New AD McGarity starts work at UGA, expresses concern about player arrests
For full story on McGarity’s first day on the job, please click here.
ATHENS – Greg McGarity started work as Georgia’s athletic director today, two days earlier than scheduled. In a mid-afternoon interview, he talked about a range of topics, including the high number (eight) of arrests of UGA football players this year.
“I’m going to really learn a lot about that,” McGarity said.”I’m going to learn about our structure, what we have set up as far as education of student-athletes. I want to learn exactly, why is this happening?”
Clearly he is concerned about the arrests.
“Yeah, I think there are too many,” he said. “I think when it happens it’s embarrassing to the institution [and] it takes away from team unity. And I know one of the goals is to make sure we have a system in place that holds people accountable. . . .
“I think it’s a problem,” he said. “and it’s something we want to do a 180 on across the board. It’s really every sport, and I don’t like the excuse that, ‘Well, that’s going to happen [with] college students; that’s just part of the deal.’ I don’t buy that.
“I think it’s a privilege to play intercollegiate athletics; it’s a privilege to play intercollegiate athletics at the University of Georgia, and it must be treated that way. Any other way –- if you want to go and behave like that, then probably you don’t need to be in college athletics. Just go do your own thing and not be a part of something that should be a special experience.”
More from the interview with McGarity is here.
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162 comments Add your comment
WDE
August 30th, 2010
8:14 pm
Don’t worry, Calm down- I got accepted into UGA. In fact, it was my safety school. The tough choice was between GT and Emory. UGA only got my application because they specifically asked me to apply and waived the application fee and essay requirement.
You might guess, my acceptance package was the last contact I had with your joke of an institution of higher learning.
17 of 20
August 30th, 2010
8:15 pm
I would like for you to stop with all this talk about cleaning up the football program, I like it just the way it is.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
August 30th, 2010
8:17 pm
Envy of UGA out in force
First of all check with UCLA, Stanford and USC for an aggregate number of national titles in all sports, you are not even close, nor is the SEC, so don’t even go there. Do your homework, then you can see us.
Second, UGA is one of the most racist programs in the nation, and it dates back to the 70’s and 80’s. If it were not for African American athletes, UGA would not have any diversity at all and would look like George C. Wallace at Alabama during desegration.
Even Alabama under Bear Bryant was diversifying his program long before any other lilly white southern school with his game against USC and Sam Cunningham, in which Alabama got their asses kicked. He made a point, their program had to diversify to bring in top talent, and was the right thing to do.
Athens is old school, plain and simple. The close I get to Athens, the more redneck it gets.
WDE
August 30th, 2010
8:19 pm
Careful Bobo, I think you’re making them smile. They take pride in being rednecks.
Pot and Kettle
August 30th, 2010
8:27 pm
Mike Bobo calls UGA racist, yet he is on this blog calling UGA athletes, mainly black, thugs.
UGA is no more or no less racist than Georgia Tech, Auburn, Bama, Florida, Emory, Morehouse, Ft. Valley State, Ohio State, Michigan, on and on.
UGA is not in the class of those mentioned with national titles, but the class they are in does not take long to call roll.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
August 30th, 2010
8:36 pm
WDE, remember the Vandy homecoming game a few years back…yes the glorious days.
Ralph
August 30th, 2010
8:41 pm
“UGA” and “class” should never be used in the same sentence.
Mike Bobo
August 30th, 2010
8:42 pm
I will give you credit. You were on fire against Wisconsin in that bowl game, going 26-28, which I believe is a bowl record for passing accuracy. As your title mentions, you did throw a few picks, but when were hot, you were hot.
Also recall that TD pass on last play of the game to send UGA to an overtime win over Auburn.
And, with some help from Hines Ward and Robert Edwards, you managed beautifully the offensive assault on Steve Spurrier’s Gators
What’s a few inteceptions. You were and are a great Dawg!
No arrests at my school in over a year!!!!
August 30th, 2010
8:44 pm
I just don’t get it. I don’t understand it. How can the Georgia alumni put up with the humiliation of so much thuggery and poor judgement within their program?
