Richt’s actions speak volumes about assistants

Whether we as fans agree with CMR really is insignificant. Ultimately HE and only HE is responsible for the W’s & L’s and at the end of the day (or year) the responsibility remains his. I do not personally care for several of the position coaches coach Richt has, however in the business world its results that matter and one cannot argue with CMR’s track record overall. Underachieve, maybe….dissapointing occasionally, possibly….would I want another person running the UGA football team, NO WAY.
There are but a few select coaches that can be considered top shelf and complete packages that can effectively run a program, delegate, recruit, motivate, and actively participate “teaching” kids the game of football and the game of life. Richt is right up there minus a national championship. So what if he decides to take care of his coaches financially. I’m confident they go to battle for him every single day otherwise they would have moved on to greener pastures.
Too many people that live in glass houses that want to throw the first stone.

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That’s a great point chip. I have said for a while that some folks in here are confusing thier arguments. It’s one thing to question calls or strategies of co-ordinators. Age old business of being a football fan. Will never stop, no matter who the man, or who your team is. Fair game, and pretty easy to critisize even the best names in the business at times. Everyone losses 20% of the time or more after all.

But what I see in lot of posts, some quite elaborate, is about how Mark Richt is not acting in the best interest of his progranm, how he is letting personal feeling get in his way. THAT arguments would be based the assumption that he feels the same way about the particular coaches abilities as the poster, and clearly he does not. So unless you want a head coach who would take actions contrary to his own opinion, and align his staff , not by his own evaluation, but by the wishes of his fans, thats a pretty silly waste of time and not a very well thought out argument. It’s also quite a lazy argument. I have a lot of respect for anyone, and some have, who come in here and have a serious (albiet virtual) debate with Mark Richt about the X’s and O’x. Easier to just make up some explaination as to why somebody isn’t do what you think you would do.

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By the way, don’t do what I isn’t do, and proof before you post.

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[...] In the AJC, Chip Towers writes that Mark Richt’s actions speak volumes about his assistants. [...]

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Can we just beat Florida and win the SEC!!

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I agree, for the most part, with Paul and Altamaha. However, a raise for a DC that was clearly torchd last year is interesting. Also, the “co” title seems a little like the “head coach in waiting”, it is an appeasement title. That said, I want nobody but Richt coaching the team. He has earned the right to do anything he feels prudent.

Question: Does anyone else notice that these coaches all go on about how great it is to work for coach Richt but rarely praise the fact that they work at a great place like Georgia?

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The ‘co-coordinator’ title carries little significance as to who is the final point of accountability on the Defensive staff. For the entire tenure of Van Gorder, he shared the ‘co-coordinator’ title with Martinez, but at no time was there confusion as to who was ultimately responsible for the defense. Resist the urge to build conspiracy theories about secret messages being sent or what this means as it relates to status-quo or not.

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A raise for WM (after last year) seems odd to be sure. At least to us poor slobs in the real world. I just don’t think it was a raise to say, “way to go”. I think its more like, IF this is the staff he wants to keep in place this is just what it takes to bring the compensation in line with the industry.

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What, if anything, does this mean for Coach Garner?

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I’m sure CMR knows what he is doing. I hope he will have a little more input into the defensive schemes and we GATA this year. There is to much talent in Athens to be mediocre.

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PAGO FLYER…I’m with you son!!!!!!!10 wins a year aint cutting it with this good ol southern boy from porterhouse south carolina!!!!!!!!!!!!

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The SEC was in the s house? I think not! You don’t know much at all.

