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
bill
October 4th, 2010
2:34 pm
Regardless of what happens with CMR, it’s time for a new direction in recruiting…either the system is too hard, or these players don’t have the capacity and/or drive to “complete the drill.”
a 4-8 season won’t get CMR fired, but the decisions/coaching changes he’ll be asked to make will have him walk away…
Stop It!
October 4th, 2010
2:35 pm
But he’ll pay attention to 1% of it? So you’re saying there’s a chance!!!
Billo
October 4th, 2010
2:35 pm
For all those complaining about our offensive production…guess what other team runs the same scheme as UGA?…BAMA. They line-up and run at you, and obviously they are doing something right. No spread, no gimmics, just pound the ball. Some of you UGA fans need to get your head out of your aces before running off at the mouth.
Big Dawg
October 4th, 2010
2:35 pm
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/481253-are-the-georgia-bulldogs-the-biggest-disappointment-in-college-football
As Toby Keith says, “How do you like me now?”. Not that much I’m afraid.
kent
October 4th, 2010
2:36 pm
Agree with your comments so why would Richt return next year?
?
October 4th, 2010
2:36 pm
You guys are funny, and people on the Tech board are just a guilty. You want to rip an AJC columnist, not a beat writer, but a columnist, for expressing an opinion, or calling your coach on the carpet, but yet it is okay for you to do the same. I don’t like Mark Bradly, but I am smart enough to know the difference between a column and an article. How about you CK.
Chihuahua Doggy
October 4th, 2010
2:36 pm
Richt Love vs Richt Hate
We’ll be here all week. Gonna be GREAT!
Damon Evans
October 4th, 2010
2:36 pm
And ya’ll told me Colorado would be a cupcake OOC.
Les W. Moore
October 4th, 2010
2:36 pm
Here is your problem Mutt Nation… you’re STILL living off of P-44-Haynes and the Hobnail Boot radio call which was one single play to win one single regular season game. That’s all you got going all the way back to 1980. Sad.
Jeff
October 4th, 2010
2:36 pm
As a retired professor from an Ivy League school with a PhD in physiology, I have a technical explanation for the decline of the University of Georgia’s football team: They suck.
WTF
October 4th, 2010
2:38 pm
Mike Bobo’s gotta GoGo. Thats trademarked so I better get my darn quarter everytime thats used. The problem isn’t with Richt except maybe his loyalty and having a rabid fan base. Georgia doesn’t have the same draw anymore for HS players which is a shame. there is no reason Georgia shouldn’t be just as good as Alabama and Florida every single year but Mark needs to revamp the recruitment and how they evaluate players b/c those can’t miss players have missed big time. I won’t complain about the D b/c of a new system but they’re still playing responsibilities so they should be better they’ve played.
Red
October 4th, 2010
2:39 pm
CMR is a good man but the fire in his belly is gone and now it’s time to move on and get another head coach – with all due respect for him – it needs to be an end of an era and start a new one. Problem with Bobo is he will call two great games towards the end of the season and they forget about the other 10 bad ones and decide to keep him calling plays again.
Yoda
October 4th, 2010
2:39 pm
The Jedi mind-trick! Trained Richt in this I did! Falling for it are you all!
Boise Dawg
October 4th, 2010
2:40 pm
First of all to all Georgia fans… it is Chris Petersen with an “e” not Chris Peterson with an “o”. (Nobody gets that right)
Second… he isn’t leaving Boise State and he certainly wouldn’t come to Athens. He has already turned down UCLA, Washington and Mississippi State and do you really think Tennessee would have hired Derek Dooley if Chris Petersen was willing to come to Knoxville? If he wouldn’t take the Tennessee job, he isn’t going to come to Athens.
Booby's booger finger
October 4th, 2010
2:40 pm
Memo to all UGA players, “sell high”, your jerseys will be worthless at the end of the year. (Emerald Nuts Bowl)
David
October 4th, 2010
2:40 pm
Right now, we are not a lucky team. We are not playing a complete game on defensive, that is causing us for losing. The last four games, we have left the other team score first, eventhough we tie Colorado and then took the lead. We need our defensive to step it up in the second half and they could not do it. The defensive against the run is awful, right now, they are the complete opposite what Alabama is on defensive. Our linebackers we depend on to make the plays are missing tackles almost on every play. When a defensive cannot stop the other team from scoring, it puts more pressure on our offensive to score on every play. Easy result, a turnover on offensive then our team or any team loses everytime regardless who coaches them. That when I say great or good defensive wins you games, while poor defensive loses games. I am sorry Georgia, we have a poor defensive. Can they improve? YES, IT DEPENDS ON THEM THE PLAYERS, NOT COACH RICHT!
