A very short post about a very big topic – UGA’s coaching
Here's Willie Martinez, seen doing some actual coaching. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Shortest post ever. Three simple questions:
1. Which team has better players — Georgia or Kentucky?
2. Which team won the game?
3. What does that say about the losing coaches?
There it is. Have at it.
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561 comments Add your comment
JB
November 23rd, 2009
10:17 am
” Joe Cox gives us the best chance to win”
Mark Richt, sometime in November, 2009………….
Wonder what Aaron Murray thought when he read that.
We haven’t a SEC QB, and a leaky D, which spells trouble in the SEC. Next year could be tough also, which means we could be looking at a new Head man in 2011.8 wins next year could save Mark, I don’t think 6-6 and another loss to Tech will. His winning percentage for his last 2 1/2 seasons will be a lot worse that Jim Donnan’s. Then there is this Obama guy. GEEZ.
Mike
November 23rd, 2009
10:17 am
I think the talent level between KY and Georgia is closer than everyone wants to admit. There may have been a re when this was overwhelming true, but it currently the case. That fact is part of your problem in Athens. Look at Kentucky’s roster and see how many kids from Georgia there…alot of those names should be familiar because many of them weremaking big plays on Sat night.
dogpoop
November 23rd, 2009
10:17 am
what is wrong with all you shameful people on here wanting to hire coaches like Hatcher, Friedgen, Weiss, West Tenuta? are any of these coaches winning a d@mn thing? How could they make it better?
Maddog
November 23rd, 2009
10:18 am
Section 320
November 23rd, 2009
10:16 am
Agreed.
Maddog
November 23rd, 2009
10:18 am
Section 320
November 23rd, 2009
10:16 am
Agreed.
DFWTX Dawg
November 23rd, 2009
10:18 am
Turd-Flies 55 UGA 24. I have been knocking Wil-Mart ever since the let down against UT in 2006. This defensive demise would have never begun to happen under BVG. He was angered at any sign of a defensive let-up during a game. But as much smack that I have written about Martinez on this blog, at least he shows emotion during a game. That’s more than I can say for the head coach who stands on the sideline like Prince Valium. Even my wife, who doesn’t watch UGA football nearly closely as I do, noticed Richt’s lack of emotion during the UT game this year. During the UT game, she asked me “Why does Richt just stand there with his brow-wrinkled? Most coaches, in any sport, become obviously furious with this type of performance.”
Alabama Jack
November 23rd, 2009
10:18 am
Respect all, fear none.
Pound the puppies,
then go to Tampa
and get ‘er done.
Roddy Jones just scored again…
creeps
November 23rd, 2009
10:19 am
DAVID POLLACK is a hack on radio and so is Buck Belue,
godawgs
November 23rd, 2009
10:19 am
Maddog–
I don’t know what Georgia’s best game was this year, I imagine it would be a game where we had a lot of points of offense–balanced run/pass, special teams got us points, no turnovers, and defense held to low yardage pass & run, and maybe even got some turnovers?
Maddog
November 23rd, 2009
10:19 am
JB
November 23rd, 2009
10:17 am
I also wonder what Logan Gray thought this year? I’ve heard from a couple of sources who have access to Butts-Mehre that he won’t be returning next year.
Marietta Dawg
November 23rd, 2009
10:19 am
Dawg Lover, the main problem is attitude not experience or talent. Attitude from top to bottom. Have you ever seen one of the coaches get in anyone’s face? This team is soft. They are coached soft and the results are the undisciplined penalties and lack of intensity.
My seats are close to the Georgia bench. After Butler made the stupid personal foul, he and Walsh were on the sideline laughing and joking around. Butler might as well have gotten on the loud speaker and said, “Whatever, dude.”
That’s the issue. Everyone from Richt on down have the attitude, “Whatever, dude.”
kj
November 23rd, 2009
10:20 am
Seems as though UGA VII’s death really did inspire the dawgs on Saturday night.
Roll GT…another year of both intellectual AND football superiority.
