Mark Richt on UGA in 2010: ‘We want our fans to be proud’
The Georgia coach as a big-screen TV star: Mark Richt at the Galleria. (Photo by M. Bradley)
Should Georgia go 1-11 this fall, Mark Richt wouldn’t just be in trouble — he’d be gone. But that’s thing: Georgia isn’t going to go 1-11, and at this moment Richt is in fine fettle, job-wise and otherwise. And it is, truth to tell, harder to imagine the Bulldogs headed to Shreveport again anytime soon than it is to foresee them winning the SEC East.
And that’s all Richt needs to do to coach Georgia another 10 years: Win big again.
The notion was driven home at the annual convocation of the Bulldog Club of Greater Atlanta on Monday night. The masses didn’t brave a thunderstorm to file into the Cobb Galleria with teeth gritted. No citizen of Bulldog Nation wants Richt to fail. He is liked and respected by his constituency, same as it ever was.
The only problem Georgia fans have with Richt is that he hasn’t won a championship since 2005, and even that differentiates him from his predecessors. Folks liked Ray Goff — he was a Bulldog born and bred, you’ll recall — but grew skeptical of his coaching acumen. The same folks believed Jim Donnan knew his X’s and O’s but never quite warmed to him personally. And neither could deliver a title.
Richt has — two of them, in fact. There are no questions about his bona fides. There’s only the question that tracks every coach in every sport: What have you won for me lately?
No fool, Richt knows what has (and has not) happened. Of 2010, he said Monday: “It’s a big year.” Then this: “I do think it’s got the team excited and feeling like they have something to prove. We want to get back in consciousness of college football — with the voters. That’s a big thing with our sport designed as it is.”
That’s a major concession a coach whose program had become a Top 10 staple — whose 2008 team was ranked No. 1 in preseason — to make: That Georgia these past two seasons hasn’t been Georgia-good. The good news is that UGA under Richt hasn’t ever stayed down long. Coming off 8-4 in 2001, it went 13-1 and took the school’s first SEC title it n a quarter-century. Coming 8-4 in 2006, it went 10-2 and finished No. 2 in the land.
There is, lest we forget, a deep reservoir of pride that runs beneath the Red & Black. Even with all the headlines of summer — arrests and suspensions and a pending NCAA investigation and Damon Evans’ resignation –this isn’t a program that sees itself as a throw-rug. And the season that commences Sept. 4 offers the chance for a large measure of redemption.
Said Richt: “The players feel the buzz. The coaches do, too.”
Speaking of coaches: Richt did something remarkable last winter. He fired most of his defensive staff, including a coordinator who was among his best friends. Bulldog-watchers weren’t sure he would, but he did. This told us that, for all the perceptions of loyalty as a weakness, this coach is steely enough to put his program first. And that’s what you’d want in a coach, is it not?
There were no shock-the-world revelations dispensed Monday night: Richt lauded Todd Grantham, his new defensive coordinator; said Aaron Murray, the new quarterback, “has ‘it’ “, and offered a hearty endorsement of Chick-fil-A’s spicy chicken sandwich. (Which shouldn’t be interpreted as coach lobbying to appear in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.) He even got a bit testy when someone mentioned Gator “dominance.”
Richt: “We need to get you in the locker room to fire the guys up.”
Richt wasn’t a Bulldog born, but from Day 1 in 2001 he has known what it means to coach these Bulldogs. He sees himself as the steward of a program that was beloved before he arrived and will be after he steps aside. He knows what Bulldogs want, and it’s more than just to win — it’s to feel good about winning.
“We want our fans to be proud,” Richt said. Then this: “We want to be proud.”
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259 comments Add your comment
Mark Bradley
July 27th, 2010
10:45 am
My opinion … wrong? Surely you have me confused with someone else, FalconUGAFan. In the last 50 years I have never once been wrong.
Sorry. I meant to say in the last 50 seconds.
Dawg Gone
July 27th, 2010
11:26 am
The stadium in Jax will now be named EverBank stadium.
For the dawgs, it will be known as EverLoss Stadium.
REDPANTIES
July 27th, 2010
11:30 am
Why does everyone say that UGA has an easy schedule?
Arkansas
South Carolina
Florida
Auburn
Georgia Tech
All potential losses.