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I am wondering where the breaking poimt is with Div 1 programs and Athletic Department salaries during this economic crisis. I know that the football program at UGA is one of the most profitable in the country and that it brings millions into the University, but can’t these raises be bad from a PR point of view? Many coaches don’t seem to have gotten the message. Mike Leach’s hold out on a contract worth over twelve million is an example. He wanted a larger buy out, which, IMO, is nothing but a reward for failure. He got it, but he doesn’t get the big picture. Neither does Jim Calhoun. Thomas Brown made some intresting points on the last blog about the basketball coaching search. He said UGA should pay up to two million for a high profile coach and borrow millions to build a new arena. That might be necessary to have an elite bball program. Is it worth it? What do the rest of you think? I am frugal by nature, and while the recession hasn’t hurt my income it has hurt my financial statement. My contributions to the UGA athletic fund will be down this year and I will miss some games. I just can’t justify the expense of travelimg to Athens, hotel rooms, and etc. Is anyone else cutting back?

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Shane- I see your point and I think that if this was any other industry besides the sports industry you might right. The truth is, even with the bad economy the demand is still going to be there…especially at a high profile school like Georgia.

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shane:

The old saying, “you have to spend money to make money”, generally holds true. However, in light of the current economic conditions it does seem a bit of a PR risk. Most of us will not go over the budget for UGA r the Athletic Dept. so we are not aware of every condition. I do know that one has to feed the engine of any company. In this case, the engine is the football team. Evans just gave @$2 million to the University. I am sure that has helped keep more than a few non athletic staffers employed. It is a tricky sell though.

My family and I are cutting back as well. Not reactively but proactively as nobody is sure where or when this will all end. I just cancelled our trip to Breckinridge for Christmas and I will not be going to Stillwater for the game as I did to Phoenix. Tough times my friend.

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zoomie, I think you hit the nail on the head.

“It could be an odd mixture of people and talent that just didn’t quite gel — I don’t know. Hopefully, Coach Richt and company do know, learned their lessons from it, and have a plan to correct it into the future.”

That might be as wise of a statemnet as has been out here this week.

The injuries deal only compounds the infinate combinations of trying to get that mixture of talents and people to jel. would hope the staff learned a thing or two this year…and lets be fair…….this is NOT a very old HC, with a couple of relatively new co-ordinators, with some assistants that are still finding thier way……..and what staff doesn’t have room to learn?

For example, how does cutting back drills earlier in the year to help heal that week, come back to bite you 3,4 games down the road. On the other hand, how many fans would have been bloggin furious had the report come out that the last 3 healthy LB on the team has been injured in practise the week before going to LSU? And Richt’s responce was, “oh we were trying to make sure we tackled better 6 weeks from now, so we never adjusted our pace, despite the numbers”.

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bugkiller, I don’t assume he is right or wrong. Not sure its really that simplistic anyway. I don’t assume he thinks WM is the best DC in the world. I can observe that he has decided he wants to keep him though. I am certain that he is far better position to make that call, but that IS NOT EVEN THE POINT.

The point is that he knows what he thinks. And you do not.

And now you start morphing your argument as if he is “right or wrong” about football? YOU are the one making assumption. You assume that he sees the football the same way you do. Never mind that everyone else on that staff is also his friend, and that would harm them. You have been very vocal all year in saying that it is a given that he ONLY keeps WM on the staff out of some misguided loyalty to his freind. Never mind that his wife , kids, and extended family would be harmed by him purposely destroying the program. Your argument all along has been that he agrees with you about WM, and just chooses to not take the action you demand about it. You just said it again.

Make up your mind, is the man football dumb, or just trying to keep UGA down, despite that making no sense to anyone, and nobody benifititng from it?

You know whose side I am going to take on the football part.Insider or observer? I don’t know the answers, so I go with the professionals.

Obviously YOU and HE disagree on the football, but I will be damn if I am going to buy the case that somebody should take some action contrary to what THEY think is right due to arguments presented based on assumptions that they obviously don’t agree with. Would you do that?

The most obvious thing to me is this: He didn’t fire WM. Fact. Are you trying to bend time and space now or what? What is your plan given this reality?

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I understand that we had a 10 win season and that is good. However, I liken this past season to the 1992 team. They both had amazing weapons on offense and both teams underachieved.

Zeir Hastings and Hearst. 10 wins, but nobody in Dawg Nation felt good about it.