McDawg
November 23rd, 2009
10:21 am
the kicking thing is what absolutely drives me crazy-set up the first score along w/ personal foul-we gave then 28 pts it was surreal-i was just getting excited about our future when it all went downhill
willie martinez
November 23rd, 2009
10:21 am
I’m sure Logan Gray probably thinks that the UGA staff believes he will never be a starter if this is all the playing time he gets behind a qb like Cox.
uuughh...
November 23rd, 2009
10:22 am
…I may be mistaken bt I think Weiss has a couple Superbowl Rings. I think the only way to get one of those is to win the Super Bowl.
Maddog
November 23rd, 2009
10:22 am
godawgs
November 23rd, 2009
10:19 am
Did we have a game like that? Some point to Auburn, but we gave up 14 points in the blink of an eye. Also, Auburn? They’re not very good, but then again, neither are we.
Dawgdad
November 23rd, 2009
10:22 am
I don’t care who they fire, they all can go as far as I am concerned, but the thing for me is I AM SICK of BEND but Break Defenses, both UGA”S and the Falcons. Both teams seem to be out of the mainstream as other teams do not employ such soft defenses. FGS, get up on the receiver and dog him. Play man to man coverage and learn to read the receiver. Our DB’s don’t seem to know to turn around and play the ball. I am not a football coach, but I believe even I could make this point with the DB’s. Send the house on third and long. We need a defensive coordinator on both teams that wants to drive them backwards instead of letting them slowly move down the field.
On offense, can we not learn to run the ball and keep running the ball as long as it works. Use the run to set up the pass. This used to be common offensive strategy, now it seems to be, hey we are moving so lets try this goofy play I have been wanting to try all week. nuff said.
Dawgdad
November 23rd, 2009
10:22 am
I don’t care who they fire, they all can go as far as I am concerned, but the thing for me is I AM SICK of BEND but Break Defenses, both UGA”S and the Falcons. Both teams seem to be out of the mainstream as other teams do not employ such soft defenses. FGS, get up on the receiver and dog him. Play man to man coverage and learn to read the receiver. Our DB’s don’t seem to know to turn around and play the ball. I am not a football coach, but I believe even I could make this point with the DB’s. Send the house on third and long. We need a defensive coordinator on both teams that wants to drive them backwards instead of letting them slowly move down the field.
On offense, can we not learn to run the ball and keep running the ball as long as it works. Use the run to set up the pass. This used to be common offensive strategy, now it seems to be, hey we are moving so lets try this goofy play I have been wanting to try all week. nuff said.
willie martinez
November 23rd, 2009
10:24 am
there once was a qb named gray
who said georgia’s where i’ll stay
things went wrong
bobo rang the gong
from athens gray now stays away
godawgs
November 23rd, 2009
10:25 am
What if we have the RIGHT PLAYERS and the RIGHT COACHES but the WRONG STRATEGY–is that POSSIBLE?
KnoxDawg
November 23rd, 2009
10:25 am
Almost all agree Martinez and Bobo must go. Ok, let’s start seriously looking at, realistically speaking, who should Ga hire as the new coordinators? Who are the up-and-comers out there that would coach these recruits up. Who??
Maddog
November 23rd, 2009
10:25 am
What I love is the “willie gives up passing yards” by design. I guess that’s why Garcia (SC), Mallet (AK), and Crompton (TN) all had career highs. Great concept, I tell you.
AltamahaDawg
November 23rd, 2009
10:26 am
Agree with 320. It’s embarrasing to see any grown man, literally get angry because the coach isn’t hearing what he is annon posting in a blog, and just can’t understand why we dont change up our coaching staff in the middle of the season. I’d be embarrased anyway..maybe they aren’t.
As far as the fire Mark Richt stuff..really? I mean….really? geeez.
Sit there and tell yourself that Saban is never going to have issues if he sticks around long enough, or that Meyers is going to have that collection of player forever. Then debate if you would rather have Batman or Spiderman as the new DC, you bunch of hero worshiping 10 yr olds.
