UGA’s turnaround year began with a nudge from AD McGarity
Greg McGarity: Sounding the right tone at the right time. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
A different athletic director might have done too much, or too little. Greg McGarity got it right. He met with Mark Richt at the beginning of the first workweek of 2011 and, rather than make demands, McGarity asked a question.
“It was not adversarial or confrontational,” said McGarity of the meeting. “It was heart-to-heart. I asked him, ‘What do you need to get the job done?’ ”
When McGarity gets around to writing his book on management, that deft twist surely will be Chapter 1 — how to make a salient point without pounding the table. By asking Richt what he required, McGarity assured his coach that he and his input were indeed valued, but sent the message that more was expected.
Sure enough, more has arrived. Richt has presided over 10 consecutive victories and an SEC East championship, and this Saturday his Bulldogs will play for their first SEC title since 2005. Credit the coaches and the players, and credit the AD as well. McGarity supported Richt publicly at a time when administrative waffling could have undermined the program, but in-house he delivered a push so gentle as to seem the merest nudge.
A Bulldog born and bred, McGarity apprenticed in Georgia’s athletic department under Dan Magill and Vince Dooley, but it was in his time away that he grasped the ways and means of a cutting-edge athletic department. “It really hit home at Florida,” said McGarity, who worked as Jeremy Foley’s Gator aide-de-camp for nearly two decades. “Jeremy’s attitude toward all his teams is that being mediocre is unacceptable.”
When McGarity was appointed Georgia’s AD in August 2010, some wondered how this famously nice guy would handle Richt, who’s himself a nice guy but whose record had begun to slip. On cue, Georgia went 6-7 in McGarity’s first season back in Athens, the final indignity being delivered on New Year’s Eve in a dreary Liberty Bowl loss to Central Florida.
Said McGarity: “That was not a very good day. That was not a very good night. I don’t think anybody around the program slept very well. But we used it as a positive. We said we weren’t ever going to go back to that. That wasn’t Georgia football.”
The Liberty Bowl was on a Saturday. By the time McGarity and Richt met, rumors were flying that the AD had seen enough and was prepared to fire his coach. Said McGarity: “That was not even on the radar. It would not have been fair. I’d just started the Monday of the first game of the season. It wouldn’t have been fair to him or the institution or the players.”
Over those four months on the job, McGarity said, he chose “to sit back and look and listen and learn. There would be a right time for a discussion with Mark, but it’s hard to do that during the season because you’re always focusing on the next game.”
When Georgia’s first losing season under Richt was done, McGarity shared his thoughts but let Richt talk, too. “Being accessible is so important, and it goes both ways,” McGarity said. “Me to him and him to me.”
McGarity’s key observation: Richt needed to free himself of all administrative work that could be delegated. “Mark has talked about ’studying the game,’ ” McGarity said. “I call it ‘coaching ball.’ I wanted him to get back to what made him successful, to being a creative offensive mind. And you see him back in the meeting rooms [where game plans are concocted].”
As part of his “studies,” Richt visited Falcons coach Mike Smith in Flowery Branch, and Smith suggested a book — “The Energy Bus,” by Jon Gordon. “On the bus” became Richt’s rallying cry for 2011, and two of those soon ushered off were Washaun Ealey and Caleb King, Georgia’s leading holdover rushers. Perhaps not coincidentally, a summer passed without a player arrest.
For all that, the season began with Georgia losing to Boise State and South Carolina. Here again McGarity served his coach well, offering support and counseling patience. But did he really foresee such a complete reversal after 0-2?
“I thought it was probably 50-50. It wasn’t to the point that people were jumping off the ship. Inside the building it was, ‘We can only control this week.’ ”
The AD’s verdict on this season: “What has happened since the first two games has been very satisfying. It’s what we all hoped would happen.”
Does “very satisfying” mean Greg McGarity is satisfied? Not quite. “I hope to have a Dream Team every year,” he said. “That’s what the best teams do. We’ve got to back that up with another great recruiting year.”
Another nudge, deftly delivered.
By Mark Bradley
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581 comments Add your comment
Bama Mike
November 30th, 2011
3:05 pm
Looks like a slow day. ” What do you need to get the job done ” Real cutting edge leadership there. The getting on or off the bus concept comes from our good friends at Enron who labled it “Rank and Yank” Strongest stays and weakest are removed. Only problem is it creats constant turnover. .