This has been going on for years and years. What is it? 40+ arrests since 2007.
10 years into his program and Saint Richt has absolutely zero control with 8 players arrested only 2/3 of the way through the year. Unreal!
My school had 8 arrests between 2007 and the summer of 08 (8 arrests over a 1 1/2 year span and not 8 months like UGA) and then we started getting it cleaned up and booting the bad apples. In 09 we had 1 players arrested that I know of and I’m assuming probably 1 or 2 others must have been arrested. Just guessing though. It may have only been one. None in over a year for certain. I do know that.
I can’t believe you guys settle for having your program run this way. Its embarrassing and you’re embarrassing the whole conference.
GEORGIA HAVE YOU NO SHAME!!!!!!!!!
Paul Has A Small Johnson
August 30th, 2010
8:46 pm
Mcgarity is
Looking into stopping Arrests now
will soon be
Looking into stopping the beat downs by FL next
Both better be fixed soon
Or I believe there is going to be some unemployment checks being passed out to this coaching staff very soon
Not this year but the end of next year or the following year if this trend continues
CLEVON LITTLE
August 30th, 2010
8:47 pm
WonderDawg
Know when you can tell a rasist?? People that always look at BLACK and WHITE differently.
ps- I do believe it was UGA Police that arrested Ealey, not APD (although they are a bunch of losers).
AltamahaDawg
August 30th, 2010
8:48 pm
I think I can save the guy some time. Based on my in-depth research utilizing, 1 recent player, 3 friends from other schools and fair amount of common sense I have ruled out the following:
-Not enough education, meeting, guest speakers, classes and day after day reminders. It’s done and done and done some more.
-Recruiting the wrong guys. All of these of these guys had multiple offers vetting by dozens of staff and admin.
-Penalties not stern enough. Richt has kicked guy’s off the team, suspended other for multiple games and the offenses that carry a one game suspension would have never done so just a few years ago. Longer penalties might be a appropriate “punishment” after the fact but I doubt any expert would say its a good deterrent to stupidity. I suppose if Mcgarity can find examples of other schools having more strict penalties and showing any correlation, that would be one thing.
-Somehow this staff promotes bad behavior…….come on!
-Somehow the UGA campus promotes bad behavior. If we can believe that in places like Hattiesburg, Oxford, Auburn, or Tuscaloosa the football players just abstain from drinking and have pristine driving records, well then sure.
-Coaches at other school just don’t put up with it. Well OK but is there anything worse than getting kicked off the team? And what about the many school that have had a coaching carousel. Don’t tell me they all had the same rules to follow. Also even not putting up with it, we would still know about it.
Here is what I would want McGarity to find out. Given that any rational, fair minded person, knows our boys aren’t any different than any other places and the majority of the time these are not serious issues, why do they seem to get caught more. What do we need to do to stop that. I don’t blame the police for doing their job, I don’t blame the paper for carrying the story, but lets all be perfectly honest for a minute……seriously…….be fair…..nobody really cares about overdue speeding tickets, but somehow we need to find a way that simple things don’t turn into big distractions.
CLEVON LITTLE
August 30th, 2010
8:50 pm
Ralph, YOU just DID –Thanks!!
Top Dawg
August 30th, 2010
8:55 pm
McGarity for President!
Ralph
August 30th, 2010
9:00 pm
When there are quote marks around words, they are not meant to be compliments – but since you take it that way – how about a left handed one for you:
UGA doesn’t suck as much as the University of North Korea.
Feel better?
poopdawg
August 30th, 2010
9:01 pm
Athens and the UGA police depts. Where policing is the best business in town. I’m not talking about them picking on athletes just the general student population. INT before i forget heres my middle finger for you.
AltamahaDawg
August 30th, 2010
9:03 pm
I would love to get Saban’s advice, although its silly to think that all these coaches don’t talk back and forth about this stuff, at the very least because the SEC would be insisting on it.
