Win or lose Saturday, can Richt ever again feel safe at UGA?
"Let's try that play where we jump offside. That's working!" (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
The label “must-win” has affixed itself to the South Carolina game, but a more precise description is “darn-well-better-win.” There’s a chance an 0-2 Georgia could still make something of its season. Say the Bulldogs win nine of their next 10: Wouldn’t 9-3 with a strong finish coming after 6-7 be construed as, ahem, significant improvement? That said …
Beyond simply saving himself for next week or next season, can Mark Richt ever again be truly safe in this job?
When the second game of any season is deemed, however inexactly, a “must-win,” matters have already deteriorated. When something is so far gone, is there any going back? The Georgia-Tennessee game of Oct. 6, 2007, was considered a “must-win” for Philip Fulmer, and he won it 35-14 and rose from 2-2 to 9-3 and led the Vols to the SEC East title (shading Georgia on a tiebreaker). Great recovery, huh?
Reality check: Philip Fulmer was fired in November 2008.
The Fulmer parallel is often invoked regarding Richt, and it’s apt. Both men won big for a good long while. Both took two SEC championships. (Fulmer even won a BCS title, a prize for which Georgia under Richt has never played.) Then they stopped winning so much. Fans noticed. Fans began asking: “Is he still the right guy?”
When enough fans ask that loaded question enough times, games stop being games and become referendums on the coach. This week a man who has a finger on the pulse of Bulldog Nation estimated Richt’s job-approval rating at five percent. Should Georgia lose to South Carolina, what might the approval rating be? Two-point-five percent? Zero percent?
We need to ask this, too: Even if Georgia wins this game, will Richt’s doubters again become believers? Or will they just doubt a bit less until he loses again?
A coach cannot serve for long at the displeasure of his constituency: This has always been true, but it’s truer than ever in a world where the athletic director has an e-mail address and anyone with Internet access can post on Twitter and Facebook and AJC.com. With so much money in play and so many seats to fill, can any AD wage a protracted fight against the wishes of his fans?
Loading ...When C.M. Newton was in charge at Kentucky and folks were upset that Bill Curry wasn’t winning, the AD advised the dissidents to go find another school to support. Even with such administrative backing, Curry wound up resigning. When you lose so often that the roar of discontent drowns out the huzzahs raised in any victory, you’re a goner even before you actually go.
Richt is treading perilously close to that tipping point. Losing to Boise State mightn’t have been so bad on its face — the Broncos arrived ranked No. 5 in the land and were favored by Vegas — but the manner of the loss was devastating. This disjointed performance didn’t augur a new beginning; this was merely more of the same, which made it worse than ever. You sign the Dream Team and can’t stay onside? To borrow from Steve Spurrier’s famous 1991 dismissal: “Georgia gets all these recruits, but I don’t know what happens to them.”
Should Georgia lose to South Carolina, as coached by the dastardly Spurrier, Richt won’t resign on the spot or be fired on Sunday. He might still win enough to keep his job. (For another year, anyway.) But here’s the bigger issue: Even a win over the Gamecocks won’t convince many folks that the 51-year-old Richt remains the daring young man who Finished The Drill way back when.
It might take another SEC championship to do that. It might take a BCS title. And if, after Boise, you espy such glory on the horizon … well, count yourself among that five percent.
By Mark Bradley
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594 comments Add your comment
Antoine Carr
September 9th, 2011
12:35 pm
A better analogy is FSU and Bobby Bowden. Also, Vince Dooley as AD. Wait too long and these people get so arrogant and feel they deserve the job no matter what. No thanks
Norcross Dog
September 9th, 2011
12:37 pm
Here’s the reality; we have become a second-tier team in the SEC. We are no longer optimistic we can compete with let alone beat the top tier programs. Dont believe me? Check our stats against SEC Teams and ranked teams over the last 3 seasons. We now have to sweat out wins (and some losses) over Kentucky and Vanderbilt. Richt is a good man and had a good run, but now it is time to move on with new leadership. Otherwise we will become a third-tier team.
