What’s wrong with UGA? Sad to say, it starts with Mark Richt
"The meeting of the Mark Richt Fan Club is called to order." (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Mark Richt’s teams use to have all the answers. Whether it was P-44-Haynes in Knoxville or 70-X-Takeoff in Auburn, his Georgia Bulldogs would win the sort of breathless games that stamped Richt as college football’s next great coach. But it has been a decade, and Richt hasn’t taken Georgia to the pinnacle — got close a couple of times — and nobody sees him that way anymore.
If you’re looking for what has gone wrong with this program, there it is: Mark Richt never quite finished the drill. Georgia was No. 3 in the final polls after the 2002 season and No. 2 according to the Associated Press after 2007 and No. 1 according to everybody in preseason 2008, but the Bulldogs could never do as Florida and LSU and Alabama did — they couldn’t get to the BCS title game and win.
And now they’re 1-4 and Richt isn’t the sleek young man just in from Tallahassee; he’s a 50-year-old who has been on the job a decade and who seems at a loss to arrest the slide. This isn’t to say he’s a bad man or even a bad coach, but it is to say that in college football the blame must always fall upward: There’s a reason head coaches are multimillionaires.
It’s convenient to say that Georgia in Year 10 under Richt resembles Florida State near the end of his mentor Bobby Bowden’s reign. Convenient, and also true. Attention to detail has slipped. Players appear to be coaching themselves. Players also seem incapable of conforming to team rules and community laws.
A college coach can override almost any embarrassment so long as he wins 10 games as a matter of course, but Richt’s team is but 9-9 over the past season and a quarter. And you simply cannot play .500 ball and have 10 players arrested in one offseason.
The belief here is that Richt will not be fired this season or in its aftermath. The belief here is also that Richt stands before us a damaged coach. There was no reason for Georgia to lose to Mississippi State or Colorado, no reason other than that these Bulldogs no longer expect to win. They’ve seen themselves caught and passed in the SEC. They’ve seen their gimmicks — the blackout against Alabama in 2008, the black helmets in Jacksonville last season — fall flat. They’ve seen teams with lesser talent being coached up.
There was a time when we would have expected Richt to solve any problem, but that time is gone. The slide of 2006 — four losses in five games — was halted by three rousing victories at season’s end, but come 2009 the Bulldogs were back in the same place, needing to beat Georgia Tech and win a bowl to salvage a season.
This winter Richt steeled himself and fired three-quarters of his defensive staff, but nothing much has changed. Tackles are still being missed. Coverages are still being blown. The whole operation comes off as disjointed, distracted, dysfunctional. It’s as if the Georgia Bulldogs awoke one morning and found themselves reinvented as the Kentucky Wildcats. (Who, not incidentally, beat UGA in Sanford Stadium last season for the first time since 1977.)
The effect has been stunning. How long since we’ve seen the Bulldogs so inept? (Even Ray Goff’s otherwise lousy 1990 team managed to beat Alabama.) It would be one thing if Georgia wasn’t good enough to compete, but nobody can seriously believe that a roster including A.J. Green, Justin Houston, Branden Smith, Aaron Murray, Orson Charles and Washaun Ealey is without talent. Ask Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen if he’d trade rosters with Richt. Heck, ask Paul Johnson.
Rule of thumb: If it’s not the playing, it must be the coaching. What worked for Richt for five years and two SEC titles has stopped working. (He lost 13 games those first five seasons; he has lost 18 in the four-plus seasons since.) This team of 10 returning offensive starters and the new 3-4 defense hasn’t won a game in a calendar month.
The optimum course would be for the man making the millions — that’d be Richt — to seize the wheel and steer this program back to excellence. But if he could, wouldn’t he have done it by now? It’s the age-old question: What do you do when you’ve run out of ideas?
(Take the guys swimming? Nope. Tried that already.)
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894 comments Add your comment
Stop it!
October 4th, 2010
2:11 pm
How can some of ya’ll blame Richt? 3-17 equals 20…Richt has only been there 10.
TN GAL
October 4th, 2010
2:11 pm
Go VOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GA doesnt have a chance!
Lane Kiffin
October 4th, 2010
2:12 pm
Hey, don’t forget about me!
Mark
October 4th, 2010
2:12 pm
Only people in Georgia think Georgia is a top football school.
