Evans: Dogs will stay with traditional uniforms
Athens — If there was any doubt after the black-helmeted debacle against Florida, it seems official now that there’ll be no more uniform gimmickry from the Georgia Bulldogs anytime soon.
Georgia athletics director Damon Evans, appearing on UGA’s weekly radio call-in show Monday night, gave a pretty strong thumbs-down to future variations on the Bulldogs’ traditional uniforms.
“I don’t believe playing the game is about uniforms,” Evans said. “I just want our team to go out on the field and play the best of their ability. We have had some uniform changes in the past, but I would tell you not to look for that anytime soon. I’m not going to ever say never, but that’s not something that we’re going to be focused on.”
The Bulldogs veered from tradition by wearing black jerseys in a big 2007 home win over Auburn and a big 2008 home loss to Alabama and by wearing black pants and black helmets in this year’s big loss to Florida in Jacksonville.
“I know there are times when you try to use uniforms to maybe change the mood of the team and so forth, and that’s been done . . . [with] the blackouts we’ve had in the past,” Evans said. “But . . . I like our traditional uniforms –- the silver britches, the red jerseys, the white jerseys and the red helmets -– and that’s what we need to stick with at the University of Georgia. . . .
“I want people to be able to recognize us. . . . And I had a lot of comments after the Florida game that people didn’t recognize who we were. . . . I want people to know we’re Georgia.”
——————–
Evans again expressed confidence that coach Mark Richt will guide the Georgia football program through the storm that currently engulfs it.
Appearing on the second hour of the weekly call-in show –- Richt fills the first hour –- Evans expressed the same sentiments about Richt as he did in an interview with the AJC earlier this month.
“Mark Richt is our football coach, and I’m glad that Mark Richt is our football coach,” Evans said Monday night. “I have confidence in Mark Richt to get the job done and do the things he’s done over the past years to keep us competing for championships. And I know that what Mark will do are the things he thinks are appropriate for the program.”
Later, Evans added: “I’m glad that our fans . . . know we have a good football coach, a coach that has been through the thick and thin, and somebody who has led us to great heights with SEC championships, BCS bowl appearances. Any program faces adversity, and when you face adversity, it’s what you learn from it and how you come out of it. And I have confidence that Coach Richt will come through this.”
A caller asked Evans if he gets involved in head coaches’ decisions about their assistants. Evans said that across all sports he evaluates the head coaches and trusts them to evaluate their assistants.
“I think head coaches need to have the responsibility to deal with their coaching staff,” Evans said. “If there are times in which I need to get involved, I will do so and voice my opinion.”
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167 comments Add your comment
Ga Wins in 2010!
November 24th, 2009
5:52 pm
With tebow and spikes gone from uf, they will be way down the next few years. Ga has the best young returning talent in the SEC and should win the SEC east easily next year and will upset Bama for the SEC title—mark it down!!! Richt gets the Dawg train rolling again! Dawgs in 2010!!!!!
DOUG
November 24th, 2009
5:57 pm
How did this discussion even come up? Who cares.
True Dawg Fan.
November 24th, 2009
6:14 pm
Saint Simons
I sure hope someone is checking on you on a daily basis. The Dawg Nation is concerned with your apparent fixation on nothing but last years game between UGA and GT which as you know Tech won. What worries us is are you really stable as that is all you ever blog about. Please take care and if you are not in treatment please try to think about getting some professional help. Good luck and may God Bless.
Browndog
November 24th, 2009
6:42 pm
A down year is a down year. If UGA has several down years in a row then that should be a concern. I know what UGA football was before CMR and it wasn’t pretty. The recruits keep coming so UGA will ge fine. Real world is that parity is college football. Things run in cycles. Remember when Oklahoma was to never lose another game and Stoops could do no wrong? UGA will be fine, but it may take a couple of more years to get back, but UGA will be back. Agree that UF does appear to own the Dawgs and UGA seems to always be inferior when the two teams play, whether they are or not. Good luck to UGA on Saturday.
Could Competancy Drive Richt?
November 25th, 2009
2:39 am
Evans has good points.
The management team is the #1 manadatory organizational ingredient. Richt has to feel confident he has the right guys at those positions or else make changes. 80 wins in 8 seasons reflects good judgment and earns a guy a level of trust.
You can’t make a good decision that you won’t regret unless you know your key #1 value. Once you’re clear what you stand for, your moral code, your #1 value or attribute, then you make decisions based on that key value you stand for. It: unifies your life, overcomes uncertainty, grants peace of mind, and centralizes power and resources.