7576DAWG
September 9th, 2011
12:37 pm
Because CMR is so arrogant and stubborn all of my faith go’s to McGarity to do the right thing. A continual successful program must have a head coach that will be unbiased when evaluating his coaches which CMR can not do. A great example of how important coaches are is Myers success at Florida was because Mullins and Strong were great coordinators. When they left so did Myers.
Dawg fans need to give McGarity a few years to get things right. He will not put up with a losing or mediocre program.
$5 Dawg
September 9th, 2011
12:37 pm
Should we hire Pete Carrol from Seattle? Most of the good coaches had a stint in the pros to pad their bank accounts anyway.
robodawg
September 9th, 2011
12:41 pm
I think a lot of fans are pulling for Richt to turn things around. We like him and we like that he tries to do things right. But we need some evidence to support our case. We need a good season, meaning it’s got to feel good to be a Georgia Bulldog at season’s end. Follow that up with a return to the competitiveness Richt brought in his first years, and he’ll be in his job another decade.
Right now the SEC East is in flux. We’ve got to entrench ourselves in its upper echelon by the time things settle down if Richt is going to be secure. (In the 90s Florida and Tennessee dominated the East. When Richt led us to displace Tennessee, everything was bright in Bulldog land, while Fulmer’s seat got hot.)
AltamahaDawg
September 9th, 2011
12:41 pm
“sign the dream team and can’t stay onside.” say what?
Sign some very talented true freshmen, and still your seniors in thier first game at converted tackle in the new hurry up, false started a couple of times.
Surely with all that went wrong, there was some analogy that would have actually made sense.
dawgfacedboy
September 9th, 2011
12:42 pm
PMC- I’m goint to have to respectfully disagree with your entire 11:43 post. We battle other top notch schools for almost every single one of the players we sign (or don’t sign).
Let’s just use Crowell as an example (there are plenty to choose from). It came down to Bama and us. If for some reason he ends up a “bust” is that on the coaching staff for recruiting the wrong kid or because they didn’t coach him up and help him naturally progress at the next level? Look at the other programs with top 12 recruiting classes over the last 4-5 years. The only teams that do less with more are FSU, Miami, and NOtre Dame. THe other 8 continually compete for the NC.
coastaldawg
September 9th, 2011
12:42 pm
There are no teams that are successful year-end and year-out who do not have superior line play on both sides of the ball. I am as frustrated with the program as anyone, but I can’t help but wonder how involved a Saban or a Miles or a Stoops or a Tressel etc are in the development and management of the “trenches.” I doubt they are that involved. All major programs have fast, skilled talented guys in the impact offensive positions..other than the real NFL type studs, they are a dime a dozen. Success at the highest level only comes with that solid line play on both sides. There-in lies the problem of the last few years…for whatever reason (recruitment, coaching, bad luck (Sturdivant), our lines cannot compete at the highest level. They are what drive everything. They can make an average RB, QB, WR look good and can make secondaries look great. I understand Richt is the main guy and has ultimate and final responsibility. Our problems lie squarely in the failure of our our big guys…the answers to UGA lack of success is continued failure on line of scrimmage….why can’t we improve and what is the source of that weakness? We will not win with any consistency against any solid program until this is resolved. Bad luck in this area does not hold water for such an extended period….
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
September 9th, 2011
12:42 pm
LowCountry Bulldawg
In case you didnt read my post on the other blog
Im off this bandwaggon even if we win Tommorrow
So please dont come on here Sunday and call me out and say a bunch of stuff like the ship is turned around if we win
It might be if Richt takes over the playcalling and I say MIGHT
But Im off this bandwaggon until Richt can start beating top 10 teams again, win the East, and beat FL 2 yrs in a row.
I dont see those things happening in the next 5 yrs so I have jumped off the band waggon.
