There’s no other way to say it: Mark Richt is in trouble at UGA
This was Mississippi State's first touchdown Saturday. It would add two more. (AP photo)
I wouldn’t have thought such a thing possible a month ago or a week ago or even 24 hours ago, but here it is:
Mark Richt is in trouble.
It was possible to write off Georgia’s first two losses as having come against superior opposition. It is not possible to write off losing in Starkville. It is not possible to square all those ballyhooed recruiting classes with being 0-3 in the conference. It is not possible to look on the Bulldogs as anything more than a middling SEC team.
Five years ago, how many other league schools would have gladly traded their coach for Richt? Nine? Ten? How many would today? Maybe three, and that’s depending on how Ole Miss feels about Houston Nutt this week. Too many SEC programs have caught and passed Georgia, and this has nothing to do with the superpowers in Tuscaloosa and Gainesville. Consider:
Last year Georgia lost to Tennessee in Year 1 of Lane Kiffin. Last week Georgia lost to Arkansas in Sanford Stadium in Year 3 of Bobby Petrino. Last night Georgia lost to Mississippi State in Year 2 under Dan Mullen.
No longer does an opponent tremble at the sight of Georgia approaching. On the contrary, this has become — three weeks running! — the team you want to play if you’re looking to establish your program.
The old Steve Spurrier critique of Ray Goff — “Georgia gets all these players … I don’t know what happens to them” — again applies. Georgia doesn’t lack talent. It simply cannot bring its talent to bear. Its new 3-4 defense mustered one sack against Arkansas and Ryan Mallett. Its touted offensive line was able to carve out 113 yards rushing against Manny Diaz’s Mississippi State defense. Its offense could not score a touchdown against South Carolina and needed 58-plus minutes to manage one in Starkville.
There has been no improvement week over week. There is only a weird stasis. The weeks and the opponents change, but Georgia looks no different. How does that happen?
Loading ...Granted, the season might look different had A.J. Green played these four games. But he didn’t because he broke a rule, and that’s the other reason Richt is in trouble. A coach can get away with having his players mess up off the field if the coach keeps winning big on it. But Richt is 10-9 dating back to Nov. 29, 2008, and guess what cheery news awaited him on his return from Mississippi?
You got it. Another player has been arrested.
When I say, “Richt is in trouble,” I don’t mean I expect him to be fired this week or even after this season. I think Greg McGarity, the new athletic director, will err on the side of patience with a coach of such distinguished pedigree. (And a strong finish to this season — winning the next eight and beating Auburn and Florida en route — would effectively get Richt out of trouble.) But the loss at State seems a tipping point. It seems the game in which the majority of Georgia fans stopped seeing Mark Richt as the answer and came to regard him as the problem.
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1,529 comments Add your comment
coachgb
September 26th, 2010
12:49 pm
Did you notice CMR looking over Bobo’s shoulder alot more this week? He kept the headphones on and seemed to be alot more involved in the playcalling.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
September 26th, 2010
12:51 pm
CMR at the end of the game looked like a desperate man. He knew exactly the ramifications of that lose. Bobo by the looks has called his last game as OC. CMR make no mistake is in trouble. The lunatic fringe as bloggers are called are nailing this to a tee. The program is on the downfail, bigtime. This has Fulmer scenario written all over it. The staff is grasping at straws right now….
yomamaindahouse
September 26th, 2010
12:51 pm
I think the guy is burned out: tired of coaching a program full of dillusional fans who can’t get a job at a 7-11 but believe they can be a head coach; tired of players getting arrested who have absolutely no respect for their coach, their teammates, or themselves; and tired from turning around a program that was dead into a major program. It is exhausting work, no doubt. The guy has earned his respect and his retirement. He needs to make the decision. Hopefully, CMR can get the ship righted, turn the season into a positive one and then make his decision about retirement or staying on. I firmly believe the man can get it done and have full confidence in him.
Mike A.
