Richt shares thoughts on Evans’ arrest, resignation
ATHENS — Georgia football coach Mark Richt met with a few reporters in the atrium of the Butts-Mehre building late this afternoon and talked publicly for the first time about the arrest and resignation of Damon Evans. Richt expressed sadness for Evans and his family, endorsed the selection of Frank Crumley as interim athletics director and expressed confidence that UGA President Michael Adams will make a wise decision on Evans’ permanent successor.
Following are excerpts from the conversation with Richt.
His general feelings about what has happened:
“I do feel for Damon and his family. I’ve been working with Damon for almost 10 years now. I had a very good working relationship with Damon and a very good personal relationship, too, with him and his family. I’m definitely sad for everyone from that regard.
“Moving forward, I think President Adams has done a really very fine job of handling the situation the way he did. I think having Frank Crumley as the interim AD right now makes the most sense. Frank is a very, very sharp guy. We’ve got a lot of sharp people in our association. Everybody is very, very capable of doing their job or basically continuing to do their job because I don’t see anything that is really going to change in the way we go about our day-to-day business. I’ve got a lot of faith in Frank’s ability to lead. . . .
“We’re just going to go on with life and take care of business. Our football staff and our football team –- I think everyone is saddened by the news of losing Damon because he has done a bunch of wonderful things for us. He has been an outstanding athletic director. But we all know we’ve got a job to do and an exciting season ahead of us, and we are very excited about moving forward. And this situation, as sad as it was, we don’t believe it will hinder us from going where we want to go and doing the things that we want to do. So we’re focusing on that right now.”
Asked if he has spoken with Evans:
“Actually, we exchanged voice mails. Seems like every time I called him he wasn’t able to pick up, and vice versa. Nothing that I would want to divulge, nothing earth-shattering, but just talking about the situation as best you can through a series of a couple of messages we left for each other.”
On a permanent successor to Evans:
“I do have a lot of confidence in President Adams’ ability to hire a new person who will get the job done and get the job done well. I know Georgia is one of the finest universities in this country, and our athletic program has got to be one of the top five in America in my opinion. So it is a job that a lot of people would be interested in, a lot of quality people. And whoever the president decides on, I’ll support that person and we’ll be ready to move forward.”
His initial reaction upon hearing the news of Evans’ arrest:
“I didn’t really know how to react. Because when you’re not there and when you don’t know everything that happened, you hear DUI and that’s certainly a very serious thing. But I really didn’t try to make — I didn’t and still won’t make any kind of judgment on it, but I knew it was serious. I knew that.”
On whether the negative attention on Georgia could adversely affect recruiting:
“I don’t think so. Georgia is an awesome place; it’s a beautiful campus; we’re in a wonderful city; we’ve got tremendous academics here; we’ve got a great athletic program. I think people see that and people want to be a part of that, so I don’t think it’s going to become a problem that way.”
And on speculation about how a new AD might affect Mark Richt’s future:
“I don’t worry about those things, I really don’t. My focus is to do my job, and my focus is to be obedient to my Lord and Savior. That’s kind of what I do. And if that is good enough, great.”
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304 comments Add your comment
GATA
July 7th, 2010
6:10 pm
Souljaboy you sir are an idiot. It’s not like Mark has the football team sleep at his house and watches them every second of the day. Those kids parents are the who you should be questioning…not their football coach.
Another One Bites the Dust
July 7th, 2010
6:11 pm
Souljaboy….His “boys” go to jail so they can eventually see the light. God works in mysterious ways!
wiley
July 7th, 2010
6:12 pm
SAT scores on a football blog….here we go
GT middle 50%out of 1600 scale-1230 to 1430 Out of 2400- 1810 to 2100
UGA middle 50% out of 1600 scale- 1130 to 1330 Out of 2400- 1700 to 1990
Pretty big difference. But there are reasons for this…lets not get into a debate about academics. Tech is the higher ranked school with higher grades and SAT scores but UGA accepts a lower percentage of applicants. This is largely due to the number of people who make 1100s on the SAT and just decide to give the UGA application a shot. Most people who apply to Tech dont do so unless they know they have a fair chance of getting in…ie 1300+SAT out of 1600. With that said UGA has improved tremendously as of late, and a fair amount of this can be attributed to the number of students who stay in state to take advantage of the hope scholarship. Its good for both GT and UGA, as now they are getting students who may have went to UNC, UF, Duke, or other prestigious out of state schools. So in summation Tech is the higher ranked school, but UGA is also a fine academic institution that has improved immensely since the 1990s.
destin dawg
July 7th, 2010
6:13 pm
CMR…Great head coach … UGA ia lucky to have him !! now he’s got some better help.. Grantham, Belin, and Lagotos.. lets talk FB… techies need not be such negative haters… PMA at GT was preached by coach Curry 20+++ years ago !!!