Hopefully that is clear for you
Snow Dawg
September 9th, 2011
12:43 pm
Richt is gone…the question is when…lose this weekend and the answer is the day after the Tech game. I get so sick of hearing UGA can still have a good season even if they lose to USC…yes and the Republicans could fall in love with Obama care but I doubt it! Richt is not getting fired because of the Boise State game or the USC game or any other game you want to quote. He is going to get fired because of how his teams have performed over the past several years. They have steadily gotten worse on all the major measureables…SEC record, record against ranked teams,bowl performance etc… They continue to have dumb penalties…that is coaching…they continue to call time outs because they cannot get kids on the field…that is coaching…they continue to allow kids to “Tweat” to opposing coaches…lack of control/class…that is coaching… I am not going to debate whether UGA has a talent problem or not…maybe they do maybe they don’t but there is no denying the facts outlined above and they are 100% coaching issues and not talent issues. Mark Richt is good man who’s leadership style has lost its impact on the program…A change is desperately needed and would benefit everyone including CMR!
honky talkin'
September 9th, 2011
12:43 pm
Not this year. Dawgs go 7-5 with a pancake schedule….Richt leaves in the middle of the night.
Bozo must Go
September 9th, 2011
12:45 pm
Bobo is drowing in a sea of his own inability. Richt needs to demote Bozo back to QB coach and hire a real OC. He also needs to hire a real O-Line coach. The Dawgs need to get back to some smash mouth football and quit this mambee-pambee crap. 3-4 Defense? Come on – you live or die in the trenches. Alabama’s revival has been because of their line. UGA’s glory days will return when we outright flatten the guys standing between us and the endzone. Richt is a good man, but his leadership is in question. Leaders have to make tough choices and it is way past time for him to make some of these choices.
MoDawg
September 9th, 2011
12:46 pm
I think the biggest area where the Dawgs have fallen off is in their ability to make in-game adjustments to what the other teams are doing. One of the greatest attributes of Brian VanGorder was his ability to go in at halftime, make adjustments and come out in the 2nd half and shut the other team down. Martinez did not have that ability and we haven’t seen much out of Grantham in that ability, either. YET!
The Boise game comes down to our offense being a quick strike offense and not able to grind clock. We can score points, as that article showed, but it’s the manner by which we score them. This puts our defense in a terrible position by being on the field while the other team sustains drives of mixing pass and run effectively. Bobo seems intent on trying to “outsmart” the other team’s coaches and is not willing or able to adjust if it’s not working.
What the heck were we doing going to the spread?! Look at Boise’s offense and the offenses that they play during any given year…they mostly run a spread-type, up tempo offense. Do you think their defense has seen that before a time or two? The most predictible thing about Bobo is that he will try to be “cute” and in his mind it should work, but it doesn’t.
Our defense can and should be pretty fierce. The first few series’ of the Boise game, they were downright “nasty”, but then the offense kept tripping over themselves and trying to be “cute” and could not sustain anything, allowing the defense to rest in the 1st half.
If we lose “ugly” again, it could spell the end for Richt, and as the head coach it ALL falls on his shoulders. If we play well and lose, that’s a different story. Nothing shameful by losing to a better team. It will be a big game and the Dawgs can win it. Let’s just hope they bring their “A” game this week. Last week was “D”ismal.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
September 9th, 2011
12:46 pm
Altamaha Dawg
Still waiting on your analysis of what went wrong against Boise
I thought the ship would be righted by now according to you all year
Bilbo
September 9th, 2011
12:47 pm
Anybody counting on first year players to turn things around overnight is fast asleep in la la land. Herschel and his ilk are the very rare exceptions. It will take most likely three years to see how the so called dream team pans out.
The best scenario we can hope for...
September 9th, 2011
12:47 pm
…is that UGA runs the table, all other teams lose, except Boise, and we play them again, this time for the MNC…
The more realistic scenario is that USCe beats UGA, with the Bulldawgs then ending the season anywhere from 8-4 to 3-9 (though they will not lose to Tech), and Richt leaves on his own with his announced resignation immediately after the Tech win, without Mr. AD having to “prompt” him to leave…
Bill W.
