Alas, Georgia’s coaching is no longer championship-caliber
It was another hair-raising loss for UGA and Mark Richt. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
On Oct. 27, 2007, Knowshon Moreno scored to give Georgia a 7-0 lead against Florida, prompting the Bulldogs’ semi-planned and twice-penalized on-field celebration. What you knew: Georgia won that day 42-30, marking the only time Mark Richt’s team has beaten Urban Meyer’s.
What you didn’t know: The day of the Gator Stomp marked the first and last time — in six tries, mind you — a Richt team has taken a lead on Meyer’s.
As disheartening as Richt being 1-5 against Meyer is, the repeated failure to nose ahead even 3-0 is more alarming. It’s a direct reflection of coaching, or the lack thereof. Rule 1 in the Coaching Manual: Get your team ready to play. Sad to say, the Bulldogs under Richt are rarely ready.
Say what you will about Meyer, but the man can coach. His work against Ohio State in Glendale, Ariz., in January 2007 was the greatest coaching performance the BCS title game has ever seen, and his work against Georgia on Saturday was no less inspired. In Jacksonville he took the demonstrably lesser team — anybody see an A.J. Green or a Justin Houston or even an Aaron Murray or an Orson Charles among Gators? — and wrung 450 yards and 34 points from it. Meyer tried everything. Richt’s team tried running the ball on second-and-10 in overtime.
The best you can say about Richt’s coaching is that his players didn’t quit when they fell behind. That’s surely because they’ve had so much practice: Georgia hasn’t led in any of its four SEC losses. South Carolina and Arkansas took the ball first and drove to touchdowns. Georgia took the ball against Mississippi State and went three-and0ut; on Saturday Murray threw an interception on the first snap.
We once considered Richt a splendid gameday coach, but that time is gone. Georgia was 52-13 in Richt’s first five season, reaching the SEC title game three times and winning it twice. It’s 42-19 since. Not coincidentally, Richt’s decline dovetails with Meyer’s rise. (Although it must be noted that Richt has a losing record against three Florida coaches: He was 0-1 against Steve Spurrier, 1-2 against Ron Zook.)
There’s still great talent at Georgia — the old Spurrier knock on Ray Goff now attaches itself to this coach: “Georgia gets all these players; I don’t know what happens to them” — but the coaching has fallen below SEC standards. If we’re looking for the sea-change game, we need underscore Sept. 27, 2008, the night Nick Saban and Alabama came to Athens and not only jumped ahead but led by 31 points after 30 minutes.
Back to Saturday: The Bulldogs got the ball to start overtime, which means the worst they should have done was gain no yards and let Blair Walsh try a 42-yard field goal to put them ahead. Instead Murray threw the ball into stacked coverage and saw the Gators nearly end the game without having to play offense. Murray has had a terrific freshman season and had a fabulous second half, but in the season’s biggest moment he made the one play a quarterback cannot make.
That’s what Georgia under Richt has come to do: It makes the one play to lose a game, as opposed to David Greene throwing to Verron Haynes in Knoxville or to Michael Johnson in Auburn. (Or even Matthew Stafford throwing to Mikey Henderson in Tuscaloosa.) Georgia under Richt has become the toothless tiger — the team everyone respects but nobody fears.
Richt’s 10-year body of work stands as a mighty argument for administrative patience. More current events suggest the Richt of 2010 isn’t the Richt of yesteryear. It took four full seasons under this coach and defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder for Georgia to lose 10 games. The Bulldogs lost five times last year, changed defensive coordinators and have already lost five times this.
And now Richt’s gifted Bulldogs have fallen to the worst Florida team Meyer has fielded. In a year where the SEC East was ripe for a young team to rise up and march to the Georgia Dome, that team will not be Mark Richt’s. He’s no longer a championship coach. Dating back to Nov. 29, 2008, his Bulldogs are 13-11, which means he’s barely even a winning coach.
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1,352 comments Add your comment
D.Elliott
October 31st, 2010
5:29 pm
Sure losing to Florida stinks but Richt has a winning record against Tech,Auburn and…. Wait for it-BAMA.All these haters are fans from other teams fans who wish Coach would leave.Love the “UGA letterman”.Clever but not buying it.
Jayson
October 31st, 2010
5:29 pm
Dem people over at Forbes, dey must be dumer than Mark Bradley too, they got Richt as the 9th most profit able college football team for the 8th straight year.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/12/22/most-vaulable-college-football-teams-business-sports-college-football_slide_10.html
FLA DAWG
October 31st, 2010
5:29 pm
They players are out of control on and off the field.