CGA
July 7th, 2010
6:13 pm
I accidentally posted before I was finished!
FYI People – I don’t know where you’re getting your SAT statistics, but Georgia Tech incoming freshman beat UGA incoming freshman in all areas of the exam – reading, math, and writing.
According to the latest data I found available in 2008:
Reading : UGA 560/650 TECH – 600/690
Math: UGA 560/660 TECH – 650730
Writing: UGA 560/650 TECH – 590/680
The lower number is for the 25th percentile of students who enrolled in (not just applied to) the college. For the school above, 25% of enrolled students received a math score of 520 or lower.
The upper number is for the 75th percentile of students who enrolled in the college. For the above example, 75% of enrolled students got a math score of 620 or lower (looked at another way, 25% of students got above a 620).
Let’s put that little myth to rest about UGA’s SAT socres being so high. If anyone has any other data they can present, I’d love to see it. Also, if you graduated prior to 1994, the scoring system for the SAT changed that year. The current scores appear very high compared to the pre-1994 standards so it’s really impossible to compare them.
dawglover
July 7th, 2010
6:13 pm
Geez, to all of you turning on Coach Richt and placing some blame on him for ignoring Evan’s actions…..he’s not responsible for his friends or associate’s behavior any more than we are. Dont we all have friends that sometimes behave in a way that we disagree with? One is a friend thru good times and bad..that is what a friend does. I also believe most of us try to raise our kids to be responsible adults, and they still screw up…same with Richt’s players. Nobody can be controlled 100% 24/7. Think it’s time to move on and quit drudging up dirty laundry.
Ron
July 7th, 2010
6:14 pm
Does any college have a head coach as their AD? Just asking.
dog2
July 7th, 2010
6:15 pm
POAD… when you finish the 8th grade come back and give us some important insight, until then keep your useless comments to yourself. Now get back outside and get the shopping carts out of the parking lot..you Walmart reject!
17 of 20
July 7th, 2010
6:16 pm
Richt is the man!! 2 of 9
StevieDawg
July 7th, 2010
6:17 pm
POAD, it’s easy to make generalizations clouded behind the warm comfort of a computer screen. My daughter graduated from UGA and now she is enrolled in the University of Chicago’s PHD program for economics. I’m exceptionally proud of the education she recieved at Georgia. Care to divulge where you went to school?
wiley
July 7th, 2010
6:19 pm
Honestly who cares where you got your education? I know Harvard grads who make 30 thousand a year…and I know high school drop outs who are millionaires. Resourcefulness and intelligence breeds success….not just what school you attended.
POAD
July 7th, 2010
6:20 pm
Right I mean Richt Rules: UGA doesn’t Rule they Rule Break. Well, not rules just THE LAWS of the State. Bitter why? The Majority of you fan base didn’t go to UGA. They went to some oher college or they didn’t go to college at all. Statring July 1, 2010 It ain’t OK to be Drunk & Stupid at UGA. We at the flagship Institute of Benge Drinking and Blonde Bimbos called UGA want to change our Image. Since there are not enough people of legal drinking age in Athens we are going to close 2/3 of the Bars in town. We know they can’t be making money without selling to minors. All Uga ATHLETE/studenst will be placed on Leashes 24/7/365 with their “How to be a good person and member of society” Mentor while they are enrolled at UGA. Now that should stop many of the problems that CMR can’t fix with Wishing and Prayers.
Big D Dawg
July 7th, 2010
6:21 pm
Chamblee 54, if you knew what obedience to the Lord and Saviour is/was you wouldn’t make such a comment.
Red Rover
July 7th, 2010
6:21 pm
You can always tell when school is out.
jawga boy
July 7th, 2010
6:22 pm
Dawgtards….its obvious you ain’t from GT….and its obvious you ain’t no clue on academics either…. U 1 dum sumbeach. Ignorance is bliss….aint it?
wiley
July 7th, 2010
6:23 pm
Oh and just to clarify im a GT student(class of 2011). Don’t let poad make us all look bad.
Kevin
July 7th, 2010
6:24 pm
John, good post. I was looking through the comments to see if anyone responded appropriately to Chamblee 54. You did so I don’t have to. Well-said. For followers of Jesus, He is PRIORITY and everything else has to line up under that.
jawga boy
July 7th, 2010
6:26 pm
Tards….. and further mo….. when u combine foo-ball ( which has been velly velly goot 2 me ) with academics…… then even u’ll find the fooball/academics factor one of the highest in the nashun. You jus ax Jan Kemp. Im jus sayin’
dog2
July 7th, 2010
6:27 pm
Poad, please get a life, part of life is growing up, experiencing the college experience,maybe we should drop the drinking age to 18, after all you can vote at 18,(And look at the idiot we got as president) go to war at 18 drive at 16..I drank at 18 when i was at UGA legaly, and trust I make damn good money…grow up and get a damn life LOSER!