Patsy
July 27th, 2010
11:34 am
Dogs start with one creamfilled pie. With a new QB (results of poor planning), they need two or even three before they play in Colombo.
POAD
July 27th, 2010
11:36 am
redpanties: Arkiesaw 8-5 and no D, USC 7-6 always QB questions, Florida don’t think UGA has a chance, Auburn 8-5 could be a suprise with Cam at QB, GT dawgs don’t fear the jackets ever so they say.
The DAWGS do have a pretty easy schedule for the talent on their team, but the dawgs do have question. Their Opponents record last year was 78-74 that doesn’t look too hard for sure.
OldFan
July 27th, 2010
11:46 am
There seems little doubt that SEC football is defined in the national sports media by Alabama, Florida, and LSU. As it should be, given their success on the national stage. I’m not sure how much that matters to UGA fans, who can argue endlessly about the puts and takes of CMR’s teams and whether or not they’ve done us proud. While it’s true that only one team can win it all, that team has come from our conference often enough that we should be able to figure out who the contenders will routinely be. UGA has had its moments, but it’s clearly not a routine contender, and after the last two seasons, has to prove that it hasn’t slipped away from the possibility of contending. Until Florida hits the skids, UGA goes nowhere unless it beats them on the field. Somebody did, somebody does—why can’t we? Ouside of that, it’s backslaps and atta boys for nice guy CMR as long as he keeps the team good enough to drive revenue and beat Tech.
DawgieStyle
July 27th, 2010
12:04 pm
The 2010 Dawgs can’t lose, what with all the red panties waved in the stands…
Jim Nichols
July 27th, 2010
12:23 pm
To Ralph…”We are but (realistic) voices, crying in the wilderness”..I truly believe that the UGA program has NO IDEA, how much the end-zone clowning, the dancing & strutting, and the preening after making a tackle my little GIRL could make, INFURIATES the “old school”, (as in, traditional UGA PRIDE & CLASS)..fans out there. And the players and coaches who view crucial, multiple, penalties as acceptable. DawgFans who might actually send $$$ to the alumni program, if all that gangsta’ mentality crap would suddenly be shut down. But, of late, I have to wonder who’s strong enough to do it….The cocky inmates are running the asylum, for sure..
SSIgator
July 27th, 2010
12:25 pm
“He knows what Bulldogs want, and it’s more than just to win — it’s to feel good about winning.”
I guess that translates into not just hoping that UF loses more games than UGA so they have a chance to go to Atlanta.
CLEVON LITTLE
July 27th, 2010
1:01 pm
Dan……You’re an idiot.
papadawg
July 27th, 2010
1:04 pm
DAWGS it’s going to be a red Banner er, Panty year
FalconUGAFan
July 27th, 2010
1:25 pm
SSIGator-I’ll translate it for you. Cut out the penalties, cut out the mental errors, cut out the off field issues (DUI’s, campus trash, AD DUI), stop worrying about what are we wearing to the game. Kick some butt, kick some trash cans in the locker room, then concern yourselves with the wins. Thats my wish list but the reality is CMR and Adams better do it in a hurry or people will be calling for some heads soon. In other words, change the culture from the top down. As much as I hate Florida, they APPEAR to be the model right now. I think that comes from your President and AD.
Sully
July 27th, 2010
1:35 pm
Mark Richt on UGA in 2010: ‘We want our fans to be proud’
And how does Richt propose to do that with a team that leads the NCAA in the number of players arrested year after year?
And there are those troublesome red panties falling from the sky.
There’s a reason UGA is called the Cesspool of the South.
Danah
July 27th, 2010
1:41 pm
What a hypocrite Richt is. If he truly wanted the fans to be proud of the team, the first thing he would do is stop recruiting the thugs and goons that he does. It would hurt the Athens bail bondsmen and the probation officers, but who cares about them.
Terri
July 27th, 2010
1:45 pm
Is the UGA getting a kickback from K-Mart and Wal-Mart for all the red panties they’re selling?
As a public service, here is the score of this year’s game in Jacksonville.
Florida 42
Georgia 13
The usual slaughter.