Hankie Aron
November 30th, 2011
3:05 pm
SSIgator- I know it hurts. I’ll pray for you.
Hankie Aron
November 30th, 2011
3:06 pm
Seeing the Gators self-destruct and the Dawgs back in the SEC Championship
Ugh
November 30th, 2011
3:06 pm
This season may be fool’s gold for all anyone knows.
Just as it was prudent after 2010 to give Richt one more year to fix the program, so too should it be to see how 2012 goes before declaring the program “cured”.
Starring Kam Fong as Chin Ho
November 30th, 2011
3:07 pm
SSIGator, I looked at the Fla schedule. Thank god for the 7 patsies on your schedule. Heck ya’ll even beat 6 of them. You are sinking to the bottom of the swamp, where you belong.
SSIgator
November 30th, 2011
3:08 pm
T-Town Dawgs -
Hey, in case you don’t follow the game, UF already got mugged by LSU and others. Not happy at all that they did so poorly this year, but reality is what it is. Some how reality seems to escape the UGA fans that think because they have won ten in a row they are now in the same class as LSU, Alabama, etc. The Grim Reaper will be making a call on UGA Saturday night.
Deep ball
November 30th, 2011
3:10 pm
GTBob is right…first thing to do to make the schedule harder…drop the nerds! They’re killing our strength of schedule!
murfdawg
November 30th, 2011
3:11 pm
I thought we looked unprepared against Boise. I thought we had forgotten how to win against USC. In my mind, the only way CMR could save his job was by winning the SECEast. I never thought we would win 10 in a row. I’m glad things have turned around look forward to many more years of CMR.
Hankie Aron
November 30th, 2011
3:11 pm
I heard Driskell might be transferring. They’ll be back, those gators, but it’s gonna be awhile.
Matt
November 30th, 2011
3:12 pm
Sign Ricth and Grantham to extensions and watch the recruits flock.
SSIgator
November 30th, 2011
3:13 pm
SSIDAWG -
I don’t know, but I am sure if you go to gatorzone.com you can find all of the stats you want.
LawDawg
November 30th, 2011
3:17 pm
True story, GTBob. We scheduled an absolute cupcake for the final regular season game to pad our wins.
Perhaps....
November 30th, 2011
3:17 pm
The only reason LSU is undefeated and Bama only has one loss is because they avoided UGA this year.
RCB
November 30th, 2011
3:18 pm
Mr. Bradley should ask for an invitation to the next meeting as he seems like one of the guys now. Mr. Richt won’t mind.
GTBob
November 30th, 2011
3:19 pm
GT Bob, the ACC is your soft schedule…. go back to the library, Nerd! 10 out 0f 11 ouch!
Yeah yeah. Who is UGA’s signature win this year? Auburn? Or is it Vandy?
SSIgator
November 30th, 2011
3:19 pm
Matt -
“Sign Ricth and Grantham to extensions and watch the recruits flock”
And flock they will – to other schools. High school kids may be young, but even they can see reality of what happened with UGA this year. UGA – Home of the Ten Win (but no titles) Football.
Buckeye
November 30th, 2011
3:20 pm
Other than Boise and SC (Loss 1 and Loss 2), the schedule was as week as the one you dogs accuse Ohio State of playing.
New Mexico State in the middle of the season? Pulease.
Nail-biter and a “season saving” win over Vanderbilt? Pulease.
Tennesee – crapola
FLA – crapola
Auburn – crapola
Kentucky – crapola
You dogs are gonna have your collective quivering tails between your legs before the sun sets in Saturday.
Go ahead, wallow in you own delusional self-worth.
Sic this……………wuf wuf wuf.
Buckeye
November 30th, 2011
3:21 pm
1981 was a very good year LAST FREAKIN’ CENTURY
.
November 30th, 2011
3:21 pm
SSIgator — Sadly, the highlight of your crap season is trolling UGA related blogs the week they play for the championship. Meanwhile, your Gators are sitting in Gainesville picking their noses and watching Judge Judy.
