Is Richt still under heavy pressure? ESPN’s Haney says yes
"You know, I was on the Hot Seat once myself, Mark." (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Mark Richt won the SEC East last season for the first time since 2005, did he not? Reversed a downward trend, did he not? Removed himself from the Hot Seat, did he not?
Yes and yes to the first two questions. To the third, Travis Haney of ESPN says, “Not so fast.”
Haney places Richt atop his list of coaches under most pressure to win. Others included: Mack Brown of Texas, Brian Kelly of Notre Dame, Bo Pelini of Nebraska and Bob Stoops of Oklahoma. (To be totally accurate, Haney doesn’t dub this his official Hot Seat list; it is, rather, “the precursor to the hot-seat list.”)
From Mr. Haney:
Richt is safe today, but with the expectations again high, that could quickly change. Such is life in the SEC, where the distance from the title game to the hot seat is seemingly never all that far. And the disciplinary issues only complicate that, because fans generally don’t want their school making headlines for the wrong reasons — much less repeatedly — and because it depletes the talent pool.
If Georgia sinks back toward .500 with this roster, despite its personnel setbacks, Richt could again find himself in an uncomfortable position. Or looking for a job.
Not saying it’s going to happen, but … it’s not unprecedented for a coach who took his team to the SEC championship game one season to be gone the next. Terry Bowden resigned at Auburn midway through the 1998 season after winning the SEC West in 1997, and Philip Fulmer was pushed aside by Tennessee in 2008 after his team played for the conference title in 2007. But Fulmer had been under duress for years, and Bowden fell out with the toxic booster Bobby Lowder.
Richt, on the other hand, remains well liked by those in power and the majority of his constituents. Does Bulldog Nation wish he’d hurry up and win a national title? Do Georgia fans agonize over every single loss? Absolutely. But the biggest issue folks had with Richt was that, since 2007, Georgia football had been on the clear descent.
From the disappointing 10-3 of 2008 to the uh-oh 8-5 in 2009 to the regrettable 6-7 of 2010 — that trend had to be reversed. It was. And the bounce-back season of 2011 followed by what should be another strong year would indicate that the Bulldogs are well and truly on the upward trail.
A year ago, Richt was coming off a losing season, his first at Georgia, and then his team started 0-2. Had the season unraveled further, he’d have been fired. It didn’t and he wasn’t. He’s got a contract extension in his pocket, and his team is sure to be ranked in the preseason top 10. Is he on the Hot Seat as we speak? Not even close. But here’s the trouble with an on-the-Hot-Seat characterization: Once the label has been affixed, it’s tough to tear off.
I think Georgia is going to be very good this season, so good it could render all questions about its coach moot. But Haney makes a salient point: “The Bulldogs have dodged the [SEC} Western Division powers in 2011 and 2012. If you're not going to [contend for a national championship] when you’re avoiding them, when are you going to do it?”
By Mark Bradley
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351 comments Add your comment
DumbBunny
July 11th, 2012
2:42 pm
Things are looking up:
1) We lost 4 of our 6 blockers on the line in the NFL draft
2) That leaves 31 games of o-line experience
3) We lost the top 2 running back producers for the 2nd straight season
4) We return a total of 2 td’s combined with the 5 backs
5) We have a true Freshman kicker with 0 starts
6) We have a true freshman punter with 0 starts
7) 6 of our defensive starters are suspended
Therefor, we will win 11 games or more!!!
Go Dawgs!
July 11th, 2012
2:42 pm
Who in the heck is Travis Haney? What does he know about Georgia football? Why should I care what he has to say about Mark Richt’s job security when he probably can’t even name one of UGA’s high priced boosters?
GTBob
July 11th, 2012
2:43 pm
What type of math you guys studying over there?
The type of math that includes more then one game per year. I was talking about GT as a program under CPJ as compared to how were were before him. We are a good bit better overall. Do you really think the 2010 GT team was better then the 2011 GT team?