I think for Richt his #1 value might be “competancy” based on what I see in his personality and behaviors. I think nothing pumps him up more than seeing competancy, or drives him crazier than incompetance.
AuburnBrad
November 25th, 2009
5:51 am
Matthew Stafford, must still be upset about that beating you guys got last year. I’m looking forward to seeing how much worse GA Tech will wreck GA this year …
Whats the Good Word ?? To Hell with Georgia…
caleb king sux
November 25th, 2009
9:55 am
again here we go with tradition.. what a load of BS. it is time that UGA breaks away from the traditions that hold this program back.
caleb king sux
November 25th, 2009
9:55 am
i will forever be a UGA fan.. but can not root for c. king
We Failed « The Grit Tree
November 25th, 2009
11:45 am
[...] In an AJC article, Damon Evans came out in support of Coach Richt. Most of the time, when coaches are feeling the heat, the AD does not come out with public praise. See Charlie Wiess and Notre Dame. Usually phrases like “we will evaluate the direction of the program at the end of the season” will be made by the AD if a coach is feeling the heat. [...]
FBI
November 25th, 2009
8:34 pm
Am I the only one who remembers when all the Monday morning coaches were screaming to FIRE Vince Dooley? If anyone had listened to that insanity UGA would not have had their 1980 NC.
Evans Knows Richt's Response to Adversity...
November 25th, 2009
11:46 pm
2010 is looking good. Having a tough win/loss season happens to the best coaches in the SEC (Meyer & Miles both had 4 loss seasons).
Richt has a way of following up a tough season with a big season—every single time.
2001 8 wins, 4 losses
2002 13-1 SEC Champs
2006 9 wins, 4 losses
2007 11 wins, 2 losses
2009 6-8 wins, 5-7 losses
2010? 11-2 win or 13-1 win season coming….
DAWG GONE
November 27th, 2009
6:16 am
as a born and bread dawg fan. i’m glad somebody is finally putting a stop to this uniform nonsence.
evens, should have stoped this before it started. i also belive even’s is going to force coaching change’s on the football staff. and if that mean’s having to let cmr. go also i belive he will do that.seen or read somewhere that cmr. only wanted to make 10 year’s, and then go on mission’s for
his church which is o.k. so i do not belive he will put up to much of a fight about the coaching staff
change’s that a.d. evens will demand he make to his staff. next year is cmr.’s 10TH YEAR.
j b knows cornbread
November 28th, 2009
4:56 pm
screw you old man those black helmets were the only thing that looked good that game
Tbone
December 7th, 2009
5:47 pm
It’s fine if Damon wants to hear himself talk a little. But the bottom line is this….if CMR wants to wear GREEN like Oregon…he can. Richt is running the program, as he should be. Evans is big hat…no cattle. He has the title, not the authority. Michael Adams and the athletic board can tell Evans to go eat a spam sandwich.
Answer me this….who runs Alabama? Who runs the gators? If the ADs of those schools want a sure ticket out of town, just have them run afoul with the head football coach, and they’re gone. Same for Evans, though he’s a nice enough guy.
GaDawg985
January 3rd, 2010
7:23 pm
Sid
Black is the half our primary colors that have always been underplayed. If we change the number color on the white jersey to red, we just increase the imbalance. The black numbers help to balance the color scheme of the road uniform. The black jersey with the red helmet is the right balance for our home uniform to show that our colors are red and black. I love the red traditional jersey and always will, but I feel that the black jersey deserves its place in the locker room and in Sanford Stadium with the red helmet and REAL SILVER BRITCHES!!!
GaDawg985
February 27th, 2010
6:03 pm
UGA Athletic Director
Damon Evans,
Coach Butts – gave us the Silver Britches. They have their place!
Coach Dooley – gave us the Red Helmet, It is perfect
just the way it is; don’t change it in any way. It is “OUR IDENTITY”!
Coach Richt – gave us the Black Jersey. Our colors are Red and Black
IT BELONGS TO US; Don’t be AFRAID to use it!
Herschel Walker – solidified the Red Britches into our heritage vs.
Tennessee in 1980. They are forever tied to that National Title season.
THEY ARE OURS TOO!
Every one of the above uniform items have earned
its place in UGA football tradition. TRADITION SHOULD
NOT STAGNATE…IT SHOULD GROW, Naturally, as it has!
The Mug Shot Heard ‘Round the World | Dawn of the Dawg | A Georgia Bulldogs blog
July 2nd, 2010
12:50 pm
[...] Richt didn’t like his scheduling policies and Evans didn’t care for Richt’s gimmicky uniforms or underachieving in 2009. And according to multiple reports, Richt was not in attendance [...]