SOUTHGADAWG88
October 4th, 2010
2:41 pm
Richt made 4 mistakes
1.Hanging on to Bobo too long.
2.Not firing Searles last year
3.Hiring Grantham
4.The basically ceding of the Coulumbus and south Georgia areas to other schools in recruiting.
SEC lunch links | SportsTalk South
October 4th, 2010
2:41 pm
[...] Georgia’s problems start with Mark Richt, writes Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. [...]
Princeton Review
October 4th, 2010
2:41 pm
Hypothetical. If a train left Chicago at 8pm traveling 150mph…and another train left NYC at 6pm traveling 130mph. Exactly when would Georgia’s next arrest come?
Rocky Road
October 4th, 2010
2:41 pm
I find the Mark Richt storyline amazingly similar to that of Phil Fulmer. Both gentlemen and good football coaches but after a while both seemed to lose the urgency of winning now, everytime. Both experienced more off the field trouble with their players than the norm. I get the feeling in both situations that the players had or have the ultimate respect for their head coach but they do not have a healthy fear of the coach. Players who get too comfortable do not perform on the edge. Don’t believe for a second that the players at Alabama or Florida for that matter have the comfort of growing complacent.
Tucker
October 4th, 2010
2:41 pm
LSU will give you Les Miles (5-0) and Jordan Jefferson for Mark Richt (1-4) and A.J. Green no questions asked.
LMAO
October 4th, 2010
2:42 pm
Blue Flame:
He only planned to be at UGA until Bobby Bowden retired and handed him the Florida State job. His plan would have worked perfectly if Bowden had retired a few years sooner.
DEAD WRONG RICHT WAS NEVER ASKED NOR WOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE FSU JOB NEVER – EVER – NEVER.
Bradleyisalwayswrong
October 4th, 2010
2:42 pm
What’s wrong with the AJC? Sad to say, it starts with Mark Bradley.
He Hate Gator
October 4th, 2010
2:42 pm
Being critical of a program in a downward spiral doesn’t mean they aren’t fans, on the contrary, it shows they are concerned. The ones who aren’t concerned are either just fans of Mark Richt, have misplaced confidence or are just not UGA fans…the program has become a laughingstock as evidenced by the Rome show today…there are many good coaches out there who would love a shot at this program…
This jacket will beat a dawgs ass
October 4th, 2010
2:43 pm
@ Time, you say the Jackets are having a USUAL year, except for last year?
Dude, we have gone 8-3 or BETTER the past 7 years, our record has been just as good as UGA every year. Not to mention we beat you like you stole something in Athens the year that ya’ll were ranked preseason #1. BAHAHAHHAHAH….not to mention ya’ll KNOW DAMN WELL last year was a complete fluke and ya’ll should have lost to us if it werent for one dropped pass. And oh yea, what about the years Reggie Ball was our QB and we were within 20 yards of beating you 3 YEARS IN A ROW before Reggie made a dumb mistake and lost it. I’m sure you guys have retired Reggie’s GT jersey in thanks for saving you fools the embarrassment.
The fact is, you guys have top 5 recruits EVERY YEAR AND YOU STILL SUCK, and when you have beaten us, it has been within a touchdown. Do you know what GT’s recruiting class is every year?…….25-30th. You guys blow a fat one for the talent you get, all that boils down to is lack of character. Go kill yourself and save the state of Georgia the nation wide embarrassment of that secondary special ed school called UGA.
UT vs UGA game very important for many reasons
October 4th, 2010
2:43 pm
“These bleachers have eyes” will be the home game buzz words for the rest of the year. Starting with the UT game, AD-Greg McGarity will be watching, smiling, shaking hands and looking at the fan’s response to the UGA team when situational game adversity sets in. He will be viewing how the UGA staff deal wih same. He will watch how the kids react toward Richt and his coaches.