To Goldenrod and GTBob
July 11th, 2012
2:44 pm
Just the facts of the Mark Richt era:
November 24, 2001 Atlanta, GA Georgia 31–17
November 30, 2002 Athens, GA Georgia 51–7
November 29, 2003 Atlanta, GA Georgia 34–17
November 27, 2004 Athens, GA Georgia 19–13
November 26, 2005 Atlanta, GA Georgia 14–7
November 25, 2006 Athens, GA Georgia 15–12
November 24, 2007 Atlanta, GA Georgia 31–17
November 29, 2008 Athens, GA Georgia Tech 45–42
November 28, 2009 Atlanta, GA Georgia 30–24
November 27, 2010 Athens, GA Georgia 42–34
November 26, 2011 Atlanta, GA Georgia 31–17
GT
July 11th, 2012
2:46 pm
November 29, 2008 Athens, GA Georgia Tech 45–42 is the ONLY one that mattered, pay no attention to those other games.
We bit off the Hedges and are still chewing on them!
Boise Dawg
July 11th, 2012
2:47 pm
Some of you have commnented that above .500 is some sort of threshold. Given our schedule this year…Unless our roster gets decimated by freak injuries… I can’t see Richt surviving anything worse than 8-4… and I think 9-3 or 8-4 would really put him squarely on the hot seat again. Not saying he has to win 10 games every year, I just think looking at it objectively.. understanding the expectations with the talent we have and the positive direction we moved in last year, this would not be the year to go 7 – 5 or worse.
Mike S.
July 11th, 2012
2:47 pm
To those who think Richt has to win it all this year…get real. They should win the East, but that doesnt mean he has the team playing good enough to beat LSU or Bama in the title game. No one else can, so why should you hang Richt out to dry on that?
Cupcake Wars
July 11th, 2012
2:48 pm
Richt should be on the hot seat….OK coach, but greatly underachieving with the players recruited. Sure last year (and probably this one) will look pretty good as far as record is concerned due to very easy sched, but if/when they play someone of significance, they will get wiped off the field.
Yes the SEC is football king…..but UGA is in the middle of the pack and living off the big boys’ glory.
ugaclassof2004
July 11th, 2012
2:49 pm
Nothing wrong with pressure, pressure can be a good thing as far as I’m concerned. The expectations at UGA are high( although not as high as they sometimes should be). I think what has hurt Richt is that he had so much success early on, that he became complacent. And as a fan-base, we got complacent as well. We made a LOT of allowances for Richt, despite his limitations, because he’s such a great guy.
There has been times when Richt’s teams have shown signs of greatness, and then there are other times where his teams will completely lay an egg. The SEC title game last year was a perfect example. We completely outplayed LSU in the 1st half, held them to without a freakin first down! We could have very easily been up 21-0 in that game. Yet we completely shot ourselves in the foot and fell apart in the second half. Now LSU was the better team, but shoot don’t just play hard for a half and then quit! I mean c’mon, you’re playing the 1# team in the country for the SEC Title! Give a crap!!!
See that is what has been so frusterating with Richt; he has proven that he can put a team on the field that can compete with the elites in the country when he wants to. But when things go bad, like they do in games, he just seems ill equipped to a. make changes or b. to chew guys butts out when they need to be chewed. I really have a hard time understanding what motivates Richt. One week, he and his coaching staff will put together a great game plan, and then the next week it’s just horrible. I really don’t get it.
GTBob
July 11th, 2012
2:49 pm
Just the facts of the Mark Richt era
We all know the record. If Bill Parcells coached GT and Mark Bradley coached UGA then UGA would still win 9 out of 10 years. If the only thing you care about is beating GT then congrats, Richt will be there the rest of his life. Those are awfully low expectations though.
Mike S.
July 11th, 2012
2:50 pm
@GT – keep chewing on that decomposed hedge from 2008. That is the only reason Johnson isnt on the hot seat. I imagine he wont get much more sympathy if UGA continues to dominate the game like they did last year.
