Damon Evans sends clear message: Bulldogs must do better than in 2009-10
ST. SIMONS ISLAND — Georgia athletics director Damon Evans conveyed the same message to the UGA Athletics Association board of directors Thursday that he previously delivered to the school’s coaches: The Bulldogs’ 2009-10 results were not good enough.
“I make no excuses,” Evans told the board at its spring meeting. “This has been an interesting year for Georgia athletics when it comes to a national perspective. We are not where we want to be nationally. I think our program should be much higher than it is. This is probably one of the toughest years from a competitive standpoint that we’ve faced in quite some time.”
Evans added that he is proud of Georgia’s No. 2 finish in the SEC all-sports standings, which were released this week, but displeased that the Bulldogs rank No. 25 in the most recent national all-sports rankings.
UGA President Michael Adams shared Evans’ assessment, telling the Athletic Board during its meeting at the King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort: “It’s not been our best year on the field, but I hope in some areas we have a better year next year. I’m not going to single out any sport, but some sports that usually do very well didn’t have the type of banner years that we’ve come to expect.”
Georgia teams that had significant falloffs included football, which had the worst record (8-5) in Mark Richt’s nine years as coach; baseball, which had one of the worst records in the program’s history (16-37, including 5-23 in SEC games); and even gymnastics, which failed to qualify for the NCAA Championships after five consecutive national titles.
Evans said he has expressed his concerns in two recent staff meetings –- one with all athletics department employees and another with the head coaches.
“I’m not going to shy away from where we are,” Evans said in an interview after Thursday’s board meeting. “I want people to understand this is where we are and this is not normal for us and we’ve got to get back to where we want to be.
“I just think at the end of the day it was an unusual year for us in athletics — one we’re not used to, one I don’t plan on being the norm. And it shouldn’t be the norm here because we’ve got too many resources. We’re in a great state and with a great institution, and we’re a program that should be near the top in the country.”
Evans would not say which teams particularly disappointed him this school year — “I’m not going to call out any sports” – but he said he has “full confidence they’ll get back where they were.” He said he has no intention of replacing any of the school’s head coaches.
“If you look at what this group has accomplished individually and collectively, I would put it up against any staff in the country,” Evans said. “But I also believe that it’s my responsibility as the AD when things aren’t going like I want or we want them to go to make mention of that.
“And it’s not just solely about the coaches. I’m not pointing fingers at anybody. I think it’s a collective effort, and we’ve got to refocus and make sure we understand what it really takes to have a high level of success. . . . I promise you this: We’ll figure it out. We have before.”
Evans said he and Georgia’s senior staff are undertaking “a 360-degree evaluation” of the program. “We’re going to take a hard look at ourselves and make sure we’re doing everything necessary to allow our [teams] to be successful,” Evans told the board. That includes “looking in the mirror” himself, he said later, and asking: “Am I doing all the things I possibly can . . . to help our program?”
Evans noted Georgia’s successes in some sports this school year, including a national championship in equestrian, SEC titles in men’s golf and women’s swimming, and a national semifinals appearance in men’s tennis.
Georgia trailed only Florida in the SEC all-sports standings, which are based on finishes within the conference, but the Bulldogs are having their worst year since 1997 in the NCAA all-sports standings. The final national rankings, compiled by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, will be released July 1.
More from the Athletic Board meeting: A $2 million gift to the university, an $84.75 million budget, a slight decline in football contributions, new seats for Foley Field, etc.
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208 comments Add your comment
CrackDaddy
May 27th, 2010
3:53 pm
And according to Rivals 2011 Basketball Recruting Ranskings, UGa is nowhere to be found, while at least 3-4 SEC teams are in the top 25.
Snoopy
May 27th, 2010
4:08 pm
UGA had an “Off Year” by our standards…
That’s good news…
Placing 25th in All-Sports National rankings, still…
CrackDaddy.. Thanks for not posting the gooberish ‘first’ & actually acting like you’ve “been there’ before!!