Richt is the problem.
Lose him and we lose the problem.
Rest of the SEC
October 31st, 2010
5:30 pm
Jayson,
Yes. You are indeed stupid.
What in the hell does the number of NFL players that a school recently produced have to do with anything?
Did Georgia having a few more players in the NFL produce lead to national championships at Georgia? Uh,no. Who gives a damn about if Georgia has a handful more players in the nfl than Florida if Florida has won 18 of the last 21.
GaGator
October 31st, 2010
5:30 pm
What we learned in the SEC: Week 9
By Chris Low ESPN College Footbal
Florida owns Georgia: There’s no other way to say it. The Gators have won 18 of the past 21 meetings after prevailing 34-31 in overtime on Saturday in Jacksonville. Georgia was the hot team coming into the game. Florida was reeling after losing three in a row. The Gators were having all sorts of problems offensively, and the Bulldogs seemed to be finding themselves. Well, that all changed when it mattered for four hours on Saturday. Florida quarterback John Brantley and his mates were the ones delivering in the clutch, and the Gators showed a lot of pride as a program in holding the Bulldogs off and remaining alive in the East race. Florida coach Urban Meyer is now 17-1 against the Gators’ traditional rivals (Georgia, Florida State, Miami and Tennessee). Richt, meanwhile, is just 2-8 against the Gators, who probably should have been paying taxes in the state of Georgia a long time ago with the way they’ve dominated this rivalry.
And that’s the way it is.
The Alpha Male
October 31st, 2010
5:30 pm
Another hastily written, poorly researched, lazily thought out column….. congrats, Bradley…. you’ve found your game again.
The brilliant Urban Meyer is FIVE AND THREE, PAL. A great coach with Florida’s talent would be looking down at the rest of the SEC East and laughing. Meyer no longer has Tebow and Harvin playing, nor does he have Strong and Mullen coordinating. The result? Mediocrity.
My three minute blurb has now surpassed your 30 minute exercise in mental futility….. if you want e-mail me your paycheck, I can do it every week.
Jayson
October 31st, 2010
5:31 pm
So, let’s see, Scout, Rivals, NFL recruiters, Forbes, they all dumb as a rock for thinking Richt a great coach, and Mark Bradley is a genius for thinking Richt a bad coach.
FLA DAWG
October 31st, 2010
5:32 pm
Mark,
You’re back from Mass from now – (I went to 9:30).
Come on man, get in here.
We need a football coach
October 31st, 2010
5:32 pm
Meyer makes changes and does what he has to do to win..no matter what. Richt lets his players grow beards.. and “stays the course”..that’s all you really have to know…
And don’t forgot, take a practice off so they can go to the pool and watch Richt do a dive with his clothes on. About three days later FSU’s Practice in Tallahassee stopped
because of weather,Fisher told them to be ready to go back in an hour. Football camp or summer camp which one is Richt running?
Rest of the SEC
October 31st, 2010
5:33 pm
Jayson-
And Richt making Georgia a profitable program has translated into success against Florida how?
And has it also translated into national championships? Uh, that would be NO!
Ponte Vedra Dog
October 31st, 2010
5:33 pm
Another year of misery for those of us in J-Ville. Let’s get Dan Mullen before someone else does. Miss. State is his stepping stone to another program. I hate to see us lose out on an opportunity to get him.
call 'm like i see them
October 31st, 2010
5:34 pm
CMR is a sell out who recruits with boosters cash, booze, and daughters then speaks of values. He is Calipari without the rings and championships. Not a Tenn fan but Dooley will wave as he drives the Vols by the Dawgs.
Dogtastic
October 31st, 2010
5:34 pm
Mark Richt: 94 wins, 32 losses, 2 conference championships, 75% winning percentage. This includes 7 bowl wins, an 11 win season in year 7, followed by a 10 win season in year 8, 8 wins in year 9, and (at most) 8 wins in year 10.
————
94 wins sounds good but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Beating up on Div 1-AA teams, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and a Reggie Ball led GT team account for a lot of those wins. How has he fared against top ranked teams? Going 2-8 against Florida and getting blown out in a BCS game by an inferior W.V. team and getting blown out by LSU in the SEC championship game tell the real story.
....off to the bar after that one.