Stafford, Moreno, and AJ. Same result

Stafford will likely be the number one overall pick in the draft even after coming out early. Moreno is simply the best back we have had since #34. The guy ran behind two patched together lines in his two seasons and still was electrifying every time he touched the ball.

Which team would you have rather coached. UGA coming off a bye week so that they have 2 weeks to prepare for the option attack of GT with 4 and 5 star athletes all over the starting lineup and 3 absolute superstar talents on offense and PLAYING AT HOME OR:

GT coming off a game week, with a new coach and a completely new scheme, with the starting lineup being comprised mostly of 3 star recruits and having to play against a more talented UGA team on the road in front of 92,000?

Hats off to GT for getting the W. Our superior talent was outplayed and our staff was outcoached. There is no other way to look at it.

The season was not a success.

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I absolutely love it……just goes to show you how far CMR has brought
this program when a 10 – 3 season is described as “disastrous”……huh?

GO DAWGS……we’ll take 10 wins every year, in spite of all our ‘rocking chair’ quarterbacks and coaches!!!

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Wow, some pretty severe feelings out there, with a lot of insightful analysis sprinkled in.

Personally, I prefer the analysis, particularly of trends in offense/defense over time. One-year anomalies do occur (in both directions, as UGA has proved with UF and last year with HI). Trends are, to my way of thinking, more indicative of the base line of a program.

As for Altamaha’s apparent problem dealing with Bug, this sounds like something that should be settled in the ring, with big, squishy gloves that can’t really hurt anybody (much). Get it out of your system.

I do think that your suggestion, Altamaha, that “…his wife, kids, and extended family would be harmed by him purposely destroying the program” is a bit over the top. I sincerely doubt that shaking up the defensive coaching staff, or offensive staff, position coaches, special teams, you name it, is going to “destroy” the UGA football program.

You saw the note about Les Miles. Didn’t see the LSU program destroyed.

But, as far as I can decipher your point, and it’s a bit garbled to tell you the truth, you are apparently saying that, so long as MR believes he’s right, he’s right. And Bug and the rest should just shut up and be thankful. That’s a new one. And, sorry, but I don’t think you’re getting Bug’s point (and that of others saying the same thing) at all.

They point out why they think CMR is wrong from a football perspective (which is any fan’s right) AND that he’s perhaps not tough enough to make the hard decisions that have to be made in this business. And, that’s what it is, a business (totally aside from the dollars and cents issues). Where success is measured on the field, like it or not. This is not Northwestern (my friend’s alma mater) where they are content with a flash of purple every few decades.

And another note to bloggers. Good points about the SEC but let’s not fall into a trap. We are not competing with Florida. That’s a cop-out and, IMO, too small a target. We’re competing with Southern Cal (the #1 program in college football at the moment). And Texas, Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, Michigan (maybe again one day), Oklahoma, Penn State…. and yes, Florida. But beating Florida, despite recent experience, is not that big a thing. UGA matches up just fine with UF on a talent level.

Is everybody aware of why Steve Spurrier has always had such a “thing” for UGA when he was coaching at Florida? Because he played for UF, as did most of his coaching staff at the time. And, he said it himself. They NEVER beat Georgia. UGA owned them.

Unequal talent? No. Did UGA win those games because they were more “loyal” ‘to their staff than Florida? Because they broke out the black jerseys? Because they jumped up and down in the end zone? No. But, does the name Erk Russell still mean anything? Do you think his defenses had anything to do with it?

Let’s put it this way. A guy from the other team has the ball, nearing the sideline, in a deadlocked game and I’m the defender. Would a true “Junkyard Dog” (sorry, I don’t think this team is qualified to use that title at the moment) arm tackle him? If Erk were on the sidelines, you better put that guy in the first row of the bleachers.

That’s the standard against which UGA defenses are measured, like it or not. Willie Martinez might be the nicest guy in the world, or the meanest, who knows. He might draw a mean X or O. He might be the smartest or dumbest (not likely) guy around. He might throw a mean BBQ. Who knows. And finally, CMR might like him a lot and think, in his mind, he’s the greatest DC he’s ever known or will ever know.