September 26th, 2010
12:51 pm
Vince Dooley is responsible for all of these problems.
Bill King = typical uga fan
September 26th, 2010
12:52 pm
hahahhah.
Bwahhahahahah!
sunny purdue
September 26th, 2010
12:53 pm
Richt made his bones against Zook, Shula, Holtz, Vandy, KY, etc. He was never more than average. The top tier of coaches include Saban, Meyer, Petrino, Spurrier. There is no place at the table for Mark Richt. But, as a Gator, I want to see him retire from UGA in 20 years.
Johnny B Good
September 26th, 2010
12:53 pm
There’s gonna be an opening for a preacher at that New Birth church, maybe he should get his resume ready.
St. Clarkston
September 26th, 2010
12:53 pm
I don’t want to see Richt fired. He has done a good job overall. However, it’s a foregone conclusion at this point. The team seems to have quit. I realize we don’t have the recruiting base that UF has or the legacy of Bama but this state is in the top 5 in high school talent and we should be in the mix every year for the SEC east. Nick Saban has won two national championships with two different teams while Richt hasn’t even gotten to the game. Urban Meyer turned a mediocre Gator into a national powerhouse in two years. My beloved dawgs have regressed in the last two years and it’s time for Richt to either solve the problem or leave. I watched the fire in Dan Mullen’s last night while Richt looked puzzled and perplexed. It’s sad.
Red
September 26th, 2010
12:54 pm
If we can just bring in Jim Harbaugh from Stanford. Look at his record from the past three college teams he coached. Unfortunately, his contract ends 2014.
If we can just bring in Jim Harbaugh from Stanford. Look at his record from the past three college teams he coached. Unfortunately, his contract ends 2014.
If we can just bring in Jim Harbaugh from Stanford. Look at his record from the past three college teams he coached. Unfortunately, his contract ends 2014.
Loyal Dawg Fan Forever
September 26th, 2010
12:54 pm
If Bobo is so bad and Richt doesn’t know it the problem is not Bobo.
Barry
September 26th, 2010
12:54 pm
HIRE GRUDEN NOW!!!
Real Athens
September 26th, 2010
12:54 pm
Jeopardy Host:
Hate the message, not the messenger.
Schultz has been right about Georgia for a long time. Now everyone’s jumping on his bandwagon. Nice.
Nice job, Jeff.
Preston
September 26th, 2010
12:54 pm
Love the guy but it’s time for opening discussions on who to go get to replace him. Kirby?
Dawgman566
September 26th, 2010
12:54 pm
The Richt era apparently peaked with the Sugar Bowl victory over Hawaii. How much to get Saban in Athens?
Don't be AU or UT
September 26th, 2010
12:55 pm
I too am at a loss for what has transpired this season, but if you told me in 2001 exactly what the decade would look like, I certainly would have taken it. CWM should have been fired earlier. The play calling stinks. The OL and running game have regressed. Three disappointing seasons in a row. All true. Based on his resume, much like Tuberville’s and Fumler’s, Richt is a very good coach–not the Meyer and Saban elite–but certainly accomplished. Even the Bear, Dooley, and Dodd had multiple year stretches of disappointment. Richt has more than earned the chance to right the ship.
MALKAT
September 26th, 2010
12:55 pm
It’s a sad day in Georgia when both ’standard bearers’ get ripped by the “cow colleges’ of Mississippi and NC. Hey, GA Southern won!
Andy
September 26th, 2010
12:55 pm
First of all, it’s clear in hindsight how important Van Gorder was to this program. The early coordinators that led Georgia back to the #1 programs were Van Gorder and Richt (he was the coordinator until he handed the reigns for playcalling to Bobo). RIcht feels to me a bit like Tony Dungy during his final year. I get the feeling he has a higher calling. So, who are the top people we ought to be thinking about with a calling to the Dogs?