Brucemac
November 23rd, 2009
10:27 am
High School Offense, I think SEC caliber players means those on real SEC teams, BAMA, LSU, FLA, Ole MIss and maybe others. It does not include Vandy (0 and 8), Miss St. (2 and 6) or GA (worst coached team in USA).
GIVE ME A BREAK
November 23rd, 2009
10:29 am
Richt is responsible for hiring and instructing the assistant coaches. He is respondsible for recruiting and training the athletes. The change has to start with him. Clean house. GO JACKETS!!!!
Dawghater
November 23rd, 2009
10:29 am
You should call Glen Mason! Maybe he will change his mind, AGAIN.
Better answer that phone, Chan Gailey and Tommy West are calling!
pi$$onatechie
November 23rd, 2009
10:30 am
Richt is not practical, he lets his feelings decide for him, Martinez should never ever be a DC after 2006! Cox and Joe T should never ever started, Eason should have never ever be a WR coach, Bobo is not ready for OC duties, BVG should have never let go, I would give him 600K salary. Fabris should have been fired in 2008! we should have never ever lose to Kentucky!!!
Mark Richt
November 23rd, 2009
10:31 am
Was there a game on Saturday?
Athdawg
November 23rd, 2009
10:32 am
Good posts Adam & Inhale. I am a longterm UGA fan and a graduate. I am as disappointed as anyone, but as said before our coaches did not fumble the ball or throw and interception. We held Kentucky to roughly 260 yards of offense, with 60 coming on the screen pass (where no defender was near the ball carrier.) I know that we have several issues and feel that they will be addressed at the appropriate time. We need to pull together for this program. I would like for all of the band wagon jumpers to either jump and keep their negative comments to themselves or support our guys this weekend. WE DO NOT NEED TO LOSE THIS GAME!!! All of this negative crap is not helping us and is aiding THE ENEMY. GO DAWGS. GATA.
Marietta Dawg
November 23rd, 2009
10:32 am
I’m sure Logan is a nice kid, but he has not shown anything on the field that would suggest that he is a SEC quarterback. A little faster Joe T.
silverjon
November 23rd, 2009
10:32 am
Georgia lost a huge part of its team when Morino amd Stafford left and you still have one of the top coaches in the country you need to know that Kentucky is a pretty good team,take away the Florida and Alabama loss.we play in a tough conference and a very tough division I like mark richt,he belongs at Georgia and the SEC,good luck aginst GA TECH
uuughh...
November 23rd, 2009
10:33 am
Football is a game of emotion. A coach totally devoid of emotion obviously does not work. The teams that crush us have coaches that show emotion. We should start there.
Maddog
November 23rd, 2009
10:35 am
Just curious as I do not know the answer. Which UGA QB has the most interceptions in a single season? Also, how many passing attempts did that QB make? I’d like to figure up the percent of attempts to ints and compare them to Cox.
GIVE ME A BREAK
November 23rd, 2009
10:38 am
Richt sets the attitude for the team. Where’s the PASSION, where’s the DESIRE, where’s the FIRE, where’s the PRIDE? THWG!!!! GO JACKETS!!!!
uuughh...
November 23rd, 2009
10:39 am
Also…how undisciplined do you have to be to get thrown off of this UGA football team? Apparently we do not recruit anyone with a valid Driver’s License. I guess to get dismissed from this team you have to literally brak another student’s face at a BBQ or something–oh wait…
Ginger
November 23rd, 2009
10:39 am
Solutions—-Several Problems to fix Biggest execution.
1. Start demanding excellence….We have done some of the most embarassing things this year. Get in players’ faces when needed. Butler pulling someone by facemask stupid…Evans hitting late out of bounds stupid….Cox panicking and throwing 2 interceptions….extremely stupid..
Smith not protecting the ball on the kickoff return… extremely stupid….Cox & Ealey not being together on the play and losing the fumble on the goal line…extremely stupid…Inability to cover kick offs…opponents always starting at 35 or beyond…stupid….this is just 1 game.