Dawg gone it
July 7th, 2010
6:30 pm
UGA male mascot can’t naturally fertilize an egg – just as we suspected – not worth a ….
Now this, how long did it take for Mr Christian to denounce behavior, or has he?
Personally groomed by Vince D, former UGA student and now this bribery, adultery and drunkedness – Question – Why didnt ThUG’s promote him, a perfect example of, well, thUGness.
And finally, forget rankings, be real, look at average income 5, 10, 20 years post graduation GT vs thUG’s. Simply income potenetial. Tech wins hands down no question. Show me the money!
Otherwisw thUG is a great place to train government workers and high paid butt sniffers, oops I meant wipers. Smell it thUG’s!
THWG
Dawghater
July 7th, 2010
6:30 pm
CMR – “And in honor of Damon Evans and his fine work for UGA we will be wearing Red Panties at one game this year” Woof Woof!
dansfae
July 7th, 2010
6:30 pm
Players also have a job to do. They should be let go in the same way for the same issues.
POAD
July 7th, 2010
6:31 pm
SteiveDawg one of my Bro-in-laws is a UGA grad and does great as a father and husband. He works at UPS on the Corp. side not a truck driver. There are many great/good degree programs at UGA. I do know this. Tech players go through the MGT Degree because it is easier, but we do have 1 starting player taking Aerospace Eng Degree. I have never seen a starting UGA player heading down the Vet Degree tract. As you have read my post You know I would never cut it in UGA’s Journalism School. AHHAHAHAHAHA.
Alabama Communist
July 7th, 2010
6:37 pm
Great Break for us Alabama boys! Planting that women communist in his campus car works everytime………
wiley
July 7th, 2010
6:39 pm
haha what are you talking about Alabama communist? Are you continuing the great proletariat revolution? Ask North Korea how its going for them…..
Fire Mark Bradley
July 7th, 2010
6:39 pm
I guess you can mumble a few useless words and use the name of Lord and Jesus Christ and all will be ok.
I view religion as serious but very personal. Georgia is an evangelical State. CMR and most Georgia fans are a match made in heaven. Pardon the pun.
I guess the weedeater bowl doesn’t matter.
God, Guns and Political Hate
July 7th, 2010
6:41 pm
and religious intolerance.
Can you say the new Georgia Bulldawg nation!!!!
POAD
July 7th, 2010
6:41 pm
DawginLex The BAR must be high because many of the players keep missing it. I said Richt wouldn’t throw Damon under the bus. Richt is a respectful and respectable MAN. He has the conviction of his Faith out there for everybody to see. That Is a great and admirable thing. I don’t see CMR sneaking around on The Water Lady. CMR does has the same problem Bobby Bowden did. God fearing God loving MAN, but his players are just crazy fools. Players are young and they will learn, but it just does not look good when they are fools while on the team.
bob
July 7th, 2010
6:44 pm
move on
UGA GRAD
July 7th, 2010
6:44 pm
UGA Compared to other SEC Schools and NATS….
ACT Score
(2008 incoming Freshman)
25th % 75th %
Vanderbilt 30 33
Ga Tech 27 31
Florida 25 29
Georgia 25 29
LSU 23 28
Arkansas 23 28
S. Carolina 23 28
Tennessee 23 28
Alabama 21 27
Auburn 22 27
Miss St 20 27
Kentucky 21 27
Ole Miss 20 26
St. Evans
July 7th, 2010
6:45 pm
Wasn’t Damon Evans a standup guy before all of this? I’m just saying…
BTW – UGA is a very good academic school and it’s getting better. I’m a Tech grad – the only reason I went to Tech over UGA is because I studied engineering. If I went into anything else, I’d have gone to UGA…the snobby arrogance of some Tech fans gets old – even to a Tech grad.
UGA1983
July 7th, 2010
6:48 pm
GATECH1980
Great comment. As a native Georgian I want the best for the entire state, and am so proud that CMR is our football coach. He is a stand-up guy, a total class act. By the way, I pull for Ga. Tech to do well in everything they do, except if it involves competition with UGA.
wanda
July 7th, 2010
6:50 pm
Do you think CMR should rear your children when they come to school or should you have done this before they arrive? CMR is a christian and Damon Evans made a mistake and bad judgement and if you have never done anything wrong in your life cast the first stone. The man is gone let this boat rest and get on with the business at hand.
dawgfan13
July 7th, 2010
6:52 pm
Football season is aproaching! I am ready to see what kinda football player we have in Aaron Murray! I think this guys is going to shine in Athens.