Pi$$onaDAWG
May 27th, 2010
4:18 pm
But the drunk freshman chicks look good. Hit before the FRESHMAN 30 lbs. take effect and affect the sex.
Pi$$onaDAWG
May 27th, 2010
4:19 pm
Sorry 3rd just like UGA in the SEC east.
82Dawg
May 27th, 2010
4:24 pm
Pi$$onaDAWG …yeah but we your sorry butts didn’t we. Go back to the nerd site please.
smoore54
May 27th, 2010
4:44 pm
While I’m not arguing that last year was a down year for the program, it takes stones to stick your hand out and beg for $2 million dollars and then bite the hand that just fed ya. Sometimes it’s about timing.
76-Dawg
May 27th, 2010
4:56 pm
You knew we were not going to have near as good of Gymnastic team when you lose a great coach. One of the big surprises was the baseball team. The key to any season is the pitching staff. I wonder what happened this year? Also senior leadership is very important and my guess is UGA lacked it. Matthew Stafford was a great player but had no leadership ability. David Pollack was a great player and dripped with leadership.
Paul (you doesn't have to call me Johnson)
May 27th, 2010
5:00 pm
Football is the only thing that matters! Alabama would trade a National Championship in basketball for a first down against Auburn. Just ask Mike Price.
TheItalianDawg
May 27th, 2010
5:09 pm
I am actually very shocked to finish second in the SEC with all the poor performance and results by our major sports: football, Basketball, baseball, even gymnastic. so I wonder what was our ranking in 07 and 08, when we won national titles in Tennis, Gymnastic, equestrian and reached college world series in baseball and softball
BuLLdawg
May 27th, 2010
5:40 pm
Shut up Damon Evans
Shut up Michael F. Adam$
Shut up Buck Belue
Shut up Ben Dukes
Shut up Rex Robinson
Shut up Jim Donnan
Shut up David Hale
Shut up Sports Illustrated
Shut up ESPN
Shut up Phil Steele
Shut up Fox Sports
Shut up CBS Sports
Shut ABC Sports
Shut up Orlando newspapers
Shut up AJ-C
Shut up Mark Schlabach
Shut up Marlon Brown
Shut up Logan Gray
Shut up Paul Finebaum
Shut up Paul Johnson
Shut up NFL Draft gurus
Shut up NFL
Shut up Athens Police
Shut up Valdosta Police
Shut up Remington Police
Shut up Campus Police
Shut up everyone in any Taxi at 3 am getting beat up by gangs
Shut up all the posers daring to say that UGA is not doing what it used to
You are not Bulldogs don’t say anything is wrong, it’s great
Blind Homers Club
May 27th, 2010
5:40 pm
Ha Ha….. Too many prima donnas and now only little league coaching in UGA sports program. The slide continues next year as well. BTW…. Why are these guys hobnobbing at an expensive golf resort during these tough economic times? Just another image faux pa by UGA……..
pcsjax1
May 27th, 2010
5:42 pm
Don’t get me started on athletic director Damon Evans. The Georgia baseball team is failure. The basketball team is “middle of the pack” and the football team is 8-5. Now what exactly is Damon Evans job again?
The “powers that be at Georgia” just don’t seem to get it! The Dawg Nation wants coaches and athletic directors that are held accountable. We want a coach that is “mean as hell” and drinks “vinegar and rusty hobnails from a mason jar” and not one that is milking the program for all he can get!
beatdowns galore
May 27th, 2010
5:45 pm
Blind homer…… I agree about the money being spent at that golf resort which could have been more bargaining power for UGA to pay the big bucks in hiring coaches to get the job done!
pcsjax1
May 27th, 2010
5:46 pm
BuLLdawg
SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!
Pi$$onaDAWG's gay lover
May 27th, 2010
5:56 pm
Don’t pretend like you know anything about sports other than well proportioned men in tight pants! Hay hay hay!