GTfan
September 26th, 2010
12:56 pm
Do you really believe Richt would take half his buy out $8 Mills? That DA Coach we got “Paul Hewitt” has a $7 mills buyout that rolls over every year. Some AD’s have got to be crazy. Both Coaches will be hard to Fire. However UGA has more money than GT to pay him off. Coach Johnson also better turn it up are they’ll be calling for his head.
Good Luck to both schools and God Bless the USA.
Dawgster
September 26th, 2010
12:56 pm
The comments would be more intelligent if this space was limited to contributing, ticket holding Georgia alumni. The rest of you, go away from our space. Quickly.
Harry Truman
September 26th, 2010
12:56 pm
Beaten by the Evil Genius East, Spurrier. Beaten by the Evil Genius West, Petrino. Yesterday was too much cowbell. Where does the buck stop?
Bill King of the Ewoks
September 26th, 2010
12:57 pm
What color socks should the pups wear next week????
Do ya’ll remember 1980 ?
Maddog
September 26th, 2010
12:57 pm
The problem with Tuberville at Auburn was when he fired his coordinators, he kept the same position coaches that never adjusted to the coordinators that were brought in. Example, Tony Franklin. He brought the spread offense with him but he was not allowed to bring any of his assistant positions coaches with him to Auburn. If you get rid of a coordinator and shift to a new scheme, offensive or defensive, you must overhaul the whole staff on that side of the ball.
Bill the King of the Ewoks
September 26th, 2010
12:57 pm
1980 NAT’L CHAMPS BABY
The Ghost of Ralph McGill
September 26th, 2010
12:57 pm
The comments would be more intelligent if this space was limited to contributing, ticket holding Georgia alumni. The rest of you, go away from our space.
You don’t own my newspaper.
DreDawg
September 26th, 2010
12:57 pm
If UGA fires Richt, who do they bring in? Petrino would probably jump ship again plus he is a proven college winner everywhere he goes. He had Louisville one win away from playing for the National Championship in 2006. I know Falcon fans hate him, but he is not an NFL head coach. UGA needs a big name with head coaching experience, current coordinators will not do. UGA can’t go out and make a hire like Tennessee with Dooley, it needs to make headlines and be a splash otherwise clean house on the offensive side of the ball and keep Richt. Anyone have any other realistic options?
wxwax
September 26th, 2010
12:57 pm
Agreed, Mark.
As for those highly-touted recruiting classes, I think this is further evidence that the ranking of recruits is BS.
It’s obvious that Georgia’s lacking in talent. That’s why it’s losing.
College football fans have a tendency to absolve the players, to blame the coaches. Every fan of a college team seems to think they have talent waiting to be unleashed, if only the coaches were competent.
Well, it’s nonsense.
Georgia doesn’t have enough good players. End of story. Same at Tech.
Ed
September 26th, 2010
12:58 pm
The Georgia – Georgia Tech game is going to be a real barnburner. I’m most intrigued by the matchup of Georgia’s offense and Tech’s defense. The stoppable force meets the easily movable object. The two sides might actually run in the opposite direction at the snap of the ball.
simplythetruth
September 26th, 2010
12:58 pm
Do Dawg fans not see the similarities between FSU’s program and now UGA’s? Richt has become what Bobby is/was. IRRELEVANT. Bowden put on headphones and patrolled the sidelines the last few years, all for show. Quality of recruits went down, hype went up. Wait, just wait, gimme one more dad-gum year and I’ll turn it around. Now all we hear is Fire Willie, Fire Bobo, fire this guy and fire that guy. Guess what? Nothing has changed, in fact, IT”S WORSE. Want a change, stop buying the damned over-priced tickets. The Dawgs damn sure aren’t playing like they’re worth the price of admission and the salary of Richt, well, you be the judge.