October 31st, 2010
5:35 pm
I ordinarily love reading your pieces, but with all due respect, Mark, you have no place to talk on this issue. Oh wait, I forgot!! You coached for YEARS in the SEC! You know exactly what it’s like to coach in that atmosphere. What a joke. All you do is sit at home with your computer and type about what youve just seen and give you “credible” opinion on it. But you seriously have no right to knock Richt and the job he is doing… I’m not saying it’s a good one, but neither you, or I, am in the locker room to see what really goes on. I’m not at practices, and I’m not on the sideline. He can coach the players to death, but it is up to THEM to go perform on the field. And they are not. So what gives you a right to blame the coaching? Just a question for you to scramble and try and answer.
Jayson
October 31st, 2010
5:36 pm
If Bradley’s right about how great Meyer is, and Richt became the 1st coach EVER to lay down 21 points in the 4th quarter on Meyer at Florida, and only lost by 3 points, in over-time, doesn’t that make Richt close to Championship Calibre? Of course, non-sense to say otherwise.
Rest of the SEC
October 31st, 2010
5:36 pm
“So, let’s see, Scout, Rivals, NFL recruiters, Forbes, they all dumb as a rock for thinking Richt a great coach”
Jayson,
Really? How do you think these publications rate Richt compared to Meyer? How about compared to Saban? Not your opinion or mine but their opinions. How do you think they rate Richt in the sec as of right now??? Maybe 5th or 6th best coach in the SEC?
Army Dawg
October 31st, 2010
5:37 pm
Dogtastic – Don’t forget we also blew out LSU in a SEC Championship Game. As well as having winning records against TN, AUB, AL, and SC in Richt’s tenure.
Hobnailbooty
October 31st, 2010
5:37 pm
Can anyone tell me why with 6 seconds left on the play clock at the end of the game tied 31-31 and FLA punting to us from their 35 with the backup FG kicker punting why we DID NOT TRY TO BLOCK THE PUNT instead of having someone field the ball at the 5 and FUMBLE the ball to almost give the game to the Gators in regulation. If we run into the punter they get the ball on the 50 with less than 6 seconds and we still go to OT. Why we had someone receiving the ball was ludicris and again another really bad call from the HC CMR. WTF
Army Dawg
October 31st, 2010
5:37 pm
And a winning record against LSU also.
....off to the bar after that one.
October 31st, 2010
5:38 pm
Dogtastic,
We lost that Sugar Bowl by a fieldgoal. I’d hardly call that ‘getting blown out.’
Get your facts in order.
JSS
October 31st, 2010
5:38 pm
@ Jayson…
By the way, Wooden was in his 13th year when he finally made to the Final Four, and his 15th when he won the NCAA. UCLA and most of the old PCC was on probation from 1959-1961 for football violations.
We need a football coach
October 31st, 2010
5:38 pm
All these haters are fans from other teams fans who wish Coach would leave.
Keep sticking your head in the sand. I can tell you, its not all Georgia haters
from other teams,thats ready to see Richt’s departure.It has gotten to the point most of them want him to stay.I caN imagine at 2-8 vs Florida they want us to sign him to a five year deal.
Jayson
October 31st, 2010
5:38 pm
Man, I must be super, duper dumb.
The NFL gets more Georgia players than Florida players over the last decade.
If Richt’s not a championship calibre coach, then the NFL must be even dumber than me, and that’s dumb.
Jayson
October 31st, 2010
5:41 pm
All dem top recruits keep coming to Georgia for last 10 years. dey must all be dumber than Mark Bradley too.
Can’t they just see how smart Bradley is and understand that Richt isn’t a Champiuonship calibre coach?
Hundreds of top recruits all are dumber than Bradley too.
We all just dumb as a stick.
Army of the GATORS
October 31st, 2010
5:41 pm
Richt is a good coach,he just needs adjustments on his coaching staff.Word of the mouth by him and its done.The 2011 season will tell if he stays or goes,media putting preasure on him as well as the alum,fans,etc.Florida is a very young team right now,freshmen type and getting better overall.Talent we have,just need more reps in the system we have.Offense a work in progress. Bradley is a lost dude. Good Job GATORS!
Rest of the SEC
October 31st, 2010
5:44 pm
You dawg fans are mistaken. We want Richt to keep coaching the dawgs. We need Richt to keep coaching the dawgs. We want Richt on that wall. We need kool aid drinkers like Jayson.
Scooter
October 31st, 2010
5:44 pm
Umm, Jayson..you are pretty much proving yourself to be dumb…talking about how much talent UGA has year in year out doesn’t really help your case to defend MR’s record…I’d hate to see what he would do with LESS talent..
Rest of the SEC
October 31st, 2010
5:46 pm
“If Richt’s not a championship calibre coach, then the NFL must be even dumber than me, and that’s dumb.”
Jayson- and that has translated into national championships at Georgia how???