JAN
October 4th, 2010
2:12 pm
WHILE YOU’RE AT IT, I KNOW LARRY MUNSON IS GOING TO BE RIDICUOUSLY HARD TO EVER REPLACE….BUT WHAT WE’VE GOT NOW STINKS!! YOU GOTA FIND SOME ENTERTAINING, KNOWLEDGEABLE, AWESOME ANNOUNCER!!!!
Pat Dye
October 4th, 2010
2:12 pm
Ray…I think your keys were in my pants that ended up in the lake.
jc_atl
October 4th, 2010
2:13 pm
It is an annual ritual for Mark Richt’s teams to lead the SEC on penalty yards and team arrests. College kids getting in trouble away from school related activities comes down to recruiting kids who aren’t timebombs, which Richt seems to have a knack for picking. From a coaching standpoint, it’s pretty hard to conceive that Richt has not righted the problem with UGA’s enormous penalty yards surrendered. I hope they don’t fire him as he helps Auburn recruit all over Georgia. War Eagle.
Booby's booger finger
October 4th, 2010
2:13 pm
you need a mascot, temporary mascot is bad karma
Krogunner
October 4th, 2010
2:13 pm
He should be fired immediately. The new coach should be hired ASAP to get a jump on recruiting.
Chris Peterson, Dan Mullin, John Gruden would be the 1st 3 choices.
UGA Insider
October 4th, 2010
2:13 pm
I’m afraid of what’s to happen if UT comes in here and blows us out. Dooley will have his signature win as Kiffin did and the UT program will appear to be up and coming the and the UGA program in despair. If there is a coaching change I hope it will happen immediately after the UT game. Time is wasting. I have knowledge of the situation and think that Dan Mullen or Will Muschamp will be the new head coach at UGA. I really think Dan Mullen has the greatest chance. A name I have heard as well is the head coach of the Pittsburg Steelers.
SPF 30
October 4th, 2010
2:14 pm
Keep Mark Richt!!!
-Your friends at Toucan Tan
jack bull
October 4th, 2010
2:14 pm
as far as the off-field stuff, i wonder if mark, or anyone on here, has ever tried to be a ‘father-figure’ to 100+ 18-20 year old’s?? i guess some on here would be 100% successful in making sure that their ‘kids’ don’t do anything to get in trouble…
Isiah Crowell
October 4th, 2010
2:15 pm
Well Dawgs…………………………………….bye!
mark bradley's 70's fro and mustache
October 4th, 2010
2:15 pm
Poor recruiting classes and lack of consentration ( poor instruction ) results in loosing close games to good teams or to bad teams. How much could you say it is coaching? If the players have fumbles, bad routes, and penalties, that would be the result of poor coaching.
Grammar
October 4th, 2010
2:16 pm
Bradley, did your dog proofread this article for you?
Booby's booger finger
October 4th, 2010
2:16 pm
“Let us pray” -CMR
John Galt
October 4th, 2010
2:17 pm
Our problem is that our fan base is fans of the coach first, and fans of the team second. That’s not the case at winning schools. Richt would have been fired already at Florida, Bama, LSU, USC, Ohio State, Texas, or Oklahoma….that’s why THEY win. We have an apathetic and heartless bunch of losers for our fan base, the exact identity of our coach.
Stop It!
October 4th, 2010
2:18 pm
First things first. When you’re THREE AND SEVENTEEN against your biggest rival you need to stop talking about SEC and National titles. Baby steps Puppies!
Stacy Chitty
October 4th, 2010
2:18 pm
Gosh, Mark. You should be a coach !! You seem to have all the answers. You remind me of Toby Keith’s song, “The Critic”. “So he sat behind a typewriter and gunned the boy down”.
Chris
October 4th, 2010
2:19 pm
I am a huge Richt fan but even I am wondering if he can turn it around. You were loaded with with Offensive players returning who were suppose to protect your inexperience QB however the QB has been the best of them all. Your best WR will go pro at seasons end so he no longer has to worry about what happens if he wants to sell his jersey. The jury is still out on Grantham but in his defense, Georgia probably needs a couple classes to recruit players to fit the 3-4 scheme he wants to run. Unfortunately I don’t think he is going to get 2 years to see it come to fruition.
One off-season isn’t going to be enough to fix the problems. I mean Richt was even saying at all the booster clubs this year that he felt this group was poised for a turnaround season. This team hasn’t been the same since Richt gave up play calling and Van Gorder left for other possibilities. After a 5 loss season in 2009, I don’t think Richt can survive a 4 win season and I am struggling to find 4 wins out of what we have left and the way Georgia is playing at this point.