Kanti Patel
July 11th, 2012
2:50 pm
May my alma mater Georgia Tech rise up and defeat evil Georgia Bulldog in their sutbol match!
Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people,
Dispenser of India’s destiny.
Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Shindhu,
Gujarat and Maratha,
Of the Dravida and Orissa and Bangla;
It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas,
mingles in the music of Jamuna and Ganges and is
chanted by the waves of the Indian Ocean.
They pray for thy blessings and sing thy praise.
The saving of all people waits in thy hand,
Thou dispenser of India’s destiny.
victory forever.
The Truth
July 11th, 2012
2:51 pm
GT @1:53
Bud, you need to stop consuming excessive amounts of alcohol at lunch, or smoking weed with Greg Reid. It’s patently obvious you are irrational, bordering on lunacy. To suggest ‘The SEC ain’t all that much better than the ACC’ REALLY, REALLY???? You compare Fish Fry Johnson’s team favorably with Arkansas, Auburn, and suggest with one or two athletes you are on a par with Alabama and LSU????? When is the last time an ACC team beat an SEC team? For that matter, when is the last time an ACC team beat anybody of significance? Remind me, how did your 2011 Champion Clempson Tigers fare against W Va in the Orange Bowl??
As for the last time Georgia beat a Top 10 team, hmmmm, let’s see, oh yeah, wasn’t it that butt kicking we put on the then 7 ranked GT Yellow Jackets down at Historic Grant Field, Bobby Dodd Stadium? I seem to recall we administed a whipping to the “cheating by playing illegal players trying to beat the Dawgs” Fish Fry Johnson bunch. That same day I seem to recall the ‘ol Ball Coach S Car team beating the snot out of the ACC’s other Division Chump, those Clempson Tigers. Here the ACC’s Div Champs lost games to two also rans from the SEC. And you think the ACC is on par with the SEC? The ACC would struggle to win against Sun Belt teams.
Dawglasville
July 11th, 2012
2:51 pm
GT Bob – you have brought me out of hibernation. I appreciate that you realize that it is not realistic to expect Tech to compete with UGA in football. Your reasoning has been well documented and I think it is more or less accurate. Using your logic, why can’t Tech compete with UNC or Duke in basketball?
Larry Bird
July 11th, 2012
2:51 pm
so is 8-5 Bob
@GT
July 11th, 2012
2:52 pm
We bit off the Hedges and are still chewing on them!
You do realize that UGA regularly pees on those hedges?
Just the Facts
July 11th, 2012
2:53 pm
Hey GTBob…
We have MUCH higher aspirations then beating your HS offense (again).
Mark Richt
Championships
2 SEC Championships (2002, 2005)
5 SEC Eastern Division Titles (2002–2003, 2005, 2007, 2011)
Awards
2x SEC Coach of the Year (2002, 2005)
Perennial top 10 team
GovernorBluto
July 11th, 2012
2:53 pm
Aaron Murray is the greatest QB of ALL TIME
MARK RICHT is the great coach of all time.
Why can’t ya’ll see that?
GovernorBluto
July 11th, 2012
2:55 pm
Glad no one’s blogging here about the UGA-UF results under Mark Richt
DISTRACT, TALK about the 1 UNRANKED team Richt has done well against
Ga Tech, yes, let’s spend the whole blog talking about that….
Burma Shave
July 11th, 2012
2:55 pm
When Richt is gone
It will be a relief
But as long as he stays
He’ll bring nothing but grief
BURMA SHAVE
ConfusedDawg
July 11th, 2012
2:57 pm
What the heck is a “sutbol match”? smh
GovernorBluto
July 11th, 2012
2:57 pm
Richt has also done well against Vanderbilt, let’s focus there
BUT PLEASE
DON’T BRING UP THE FLORIDA GATORS……..@@@@###$%^&
Larry Bird
July 11th, 2012
2:59 pm
Go away Bluto, nobody was talking to you.