It is obvious that you are really hurting — oh well — deal with it.
tdawg
November 30th, 2011
3:21 pm
As a dawg fan I think some of you have been smoking a little too much. Anyone who thinks we will put up more than 21 is being unrealistic. LSU wont be able to do much better though against Georgia so i think it will be a relatively low scoring game, but not as low as the Alabama-LSU game
LawDawg
November 30th, 2011
3:22 pm
UGA may have had a fairly weak schedule and we may be totally exposed against LSU (which has happened to every team they faced other than Bama), but you cannot deny that but for 3 Murray TOs and falling asleep at the switch against a fake punt, we dominated USC and we were in the game against BSU until Ogletree got hurt and was replaced by a true-damn-freshman.
We may not be as good as 10 wins in a row, but we are a young team in the second year of a new defense and we are much, much better than the team that played Boise in the dome. I’m not predicting a win against LSU, but UGA is not simply a product of the schedule.
Then again, the people saying otherwise are a bunch or bitter, sad UF and GT trolls who have nothing positive to look forward to and envy UGA.
DC
November 30th, 2011
3:22 pm
I’m loving this…MB building all you UGA fans up…to see your hearts crushed this saturday…..”CANT WAIT!!”
PS congrats on the winning streak..backs against the wall and UGA came out on top..even if it was against sub par schools including my AU school this year..
Bama Mike
November 30th, 2011
3:22 pm
Perhaps you mean why Georgia doesnt have 3 losses right. I thought so. Have you looked at the Dawgs schedule next year. Only one land mind preventing you from running the table at that is at South Carolina. Dawgs scheduled to play Alabama in Tuscaloosa but looks like that will be cancelled out with Missouri coming to Athens instead. Good times ahead.
Murphy
November 30th, 2011
3:23 pm
Im glad the Dawgs were able to click off 10 in a row but I still believe we need to make a statement on Saturday that this program has returned to the National Level of College football importance.Beating LSU would really validate the job McGarity and Richt along with all the other coaches and players have done this year.This is Richts statement game and A BIG STATEMENT NEEDS TO BE MADE!!!! Go Dawgs!! GATA
LawDawg
November 30th, 2011
3:24 pm
GTBob: You have so little respect for your own team that you think a team that beat you stinks? Weren’t you the one guaranteeing a win last week? Your jealousy is simply pathetic. Are Tech fans so miserable that you cannot just wait to comment on a GT story?
You remind me of my son when he was a toddler and would much rather have negative attention from his betters than have no attention at all. Act like an adult and go comment on a Tech story.
.
November 30th, 2011
3:25 pm
GTBob — Meanwhile, the misery and mediocrity continues among the Maggot faithful. Sucks to be you. Like SSIgator, it looks like you are just going to have learn to deal with it, while you vicariously live through the efforts of LSU and other teams who actually compete in meaingful way and are relevant in the world of CFB.
BMDPD
November 30th, 2011
3:25 pm
Please read…. It will open your eyes a bit….
http://www.dawgsports.com/2011/11/29/2599517/lsu-vs-uga-the-tell-of-the-tape
OkieDawg
November 30th, 2011
3:25 pm
Life is good. My team is in the SECCG. And we are not on POBATION. And our coach does not teach Chop-Blocks. And we have a beautiful stadium on a beautiful campus in a great college town. AND, well I won’t go on and on.
Buckeye
November 30th, 2011
3:25 pm
I’ll check with Urban and see if we can free up the Little Sisters of the Poor for you for next year’s Homecoming!
SSIgator
November 30th, 2011
3:27 pm
Buckeye -
Hope Urban does well at OSU. He certainly did alot for us at UF. Just remember he is one of the new breed “mercenary” coaches ala Saban, Miles, Petrino, etc. I don’t have any problem with that, but don’t be shocked if he moves on after awhile. Remember, he at one time said that ND was his dream job.
Had enough
November 30th, 2011
3:27 pm
The best Ad Georgia has ever had.
Supes
November 30th, 2011
3:27 pm
I see we have an Ohio fan here trolling….shouldn’t you be trolling Michigan boards and or forums…no wait you can’t do that…looks like someone is losing their grip on the BIG 10. Suckeye!