But Alabama didn’t really have many players in the papers the years before he got there either, so let’s not pretend that he came in a cleaned up a big problem. He did dismiss some guys that had been caught in double burglaries, assault, and selling nosecandy, so I am pretty sure those were easy calls.
poopdawg
August 30th, 2010
9:05 pm
Ralph are you a UNK grad?
WDE
August 30th, 2010
9:11 pm
AltamahaDawg, have you ever heard of Jimmy John? You know for a fact if Saban was in Athens the arrests problems would be all but eliminated in 2 years, yet we keep hearing the same song about CMR’s plan to point his players in the right direction.
Say What...
August 30th, 2010
9:13 pm
Liza: you’re a sad fact of life and a Tech pinhead!
Ralph
August 30th, 2010
9:15 pm
O.K. I’ve had some fun at UGA’s expense – but as someone else posted, we all should want to be proud of our Georgia based colleges. It’s past time for UGA to get out of their THUGA mode on and off the football field, and not be so proud of being labeled a top party school.
LHardingDawg
August 30th, 2010
9:16 pm
“Ralph” and “class” should not be used in the same sentence.
CaliDawg
August 30th, 2010
9:20 pm
Hopefully, he did learn how to be an AD at Florida and do as they do in Gainesville…let the coach rule the roost by suspending players for one ENTIRE half.
CaliDawg
August 30th, 2010
9:32 pm
Anybody who comes on this blog to get rid of Richt is obviously an alleged fan of another team that is tired of getting their asses handed to them…like that Trade School in Atlanta. Ohhh, we can’t beat you! That guy ran all over us last year, and now he got in trouble so your coach should be fired! Get real! End a guys future in sport and education?! I don’t remember any of our recent wins being done with ineligible players on the field…what? you forget about that? Hmmmmm…….Integrity? Honor? Now, let’s talk about who should’ve been fired? But, wait we’ve won 3 games in a row!
dawggirl
August 30th, 2010
9:41 pm
I really laugh at the thought that I am a supposed redneck. I graduated from UGA, and I would not be caught dead at Walmart. Ever. I am as far from redneck as you can possibly get, as I think Nascar needs to die a slow, painful death.
Anyway, thanks for the comments WDE. It’s been fun beating you the last four years in a row. Looking forward to the same this year.
Dawg gone it
August 30th, 2010
9:49 pm
Dear dawgies,
You run this state for sure-
Near last in the world in education, physical and mental health care, state budget blown up (you read it here first, and that’s bad not good to put it simply for you.)
You run this state. Your “college of banking” grads ruined the economy. Yes you run this state – congratulations. Your construction job is not coming back so learn to wipe butts since your are siffing there anyway.
Laughing stock of the SEC. Five star player ten deep at every position (except quarterback-oops!) Leading the NCAA in arrests, and will not even mention you know what. No a SEC championship in sight and you know it.
Enjoy Sanford and Son Staduim, Gators and Tide will beat you for many years to come.
Your mix of arrogance and ignorance will be entertaining forever, so thanks for the laughs!
CMR needs to lighten up on dicipline like his daddy B Bowden. Remember CMR was a assistant coach of an ACC Team. Now that’s Funny!
Now go trash the “Classic City”
See you in November.
Sting, Sting, The Inbred dawg Swells up, Chokes. Loses, like losers do.
RollyroDawg
August 30th, 2010
9:57 pm
Foley was the AD at UF. Not McGarity.
Tech Buzz
August 30th, 2010
10:11 pm
Nothing will change in athens. The football team runs the university and the new AD better not do anything to cut that money train. Let the boys party—just win on saturday baby!!!! Get the bail money fund replenished and things will be OK!!!
AltamahaDawg
August 30th, 2010
10:15 pm
YES, because I just mentioned him, (read please) and NO I don’t know that for a fact BUT I suspect if Saban had to operate a football program in Athens he would find that it is much more difficult to keep his players out of the newspaper for relatively simple stuff. That’s not a dig at him, or an excuse for Richt. It is what it is.