So who replace Richt? Alot of people will want Peterson from Boise but is he going to leave a place where he only has to win 1 or 2 big games a year to come to the Gauntlet of the SEC? I have heard Harbaugh mentioned and wonder have people seen what he has in Stanford right now. Why in the world would he leave that to come to the mess that is Georgia right now??? I think you have to go to Will Muschamp. He is a Georgia Alum, He has fire, you might be able to get him to leave instead of hanging around in Texas wondering when Mac will retire.
North Ave. Trade school fan
October 4th, 2010
2:19 pm
Nothing, NOTHING, beats you whinning, crying, UGA fans! I can’t get enough of the back biting, fire this coach, fire that coach, bring back Munson, get a new bullpup! How sad it must be when your LIFE revolves around college football. Tech looses (and they do – a lot),and my life goes on. Enjoy the wins and get the blank over it when they loose. Bama will OWN the SEC conference for a while.
swhite1951
October 4th, 2010
2:19 pm
Hey Bruce mac, if you’re going to make a “humorous” remark, you should get your facts straight. It’s Bill Engvall who says “here’s your sign,” not Jeff Foxworthy. His saying is “You might be a redneck if you try to coach the Georgia Bulldogs on the web.”
Stop It!
October 4th, 2010
2:20 pm
Uhhh…Bama owns the SEC for a lifetime.
Gbal
October 4th, 2010
2:20 pm
If CMR wants sure choice for OC …. Call Coach Greg Bunn out of Waynesboro GA. He’ll right the ship. Was a great motivator in the HS and College ranks.
EKII
October 4th, 2010
2:20 pm
Can the 3-4 NOW. As a UVA fan, I suffered through 9 years of the Groh 3-4. Georgia does not have the personnel for it now, and it is much to hard to recruit for at the college level, year-in-and-year-out. Cut that loss right now and go to an aggressive 4-3.
1-4
October 4th, 2010
2:21 pm
Cal 52 Colorado 7
Nevada 52 Cal 31
steve
October 4th, 2010
2:23 pm
Look, anyone can sit here and play the blame game, but I will tell you I saw a much better team this past weekend than the first few games. # 1 we are installing a new defense. You have to recruit a new defense, very seldom do you go out and magically find players in one scheme are perfect for another. That is going to take a year or two. #2 As good as Murry is he is still a Freshman. #3 I don’t know what was up with all of those personal fouls we received this weekend but I dont think half of them were warrented. That kicker deserves an oscar for that performance. #4 if Rick goes it will be a whole new coaching staff in the fall and we will start all over again. Id rather have issues only one year not 2 or 3.
John2
October 4th, 2010
2:24 pm
Maybe Coach Richt should have stuck with two-a-days.
WilliamG
October 4th, 2010
2:24 pm
It seems odd to think that Richt has suddenly become an idiot, or out of touch. His record should speak for itself but – obviously – it does not. Georgia was lucky to get him and continues to be lucky to have him.
I think at least one statement in the blog is wrong. I don’t think – by and large – this is a gifted team. There’s a big difference between potential, or athleticism, and how a person can actually perform on the field. It seems clear, watching the games, that some of the players can’t perform at a high level. Before someone yells, “that’s coaching” – it isn’t really. These players – after all these years of high school and college ball, know how to tackle, how to open up holes on the offensive line, how to hold a football so that it’s difficult for someone to take it away. What seems to be lacking on the field are basic fundamentals.
Sometimes teams go through rough spells. We’re going through one now. But replacing a fine coach with someone new creates problems of its own. And it starts a honeymoon period where loses are explained away by those who say that the new coach needs time to build his own system and to recruit. If you look at the history of coaching changes like that you will see that – more times than not – a team does worse, not better, after a big change.
One thing is certain, the notion of loyalty is gone, or almost gone. My guess is that too many people get most of their own self-esteem from how well the team does. So, in bad times, they lose the only claim they have to feeling good about themselves.
SCBird
October 4th, 2010
2:25 pm
Richt isn’t the problem, his OC and DC are.
red hill
October 4th, 2010
2:26 pm
Bradley says Richt is the problem. Now, when Richt is fired (and he will be fired either after this season or next), mark my words, Bradley will rail about the injustice of it all. “He won 70% of his games, blah blah blah.” “UGA’s fans and administration were totally off base, blah blah blah.” It’s all about the page hits, isn’t it, Bradley?? Got to keep people stirred up, got to jump on whichever side of the fence stirs up the most people.