Dawgster
September 26th, 2010
12:58 pm
Harry Truman – go away.
coachgb
September 26th, 2010
12:59 pm
When Bowden was asked a few weeks ago what he thought led to the downfall of FSU football during his last few years he said he thought he and his staff did a poor job of evaluating talent. He said that while the so called recruiting experts kept saying FSU had all these 5 star guys coming in, alot of them played like 2 star players. My point, everybody keeps pointing at CMR and his staff but look closely at the team. The great running game, Caleb King sits in the hole looking for a place to run and goes nowhere. Ealey fumbles’ have cost us two games this year. The vetern line means just that, they have been around for a while, outside of Boiling and Sturdivant, the others can’t run block a lick. The great recievers we were supposed to be getting, Marlon Brown looks stiff and King has to catch the ball with his body. They never get open. You can go up and down the roster and what you find is a nice group of athletes but an average group of football players. Most of all, there is no fire in the bellies of this group.
Rich
September 26th, 2010
12:59 pm
CMR is not the problem, but he is responsible to fix it. The talent is there in the players. Move all players to the dorms and take the keys away at 11pm.
Thuga
September 26th, 2010
12:59 pm
Just like a pack of wild dogs…turning on each other when times are tough! All of those who were predicting greatness of the leg humpers before the season started (as they do annually) are now turning on the coaches. UGA is in the top 3 in the nation as far as sports programs but they can’t put it all together. Is it the coaches??? The scary players??? Too many policemen in Athens??? Hard to say. It all fell apart in the end zone in Florida a few years ago and has been in a downward spiral since.
Get the message to the Coaches that the dawgs need to get back to basics with good character and conduct and you will see the change. It will take time, not just one game. If you go up and pound Colorado don’t get excited. If they don’t change the foundation of the team it will not matter who coaches.
By the way, Bruce Mac, dropping the R word shows your intelligence. That’s the first thing a loser says when he has no clue in a conversation.
DIT
September 26th, 2010
1:00 pm
UGALEE – “Jesus was a good man, I hear…. but would he have been a good football coach?”
REALLY??? Do you have any idea on what you are posting. Please tell us that you just did not think before you typed. You need help!
wxwax
September 26th, 2010
1:00 pm
Petrino?
A team takes on the personality of its coach.
Put in a tight spot with the Falcons, Petrino folded.
Put in a tight spot against Alabama, Petrino’s Arkansas folded.
Petrino may be a great front-runner, but he doesn’t have what it takes to win when nothing’s left but your character.
DIT
September 26th, 2010
1:01 pm
Ed – “The Georgia – Georgia Tech game is going to be a real barnburner. I’m most intrigued by the matchup of Georgia’s offense and Tech’s defense. The stoppable force meets the easily movable object. The two sides might actually run in the opposite direction at the snap of the ball.”
Now that was funny!
Ed
September 26th, 2010
1:01 pm
sunny perdue, Spurrier and “top-tier” departed ways a long time ago.
Personally, I think Holtz is a better coach and doesn’t belong on your list. He did more with SC than anyone else has – including Spurrier – and Notre Dame still can’t replace him after all these years.
WAKE UP!!
September 26th, 2010
1:02 pm
The apologists need to face the fact that Richt is not a top-talent coach. From his wasting talent year-after-year, to a piss-poor stance on discipline and oversight, to just being an overall thug. He’s GOT to go. Look at his background……Miami and FSU. Unless we want to become known for creating the greatest players in the Georgia Dept. of Corrections League, we need to get somebody with some INTEGRITY. Richt has NONE.
ThisAintPlaystation
September 26th, 2010
1:03 pm
The sooner we fire Richt, the sooner we can start offering the job to 6 or 7 coaches before one of them accepts it & we can hear about how we got the man we wanted all along. Either way we are set for embarrassment for a while.
lol wut?
September 26th, 2010
1:03 pm
DIT – It was clearly a joke. The fictional character “Jesus” never existed in real life, so there’s no way he could be a football coach.
Jay in VA
September 26th, 2010
1:04 pm
The team that showed up last night would have a hard time beating anyone else on our schedule, save for (presumably) Idaho State. We’re heading to Colorado and looking forward to seeing the sights and meeting our alumni chapter bretheren out there, but I’m almost afraid of that game now.