Make the other team beat you by not beating yourself. Can’t give the other team opportunities to beat you…..they should practice these plays above over and over and over so it does not happen in a game….In practice—Cox should have been pressure with no one blocking for him…just players coming at him and make him either safely throw it away or eat it…but not the ill advised throw..it should have been done so many times in practice that he automatically does the right thing when pressured…QB can’t make this mistakes..QB throws to DL beats you.
Another example…Late hits out of bounds…in practice have players running toward fake dummy on side line and practice not hitting the dummy…or just run the heck out of anyone that hits late out of bounds…..B Smith on kickoffs should be hit alot in practice and learn how to hold on to ball.
Bottom Line you play like you practice and my guess is the something is not being done at practices that adequately prepares the players to play at a high level in the game.
1st fix the execution problem—Practice correctly, pay attention to details and do it over and over and demand excellence…get in their faces when needed..
JB
November 23rd, 2009
10:40 am
2:20 left in game. we have the ball…..it’s 3rd and 10………I told my wife before the play, watch this, hand off up the middle for 3 or 4 yards………………………………….BINGO……….How did you know that she ask………I said every Def. Cord on our Schedule knows it……………..If I know it, They know it…………….Bobo needs to go with Willie, along with Fabris. RB and WR also……
What could happen, a 6-6 year. Geez.
uuughh...
November 23rd, 2009
10:40 am
Also…Good for Gray if he leaves. He should have left after the first practice he missed QB work to field punts.
GIVE ME A BREAK
November 23rd, 2009
10:43 am
uuughh, you’re right if a person doesn’t have emotion he might as well play chess. I’m not sure Richt would get mad if someone slapped his wife.
Mark Bradley
November 23rd, 2009
10:44 am
I must report that, for the first time ever, I am reading Coach Martinez’s poetry from the air. Delta wireless is available on flight 2011 from Newark. (A free trial, no less.)
JB
November 23rd, 2009
10:44 am
might need a new OL coach also…….something ain’t right…….and it sure ain’t working…….every team has a bad GAME, but damn !
godawgs
November 23rd, 2009
10:45 am
MADDODG-
Cox threw for more tds and yards, passer rating and completion % in 2009 than Stafford did in his first year 2006. Int’s: 14 Cox? 13 Stafford? This was still Cox’s 1st year as a starter, you make a lot of mistakes in your 1st year, how many int’s did Peyton Mannning throw his 1st year in the NFL–is Manning a decent QB?
Cox threw for more TD’s and Yards than Tim Tebow this year.
How many int’s did Favre or Marino throw in the NFL? Are they an ok QB?
Keep the int’s in context.
Mobile Dawg
November 23rd, 2009
10:46 am
I’m not a football coach or AD either but I can tell you how to fix the problem. CMR has allowed a bad culture to take root in Athens. Bad culture is like cancer, it spreads to healthy parts and slowly kills you. Radical treatment or surgery most of the time is the only cure. He accepts mediocrity and does nothing to change it. Naysayers spare me, he hasn’t made any changes to correct the problems we’ve had, poor defense, lack of discipline, penalties, kick coverage, poor game planning, etc.
The answer to one question will resolve this issue. If Nick Saban, or Urban Meyer walked into the UGA locker room and took over this program (and we know that won’t happen) what would UGA look like next year, in two years? They would be winners.
Truth is and this is only speculation, and my opinion, but I believe they could come in and keep the current coaching staff, install their program, set their expectations, and that alone would change the culture and the results in Athens.
CMR can stay and survive but as others have said and it’s painfully obvious, we need fresh blood, we need a new direction, a new identity. When a CEO in the real world (one with any sense) gets stale, they hire a personal coach to REGROUND them. CMR needs to be REGROUNDED. I’m not sure he can put his ego aside and admit he’s failed.