The Big Asian
October 31st, 2010
5:46 pm
I never thought that Richt would morf into Bowden so quickly. I figured he would win a bunch of conference championships and maybe a National Championship first.
Jayson
October 31st, 2010
5:48 pm
The Georgia administration must be dumb for not seeing that Richt is NOT A cHAMPIONSHIP CALIBRE coach because they don’t ever fire the dad gum coach.
The UGA admin and boosters must all be dumber than Mark Bradley too.
Man, we must be a whole lotta ig no ramuses round here.
Dogtastic
October 31st, 2010
5:48 pm
We lost that Sugar Bowl by a fieldgoal. I’d hardly call that ‘getting blown out.’
Get your facts in order.
————————
W.V. led UGA 28-0 at one point during the game. It was a blow out. The final score doesn’t tell the whole story. SEC fans love to pound their chest about how other teams couldn’t survive in this conference. Well, why is it that W.V. kicked UGA’s but up and down the field, and how can a team like Colorado beat UGA? Either the SEC is overrated or CMR overrated. With the SEC winning the last 3 NC’s I don’t think the conference is overrated. CMR must be the problem.
Scooter
October 31st, 2010
5:49 pm
Hey Jayson…I hear that the women’s swimming coach at Eastern Iowa Polytechnic Institute is a realy good, christian man. He doesn’t always win the meets against the big teams and his record is a bit mediocre but I’ll be damned if he doesn’t always bring in the best female swimmers in the nation every year. You might want to try to friend him on Facebook in case MR doesn’t have a job in a couple of years and you need a new idol…
Jayson
October 31st, 2010
5:50 pm
Let’s see here. I got Coach Richt at a 76% winning %, and that Championship Calibre coach Saban at 70%.
Man, I must be reel dumb, I thought 76 was mor than 70.
Marc
October 31st, 2010
5:50 pm
As if Richt had anything to do with those turn overs
Pathetic
October 31st, 2010
5:50 pm
Dream all you want Dog fans but your team is mediocre at best.
Next week should be your last victory for the year but hey they will probally lose that one too!
Rest of the SEC
October 31st, 2010
5:51 pm
I think Jayson is so dumb that he is making the Anti-Richt arguments for the dawg fans who want Richt gone.
Jayson is in effect saying that the talent is great at Georgia and that Richt is failing with superior talent. It really is remarkable that he is so stupid that he can’t understand this.
Beatdowndawg
October 31st, 2010
5:52 pm
Les Miles will be looking for a new OC after the season. Richt might want to send his resume.
Raleigh Dawg
October 31st, 2010
5:53 pm
Can we put in a call to Chip Kelly now? We need HC with an edge. One that players fear and respect. We have so much talent, and we send so many players to the NFL, yet we still can’t get to the BIG DANCE!!!
I like CMR, but I believe if he is going to stay, he must get rid of Bobo or find a job somewhere else. We need to bring in a tough coach to coach these players.
Jayson
October 31st, 2010
5:53 pm
That old fella Grantham, who has been training Alabama for the last few years in the off season, that guy Grantham, who’s Cowboys perty much fell apart after he left, I guess he ain’t so smart neither for folloerin Richt here. Same with that Lakaotas fella, who’s been in the top 10 for pass effienciency multiple times, I guess he didn’t make a smart move either. Smse for Belin, who’s LB’s consistently are all conference in tackles, guess he ain’t 2 smart neither.
Man, Mark Bradley must be smarter than Grantham, Lakatos, and Belin too.
JSS
October 31st, 2010
5:54 pm
Let me see if I can understand the rationale. You’ve produced more NFL caliber talent than your chief rivals; but you’ve yet to win that “Mythical National Championship” in the same time frame? Anyone else would call that a failure to maximize your assets…
SEC Fact Finder
October 31st, 2010
5:54 pm
Louisville
09/10/11
Time TBA TBA South Carolina
09/17/11
Time TBA TBA Coastal Carolina
09/24/11
Time TBA TBA at Ole Miss
10/01/11
Time TBA TBA Mississippi State
10/08/11
Time TBA TBA at Tennessee
10/15/11
Time TBA TBA at Vanderbilt
10/22/11 — Open Date — —
10/29/11
3:30 p.m. ET Florida
11/05/11
Time TBA TBA New Mexico State
11/12/11
Time TBA TBA Auburn
11/19/11
Time TBA TBA Kentucky
11/26/11
Time TBA TBA at Georgia Tech
Players according to Delbert D. who will be leaving UGA in 2011
WR – Green*, Durham
OL – Boling, C. Davis, J. Davis
FB – Chapas, Munzenmaeir
DE – Dobbs, Tripp
OLB – Gamble, Houston*
ILB – Dent
CB – Cuff
Look at the schedule above for the 2011 Bulldogs. This is not going to be a tough schedule for CMR or whomever the Coach is. The biggest issue is replacing the key players so kindly listed by Delbert D. We all have seen how the loss of AJ Green did to the offense and if a player is not capable of coming in making an impact it will have alot to do with Murray and his ability to get the ball deep which opens up the running game.