But the harsh reality is that the game is played on the field. That guy with the ball ended up in the end zone, not pasted to a sideline marker. It is what it is, and it’s a tough business but that’s what these guys sign up for.

This is not a place where “the head coach, right or wrong” is going to cut it.

Do I think CMR is “wrong” about Martinez? I’ll take a middle ground. This year should tell us a lot more about that question.

But this I do think. CMR has the unalienable right: (A) to stick to his guns, and (B) to be wrong. They both go with the territory.

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Thank you CalDogg.

Guys like Altamaha will never get it. Ever. They’re like the Bobby Cox disciples who refuse to hand any blame to Cox for taking some of the best teams in baseball history and running them down in the postseason due to absolutely horrible crunch-time, do-or-die decision making.

And the thing is, Mark Richt now has a pattern for refusing to do the right thing and fire terrible coaches on his staff.

First Eason, now Martinez.

As far as Martinez’s performance, our defense in his ten years has gotten progressively worse, just about across the board, but most importantly in yards given up per game and points given up per game EVERY YEAR. You can check the stats yourself. They’re all there anywhere you want on the ‘net to find them.

Also, the Dawgs on defense have gotten progressively more undisciplined under Martinez. From undisciplined fundamentals, like tackling and assignment football, to just plain undisciplined, with the kind of idiotic and completely ridiculously stupid personal foul penalties Falcon fans were used to seeing from MeAngelo Hall.

These FACTS, which Mark Richt and guys like Altamaha refuse to acknowledge, are damning evidence of Willie Martinez’s straight-up ineptitude as defensive coordinator.

And yes Altamaha, it IS to the detriment of the team. How can anyone say having Willie Martinez as our DC ISN’T a detriment to the team when faced with those UNDENIABLE FACTS???

Again… Les Miles fired just about his WHOLE defensive staff after their horrendous year. After ONE YEAR.

Les Miles is willing to make the hard choices a head coach must make in order to win.

Does ANYONE here, Chip or anyone else, believe Miles, Saban, or Meyer would have held on to John Eason for 8 years?

Does anyone here believe Miles, Saban, and Meyers would have held on to Martinez for four years, and then after his worst year EVER, given him an indefensible raise?

Again… guys like Altamaha talk in circles and circles, but they refuse to answer the hard questions and they are totally unable to refute any facts made to the contrary of their blind arguments.

Mark Richt was WRONG to not have fired John Eason, and blaming his players for his coach’s shortcomings.

Mark Richt is WRONG to continue to employ Willie Martinez, and to blame the players and one year’s worth of injuries to excuse Martinez’s four year run of inept coaching.

Provide some facts as to how those two statements are wrong.

FACTS.

Not idiotic statements about how Richt wins 10 games a year and wins an SEC title every 5 years or so.

In the the SEC of Miles, Saban, and Meyer, Richt has fallen back to the pack.

And while he is undeniabley better than the two guys who came before, his teams always seem to have a way of underperforming when the pressure is on. While he is better than the guys who came before him, he is unable or unwilling to make the decisions to get his team to the elite level Miles, Saban, and Meyer have gotten their team.

Umm… Dawg1… WHO called for Willie Martinez?

WHO called for John Eason?

For you to insinuate that I’m saying ALL the Georgia coaches are terrible is a flat out fabrication.

Unfortunately, the man who is terrible is in the most important position on the team outside of head coach, which is defensive coordinator.

Unfortunately, Richt refuses to make the hard decision, decisions that Miles, Saban, and Meyer would never hesitate to make, and fire Martinez.

WHO called for Martinez?

He’s so bad his own school didn’t want him. He’s so bad the head coach at Miami, instead of bringing back an alumnus, decided to be his own DC this year.