I groaned and rolled my eyes Saturday night on the first play from scrimmage, we throw a 30 yard pass. SEC football championships as are National Championships are won in the trenches, with a good supporting cast. We need a Dominant Offensive and Defensive Line, with good skill players to take advantage of them. Guess what, we have that, we just are working on the wrong things, we have a flawed offensive and defensive philosophy. CMR likes flashy, high profile offense. We have no patience to grind the ball, wear the opponents out. We seemingly give it one or two tries and give up.
I love the Dawgs but am sick and tired of watching the product CMR puts on the field. This isn’t a bandwagon fan folks, I’m UGA through and through, but I’m ready for a change, and I don’t make knee jerk decisions. I haven’t like CMR’s style since he got here, I’ve questioned many of his coaching decisions in key parts of key games we’ve lost over the years, but couldn’t argue with his record. Now I can, we can’t beat our rivals, we get blown out consistently, and we look lost.
In my book CMR gets a pass this year if he makes wholesale changes in the coaching staff. If he doesn’t and the results aren’t DRAMATICALLY improved next year, I want him gone.
uuughh...
November 23rd, 2009
10:50 am
Give Me a Break…I am sure Richt would be angry if someone slapped his wife–that might jeopardize that hilarious “Water Girl Wants to Know” segment on his TV show.
Ginger
November 23rd, 2009
10:52 am
Another problem to look at is play calling—offensive, defensive & kicking team
1. you have to run effectively and use the run to set up the play action passes…we are throwing too many passes—but we get in trouble and have to start throwing at times…Teams that win are able to run the ball. Smash mouth…1st half against Kentucky was good…But Kentucky figured out how to stop our run and we could not complete our throws…better play selection…don’t get in situations where we have to get 10 plus yards in 1 play….must be able to make adjustments and get running game moving or be able to complete 4-5 yard throws and in 3 plays we move the chains…
2. Defensive play calling….don’t feel like we challenge the other teams enough…we should contest every yard and not the bent but don’t break philosphy…Saban defenses contest every yard..give them nothing and Saban always has top ranked defensives….We don’t create enough turnovers..Must do this.
3. Kick coverage strategy and plays….ours ain’t working….kick the ball out of the end zone and just make opponent start at 20 yard line…direction kicks—we just can’t cover effectively…players have to do something differently on kickoffs…they are either running the wrong way–taking the wrong lane or angle..or they are just getting blocked or not tackling correctly
GIVE ME A BREAK
November 23rd, 2009
10:53 am
A wounded dawg is dangerous. I’m a little uncomfortable with all this negative talk about UGA. This could be a trap game. Tech needs to come out fast and hit hard and not let UGA get an advantage. If UGA can avoid the turnovers, this could be a good game.
Mark Bradley
November 23rd, 2009
10:56 am
Ordinarily I’d buy that, Give Me a Break, but I just don’t think UGA is good enough to stay with the Jackets.
jokurone
November 23rd, 2009
10:59 am
Dogs will always have talent, but need coaches to put them in the right place at the right time. Damon, you need to look deep within and make the gutty call to get the coaching talent to go with on field talent. That will be YOUR legacy at UGA that you made that decision which will lead to MNC.
Mobile Dawg
November 23rd, 2009
10:59 am
Just lost a DGP. Darn good post. My last post dissolved into thin air Mark and covered a lot of issues, unfortunately don’t have the time to repost it all.
I digress so, let me ask all you naysayers one question. IF Nick Saban, or Urban Meyer walked into our locker room tomorrow do you think the results would be different. I think they would.
I would go one step further, they could probably keep the same assistants, just install their program, their philosophy, and set the expectations. I think they would coach up the Coordinators, at least hold them accountable, and I believe that alone would change the culture and the results in Athens. Good day Dawgs.
GIVE ME A BREAK
November 23rd, 2009
11:00 am
If a Tech player hit an opponent out of bounds, do you think he would want to face CPJ? I don’t think so. But when the same thing happens at UGA, Richt acts like it didn’t happen. Players need boundaries. I don’t see that these players have any at all.