The next thing is USC loses some key players at QB and WR, and on defense
Tennessee will be better playing all the freshmen they play.
Mississippi St. will be better.
Vandy is Vandy but a road game
Louisville is going to get better and better under a fine developing head coach in Charlie Strong
New Mexico St. is horrible
Ole Miss- who knows how good or bad they will be but it is a road game
GT who know..
Kentucky is going to be better but it is a home game for UGA.
Florida will be better next year.
Auburn will lose Newton to the draft and Malzahn to a head coaching position.
I guess the best question should be, what talent can CMR develop, bring in, coach up to get back to the SEC CG?
You UGA Dawg fans know more than I could ever know, just wondering how it all shakes out at a school that has such great talent running, throwing, and tackeling on the high school fields every thurday, friday and saturdays in Georgia?
Rest of the SEC
October 31st, 2010
5:54 pm
Jayson,
Saban coached at Toledo which is a dead end for coaches and brings down your overall record. . Does an idiot like you really think that coaching at Toledo is comparable to coaching at an SEC school.
Saban has a higher winning % when coaching in the SEC than Richt. Not only is Saban’s winning % at LSU and Bama higher than Richt at Georgia but Saban has 3 conference titles and 2 bcs national titles in less time in the SEC than Richt.
Lets be honest
October 31st, 2010
5:56 pm
Couldn’t disagree more Mark…
UGA needs to take it’s off week before UF rather than GT every year. Think about it. It’s middle of the season and the fact that UF is much more worthy of an oppant than GT. Look at our record against GT the past 10 years. It’s because we take our off week before them every year. Change the off week… Turn the series around. PERIOD!
Richt basically had 3 days to get his team and staff ready for UF (travel to UK then turn around and travel to JAX)… Think about it.
I’ll support Richt to the end. But Bobo’s got to go go.
Jayson
October 31st, 2010
5:56 pm
I ad mit, I wasnt reel good at math a matics in midddle school, but seems to me, if you got a coach, that’s winning, what 75, 76 % of his games, I mean, where does that put him, in the top 4% nationally of all head coaches, I guess Mark Bradley thinks that’s terrible too?
Geez, better than 96% of other coaches, I guess that could be improved a little bit, but top 4% is bad. I must be real, reel dumber.
DR.J
October 31st, 2010
5:58 pm
Out coached, out prepared…..OC is unconscious and our QB develops a case of ochooptosis…an inability to see the number 8.
Rest of the SEC
October 31st, 2010
5:58 pm
Jayson-
You talking about Grantham who was Richt’s 4th or 5th choice behind Kirby Smart, Will Muschamp, Bud Foster, John Chavis, and one other guy? Yep. Richt really scraped the bottom of the barrel in getting this guy.
Is this the same grantham who, in his only job as a D-coordinator in the NFL was fired after 2 years in which his defenses ranked 30th out of 32 teams? Is that the Grantham we’re talking about?
Was it grantham’s defense that allowed a struggling Florida offense to put up 34 points? That Grantham?
Matt the Brave
October 31st, 2010
5:59 pm
$5 says Kirby Smart is our next head coach. When that will happen is a little more up in the air.
A-town
October 31st, 2010
5:59 pm
@SEC FactFinder – I see 5 losses next year. As a Georgia Grad Richt should be let go due to all of the arrests of his players and lack of discipline – that is what brings shame and embarrassment to the University. It is a shame that two bad years of football is what seem to get most Georgia grads ready for a change. Tis different in the SEC….
Mike
October 31st, 2010
5:59 pm
@JacketFan….What is Richts record against GT?
Jayson
October 31st, 2010
6:00 pm
Dad gum it, you know, I got to scratchin my head here, because I noticed soemthing that don’t add up to what Mr. Bradley’s saying in this here arti cal.
Let’s see here. Mark Richt had 6 top 10 finishes, in 9 seasons, and 4 in a row. Meyer or Saban never did that.
But that proves Richt is A WORSER COACH????
Dad gum, I muss not be reel smart.