that small doubt that the school could have sold the recruit on something during recruiting and he might think that might not really be the case as if they misinformed, mislead, etc.. someone in the past and UT is in the kids’s house on a final visit and he really wants UGA, but is reminded of this incident then the kid might think hey UT wants me just as bad and they have never had a recruit come out in public and say they were mislead then sign and things turned out to be different than originally believed.
I just get the feeling from that article that the kid is satisfied due to the fact they told him Willie wil be there next year and now I read that Damon will probably heavy hand his way into making changes whether Richt steps up and does it or not (ADs seem to get their way in the end as they do have the power)
I could be wrong and just have miscomprehended the way the article was written and that is why I would love Mark to clear up the conflict I have between the two articles so that we know about expectations given out to the kids.
I would rather the article have stated that the UGA staff went to reassure this kid, and his family, with the fact that they HAVE NO INTENTIONS OF WILLIE NOT BEING THERE NEXT YEAR instead of the wording that lead me to believe that he kid is satisfied DUE to the fact that Willie WILL be there next year.
I mean anyone can go into the kid’s house and say I am the coach of the program and all my coaches will be there next year that you have bonded with and that have recruited you and then later do whatever they want in regards to the staff and then tell the kid it was the AD’s choice to get rid of the coach in question after the kid signs and then it would look like the kid was mislead when in fact he was not as the AD can do that even when he coach wants to keep his staff intact.
I understood by reading that article that the UGA staff that went to see this star recruit assured him Willie would be there next year is speaking on behalf of the entire Sports Program so if Mark’s article above is spot on and they do get rid of Willie (even if Richt fights for Willie) on Damon’s decision that shows the discord within the Sports Program as everyone should be united in their understanding so things do not get crossed up, kids mislead, etc..
Again sory for the long post, but PLEASE MARK just read that other article as it was within your department and let us know then how you understood what was written and if it now seems that the coaching staff is on one page spreading WE ARE ONE to these kids and knowing that the AD wants major changes.
If the article is correct the way I read it then this kid BELIEVES and is satisfied with the coaching staff’s reassurance that Willie WILL be there next year, but your article above BLOWS THAT TOPIECES and suggests that Damon will get rid of Willie even if Mark does not do it in whatever fashion.
Going to sleep and I look forward to someone that read that article (like Coastal Dawg) to just tell me they way they read these two articles and if they think it shows some DISCORD within the program…
I am just trying to understand why one article is preaching unity and the top guy wants some heads to roll.
Or is it just that the article’s wording led me to believe the kid believes, and was assured by the UGA coaching staff, Willie WILL be there next year?
Someone shine light on this and I PROMISE I will not post again!!!!
Dave
Greyt Goose
November 5th, 2009
2:16 am
Brian VanGorder was the reason for our defensive success early in Coach Richt’s tenure. He is sorely missed. He was the kind of firely personality and disciplinarian that was a perfect compliment to Coach Richt. Players knew he would rip their head off if they were undisciplined. Undisciplined is exactely what this team is right now with penalty after penalty after penalty. Plus he was a great defensive mind and put players in the right positions to succeed. Coach Richt needs to find a new coach in the Brian VanGorder mold.