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**FRESH OFF CMR’S PRE-SPRING TELECONFERENCE, here’s his thoughts on the promotion of John Jancek, etc:

“Well this is really a situation where his role is not going to change a lot because he really has been very involved in game-planning with Coach Martinez, as all are coaches do. But he’s had an awful lot of input the years he’s been here, so it’s not going to change really at all. Just to make it clear, Willie Martinez is our defensive coordinator. It’s not like two co-coordinators on an equal basis. Willie is the tip of the spear defensively, so to speak. He’s where the buck stops and he’s the leader of the group. But John has been very instrumental to this point in formulating our defensive plan and he’s gonna continue to do that. We’re just basically making public notice of it.”

Asked if a raise would come with Jancek’s new title: “I’ll just say this, the way I feel about salaries, I feel like salaries are a private matter. If it was up to me everybody’s salary wouldn’t be published. I’d never make any public comments on guys’ salaries.”

On keeping the whole staff together: “It means an awful lot. Number one, I think we’ve got a tremendous group of assistant coaches that do an outstanding job and have for quite some time now. To keep the continuity I think that’s extremely important. When it comes to recruiting I think it’s important; when it comes to our current players having the peace of mind knowing they don’t have to start all over, it’s important. I remember when I first came to Georgia and Brian VanGorder became the defensive coordinator, he was the fourth defensive coordinator in four years. Neil Callaway was the fifth offensive line coach in four years. It’s tough to be good, it’s tough to get anything going when your kids are constantly having to learn a whole new coaching staff or a whole new philosophy or a whole new way of calling a defense or an offensive line blocking scheme. To be able to continue to keep the same staff, especially when they’re as good as the one we have, is fantastic.”

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Sport. I “got it” about 4 times before you were born.

But speaking of answering questions. I notice you simply refuse to answer mine and repost the exact same thing over and over and over. Bobby cox, Nick saban, yea, we heard ya.

He didn’t fire WM, now what? What is your plan? Cry about it in a sports blog all summer? Did you visit the many off campus appearances he makes to voice oyur concern about his intentional descruction of the UGA program due his not wanting to hurt somebody’s feeling? How about emial, letter, phone ? anything? huh? crying in a sports blog? Do you “get” what I am infering about your own willingness to make hard decisions?

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Ouch! Dammit Chip got to bring up the same old Martinez arguments we hear over and over. It is what it is and WE as fans certainly can’t change it. Talking about all the injuries being a possible reason for the so-called let down last year. I suppose that there is a difference between the first stringers and the third or fourth string players. First stringers play because they are the more athletic,i e, able to tackle better, run faster, jump higher, handle the ball better, more disciplined overall in their approach and preparations for the games. Sure the 2,3,4th stringers are good players but not quite as good as the starters. Little less disciplined, not quite as athletic but can still play. They just don’t have the God given talents that the starters do but they will suffice to get 11 players on the field. Coaching can only go so far in that situation. Sure in our perceptions the coaches should be able to coach anybody up to a new level. Maybe they did coach them up and they just couldn’t cut it. One thing for sure I do not want to hear about any injuries this spring. Just keep it quiet.

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Chip, is that posted twice for double emphasis?

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I recall an Erk Russell team that lost to Virginia at Homecoming 31-0. Talk about embarassing. By todays standards both Erk and Vince would have been fired after the 79 season. Then no Herschel, no 1980 wonder season. Thank God there were no blogs back then.

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BugKiller and CalDogg: I respect your thorough analyses but I have a few points that I’d like to make in response.

1. Les Miles did not fire his co-defensive coordinators. They left for different positions. Whether or not he would have actually fired one or both of them, we don’t know because he didn’t have to.

2. Also, I’m pretty sure that just one year ago Florida was looking at a 9-4 season and the blame was put on *gasp* Charlie Strong and his defense. Of course, you say, they had lost so many players to the NFL that their defense was simply inexperienced. Well, you could have definitely said the same thing about UGA’s defense this year considering that we were playing so many 2nd and 3rd stringers. gdawginkalamazoo brings up a good point: there’s a reason why some players are starters and others are back-ups.