BuLLdawg
May 27th, 2010
5:57 pm
9-4 in 2006
8-5 in 2009
10-10 vs SEC East the last 4 years
# 96 average NCAA Ranking in Penalties last 4 years
21 fumbles on the average every year last 4 years
14 interceptions a year average every year last 4 years
1-3 vs 4 really bad vols’ teams last 4 years
1-3 vs Florida last 4 years & 2-7 overall Coach Richt Era
8 losses out of 11 games vs Top 10 Final AP Poll for Richt
8 more losses vs not Top 25 Final AP Poll for Richt
5 of 10 SEC losses last 4 yrs not Top 25 Final AP Poll
No QB prepared 2006
No QB prepared 2009
No QB prepared 2010
39 arrests / suspensions just the last 3 years for UGA football
Lot better NFL draft with Jim Donnan’s recruits
Lot worse NFL draft with Coach Richt’s recruits
Can’t be more than couple days from next arrest – June 5 ?
Lose to Spurrier game 2 have LOSING RECORD SEC East last 5 yr
Redshirt Knowshon Moreno so we get to see him 2 years only
Rip Redshirt off # 11 RB Washaun Ealey 3rd quarter 5th game
Make Caleb Freaking King Starter at RB with more 1 yard or less games
Throw Marlon Brown 2 passes all season long
Throw Branden Smith 2 passes all season long
Start Aron White until game 12
Aron White defending Zach Mettenberger
Fired entire Defensive Staff except recruiting coordinator Garner
Fired entire Special Teams Staff
Should have fired entire offensive coaching staff totally
Instead Coach Richt is going to do their jobs and his
Let’s see what can we do to the uniforms this week ?
Tell us how great Joe Cox is.
Made Joe Tereshinski III # 1 depth chart, Joe Cox 2 Matthew Stafford # 3
Now we are to watch video from 2 years ago to know how great 1 QB is
Have no even beginning to look like a # 2 QB
Injured QB
Injured RB
Caleb King interviewed yesterday says “football is a grind” to new recruit
God Almighty I guess Damon and Adam$ didn’t get the memo, we’re great
What ? Is it a SECRET it is the football program ?
Big L
May 27th, 2010
6:08 pm
8-5 in a down season. huh , wonder how Tuberville and Phulmer with their sub 500 records in their final seasons would have felt about that. bet they woulda took 8-5 in a down season. Perspective people. nobody wanted to fire Meyer when he crapped the bed in a bowl loss to Michigan. Get a grip. even Dooley had some 6 win seasons.
One, two, free, fo, fi, them der Gator don't take no jive!
May 27th, 2010
6:15 pm
Glad to hear that Damon isn’t satisfied. Too many UGA fans are. That’s the type of mentaility that breeds mediocrity.
BuLLdawg
May 27th, 2010
6:23 pm
“Glad to hear that Damon isn’t satisfied. Too many UGA fans are. That’s the type of mentaility that breeds mediocrity.”
Amen to that.
Tired of all their excuses.
Football Program is in a total shambles
Worst of all is KEEPING Mike Bobo.
1 more year, that is
Reptiles Rule
May 27th, 2010
6:27 pm
Second in the SEC All Sports but 25th nationally?? Thats a bit shocking, what does that say for the rest of the conference??
hop
May 27th, 2010
6:31 pm
as with any organization, president Truman had it right; THE BUCK STOPS WITH THE ONE IN CHARGE.
That being the case MR.Damon Evens is the top Dawg IN Athens.
This is a terrible showing and the worst, since these records of total W/L records of all school teams have been kept.
yes, Some Coaches should have been told,that their performance of failure in not winning enough games will not be tolerated by Georgia and mr. Evans.
These head coaches make huge salaries and they should earn it with the high performance of their individual teams.
it is high time that damon become far more aggressive in his handling of poor records of any georgia team and if changes need to be made they should be done quickly!
Delbert D.
May 27th, 2010
6:33 pm
So the 2nd place was due primarily to Title IX Gender Equity sports?