Dawg Whisperer
August 30th, 2010
10:26 pm
I’m glad that GT fans seem to understand that UGA runs this state. At least you know your place.
RanDawg
August 30th, 2010
10:26 pm
-On the Ealey matter,it was a minor traffic infraction(hitting a parked vehicle)…and he got a one game suspension.How does that compare to beating up a cop and getting arrested,yet NOTHING is ever said about it again??
Jim
August 30th, 2010
10:32 pm
What a idiot. Go cash your paychecks. The Gators were (are) far worse than we are with offenses by our students. Don’t preach to GA when your former program was (is) a joke on discipline.
AltamahaDawg
August 30th, 2010
11:15 pm
Hopefully McGarity can shed some light on how 2 UF players get arrested earlier this month for underage possession of alcohol, but nobody reported it. Not till the Miami paper dug it up. How is that under the radar? (which it should have been) So yes, he can certainly figure out something better than what we are doing.
BTW No suspension for one, the other is maybe (anybody want to guess if this story had not broke before the opener, the answer to that) . Not mandatory as it in at UGA apparently.
5150 P.O.A.D
August 30th, 2010
11:27 pm
Guys this is Caleb KING. I gots to play Sabaday and I need a ride. I swear I am at the building with all the boks on the selves. My scooter is busted on a one arrow road. Is dere a whitz Baller to take me to where i stayz? I know the bros R rid’n Dirty alz da time. Coach mak me jumps off that thang in da water ifn I meat with the Po Po.
icedawg
August 30th, 2010
11:29 pm
For some it is a maturity issue, going to parties and doing the booze like the rest of the crowd. For others it is a character issue. In any recruiting class you will get some who will self-destruct. It probably is difficult to spot the first time offenders in advance. But there should be zero tolerance and strict consequences for the athletes who go off track. A slap on the wrist will hardly get their attention that you really mean business. If they lose their scholarship and get kicked off of the team, then so be it.
Florida Dawg
August 31st, 2010
12:17 am
Sounds like an AD that we need…maybe he can’t get order in the house.
Coastal Dawg
August 31st, 2010
12:25 am
Spot on AltDawg!
12 Tenn players are drinking underage, at least 2 or 3 beat a policeman unconscious, and fight with responding police. NONE of the others are arrested at all and none reported for underage drinking. That one incident wins the Fulmer Cup.
UGA 06
August 31st, 2010
1:34 am
WDE-you’re one of those pure specimens that is actually worth scientific investigation. Having claimed to be vastly intellectually superior to those who have come onto this website in order to speak freely about their athletic team, you join said inferior human beings nonetheless in order to reinforce your own self anointed superiority. This is a quality (I use the term facetiously) seen in human beings who have extreme self concept problems and seek to alleviate their own inadequacies in the most tenuous way possible, away from any potential further loss of face, or for that matter, perceived value what so ever, due to the ambiguous nature of the internet. The amusing aspect to this entire matter is regardless of whether you are telling the truth or not, your presence on this board as an antagonist reinforces the notion that you do indeed feel as though The University of Georgia needs to be corrected in some manner, as retribution for a personal slight, or that whatever institution you chose to attend does not garnish the amount of attention you feel necessary. As a result, your actions prove your presence here is fueled entirely by pettiness, envy, scorn, or any combination therein. Considering you regard yourself as an intellectual, I suggest you find a more constructive manner to flex you incredibly proven cranial capacity. Regards,
UGA 06, School of Public and International Affairs
AltamahaDawg
August 31st, 2010
7:11 am
Florida Dawg, which part? The soundbite where he said the same thing everybody else has, the fact that he just left a school with just as many issues, arguably worse offenses in some cases, and less severe consequences (at least publicly) and nobody seems to be bothered by it, or the fact that he was part of a AD that managed to keep several minor offences this summer from become a public debate? I like the last part myself. I think in reality that’s about the best an AD can do.
AltamahaDawg
August 31st, 2010
7:30 am
“Five of the cases, although not Ealey’s, included alcohol-related charges. Two included driver’s license violations. All of the charges have been misdemeanors.”