3. I don’t see how you can talk about how we’ve statistically gotten worse on defense without recognizing that our defense was ranked in the top-10 just one year ago. I also don’t see how you can’t take into account the fact that STATISTICALLY offenses are scoring more points now than they were a few years ago. Everyone’s defense has suffered statistically because of this.

4. I agree that we aren’t just competing with Florida, that we’re competing with USC, Texas, Oklahoma, etc. If you look at it that way, we’re doing pretty damn well in my opinion. We have the winning percentage, the conference titles, the top 10 finishes, etc. The only thing we’re missing that these other schools have is a NC trophy. I honestly believe we’ll get there soon.
5. One last thing: you talk about competing with these other schools. I’m pretty sure that even our “atrocious” defense finished the year still ranked in the top 25 while schools like Texas and Oklahoma had defenses ranked somewhere in the 60s.

Anyways, my overall point is this: While I wasn’t happy with our performance this year, I am willing to give Martinez one more year to prove what he proved in 2007: that he knows how to coach a defense.

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I have long since given up on the WM situation (he should be GONE in my opinion—should you give a rip about anything else I’ve said on the subject, check saturdayinathens.com), but to say that WM is in the same zip code of Russell is ridiculous. Erk’s defense gave up more than 28 points maybe 3 times in his entire 17 YEARS at UGA. Martinez has quadrupled or quintupled that number in less than a quarter the time. Not to mention the discipline issues (on-and-off field that Russell would have nipped in the bud FORTHWITH).

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The coaches at UGA are good ones and need to stay in place for a long time. You people should be happy with the 9 or 10 win seasons because that is all you ever will have.

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I think we have simply recruited a lot better offensive players than defensive players over the last 5-6 years.It has been more pronounced the last 3.We have some good players on D… just not many elite players at any position.Having Owens and Washington back should help some because if healthy those two guys can play.Allen will be missed though…I thought he was the best player we had in the secondary.2009 will be a big year for Martinez and Garner in this way.They have recruited these kids for this scheme we run ..so now it’s time to see what they have.I look for a lot of new faces on the defensive side of the ball this year.Maybe they will prove that our defensive recruits are better than I thought..either way this year is huge for those two guys.How the D rebounds this year is more important than last years struggles

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When discussing the player discipline issues from different eras, keep in mind that you are discussing just that….DIFFERENT ERAS. Remember the stories of the “Team Barbecue” in 1980 that ended not with arrests and lawsuits, but with the offending players being punished internally over the summer leading up to the NC season. And don’t forget the “Shooting the streetsigns” incident (I don’t recall the year) that ended with a warm hearted warning and some extra running.

When discussing player behavior and discipline there is no comparison between today’s spotlight and media frenzy for ANYTHING to do with sports. If you need further evidence, just scroll up.

AltDog, nice comments, as always…

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ZDog, thanks. Me winning isn’t. You do.

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Alt- Some of these bloggers don’t have a baseline when making comparisons because they are unfamiliar with any Bulldog history if it didn’t happen in the last two years. They can’t analyze the details into their scorched earth opinions. I like a hearty blog, but blustering out unfounded opinions is just not as interesting as other points these Dawg fans make. It’s good info, meant to lead you in a certain direction, but it won’t come together as far as lancing old wounds. There is not any Dawg fan on here who liked the defeats this year, but gutting the Staff and Richt’s decisions won’t throw spit at what has happened this year. Some of you sound like Donnan or his new buddies at ESPN. Have you seen his name come up again as a coach? He can’t even beat out a former Miami coach for the UT@ San Antonio job. The reason may be that he isn’t welcome after his show of petulance after he was canned for not winning the big ones. Well, Richt is reversing that and has a “down” year in spoiled Bulldog Land. Get over it. All of us want big revenge for the losses this year, but if you don’t support Richt and Staff, who would bring it for you? No one. Not one over-egofied one of them.