DawginLex
July 7th, 2010
6:52 pm
poad,
I’m not one of these delusional morons that believe UGA is the greatest football program in the country. It was TWENTY YEARS BETWEEN SEC TITLES FROM 1982-2002. We didn’t sniff one until Richt came along.
We have won 2 in 9 years, finished runner up another time to the eventual national champ and had a great run to end 2007 as # 2 in the polls.
Dooley didn’t do that.
Goff didn’t do that.
Donnan didn’t do that.
That is the bar. Not the one that you fall off of on Friday night.
Mr Charlie
July 7th, 2010
6:53 pm
There needs to be an investigation to find out exaclty what Adams was told and what he observed regarding Evans.
If he ignored information and/or refused to address behavior issues with Evans before this incident, he needs to be held responsible.
What??
July 7th, 2010
6:53 pm
I would like to see Richt not be SOOOO politically correct all of the time.
One thing is for sure, every time I have seen him in an interview he never gets rattled and will not be bullied by the press to make a statement.
Better than Donnan was that is for sure!
wiley
July 7th, 2010
6:56 pm
Well if you do the math and percentages ie an ACT score of 30/36=1330(roughly) you see the same pattern as the SAT scores. With each incremental increase of 1 act point you see an increase of 44(roughly…dont wanna used decimals) points on the SAT scale. The ACT scores are about the same as the SAT scores in terms of percentage differential. Sorry…had to help you out. The difference between Tech and UGA is about 100 points…once again. Not bragging as I admit UGA is a good school, just making sure people were not misled by the different scale that the ACT uses.
Mr Charlie
July 7th, 2010
6:56 pm
No way Evans can fool so many people so well. His wife knew he was stepping out, they always do. Also, I am sure Richt and Adams saw things when they were out of town and such.
dawg4u
July 7th, 2010
6:58 pm
45-42!!
Russ the Mascot
July 7th, 2010
7:00 pm
Anybody been missing me or wondering where I’ve been through all of this??
Mark (no, not that Mark)
July 7th, 2010
7:01 pm
Let’s see, UGA has at least twice as many ( that’s a “2″ followed by the “x” on your calculator) students as GIT, so I don’t see how SAT averages have any relevance. I guarantee if you went from top to bottom, from 1 to 16000 (GIT’s published enrollment) there would be very little discrepancy between the two. Why can’t GIT people just be satisfied with being a top notch engineering school? Believe me, UGA folks are plenty satisfied with having top notch business and law schools. Not to mention veterinary, pharmacy, and other schools that GIT doesn’t even offer. If you want to talk about sports, then bring it. But don’t give me the “how can Richt say UGA has great academics, duh-huh-huh” line. If you really went to GIT, then you should put a little effort into showing-off that great education you’re always bragging about!
Dr.Phil
July 7th, 2010
7:03 pm
St.Evans..nice comment!
Scared but Smarter
July 7th, 2010
7:03 pm
richt should perform baptisms at half-time using uga’s water bowl….
Marky Mark
July 7th, 2010
7:05 pm
Uhh Tech’s Buisness School is ranked higher….
DawginLex
July 7th, 2010
7:06 pm
31-17
51-7
34-17
19-14
14-7
15-12
34-17
42-45
30-24
Marky Mark
July 7th, 2010
7:07 pm
haha this blog has quickly turned to mindless dribble. come on football season…I cant stand this anymore.
Russ, the Temporary Mascot
July 7th, 2010
7:09 pm
There is another Russ posting here. Most of you can probably tell us apart. I am Russ, the Temporary Mascot – the one with the painted a$$,
wiley
July 7th, 2010
7:13 pm
Mark what does the amount of people who attend your school have to do with SAT scores? GT has 13,015 students…not exactly a small amount. If that was true UC Berkely and other huge public schools would have terrible SAT scores….that’s not the case.
POAD
July 7th, 2010
7:17 pm
To settle the score we need to do a HIGH IQ like the show on WSB for high schools in GA. We should have all the Highest GPA students starting at least their Jr. year from say 7 different Fields of study from all the Colleges in GA to compete for a Trophy? I know, like Jeopordy the speed on the buzzer is a big factor, but maybe do it like bar trivia and every team gives one answer and a point value. Now that could be fun. Put it on TV the Friday Night or Saturday Morning after Thanks Giving. Just a Thought! A good date maybe the weekend of the First College Football Game. Get the :Good Old Fashion Hate” started for all Ga Colleges, Universities, and THE INSTITUTION early while celeberating EDUCATION. You know the reason these places exist in the first place.