LawDawg
November 30th, 2011
3:27 pm
Good point SSIGator. UGA held on to Richt and Grantham after last year and we watched all of our recruits flock to other schools. We ended up, what, 55th nationally in recruiting? Oh, that’s right. The opposite. You really are a sad mess of a human being if trolling UGA fans is how you spend your time. Go make friends, take a walk, start a fundraising drive for the next Cam Newton. Something other than this pathetic existence you live now.
Murphy
November 30th, 2011
3:28 pm
@Buckeye,
You ready for the Gator Bowl and another loss to the SEC? Them Buckeyes are racking up quite the losing streak to the SEC!!!
ARdawg
November 30th, 2011
3:28 pm
Does anyone even pay attention to this Buckeye dope? Buckeye, why do you post? What could you possibly have to state that could be relevant to anything? I heard you got a new coach to replace your cheating one *snicker* Good Luck with him
Had enough
November 30th, 2011
3:29 pm
Ohio state is crapola, Buckeye.
blue
November 30th, 2011
3:30 pm
GT Bob; I’m not even a UGA ‘fan’, but even an unbiased observer can say “really, GT Bob? The schedule was scheduled at the beginning of 2011…McGarity set the schedule??”. TARD…
Supes
November 30th, 2011
3:31 pm
Remember, it’s Ohio now…Michigan’s head coach got that one right! The Ohio Suckeyes!!!
Remarkable
November 30th, 2011
3:31 pm
McGarity needs to nudge MR to let Bobo become the quarterbacks coach and go get a real Offensive Coordinator. Then I will be fully on the bandwagon.
DILLIGAF
November 30th, 2011
3:32 pm
Buckeye:
“Who’s holdin’ for after the game?”
Who’s holding what? This isn’t Ohio, we don’t play that stuff around here.
Get back to work now, the drive thru is backing up.
UGA’85′
GATA!
coloradobulldog
November 30th, 2011
3:33 pm
UGA 24 Miss St 10
LSU 19 Miss St 6
Bama 24 Miss St 7
UGA 45 Auburn 7
LSU 45 Auburn 10
Bama 42 Auburn 14
SEC Fact Finder
November 30th, 2011
3:34 pm
Just a question one of my employess just asked me.
Can you really call it a true “turnaround” when according to the BCS polls you are the 5th best team in the conference?
I guess it depends. I see it both ways. I think the game this weekend will answer that question better.
blue
November 30th, 2011
3:35 pm
piermontdawgny 3:03 pm :dawgs win 43-31
Really? Just HOW do you expect that UGA (or ANY team) is going to score 43 points on a defense that never gave up more than 27 to the likes of the offenses of Oregon, West Virginia, Alabama and Arkansas. Really? Your offense is that much better than all of those teams? LOL
Les no Smiles
November 30th, 2011
3:36 pm
GEAUX DEAUXGZ!! Block and tackle dem cocky kittys! I guarontee…..
Dawg48
November 30th, 2011
3:37 pm
If McGarity ask again…………
Tell him we need to give granthem and friend a raise!
Buckeye
November 30th, 2011
3:37 pm
SSI,
Personally, I’m not yet sold on Urban. No doubt has the coaching chops but he comes off to me as too much of a “me” guy, not a “team” guy.
Good times ahead in Columbus and our basketball team trounced Duke last night.
Hope we play each other in the Fickel-coached Gator Bowl. I was just in SSI over Thanksgiving and may be worth a return trip come Jan. 2.
BMDPD
November 30th, 2011
3:38 pm
SEC Fact Finder, did you read the link above…
http://www.dawgsports.com/2011/11/29/2599517/lsu-vs-uga-the-tell-of-the-tape
Idiot Dawg
November 30th, 2011
3:38 pm
Buckeye, you forgot my fries. Hurry up, mama’s waiting
SSIgator
November 30th, 2011
3:38 pm
blue -
Don’t muddle up the blog with facts. Same for you SEC Fact Finder. All it does is confuse the UGA fans.
WnE
November 30th, 2011
3:39 pm
As of the 30th of November, GT’s schedule is the 66th toughest in the country.
UGA’s is the 39th toughest schedule in the country.
Before you come on blogs and comment GTBoob, you might want to follow CFB a little bit.