GEORGIA SUCKS
October 4th, 2010
2:26 pm
Going to get beat by DOOLEY’S VOLS!!! Now that’s funny.
A voice of reason, not treason.
October 4th, 2010
2:26 pm
Walmart UGA fans Unite! And collectively save your breath.. your opinions mean nothing! If the only time you’ve spent on campus is walking to the stadium. You’re a Walmart fan, please go away!
Look at UF’s arrest records, hell 256 traffic tickets last year alone… does winning make it all ok? No! It’s exactly what happens when you recruit 3,4,and 5 star players. They are kids.. at the end of the day when they mess up and they will. i’d rather have a man of character like coach Richt there to represent and coach my team. He has won before and will again… it’s called faith. Pick some up!
Sorry MB this tabloid style journalism isn’t inflammatory enough to sell your rag of a newspaper that is failing in a one paper town.
CMR is going to stay because level headed UGA fans know he is not replaceable …even if we don’t win another game this year. So please write another article like this and rile up the dolts into a frenzy if it makes you feel important. It’s amazing they actually pay you for this sensationalistic junk.
Techmaninathens
October 4th, 2010
2:26 pm
I listen the Athens’ radio 960theref all pre-season and all I hear is the UGA got the best tight end, or linebacker, or quarterback, or OL or DL in the nation. Every year I hear that! I said before this year that why should any team show up at the UGA game because they didn’t have the great four and five star recruits that UGA gets every year. I see talent all over this team but no team leadership. Something is missing on offense and defense. Offense has a green quarterback, no pun intended, but other freshmen did the job like Eric Zeier, David Greene, and more. UGA lost to a Mississippi State team with little talent, a Colorado team which has less talent but great spirit and motivation. UGA is two or three plays away from winning, but how long will this happen? I, like many Tech fans, know more about UGA than most fans do. I watch most of the games and have done so since I watched Vince Dooley upset Alabama on a flea-flicker in 1965. I strongly believe that UGA will win some big games this year, some upsets. They will beat Tech because Tech does not reload every year, and this year they lost their edge in Dwyer and Thomas. We are now just an average team. But like Bradley said, CPJ would swap players in a minute. I like Richt too, but so far he has not found that special spirit it takes to beat lesser teams. Something drastic needs to happen to turn this around. Maybe the drastic is losing to an inferior Georgia Tech team. Then the situation will take care of itself.
10isbum
October 4th, 2010
2:26 pm
Mark – Can you post the stats for the offensive, team, and wins since play calling changed hands to Bobo vs when Richt was at the Offensive helm? I think the stats over time may shock folks and point the finger at (IMO) what is causing Richt not to be able to finish the drill. IMO the defensive stats will show differently as well because they have been forced to ‘attempt to make up for the offensive’. A lot can go wrong in all areas off and on the field if an engine just won’t crank OR stay cranked… which is where we are now.
Gman
October 4th, 2010
2:27 pm
It makes me laugh that people on the blog believe head coaches at school’s ranked in the top 16 (Boise State, TCU, Stanford, and Utah) (except for Texas) would want to leave their schools to go to an unranked school. Especially unseating the Boise State head coach…too funny!
bjohndawg
October 4th, 2010
2:28 pm
When is the last time we saw P-44-Haynes ( call it P-44 Chapas or whatever). Cannot remember when.
I saw last saturday the first passes down the middle to the TE all year.
I cannot blame Richt for that. I blame the OC…and that is Bobo(aka Billbo Baggans).
Mike I agree…the problem is not the defense, it is the offense. With the experience and talent this offense should be loading up the points. Insteads they are loading up the turnovers and sacks.
NoleinDC
October 4th, 2010
2:28 pm
Mark, FSU never lost 4 in a row like uga….FSU is back on track with a great new coach…..spear em
AngryDawg
October 4th, 2010
2:30 pm
I wonder where all the coach love was for Jim Donnan? This lovefest for CMR borders on man love……..
BFD
October 4th, 2010
2:30 pm
Richt is given credit for elevating the program during his early years. Everyone seems to believe that UGA was really good during that time. The problem with that is, the SEC was in a down cycle. Florida was down (Zook), Tennessee was in decline, Alabama was down (Shula) and LSU was just starting to ascend. Since then, those programs have recovered. I say that because I think some of the alumni and fans have unrealistic expectations. Richt is a nice guy, represents the school well. Not sure a new coach will make that much of a difference.