Delbert D.
May 27th, 2010
6:37 pm
BuLLdawg – In cancer cases, early detection is the key.
82Dawg
May 27th, 2010
6:37 pm
BuLLdawg …STFU..everyone knows that you don’t like Damon or Richt, why don’t you change your name to YeLLoWJacKET
STEINER
May 27th, 2010
6:40 pm
Pi$$onaDAWG:
Tech is a joke in a joke league….Big well fed Iowa Cornfeds showed us that…8 of 9, soon to be 9 of 10…When you win 10% of the time, you stay off the opponent’s blog who has whipped that A$$ 90% of the time…But this cat can’t figure that out….
Iraq Dawg....HOOAH
May 27th, 2010
6:41 pm
I guess since Tech averages 1 blog article a week they feel they must take their frustrations out on UGA blogs. Poor Poor Nerds! Hating is hard work. When will you learn?…. We own you…. Show some d@mn respect to your master.
Just Bob
May 27th, 2010
6:42 pm
As a lifelong UGA fan, I have no problem with what Evans said. On a more serious note – Tim, you may not have any say in this, but could you PLEASE ask about getting the face of Tim Tebow OFF of our (The UGA Sports) site!! For crying out loud, wasn’t 4 years of torment enough? I fully realize that this is petty, but it’s the way we feel – ALL OF US!
Delbert D.
May 27th, 2010
6:43 pm
Think about this…how many times has Georgia beaten a team ranked #1 in the AP Poll (since 1936)?
1
STEINER
May 27th, 2010
6:46 pm
BuLLdawg:
Again weak comments from a PI$$ Poor Georgia fan….Go join up with Georgia State, Ga. Tech, or West Georgia and get the hell away from the Bulldogs….And get off Bobo…He went and recruited the best high school QB int he country and coached him to be #1 in the NFL draft…Ask Stafford and Coach Saban if Bobo can coach…He has lit Saban up at LSU and again at Alabama….Who are you to judge any coach, all you do is flip burgers….
BuLLdawg
May 27th, 2010
6:46 pm
Yeah you really shut me up
And, Damon Evans
And, Michael F. Adam$
Delbert D.
May 27th, 2010
6:47 pm
1985: Georgia 24, #1 Florida 3
LAKE OCONEE DAWG
May 27th, 2010
6:50 pm
BuLLdawg is a Yellow Jacket…Nobody who pulls for the Dawgs could be that stupid….
Gillislee
May 27th, 2010
6:52 pm
Damon – Your football staff was out-recruited by 5 different SEC schools for your incoming class.
One, two, free, fo, fi, them der Gator don't take no jive!
May 27th, 2010
6:54 pm
Delbert,
That was short lived stint at #1. I think we had it a total of 6 days. Those are the days that no matter how much better UF was they couldn’t find a way to get past UGA. Our mantra was “wait till next year”.
SOS changed all that when he came back to G’ville. Who knows, we might still be stuck in medicocrity if it weren’t for him. We truly were about on the same level with UK year in and year out. It sure is a lot more fun when your team is competing for championships instead of just a 2nd or 3rd tier bowl game!
Bull
May 27th, 2010
6:55 pm
BuLLdawg give it a rest man
LAKE OCONEE DAWG
May 27th, 2010
6:56 pm
BuLLdawg:
You keep good stats, although statistics are for losers…We got a Grey Y Team who needs a good stat guy…Since you are so disappointed in the Dawgs, maybe we could get you to keep our stats on Saturday morning and spare all the real Bulldog fans from having to deal with you in Athens….
LAKE OCONEE DAWG
May 27th, 2010
6:58 pm
Gillislee:
haven’t seen that before, did you make it up? Thought we signed a pretty good class….
Seriously..?
May 27th, 2010
6:59 pm
BuLLdawg, you are a complete idiot, get lost
Delbert D.