Question: What team has beaten the reigning NC two years in a row? Why not make it three in a row this year?

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is the answer UGA? I’m all for 3 in a row. On that note we have defeated the reigning NC the past 5 times we have faced them.

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Does anyone know what channel Raycom is on Comcast in Atlanta?

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You had cable in 1980. You must have lived in the big city!

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Yeah Augusta and Athens had cable, I think we had like 17 channels, awesome.

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Alt, with your little bouts of trivia you are in danger of costing Zeier his color job. We do not need to boost unemployment in these times.

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3 and 11 out of Savannah, and maybe channel 22 on the UHF dial. If a solar storm was blowing through at the same time Venus was in line with the third moon of Jupiter, we would get a Jacksonville station for a couple of hours. You would think we had found gold in the backyard.

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Oh, and to the person who thinks Les Miles didn’t fire his defensive coaches… you’re incredibly naive.

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We put up 40 plus points on Will Muschamp the 3 times we played his defenses, at 2 different schools. 40 plus points on Charlie Strong. Bo Pelini, Bud Foster, John Chavis. Would these guys be considered some of the very top DC in the country? We put up 30 and 40 points on them …..so?

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WOW! beat Ky at Ky. Venus lined up with the third moon of Jupiter once again.

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Mars, now that’s who we need to hire. That guy would never give up 40 points. If they even tried, he would send down with a thousand fiery chariots.

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I remember sometime in the 80’s, the cable box(literally a box), was connected to our TV w/a cord. The box had ten buttons on it, and a lever. You position the lever up high, in the middle, or down low, and on each row you had like 10 different channels you could possibly watch. If you would switch channels very fast by hitting one button and then the next, you could possibly see like 10 seconds(at a time) of a porn channel. This was great for me considering I was barely a teen during this time, in the mid 80s. Fun stuff.

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Typical Richt, he would have continuity than someone who is a great coach!!! CAllaway for example was lousy but, he would still be there if he hadn’t left on his own volition The great thing about all of this though, is that poor assistants will eventually get you fired then maybe Richt can get Liberty college to hire him and his whole staff.

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Oledawg, I don’t know what dead horse you’re talking about, but one man’s dead horse is another man’s coaching concern. I’m not beating up on WM; I’ve clearly stated I’m not privy to the detailed picture, so I’m very reluctant to pass judgment. I’ve been a UGA football fan my entire life, but have only been in a position to watch every game for the last two seasons. I can assure you, the problems I saw in the 2008 team were also evident in the 2007 team. For some reason, the 2007 team’s sizzle ignited and they steamrolled through the remainder of the season. Last year, they sizzled and sputtered throughout the entire season; never caught fire. As I said, I don’t know why, but hope Coach Richt and his staff do, since their jobs will depend on it. We are, in fact, primarily in competition with UF. They dominate the SEC East. No SEC East, no SEC Championship. No SEC Championship, no MNC bid. No MNC bid, no national standing with OU, USC, et al. I think this is what Coach Richt means when he sets the goal of winning the East (one step at a time). When we have comparable recruiting classes, we should be competitive; 18-3 is not competitive. UF, and for that matter, any of the national sweetheart teams, do not lay down and have their rearends handed to them in games that matter most. UGA simply was not prepared to play in those games. Back to AltamahaDawg’s original point of discussion with me: there are numerous influencing factors; to me, it’s evident that coaching issues are among them. I look at changes that are being made by Coach Richt in team preparation, and it seems to support my view. I support Coach Richt’s “family” approach. More importantly from a leadership perspective, I strongly support his “staff continuity” approach. It’s just the cold, hard facts of business: if UGA continually plays second or third fiddle in the SEC East, the current coaching staff will not stay together, and Coach Richt’s job at UGA will be in jeopardy regardless of how much we like him.

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Folks, I am all for UGA being a nice place to live and work for our coaches,their staff and families, but I think it’s about time for UGA to be a bad team to pi$$ off, too.