Villa Rica DAWG
July 27th, 2010
2:07 pm
Thanks for the feel good article, Mark. I needed that after all of the “summer headlines”…
For one brief moment early this morning, the sun was in just the right spot, the temperature was just so, and the air smelled just “that way” to make me feel like football is just around the corner…
Delbert D.
July 27th, 2010
2:13 pm
SSIgator – Adding to your quoted sentence:
“He knows what Bulldogs want, and it’s more than just to win — it’s to feel good about winning.”
One can feel good about winning without actually winning. One can also feel bad about winning, such as winning 7, or 5, or 3 games in a season. The implication of that quoted statement seems to be that he wants the Bulldogs to feel good about winning, no matter how many games they win.
Delbert D.
July 27th, 2010
2:20 pm
“It would hurt the Athens bail bondsmen and the probation officers, but who cares about them.”
The families of the bail bondsmen and probation officers. The bail bondsmen are independent businessmen, and they get a percentage of the bail amount since they put up the bond. As to probation officers, they deal with criminals released on probation from prison or jail. Fixed salary for them, but the greater the need, the more are hired.
RTech Engineer
July 27th, 2010
2:35 pm
desperate dawg fans go to the galleria to see a richt interview on a projector? Get a life dawg fans—you can see that stuff on the internet.
Robert Hall
July 27th, 2010
2:52 pm
Shoot, the UGA players just need to head down 316 and join me in the hood. Where else can you beat the crap out of a woman and only get a one game suspension for it? That’s right, Georgia Tech!
Ed
July 27th, 2010
3:01 pm
Dan, good points about Bush, but it absolutely amazes me that the Democrats, after 8 years of pissing and moaning about what a dumba$$ Bush is, elected someone who appears to be just as stupid, but with less experience. And where Bush at least had the good sense to choose Dick Cheney as his right hand man, Obama gets the wise counsel of…Joe Biden.
This country is still in a post-Reagan hangover. I’m hoping that we’ll elect another great one in my lifetime. Our country desperately needs that – 2012 would be a good time to start.
Bubba Gumption
July 27th, 2010
3:48 pm
It takes a complete idiot to diss the Gators. Maybe Bama can, but you leghumpin fleabags can’t say squat.
ugag is irrelevant
July 27th, 2010
5:00 pm
so how many times has richt beaten bama? and that’s not gonna change this year either
macon dawg
July 27th, 2010
5:30 pm
Florida’s run is over—they lost their top 4 players on offense and defense and their replacements aren’t that good. Look for the Dawgs to finally take over the SEC east with a nice win over florida in jax.
Beast from the East
July 27th, 2010
6:01 pm
Macon Dawg,
Wishful thinking, but the run is just getting a good head of steam. Keep hoping, though. It’s what Dawg fans like you are good at.
Mr. Georgia Football Returns
July 27th, 2010
6:04 pm
I was just curious, what do you guys think about Georgia’s new quarterback “Errorn Intercepta-Murray”?
NO RICHT HOT SEAT
July 27th, 2010
6:10 pm
Richt better worry about being dominated by tennessee year after year FIRST
how2fish
July 27th, 2010
7:17 pm
ugag is irrelevant CMR is 3-1 vs BAMA and buttercup we want the Tide who the hell you think you are the Gators?
GT BABY
July 27th, 2010
9:45 pm
YEAH GEORGIA FANS- BE PROUD OF YOUR AD GETTING CAUGHT WITH LITTLE RED BOYS UNDERWEAR, CONGRATS!
GT BABY
July 27th, 2010
9:49 pm
GLORY GLORY- CONGRATS TO UGA BEING THE NEW MIAMI. YOU SHOULD BE VERY PROUD, DO*UCEBAG!
THWG- THE SCHOOL FOR IDIOTS!
UgaFred
July 27th, 2010
9:59 pm
Why are the gators picked as heavy favorites in the East? Are we ever gonna win the SEC East again?
dawgfan
July 27th, 2010
10:03 pm
Coach Richt wants the fans to be proud? Try instilling some disciplin on your football team. Lets not LEAD college football in penalties!
12-2
July 28th, 2010
12:24 am
Monticello Dawg,
If you cannot admit the facts, just keep your mouth shut. You make us all look bad. Try reading
59bulldawg
UGA in football has ruined the tailgate tradition.