September 9th, 2011
12:48 pm
Just win baby!!
Big Dawg
September 9th, 2011
12:48 pm
This is cutting edge football with top conditioned athletes? Knows what the hell he’s doing, and now he’s an expert? Even a real Head Coach could not turn this all around in one week, and as stubborn as CMR is he’ll continue doing the same old $###. Most great coaches, (The Bear, Coach Dooley, John Wooden to name a few), always took the blame in public after a loss. They corrected the problems with their teams on the practice field, but they never threw their players under the bus. Of course, CMR wants to blame everything and everyone else. Have you ever heard him stand up like a man and say that it all comes back to him? I haven’t.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/834438-5-things-i-learned-about-georgia-and-boise-state/page/3
Greg McGarity
September 9th, 2011
12:49 pm
My top 5 guys to interview….
1. Kirby Smart-AL
2. Skip Holtz-South Fla
3. Bronco Mendenhall-BYU
4. Kevin Sumlin-Houston
5. Kyle Whittingham- Utah
——————————–
My “it’s a stretch to hire these guys” top 5 ….
1. Brian VanGorder
2. John Gruden
3. Pete Carrol
4. Urban Meyer (I Know, but he and I go waaaaay back).
5. Les Miles (I Know, but he wins too).
coach richt
September 9th, 2011
12:52 pm
Georgia fans are basically tired of losing to and not being competitive with ranked and good football teams. Getting all giddy and smiling because you just beat Coastal Carolina 45-10 does nothing for the University, the fans or the SEC. We look sloppy. We have some great players and it shouldn’t be that way. I’m with Lex, lose a close,well played, hard fought game Saturday, and the attitude would be Ok, let’s get better and click off 10 wins. Look bad Saturday and all bets are off.
Ted M
September 9th, 2011
12:53 pm
UGA was so bad against Boise that winning tomorrow does not even seem possible.
I’ll watching & rooting for then tho.
Jake
September 9th, 2011
12:54 pm
UGA plays 8 unranked teams left. 8-0 in these 8. 7-1 worst case.
UGA plays 3 ranked teams left: SC, MSU, UF. 1-2 in these 3, 0-3 worst case.
So, 7-5 going into the Bowl game, finishing 8-5.
Or, 8-4 going into the Bowl game, finishing 9-4.
8-5 would be a 33% improvement over 6-7.
9-4 would be a 50% improvement over 6-7.
33%-50% improvement in wins, in 1 year, is all we need to see.
Big Dawg
September 9th, 2011
12:54 pm
Talked to several Florida friends this week and the recurring theme was unanimous…….”Please don’t fire Mark Richt! He’s the best coach not on our payroll!” And even they were disappointed in how Georgia looked…….outcoached, outplayed, and outconditioned. Florida has certainly enjoyed beating CMR 8 out of the 10 times they’ve played him, but even they would like to see the series go back to being more competitive. Says a lot!
Boise in ATL
September 9th, 2011
12:55 pm
This is the state of college football – at all successful schools – not just the University of Georgia.
Gator fans started muttering about Urban Meyer
Tennessee pulled the plug of Fulmer
After Tuberville went undefeated at Auburn – he was still doubted.
Just last year – Les Miles was on the hot seat.
I guarantee you – if Coach Petersen goes 8-5 this year, then 6-7 next year – he will be on the hotseat at Boise in 2013.
It is the state of the industry.
tony
September 9th, 2011
12:56 pm
Mark Richt belong in the Mid West or West Coast not the SEC and here’s why. The SEC teams win championships because they depend more on the run than the pass. Mark Richt depend more on the pass.
