What Mark Richt had to say at Liberty Bowl news conference …
ATHENS –Mark Richt flew back into town from a recruiting trip, just in time for his pre-Liberty Bowl news conference today.
Here are a few of the topics he touched upon:
On former Georgia player Will Muschamp’s hiring as head coach at Florida: “I think Will is a very fine coach. I don’t know if he’ll admit [it] to everybody, but he’s still a Georgia man in a lot of ways. I think he’ll do well. He’s a very good coach and a very good person.”
On the changes in Georgia’s strength program (earlier this month Richt reassigned Dave Van Halanger and named Joe Tereshinski director of strength and conditioning): “First of all, I think Dave Van Halanger is an outstanding strength coach. He’s as good as any out there. . . . But I think there are different ways to do things, and I want to go a little bit more old school, I guess, and get after it a little bit differently. By no means am I saying it’s just the strength area we need to improve on when it comes to winning the fourth quarter and finishing, because it has to do with coaching, it has to do with a lot of things. But I’m sure that will be a big emphasis of our program — to make sure we truly finish the drill. We say ‘finish the drill,’ but are we really doing it? Did we do it this year? We did not.”
On starting offensive linemen Cordy Glenn and Trinton Sturdivant, among other underclassmen on the team, asking the NFL for a projection of their draft status: “I think every junior in America is kind of curious where they sit as far as the NFL is concerned. So there’s a lot of guys who want to turn in their papers and see where the NFL sees them. I think that’s not all that surprising.” He said the key is for players to get an accurate gauge of their NFL stock in order to make the best decisions for them. Losing players early is “just part of college football today,” said Richt, who noted it could be worse: “Basketball, they can be [in college] for one year and they’re off and running.” Still, “we certainly don’t want any of those guys to go, but we’ll just wait and see what happens here down the road.”
And from the recruiting trail, where he and his assistants have logged countless miles this month, Richt reiterated his belief that this is a special year for in-state talent: “I do think this recruiting year in the state of Georgia — even as we were mapping it out a year ago because you are looking that far down the road, this class in particular we thought was going to be extremely strong. And we still believe that. Not only strong in athleticism and ability, but very strong in character from what I’m seeing. I really like the young men we’ve been dealing with as people too. It’s been a very encouraging year in that way, too, which is kind of nice.”
– Tim Tucker
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341 comments Add your comment
KB
December 15th, 2010
11:03 pm
Focus on Christmas You Homers
You need to focus on Christmas and lay off the bloggers
Merry Chrsitmas dude!
PHIL
December 15th, 2010
11:42 pm
Exactly what do you people think that Erk did while at UGA? Anyone checked his teams records or where his defenses stood in the national rankings or anything like that? The national championship sure had nothing to do with him unless he coached Herschel and I missed it. Or even Vince as far as that goes. What was their total body of work? If you take a look at it you’ll notice that it must not take alot in those days to be a legend.
War plainsmen eagle Tiger
December 16th, 2010
12:34 am
Don’t get on your coach, get on your boosters. Darn it we took a lesson from SMU, you should too! Ever since 57 we have had that payroll machine going, but not until last year did we really crank it up to the 6 figure level. Maybe that one rich guy gave too much money to gymnastics. Learn from us dogs, see what happens.
Roy Wood
December 16th, 2010
1:07 am
KB is trying to say CMR is worse than dooley he is nuts evedently he does not know Dooleys record 5-6 in77 9-2 78 6-5in 79 prior to NC must be a tech man.Dooley was one of the best but CMR is just as good.THE NCAA says the newton thing was very complex.Its a shame if it was UGA would have been very simple suspended rest of the season.Because if a jersey sold gets you 4 he would have been gone at UGA.
RED DOG 77
December 16th, 2010
1:36 am
JB…….I’m a little surprised at some of your comments regarding coach Richt. Me? I think he will survive another so-so year, and while you are sipping a Jack on the rocks at your favorite tailgate spot somewhere toward the middle of the 2012 season your stomach will turn when we are undefeated and you realize how close we came to losing this fine gentleman as our head coach………………..Rave on JB……Rave on…………….GO DOGS !!!! GATA……Regards, RED
Rocky Mountain Bulldog
December 16th, 2010
4:50 am
What have you done for me lately? I remember when all of these CMR haters, thought Richt was the best thing since sliced bread. When we lost Coach V we lost a lot, my friend.