We have refused to build an Indoor Practice Facility, yet it has rained every day for the last 3 weeks. This despite the fact that we gave hundreds of millions of dollars to Red Panties Skank cheating AD, who only said that we will NOT borrow money to build it, like everyone else on Real Estate decisions spread out over 30 years.
Stegosaurus does not need an upgrade, but to be removed and 1 built on par with other basketball facilities. Knoxville has what they have ? Lexington has what they have ? And, we have a cow palace that seats half what they have.
Foley Field is a joke. We have more fans sitting in Kudzu that we do not consider part of the attendance.
Not only Ander Landers, but Coach Mark Fox deserve a real basketball gym and would sell out twice the number of seats we have now making money to pay for the gym in short order. We also would sign MORE great basketball players from this state.
Instead, you make excuses Monticello Dawg for being 10-10 the last 4 years vs SEC East, good for # 3 vs SEC East the last 4 years because of 4 years average 21 fumbles 4 years average 14 interceptions 4 years average # 96 NCAA Rank penalties, 4 years average 38-14 in won / loss record good for # 19 in the nation yet we were the # 11 team in 1-A Wins All-Time, and you sit there and make excuses or attempt to ignore that over the last 4 years Georgia is # 3 worst in the nation in Fulmer Cup Standings
Monticello Dawg
12-2
July 28th, 2010
12:38 am
dan
Ole Miss does NOT have Florida’s number.
And, dan, there is NO EXCUSE for 2-7 vs Florida by Coach Richt.
NONE.
1-3 Ron Zook
1-4 Urban Meyer
All Coach Richt does is COMPLAIN about the game being in JAX every year and how UNFAIR that is to his players who cannot acclimate he says to the humid temperature in 1 day, while he LETS Urban Meyer come up here and STEAL our best players on OFFENSE from this state instead Coach Richt is desperate for.
12-2
July 28th, 2010
12:47 am
OldFan
July 27th, 2010
11:46 am
There seems little doubt that SEC football is defined in the national sports media by Alabama, Florida, and LSU. As it should be, given their success on the national stage. I’m not sure how much that matters to UGA fans, who can argue endlessly about the puts and takes of CMR’s teams and whether or not they’ve done us proud. While it’s true that only one team can win it all, that team has come from our conference often enough that we should be able to figure out who the contenders will routinely be. UGA has had its moments, but it’s clearly not a routine contender, and after the last two seasons, has to prove that it hasn’t slipped away from the possibility of contending. Until Florida hits the skids, UGA goes nowhere unless it beats them on the field. Somebody did, somebody does—why can’t we? Ouside of that, it’s backslaps and atta boys for nice guy CMR as long as he keeps the team good enough to drive revenue and beat Tech.
12-2
July 28th, 2010
12:53 am
59bulldawg
July 27th, 2010
8:02 am
I love the Georgia program and I like Richt a lot. However my pride in the program has taken a beating with all the annual Dawgs get drunk and then get stupid problems. If he REALLY wants us to take pride in the program, begin with instilling a lot more discipline. The young men in red and black can’t help the team on the field if they’re suspended from playing because they acted like idiots off the field. Richt needs to get control of his program. If he does I think he’ll find the focus and commitment of his charges in practice and on the field will be sharply increased and he’ll win big again. But the longer these annual problems continue, the more Richt will undermine his own position. He can’t just talk the talk . . . he needs to walk the walk. I want Richt to succeed but my patience with him will not be everlasting.
Move the Florida Game
July 28th, 2010
1:08 am
Richt needs to get the florida game out of jacksonville for the Dawgs to have a better chance of winning—that’s step 1! Florida has all the advantages–a short bus ride to the game, more fans, etc. The dawgs have to travel hours to the atlanta airport then fly to jacksonville. Plus, dawg fans get hosed by ripoff hotel owners in jax and most florida fans just drive to the game for the day. The new Ga AD needs to get this game moved to athens ASAP! I’m tired of going down there and watching another blowout loss.
Jaw'jun Y'all
July 28th, 2010
7:13 am
UGAs finest coaches have come up from FLA or over from ALA. Coach Richt needs to treat his players less as prima donna gentlemen and more as adolescents. Forget the loco parentis garbage on campus and get back to common sense, parenthood, hard love treatment of juveniles. Work on personal conduct as a sign of individual responsiblility to team respect.