Hopefully, our coaches can find that fine line this year. If we lay down this year like we did a few times last year, this could be the ugliest season in the Mark Richt era. I trust CMR is taking the right steps to keep that from happening again.

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I value Coach Richt as much for his values and leadership as I do for his success on the field. In fact, I think that his values and leadership are two prime factors for his success on the field.

Supporters of our competitors must feel the same too as they attempt to tear down his image to their own sad level to harm him and the Georgia program.

Coach Richt said that if all of your competitors like you, you must not be winning on the field. He is 82-22 in 8 years. I hope he stays at Georgia until after I die of old age – and I am a young man.

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oledawg , as you well know, I never completely agree with everything somebody says in a single post, as i have a reputation to uphold. I was nodding only to the point that zommster made directly to me.

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Oledawg, we’re not necessarily in disagreement here. We’re just two people, without an inside scoop, speculating on the problems of our favorite football team (with me being maybe just a little more of a hard@ss than you). Granted, injuries took a terible toll on the team, but if play drops off that dramatically between the starters and the “depth” players, coaches are responsible for not having the “depth” ready to play. The play of the defensive line was horrendous, and that sets off a domino affect throughout the rest of the defense. I don’t know if coaching could’ve done anything about that; if you don’t have the players, you’re stuck. The tackling skills of the defense in 2008 were embarassing, and didn’t seem to be addressed at all during the season. That’s on the coaching staff. Penalties: coaching staff. Assignment discipline: coaching staff. I pin so much on the coaches because this went way beyond individual player mistakes, these issues were characteristic of the entire defense for the entire season. As mentioned earlier, you don’t see this with the nation’s top-tier programs. I think team leadership is still in flux due to the rather recent changes in responsibilities (play calling) and the experience level of those with the responsibilities, so they get a pass on some of the strange things we saw last season. However, there’s no excuse for not having the young men ready to play. There’s no excuse for not ensuring the players know what they’re supposed to do and how their roles fit in the overall scheme, whether they’re a starter or a third-stringer — and that, my friend, is the most important function the coaches have. When you send a soldier into battle without the proper training, mission preparation, rules of engagement, and without a clear objective, failure of that mission is directly attributable to the commander, not the defeated soldier. Now, that may be an extreme analogy, but it’s apt, nevertheless.

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First point: I love Coach Richt, he’a a class act (of course, he also has the advantage of following a totally classless act).
Second point: The defensive philosophy needs changing. Many times we have been too passive. In order to beat truly good teams, defensive pressure is a must. See Utah’s win over Alabama for case in point. I fear we will never learn the obvious. I thought we might have learned it several yars ago when CM went prevent against Auburn with very little time left in the game only to see Auburn score in one play from about 80 yards. Result: a one point loss in a game we obviously should have won. Did we learn from that? Apparently not, we continue to play passive defense in obvious passing situations. How’s that been working for us against the really good teams?
Third point: Raises should be based on performance, as well as the economic climate. Martinez is in charge of the defense. We often play worse on defense in the second half after our so-called half-time adjustments. The funds are shrinking. Does last year’s performance warrant a raise, especially in this economy? Answer seems clear to me.

Fourth point: I’m a faculty member at a law school which is part of a private university. My teaching evaluations have always been outstanding. They were outstanding last year as well. My dean has informed me that no one on our entire faculty is getting a raise for the coming year because of the economy. In fact, no one at the university is getting a raise (including our coaches). The law school is profitable. Our applications are at an all time high. Nevertheless, we are not getting raises. In this economy, this is the right thing to do.

Might I suggest, that Coach Martinez should not get a raise for many reasons? The answer seems rather obvious, at least to me. Maybe, I’m missing something here. Plus, I would think the man could live on a salary of over $300,000 without too much difficulty (and without a raise).

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During the last 4 seasons, who would you have preferred to be the coordinators at UGA: Bobo or Dan Mullen and Martinez or Charlie Strong? I don’t think either made as much as Bobo or Martinez. It is not about money. It is the quality of the performance you receive for your money.

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