I am sure that he saw Vance Cuff turn his back on Richt after three cheap shot personal fouls last Saturday night. Richt was in his face and Vance turned and walked off. Richt let him go. Not good at all. No respect that was clearly.
McGarity probably already is aware that Grantham has been throttled back by Richt.
McGarity will not believe how the alumni will blast this staff once Coach Dooley comes in and wipes out UGA. THAT will not sit well with us alumni. NO way. This loss will be unbelievably emotional for the alumni …………….we have seen enough with this guy. Richt must go.
I see him resigning prior to the GT game. He is a gentleman, I believe.
Class of 71 & 73
DawginLex
October 4th, 2010
2:44 pm
I’ll be in Athens Saturday regardless. I’m going to the game.
They need support and not folks booing.
Beating Tennessee is always good for what ails you.
Boro Dawg
October 4th, 2010
2:44 pm
We need to focus on more important things at GA , like when are they replacing Rus with a new UGA. Rus will be known as the worse replacement dog in history. We need a new UGA now so our luck will turn around and We can play like a true Junkyard Dawg instead of some type of mutt.
William Tecumseh Sherman
October 4th, 2010
2:44 pm
I should have burned Athens instead.
billy stokes
October 4th, 2010
2:45 pm
Richt is following the Phillip Fulmer model. with the notable exception of a perfect season and BCS crown.
pat
October 4th, 2010
2:45 pm
first of all, this is the new normal. a great person, and a great coach, has all jump off the bandwagon as soon as things are not going so well. This is the same coach that all were adoring just a few years ago.
Second, mr. Bradley, Washaun Ealy as one of the top players? He played in single a and lost in the state championship and had less than a hundred yards…..hardly a performance that suggest a dominant future.
Truth is…..we lost stafford and moreno and have a redshirt freshman QB and played three winnable games without our best player…and a new D coordinator. Everyone settle down and we will see an upswing over the next two years.
We are fortunate to have Coach…
DawginLex
October 4th, 2010
2:45 pm
Jacket dude has been drinkin that kool aid
You have lost to UGA 8 out of 9 years.
That is not a fluke.
It is a trend.
Chuckles™
October 4th, 2010
2:45 pm
You are all missing the BIG problem.
UGA has problems winning whenever they’re missing a permanent Uga. Russ is fine (he’s .500 since beating Tech last year), but he’s just not giving the team the boost they need. Has he tried to rip the pants off an enemy receiver yet? Has he peed on an opposing coaches leg? Left a ‘present’ in their end zone? He’s just not giving 100%.
Sonny: get a replacement puppy in there STAT.
Seriously folks, stop with the ‘Fire RICHT” crap. He’s not strapping on pads & tossing to fullback.
You have a rookie QB, a new defensive coordinator & players that recruited by Barney Fife.
Give ‘em time to get a new crew in there, buy new stars from high school that have the sense not to get arrested on DUI’s, and call this a ‘lost year’. Get all the losses out of the way.
(Disclaimer: I’m a Boston College alum. I have no dog in this fight.)
SEC's The Best
October 4th, 2010
2:45 pm
Here’s a thought…The SEC is the nation’s toughest conference…Most teams in the SEC have very unrealistic expectations each year…The days of Florida & Tennessee being Georgia’s only concern in the SEC East are over…The SEC is a ‘dawg’ fight every week…Not a lot of 2 possession victories for anybody not named Alabama…Florida is not the only tough game left on UGA’s schedule…UGA is not different thany any other team in the SEC…It’s hard as hell to win week in & week out…
Rosey
October 4th, 2010
2:46 pm
Hey Mark, ANYONE, and that seems the norm lately, can write about how bad someone is coaching. Knowing that and that there could be a concern for the UG football coach, now is the time for YOU to put down that pen, turn the computer off and start making your bid to replace Richt. You appear to have all sides covered. Come on, go for it…
dawgfan_1977
October 4th, 2010
2:46 pm
Seriously…what does Mark Richt do? Besides walk down the sidelines aimlessly, staring off into space, playing with his headset wondering if he should have worn the red shirt, or the white shirt during his latest Ford commercial.