Trying to stay positive, and we’ll bring full enthusiasm to Boulder and beyond. That said, the program just feels wobbly. I don’t have the answers, so I’ll leave that to our AD. Hopefully Mark Fox’s guys will give us something to cheer for later this fall. With some preseason ranking love, is this the year we become a basketball school?
landover
September 26th, 2010
1:04 pm
One tends to lose their fire if they have 5 million in the bank.
Ga letter dog
September 26th, 2010
1:04 pm
Is Richt back from church yet? Praying won’t help. He must wake up and realize what everyone else sees. VERY POOR ASST. COACHING—that’s his fault. Start with better evaluation of recruits and for Gods sake, get some real running backs, develop a strength program, and pray for more emotion from yourself. In this case NICE GUYS are finishing last. Saban runs his show at Bama, but he also has good assistant coaches who can actually teach their guys how to play and develops their potential. UGA does not, that’s your fault CMR. Heck, Saban is so organized he spends most of his summer at his $7,000,000.00 Lake Burton home relaxing, boating, and enjoying his family. IT ALL STARTS AT THE TOP FOR UGA FOOTBALL.
Rich
September 26th, 2010
1:04 pm
lol wut? – Do you have proof?
Roadrunner
September 26th, 2010
1:04 pm
I voted no as to whether Georgia needs a new coach, but I agree with a whole lot of what others have already said, it’s time to get a new attitude in Athens. I know he can’t write off the season at this point, but I truly believe its time to build for the future, play players who want to do their best, have the heart and work ethic to make themselves and the team what we all want them to be, and jettison those players who aren’t going to be a part of the ‘renewed’ Bulldogs. Every program goes through down periods, this one is just deeper than most would have thought possible given the supposed talent on the team. I still believe in CRM, but I’m not sure his team does.
DIT
September 26th, 2010
1:05 pm
lol wut? – Very sad comment on your behalf. I feel sorry for you. I truly do.
80sDawg
September 26th, 2010
1:06 pm
With the talent we are able to recruit, we should be a perennial power. CMR holds no one accountable. Look how long it took him to fire Martinez. He just doesn’t have the sustainable fire in him to keep everyone in check. He’s good for a sideline pep talk and a high dive. After that, he’s as motivating as an empty boot. There’s no sense of urgency or intensity. Time to find some new blood. If Evans were still here, I think he would be ok. McGarity isn’t going to stand and let the men behind the curtain get under his collar. It’s time for a change.
Douglas
September 26th, 2010
1:06 pm
I can’t believe some of you people keep saying we don’t have talent. If we don’t have talent, then why were UF, UA, and other schools recruiting some of the same players? Are you saying they are bad judges of talent too? This problem is all about coaching…end of story.
Haves vs. Have Nots
September 26th, 2010
1:06 pm
What are we? If we’re a “HAVE,” then what should we expect. UGA, UF, UT, Bama, AU, and LSU are the “haves” in this league. The rest are “have nots,” and I will include GT in the second category because we play them every year. We average playing 4 “haves” in a year, 5 “have nots,” plus 3 other non-conferene games which usually include a “have not” and 2 cupcakes. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for us to have a .500 record against the “haves,” an .800 record against the “have nots,” and 100% record against the cupcakes. That means that we should average 9.8 wins a season. That’s about what Richt has done.
lol wut?
September 26th, 2010
1:08 pm
Rich…do you have proof he did?
JB
September 26th, 2010
1:09 pm
Auburn hires a no name and light years ahead of us now. Something is wrong in Athens. Most of our players were wanted by most SEC teams and probably all ACC teams.We need to be careful. Tennessee had all the money in the world and had to make 3-4 calls to hire a coach. We are a train wreck. Knute can’t fix us in one year. I do look south to Auburn for hope. McGarity watch’s real close the rest of the year.