Sean B
October 4th, 2010
2:30 pm
So, we throw Mark Richt away and who do we get? How long will the new guy have to win? Someone is going to need to think long and hard at what they want long term because giving up on Richt when he has a stud QB in there ready to play for 3 more seasons and a couple of nice looking young running backs as well as a pretty good class coming in! If Richt was smart he would send Bobo packing or demote him to a waterboy and take back the play calling until he can find someone that knows what he is really doing! Bobo couldn’t run the plays when he was QB what makes him think he can call them? Argue with anyone blue in the face but that was a designed FLEA FLICKER gone bad Saturday night when we were already in position to win the game with the best kicker in the country warming up! Run right look for a hole run left KICK THE DAMN BALL BOBO!! We are in a tough spot right now but you send CMR packing and it might take 3-5 years to get where we need to be… Keep him and fire everyone but Grantham (yeah, i think he deserves a chance to field his type of players for his style of D) and see what turns around. CMR needs change his attitude or go! He never coached at a head position before he came here and is still very young so it will take some time for him to see this thing through but I think that builds character and only helps a coach get better in the long run. Joe Pa had his losers and they stuck with him until he had a winner… I say give him a chance to turn the boat around and see if he makes the right choices on coaches but at the end of the day we are in a much worse place without him than we are with him TODAY!
ATLien
October 4th, 2010
2:31 pm
UGA is done for the foreseeable future as long as CMR is there! SC has passed you all in the pecking order and Kentucky is lurking in the wings. I never thought I would see UGA competing with Vandy for last place in the SEC East. Welcome to your new home as bottom feeders in the SEC – UGA fans!
The General Feeling
October 4th, 2010
2:31 pm
There is nothing great about Coach Mark Richt. That said, he has been a very good coach and maybe the best ever at Georgia.
Over - Under
October 4th, 2010
2:31 pm
How many games will UGA be on ESPN3 this year? Too bad the networks won’t let ya’ll kick off any earlier than Noon or the rest of us would be able to sleep through it…kinda like Richt!
Chihuahua Doggy
October 4th, 2010
2:32 pm
“rile up the dolts into a frenzy”
Now exactly which one is the dolt riled into a frenzy?
Rumor Mill
October 4th, 2010
2:33 pm
Rumor: McGarity has contacted Skip Holtz.
boots
October 4th, 2010
2:33 pm
We could do much worse than Richt. In fact, we have done worse than Richt. Finding a head coach who can have your team in the top 10 as often as Georgia has been is a difficult task. Just ask Michigan, Tennessee, Notre Dame and Clemson. If it were easy, every other program would do it, too. Does he have the quick answers? Obviously not. Have I heard anyone else with quick, realistic answers? No.
All programs have down years (Texas, Virginia Tech) and some have extended down periods (Michigan, Notre Dame, UCLA, Miami, Florida State, Georgia Tech). The trick is to repair things quickly to avoid having the extended down times. It is how coaches make their TRUE reputations – not just by being a flash in the pan for a few years.
It remains to be seen if CMR can turn the ship around. I hate life right now because of our record, but I honestly think we are better off with Richt at this position than we are with someone else.
Rumor Den
October 4th, 2010
2:34 pm
McGarity has also contacted Lou Holtz.
WhoCares?
October 4th, 2010
2:34 pm
UGA just hired a first-rate AD. He’s the one who’ll make the decision about CMR staying or going, and if he’s as smart as he seems he’ll pay no attention to 99% of the blather on this blog from pinheads in search of a life.
JC-N-GERMANY
October 4th, 2010
2:34 pm
Mark Richt is not only an elite coach, he’s an elite man…. I was one of the first to say that Willie Martinez had to go and I even said Bobo was also in way over his head! This hasn’t changed, I knew then and now that coach Richt would have a very difficult time saying he gave the OC duties to Bobo, as he saw himself in him and more importantly he knows coach Bobo has 5 young mouths to feed and he couldn’t stomach pulling the plug on his experiment!
Bottom line is like I stated 2 years ago… either he replaces Bobo or both he and Bo Bo will be replaced! the sad thing is some school will get a wonderful coach when he leaves and they will become a superb periennal top 10 football team!
my suggestion to any coach that leads UGS is to hire a few former Special Forces Soldiers to keep the players in-line during the off the field time!