Raised in Athens, graduated TECH, go UGA 11-1.
Good Job Mark
July 28th, 2010
7:19 am
Mark,
Congratulations!! This has to one of the best articles you have written. I have followed you several years.This is one of the best. Straight to the point and very fact based.
ugag is irrelevant
July 28th, 2010
10:35 am
why are ugag folk so sensitive about being 4th rate? should be used to it by now
How2fish
July 28th, 2010
1:10 pm
ugag is irrelevant what UGA fans are used to..stomping mudholes in the Bugs AZZ!
Shane
July 28th, 2010
2:32 pm
This country is still in a post-Reagan hangover. I’m hoping that we’ll elect another great one in my lifetime. Our country desperately needs that – 2012 would be a good time to start.
Please god no more Reagans. He bankrupted California before taking office and then ran the US dept from 1 trillion when he took over to 4 trillion when he left.
No Thanks.
Give me a Clinton who actually balanced the budget. Of course it took W all of 15 days to blow that.
Shane
July 28th, 2010
2:33 pm
When you are a premier program like UGA you expect to win and win big.
Nothing else should be tolerated.
lakesidegator
July 28th, 2010
5:02 pm
Gators OWN UGa for what will feel like the millionth year in a row.
But hey, 2nd isn’t so bad…..unless it’s sloppy ones.
Love ya,
Gator Nation
Ed
July 28th, 2010
6:45 pm
Bubba Gumption, you are just wrong. Any school that took 59 years to win a conference championship like the Gators and got hit with major probation in ‘84 and ‘90 for serious violations is fair game for dissing. Besides, Georgia holds the overall series lead and we whipped them pretty good in ‘07.
Hell, if nothing else the fact that they wear Orange and Blue and have some of the ugliest uniforms this side of Oregon (did you see those clownish uniforms in the SEC Championship game?) is reason enough to diss them.
And finally, Georgia has been winning championships since WW II. That’s called tradition. The Gators think that football was invented in 1991 when Spurrier lead them to their first championship.
When I can’t diss UF anymore, it’s time to give up college football.
By the way, Alabama lost to La.-Monroe less than three seasons ago. You’d figure that alone would be good for about 5 years of humility, but apparently that’s not the case.
Ed
July 28th, 2010
6:50 pm
“Give me a Clinton who actually balanced the budget. Of course it took W all of 15 days to blow that.”
Give me a Clinton who has some common sense and knows squat about national security, and I’d take you up on that. Unfortunately the guy who held office from ‘93-’01 couldn’t see past the U.S. economy. Which was going into a recession when he left office, by the way.
As for Reagan, I didn’t think his greatness as President was seriously debated by anyone seeing how he won the Cold War and turned around the dreadful Carter economy, but I guess we all see things differently.
Urban Meyer
July 28th, 2010
8:45 pm
What does that title mean? Urban Meyer just announced he wants Florida fans to be embarrassed this season. Guess AJC writers are running out of catchy pick me up titles for articles. Next one should read: “Richt Want’s to Win more than He Loses.”
saban
July 29th, 2010
11:46 am
hear the dawgs are getting red panties for each win this year.
let`s see two pair each.
Hairy's Balls
July 29th, 2010
3:02 pm
@ Mark Bradley:
“Speaking of coaches: Richt did something remarkable last winter. He fired most of his defensive staff, including a coordinator who was among his best friends. Bulldog-watchers weren’t sure he would, but he did. This told us that, for all the perceptions of loyalty as a weakness, this coach is steely enough to put his program first. And that’s what you’d want in a coach, is it not?”
He should ave fired Willie years earlier. He only did it when he waited as long as he could, basically to save his own a$$. You know it and the fans know it. This kind of write-up, while ignoring the reality of the situation at that time, is poor journalism.
Les
July 29th, 2010
3:58 pm
The Kentucky game was not a proud moment.
Fans leaving, before Cox got the ball again on the last drive, in DROVES, filing out of the stadium, because they all knew how it would end.
With ANOTHER turnover.
And they were right.
I guess the 4 turovers, in the 2nd half, seemed to the fans like Georgia had dropped down a level.
It was the lowpoint in Richt’s career so far.