In 2010 on 1st downs Ga rush 104 times…….pass 131 times
In 2010 on 1st downs AU rush 202 times…….pass 126 times(Win NC)
In 2009 on 1st downs Ga rush 96 times………pass 116 times
In 2009 on 1st downs AL rush 153 times…….pass 117 times(Win NC)
In 2008 on 1st downs Ga rush 95 times……..pass 163 times
In 2008 on 1st downs FL rush 154 times…….pass 129 times(Win NC)
Same thing every yr. If he coached a Mid West team he could win a NC because the kids in the Mid West and the West Coast are accustom to pass protection for their qbs. Heck, it appear to me that most hs teams in the state of ga runs a wing-t offense.
Jake
September 9th, 2011
12:57 pm
Richt’s made close to $15 million at UGA, and is due at minimum another $6 million.
$21 million, I think you can sleep pretty well at night and feel pretty ’safe’.
GIVE ME A BREAK
September 9th, 2011
12:57 pm
Snow Dawg sees it correctly. Good comments.
coach richt
September 9th, 2011
12:58 pm
Thanks Greg for your post.I’ve read on here in the past, ” but who would we hire”???? How about the staff at Buford High school for an improvement.
catauladawg
September 9th, 2011
12:58 pm
stats are a bit misleading. if defense gets off the field faster, they will give offense more plays and not wear themselves out. offense needs to move ball and score but defense needsto give offense more opportunities.
Ken
September 9th, 2011
12:58 pm
As I read some of the above comments, I wonder how many of these respones are from UGA fans. I believe that most of them are from the enemy (other Universities) who want to see Richt go because they know that he is a great recruiter and a proven winner. We have the best coach in the SEC and I hope our new AD don’t make a quick decision on the results of a game or two or listen to the ones in sheep’s clothing above.
Bull Doggy Dog
September 9th, 2011
12:59 pm
I say “stick with Richt”, we are just in a down-time at UGA, right now. He is still one of Georgia’s most succesful coaches.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
September 9th, 2011
12:59 pm
Boise in Atl
Chris Peterson will probably go 6-7 next year since Boise is losing a bunch
Boise wont put him on the hotseat even if that happens
Jake
September 9th, 2011
12:59 pm
Richt’s made $20 mill at UGA, even if he leaves after this season. Richt feels good, solid, and $20 mill worth of safe.
Big Dawg
September 9th, 2011
1:00 pm
Listed in this article are the 4 top teams of the past 12 years with NFL starters.
1 – Ohio State
2 – Southern Cal
3 – Georgia
4 – Oklahoma
Georgia is the only team not to play for a National Championship during that stretch. Pretty sad. Bottom line: We’ve got the talent, we’re just missing the coaching.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/834438-5-things-i-learned-about-georgia-and-boise-state/page/3
Antoine Carr
September 9th, 2011
1:00 pm
To the fans that believe that Richt should stay and be given more time and all he needs to do is get rid of Bobo.
THE REASON BOBO IS OC IS BECAUSE FANS COULD NOT STAND CMR DOING IT. FACT IS HE IS NO BETTER. AND HE KNOWS IT.
CMR THINKS BOBO IS DOING A SATISFACTORY JOB AS OC. REDICULOUS RIGHT?
CMR IS SO LOYAL TO BOBO THAT HE WOULD RATHER RISK HIS JOB THAN FIRE HIM.
HE IS MORE CONCERNED ABOUT HIS COACHING STAFF AND HIMSELF THAT THE SUCCESS OF THE FOOTBALL PROGRAM.
IS THAT ENOUGH?
coach richt
September 9th, 2011
1:01 pm
Boise in Atl…you are correct. If Boise played a real Schedule, he would be 8-5…….not a slam, you guys cleaned our clock, but I don’t think we are a good measuring stick right now. If Fla,AU,Bama,LSU and Carolina were week after week, you would see….Hats off to a nice win over us, but again, Don’t brag to much.
gcs
September 9th, 2011
1:01 pm
The only way Richt saves his job is if he wins the SEC championship game vs. Alabama/LSU. I don’t see that happening.
.