GovernorBluto
July 11th, 2012
3:00 pm
Let’s try and DISTRACT from Mark Richt’s record against teams that finish in the top 25 since 2009 since it’s 0-9, we can’t win that discussion, so, hmmm, let’s get a plan….
Don’t bring up South Carolina post 2009
Or Florida post 1990
Or from 2012, Boise, SC, LSU or Mich State.
Let’s talk about CUPCAKES…..YES, A PLAN…..
Rollo
July 11th, 2012
3:01 pm
@2:44- Beating GT is expected of Richt year in year out. Problem is he hasn’t enjoyed similar success against FL which means much more.
Eddie in Morrow
July 11th, 2012
3:01 pm
Frankly, I’m pretty fed up with all of the Richt apologists with their lame whining that all schools have the same problems with their athletes. That’s utter tripe. UGA has so many athletes arrested and suspended or dismissed outright because Mark Richt recruits low class goons with no moral code, no sense of teamwork, and a “me first” attitude that’s like a cancer to the team.
Prime examples: Washaun Ealey, Caleb King, and Isaiah Crowell. They were nothing but gang thugs, but Richt loved them.
Dawg Haus
July 11th, 2012
3:02 pm
Wasn’t Bluto named Senator?
GovernorBluto
July 11th, 2012
3:02 pm
AARON MURRAY THREW 5 TOUCDOWNS AGAINST NEW MEXICO STATE
THEREFORE,
AARON MURRAY IS GREAT.
Super Dave
July 11th, 2012
3:03 pm
Everybody can talk all they want. The past doesn’t matter anymore and this season hasn’t started yet. Dawgs will go 11-1, win SEC and play in National Championship game, and win it. There you go. Let’s see what happens this year before we start s talking. Thanks.
Eddie in Morrow
July 11th, 2012
3:04 pm
The athletic history of UGA is full of so many sordid, sleazy incidents – dating back to Vince Dooley and continuing through Mark Richt – that it’s impossible to overlook. The school has come to stand for drunkenness and lawlessness, coddling of illiterate low-class athletes who should never have been admitted to college, and rampant cheating by coaches.
UGA and Mark Richt are an affront and an embarrassment to all decent people in this state.
Jay
July 11th, 2012
3:04 pm
Richt should be under pressure. Half the defense is suspended, he can’t keep a running back from going to jail, his defensive coordinator embarrasses the team constantly with his mouth and will be leaving in a couple years, and Uga didnt beat anyone of note last year.
Larry Bird
July 11th, 2012
3:05 pm
Richt loves all his players Eddie. And your favorite school recruited these guys too.
L Lovelace
July 11th, 2012
3:05 pm
dawgs will not play anywhere but shreveport with four to five sec losses.
Dawglasville
July 11th, 2012
3:06 pm
Eddie – what “gang thug,” activity was Ealey and King involved in?
RJW
July 11th, 2012
3:06 pm
Year in and year out Georgia has strong recruiting classes and failes to win anything. Richt should of been fired long ago. Not to mention the fact that they are first in division one among legal issues off the field for there players over the last three years. If Saban, or Miles, or Brady Hoke or any top tier coach had the same teams Richt has had Georgia would have at least one more national championship.
SEC Fact Finder
July 11th, 2012
3:06 pm
Questions most AD’s and University Leadership ask themselves:
What has the Head Coach done with the talent on the field in recent years? Has the players under your direction been good stewards of the program? Are the players under your direction in good academic standing? Are the players under your direction graduating?
You ask yourself those question in evaluating your head coach and it will clear things up for some.
lawzoo
July 11th, 2012
3:06 pm
With the cupcake SEC schedule he’s got he should be.
Lose to Carolina . Hope you can beat Ole Mess. What crap ! Em Dawgs have to have it fed to them.