The other one as we know the police apologized for, although it doesn’t stop it from continuing to count every time a headline needs proping up.
WDE
August 31st, 2010
7:43 am
UGA06, I see what you did there. You took an hour and a half to use as many ‘big’ and ’sophisticated’ words as possible to obviously paint a picture contrary to my comments on UGA’s academic standards. Too bad you ruined it all by using too many commas and forming what are called “run-on” sentences. And sorry, but your degree in “International Affairs” doesn’t make you a psychiatrist. If you must know- yes, with the fact that my hometown paper and neighbors are 90% about UGA, being behind enemy lines does grant some fun diversions in the way of trash talking on message boards. Good luck with your joke major (you could have learned everything you learned in that major just by reading books, you didn’t learn how to DO anything).
GDI
August 31st, 2010
8:10 am
Bobo 17 is an embarrassment to Tech fans. I feel ashamed to call myself a Tech fan after reading all this immature crap he has posted. Get a life you little dweeb. Oh and to hell with UGA.
Papadawg
August 31st, 2010
8:10 am
Let’s use the same rules for everybody some folks want to use against these kids. You get a traffic ticket=1 day suspension from job without pay, Misdemeanor arrest=month from job without pay. Sounds fair to me
DR
August 31st, 2010
8:24 am
I just read that UF had 2 players arrested for underage drinking this summer and neither will miss any games. I know UGA is already more strict than UF because a player at UGA would miss at least 1 game for the same thing. So, McGarity comes from a school that is less strict than UGA.
BG
August 31st, 2010
8:25 am
McGarity could not change the arrest problems at UF.
Mike Bobo 17 INT
August 31st, 2010
8:26 am
Can we have a tickle pile soon? I am so lonely and there are no girls in any of my classes.. the only excitement I get is trying to not get car-jacked on my lovely urban campus and talking crap about UGA, even though they own us. Oh well, at least I can look forward to playing in the ACC (All Cupcakes Conference).
Ramma Bamma
August 31st, 2010
8:27 am
Ga’s program is out of control with all these arrests, suspensions, etc. Richt needs to call Nick Saban for advice—he wouldn’t put up with any of this. At Bama, the players know the rules and follow them!
ugaclassof2004
August 31st, 2010
8:38 am
Mike Bobo 17INT
You are an idiot on a level that’s astounding.
1. The fact that you are quoting Buck Godfrey shows your ignorance. Godfrey and SWD haven’t been a factor since the 90’s. Stephenson, MLK, and Tucker are the current powerhouses in Dekalb County football. In fact they are fresh off a 50-19 loss to Tucker. Buck has got bigger problems than worrying about UGA football.
2.Also, fans booed Quincy because he was an idiot who tried to coast on his athletic ability at the expense of actually trying to be a good QB. Not to mention he was a total jackwagon off the field. Yeah UGA fans can be redneckish, but they are equal opportunity in their booing. DJ Shockley was our QB and black, and the fans supported him. And Joe Cox is white and got booed like Quincy because he sucked. UGA fans are tough and much is expected out of these 4star recruits. If they don’t like the expectations, they are more than free to transfer elsewhere where the expectations are lower. Or better yet they can hand over their scholarship to someone who deserves it.
J.R.
August 31st, 2010
8:42 am
Bring back athletic dorms. We didn’t have these problems while Erc lived with the players.
AltamahaDawg
August 31st, 2010
8:48 am
How many coaches did Alabama have before Saban got there? Oddly I never heard of players getting arrested for underage drinking or traffic voilation before he got there either. You reckon it ever happened? So unless every single coach had exactly the same “wouldn’t put up with” attitude, which I think we all know is BS, or inexplicable the players at the University if Alabama all have pristine driving record and abstain from drinking, OR there might be some other factors involved that we just are getting 9 article a week on a Bama player’s fender bender. Don’t give me the whole he cleaned up the trash in 2008. He kicked a guy off the team for selling cocaine to an undercover cop for goodness sakes. I’m pretty sure every college team in the world would have a rule against that.