Then you have Bobo, with his “looks like I just sucked on a lemon” face, flipping through the playbook at a 100 mph every time he goes 3 and out, which is a lot. I believe a 13 yr old playing NCAA 2010 on Xbox could call better plays that Mike Bobo.
All you people defending the coaches can say whatever you want, but even you must admit that when I am calling the plays before they happen in the confines of my living room….there’s a problem. This team has become so predictable, it’s pathetic. Right now, our play calling is the best player on every opponents team.
The only coach that showed any emotion was Grantham during game one. However, Richt managed to squash that, now he just stands there zombie-like with the rest of the coaching staff. Players feed off emotion. Good plays, bad plays, Richt and co. just sit there and look dazed. These players have no incentive…period.
I’ve been a dawg fan my entire life, even today I wore my UGA hat the gym. I’m not a band wagon fan, I’m just calling it like I see it. Nick Saban turned the Tuscaloosa Criminal Institution in to a NC caliber team in 2 years….that’s all I’m gonna say.
South Georgia
October 4th, 2010
2:47 pm
When a ship starts drifting, the captain cannot always get the ship back on course immediately. We need to update offense to 21st century. We have a young team. I think you will eat some of your words within 3 weeks.
William Tecumseh Sherman
October 4th, 2010
2:48 pm
Rosey-
I don’t think Bradley is getting paid millions and something tells me McGarity hasn’t offered him. Other than that you have a real swell idea.
Clemson Expierenced
October 4th, 2010
2:48 pm
Hey Georgia Nation!! CMR & Ga. is Tommy Bowden & Clemson all over again; Although a better coach but who isn’t. Make the move sooner than later but no assistants. Peterson, Harbaugh, Patterson, Mullen, or Mike Leach.
MAC
October 4th, 2010
2:48 pm
Compare Mark Richt’s numbers to Vince Dooley minus the Herschel years.
William Tecumseh Sherman
October 4th, 2010
2:49 pm
Hey dawg77…Bama was on probation when they were losing. What’s your excuse?
South Georgia
October 4th, 2010
2:49 pm
Texas just lost 2 games in a row and dropped out of the top 25. Are Mack Brown and Will Muschamp bad coaches?
LMAO
October 4th, 2010
2:50 pm
Mark, Good Job Keep all the rednecks fired up wanting to fire Mark Richt. Only one problem
who you gonna hire thats better? Who would come to this program? Expectations are ridiculous.
Fans think they should win the National Championship every year. They have won 1 thats right 1
in 30 years and a shared National Championship in their existence. Take Herschel Walker out
of the equation and this Football Progam is the same as Ole Miss wait a minute they have won 3.
Give me break. You are a second tier SEC Team and always will be. Thats why your fans constantly
pull for a Conference not your School.
LMFAO
Chihuahua Doggy
October 4th, 2010
2:50 pm
Yeah! Can you believe Mark Bradley? Questioning a 1-4 start on the season. Of all the gall!
dawgfan_1977
October 4th, 2010
2:51 pm
lol@South Ga….that’s not even the close to being the same thing.
MAC
October 4th, 2010
2:51 pm
You probably wrote a column in the last few years how it was Bobby Cox’s time to go too since he only won one World Series and hasn’t won the division since he won 13 in a row.
redpanda
October 4th, 2010
2:52 pm
With 10 players arrested and a lot of the same every year durring the off season, please tell me exactly how many losses can Richt have this season and still keep his job?
CMR is not bigger than the Dawgs, we need to change coaches now so we can have a shot at something great next year.
All of you talking about finishing strong, making a bowl, competing for the SEC East, ect….what have you seen so far that makes you think we are going to win another game much less win out?
dawgfan_1977
October 4th, 2010
2:53 pm
I’m not saying CMR should be fired, not at all…I would settle for him to at least pump his fist, maybe smile a tad bit when a player does something good. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
FLA DAWG
October 4th, 2010
2:53 pm
“What do you do when you run out of ideas?”
You punt to another HC.
MAC
October 4th, 2010
2:53 pm
Frank Beamer’s has a tough start at VT after being ranked top 10 preseason.
Urban Meyer didn’t look too bright Saturday night either.