GovernorBluto
July 11th, 2012
3:06 pm
I HAVE A PLAN, YES, A PLAN…
LET’S SHIFT FORM RICHT’S 0-9 RECORD VS. RANKED TEAMS TO
RICHT’S RECORD AGAINST WINNING TEAMS
WAIT, THAT’S 4-10 LATELY, OK, BAD PLAN.
OK, HOW RICHT’S RECORD AGAINST TEAMS WITH LOSING RECORD, 6 WINS OR LESS
OK, LET’S TRY AND BLOG ABOUT THOSE WINS….
HOW ABOUT THAT DEREK DOOLEY, WOW GREAT COACH THERE, RICHT BEAT HIM PEOPLE.
RICHT ALSO PULLED OUT AN IMPRESSIVE WIN AGAINST
COASTAL CAROLINA LAST YEAR.
GovernorBluto
July 11th, 2012
3:09 pm
ALSO, DO NOT BRING UP BOWL GAMES, 0-2 THERE OF LATE.
OR DO NOT BRING UP SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES, 0-1 THERE TOO.
TRY AND FOCUS ON THE LESSER GAMES, LET’S PICK OLE MISS FOR EXAMPLE, THOUGHT RICHT DOMINATED THAT TEAM.
SSIgator
July 11th, 2012
3:10 pm
Is Richt still under heavy pressure?
Of course not – as long as the Kool-Aid holds out – he will have a job at UGA. Why? Because people like him, he is such a nice man. So UGA fans will tolerate the occasional ten win seasons and the powers that be in the admin. will tolerate him as long as the money rolls in, but that is as good as it will get. But this is what happens when you hire a former bartender that decides he wants to try his hand at being a part-time missionary and a part-time football coach. Enjoy your $3,000,000 per year investment.
gomdawg
July 11th, 2012
3:10 pm
DON’T START THAT SHZT MARK , WHY DONT YOU GET A REAL JOB AND LEAVE OUR DAWGS ONLY BUTT HOLE
Super Dave
July 11th, 2012
3:11 pm
F off Bluto.
GovernorBluto
July 11th, 2012
3:11 pm
If you ever intervirew Richt
Do NOT, under ANY curcumstances
Ask him about his rushing game
because he’ll start cursing everyone in the room out….
So let’s focus on the passing games
HOW ABOUT MURRAY’ TD’S….(REMIND PEOPLE NOT TO NOTICE WHO THOSE TD’S WERE SCORED AGAINST)
Cecil Dawdlehead
July 11th, 2012
3:13 pm
KEEP MARK RICH COACH. HE’S A GOOD MAN. DON’T DRANK!!!
Super Dave
July 11th, 2012
3:13 pm
GovernorBluto is Paul Johnson! That is the only thing I can think of. He sounds way too bitter. Either that or Aaron Murray was with his gf in that pic from spring break.
Jason
July 11th, 2012
3:13 pm
CMR is the Tommy Tuberville of the East. He gets close to the prize but just never can quite do that extra little something to make it happen. He’s the kid who made good grades in school, went to a good school that wasn’t quite Ivy League, and can’t quite get his career beyond middle management. He’s the diet Pepsi of coaches. He will never bring a championship to Athens but his teams almost always do pretty good but never great. Might as well change the school colors to beige and goldenrod.
Tide Roll
July 11th, 2012
3:16 pm
Are you kidding me? The guy absolutely, positively, doesn’t give a crap. It’s infuriating. Hell, more than likely, he believes he should be fired, but as long as you fools are willing to pay him, he’s good with it. Only at UGA. 31 years and counting
1eyedJack
July 11th, 2012
3:17 pm
Man, I just hate it when the nerds don’t have a Calculus test to study for.
Mike Bobo
July 11th, 2012
3:18 pm
Georgia just scored on Auburn….AGAIN!
1eyedJack
July 11th, 2012
3:18 pm
Coach Paul Johnson has the personality of a sack of taters.