May 27th, 2010
7:00 pm
Jim Donnan’s last 4 years:
10-2
9-3
9-3
8-4
36-12
Mark Richt’s last 4 years:
9-4
11-2
10-3
8-5
38-14
Slaw Dawg Daddy
May 27th, 2010
7:01 pm
We are going to suck this year so Evans will be able to copy and paste his notes but just change the season from 2010-2011.
LAKE OCONEE DAWG
May 27th, 2010
7:01 pm
hop for new UGA AD…Hop would be very aggressive and not put up with losing even a single game….Hop never lost a game in his life, not even ping pong, so he knows how to get it done….Hop is probably a hamburger flipper who never played a game of football but who has all the answers, just needs a few questions….
The Octagon
May 27th, 2010
7:03 pm
Dr. Kenneth Nosewater, I miss hanging with you.
beatdowns galore
May 27th, 2010
7:12 pm
2 – 7 is not good enough……
BuLLdawg
May 27th, 2010
7:15 pm
Oh I love the way I am supposed to shut up to an article saying
DAMON EVANS
&
Michael F. Adam$
say that we suck in FOOTBALL
&
THEY
are not happy (but of course, you are)
Delbert D.
May 27th, 2010
7:16 pm
Jim Donnan’s SEC record, last 4 years:
6-2
6-2
5-3
5-3
22-10
Mark Richt’s SEC record, last 4 years:
4-4
6-2
6-2
4-4
20-12
HD
May 27th, 2010
7:16 pm
We need an offensive coordinator that doesn’t fall asleep at the wheel. Did anyone see the playcalling against OK State, Auburn (first half), LSU (first half), Tenn, UF. To all you people who think “Bobo is getting better”: did any of you seen the playcalling against TX A&M in the bowl game in the first half? TX A&M had a TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE defense, and it took our TERRIBLE special teams and defense to keep us in that game because our playcalling was so bad. Seriously, are we to believe that we can compete with UF, Bama, etc. with Bobo calling the plays?
NoGaGator
May 27th, 2010
7:21 pm
National All Sports rankings can be somewhat questioned on merit and weighting.
For example, if one school wins the the BCS Football Championship and another wins Women’s Golf, they both get the same amount of points. There is no difference made for popularity, # of schools playing in a particular sport, revenue attained and resources to fund a particular sport, etc.
Also the schools get to pick their (I believe) 10 highest rated teams as those counting for the All Sports rankings while ignoring others in their program that don’t do as well in the overall count.
Hence Stanford has continually won or placed very high in the rankings. Their best sports have consistently been men and women’s water polo, men and women’s volleyball, women’s basketball, baseball, golf and tennis. They’re nowhere to be seen in Football and Basketball, the two most popular and revenue driven/resource required.
They win it all in a number of sports that are not played nationwide and certainly not in the Southeast.
It would be more genuine if a rating scale could be applied along with having all sports in that school’s program be included in the rankings.
BuLLdawg
May 27th, 2010
7:30 pm
Jim Donnan lost 13 games his last 4 years here
and we fired him for it.
Coach Richt has lost 14 games his last 4 years here
Delbert D.
May 27th, 2010
7:32 pm
“It’s not been our best year on the field, but I hope in some areas we have a better year next year. I’m not going to single out any sport, but some sports that usually do very well didn’t have the type of banner years that we’ve come to expect.” – Adams
“And it’s not just solely about the coaches. I’m not pointing fingers at anybody. I think it’s a collective effort, and we’ve got to refocus and make sure we understand what it really takes to have a high level of success. . . . I promise you this: We’ll figure it out. We have before.” – Evans
If it isn’t the coaches, who then? The players (who were recruited by the coaches)? Who else is involved in the “collective effort” of football? Well, the other teams, but…
Delbert D.
May 27th, 2010
7:39 pm
The guy on the supposed hot seat -
Les Miles’ last 4 years (overall):
11-2
12-2
8-5
9-4
40-13
Les Miles last 4 years(SEC):
6-2
6-2
3-5
5-3
20-12