THE Dixie Redcoat Band
September 9th, 2011
1:02 pm
So now, if we lose and look good doing it that’s ok!?!?!?!
Can we just beat FL!
Snow Dawg
September 9th, 2011
1:02 pm
Jake…are you serious?
Basically your logic is that some improvement is good enough…really? You logic also implies the improvement is possible because this years easy schedule which really means it is not an improvement at all! Miss St is better than UGA…Ark is better than UGA…SC is better than UGA… There is not way this is acceptable at UGA…making your way to the dome every year is not realistic but having your program sink below the program mentioned above is unacceptable on any level. You comments are something I would expect from Ole Miss fan!
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
September 9th, 2011
1:03 pm
Big Dawg
How dare you bring truth to this blog
Did you read Big Dawg’s post Altamaha and Lowcountry Bulldawg
Antoine Carr
September 9th, 2011
1:03 pm
Basically some fans think because last years bar was set so low at 6-7, a better season against a weaker schedule warrants more and more wasted chances for CMR
Antoine Carr
September 9th, 2011
1:05 pm
somebody please explain to me the diffence between CMR and Donnan. Everyone hated Donnan and ran him off and did not think twice. But CMR is different!!! HOW????????????????????
14 Games, 6 W's, 8 LOSSES
September 9th, 2011
1:07 pm
Come on Mark, Spurrier is coming in town with a superior team and you think Richt is going to out coach him, not a chance .Spurrier will out coach any Sat you name and twice on Sunday.
What you are seeing is the start of what Spurrier did at Florida-that can only spell 20 years of pain for our dawgs.
Go Dawgs
September 9th, 2011
1:07 pm
It is already too late. We need to move on. Richt will never win a title at UGA, but we can get some great coaches in here: Urban Meyer, Dan Mullen, Kirby Smart.
JB
September 9th, 2011
1:07 pm
I’m betting that McGarity already has 1st call,2nd, and 3rd already figured out. We will Know A LOT after Saturday. I agree with Lex, if we lose a close, hard fought game, then OK( not really) then we can worry about winning 9 or 10 games with ‘beatable” opponents and go to a pretty good bowl and the heat will die down. But, I think Mark has lost most of us.Just being decent is no prize in the SEC.
witness
September 9th, 2011
1:07 pm
Mark. If CMR wants to regain disgruntled fan support (and I’m one) he has to not only win but win out convincingly otherwise there will always be lingering doubt among the fans that nothing has changed. I can live with the occasional dumb mistakes, penalties, and so on, but when it becomes habit (the trend of the past several seasons) and coaching cannot correct this trend its time for change. GA fans are tired of shoddy play. The occasional highlight is quickly diminished by a 3rd and up the middle go no where play or our defense getting gashed and oops another TD for the other guys. So, demonstrate to the fans the dawgs can beat the SEC teams on its schedule and win big. That’ll convert a lot of fans from calling for CMR’s head.
Burdell 90
September 9th, 2011
1:08 pm
LMAO at you dumba$$ rednecks…
DawginLex
September 9th, 2011
1:08 pm
big dawg
Your facts are correct. However, Georgia should have played for the title in 2002 given the fact that the 2 BCS participants cheated.
USC cheated big time as well. Oklahoma only won their title because no SEC team was on the other sideline.
Granted, we are all upset with the current state of affairs but it cause the hair on the back of this ol Dawg’s neck to stand up when folks call Richt’s 11 years a failure.
It was 1982 since we had won the SEC. I will always appreciate Mark Richt for that.
Seriously
September 9th, 2011
1:08 pm
The issue was never with Richt’s ability to coach. The issue with Richt is he allowed bad decisions to go on forever. Strength coach, defensive coach and now offensive coach not to mention the years of off season issues. Richt is his own enemy because he waits to long to fix what are glaring issues to everyone else.
SSIgator
September 9th, 2011
1:09 pm
Well, I see AltamahaDawg finally came up for air. I can’t wait to read more pearls of wisdom from him. Speak now, oh great one . . .