If and we all know how large that little word is. We can land a couple of back to back great recruiting classes, we will back in the top 10.
bitter
December 16th, 2010
5:52 am
DAWG fans count your lucky stars that we have AARON murry, look at all the teams that have average QB’S. MURRY can deliver us to the promise land. #7 has the skills to be the greatest collage tight end,.
so throw the ball his way often, the defence needs a dooly moment.
put a QB at rover, TERRY HODGE like AKA Nick Marshall, that is the single most reason the dawgs had great defence under dooly, he would find QB’s that could play defence because they could and did understand what QB’s were thinking.
so the best move would be to allow nick to qb the defence, maybe the most important spot on the football field!!!!
PS murry qb offence and nick qb defence, what a combination!!
BoWeevil
December 16th, 2010
6:09 am
This year, Mark Richt ?
4-LOSS season average, ALL five (5) of the last 5 years
Coach MushChump
December 16th, 2010
6:22 am
Can’t believe Florida hired me! I’ll make Ray Gump look like a genius!
87dawg
December 16th, 2010
6:28 am
Umm… they are spelled Murray, Offense, Defense, Dooley, Terry HOAGE, college……..
On another note, what kind of UGA fan ever wants florida to win a game. I couldn’t care less who the coach is. No Georgia fane ever wants the lizards to win a game. EVER! He coaches the team, I want him to lose. That includes losing his job because his team sucks so much. I hate anything and everything about that “school”. And no, current records have nothing to do with anything. As a lifelong UGA fan and grad (from the glory days) I could never ever imagine wishing any luck on those idiots.
Muschamp, I hope you are out of a job in 2 years. Sorry, pal.
legionaire
December 16th, 2010
6:40 am
I think Grantham was a bad hire. We still saw guys standing around waiting for reaction the way they did with Martinez. How do you give up 90 O plays and 500 yards to Tech? Richt needs to replace him ASAP along with Bobo and have a complete rebuilding.
JD
December 16th, 2010
6:53 am
It is simple…If the talent is equal in the SEC or the third grade recreation team, it is the coaching that makes the difference…If the coaches get it out of the players the team wins…Period
Danny
December 16th, 2010
6:54 am
Please, SOS and failure in the future.
JE
December 16th, 2010
7:06 am
Many talk about the Dooley days. Would someone look at the average time of possession his teams had and how much time Russell’s defense was on the fiel?….We have all these offensive records this year of scoring more than 31 points in seven straight games. Why are we having to score 31 games and still lose two of them? If the defense is on the field more time than the offense it is evident the offense has to score more points to win…Dooley’s running game had something to do with the success of he defense. So in regard to the present team….Does our quick scoring offense have anything to do with the amount of time the defense is on the field….I dare say so for the Tech, Au, UF, Ark, and SC game if not also the Co game….Someone ask Richt and Bobo to at least look at that possibility.
Papadawg
December 16th, 2010
7:30 am
I believe I heard all this same crap last year when Dooley was hired at Tenn. Time will tell, I could win with all the talent Fla gets year after year
I can't beat Florida
December 16th, 2010
7:48 am
{{{{{3-17}}}}}
hahahahahahahahahahahah!
Bippitty Boppitty BOO BOO
December 16th, 2010
8:21 am
6 – 6 means this program is STALE. CMR wants to go old skool. What a laugher….
HAHAHAAHAHA
December 16th, 2010
8:30 am
“You forgot one: 9-1 against Tech in last 10 games!”
That’s like saying “Hey guys, at least we beat East Tennessee Community College!!!!!!!”
Try again, 6-6er.
elvis
December 16th, 2010
8:32 am
When you guys come up, will you bring some red panties for me? Thankyou, thankyou very much!
HAHAHAAHAHA
December 16th, 2010
8:33 am
“This is why UGA football is just a slight notch above Miss State, Ole Miss, and Kentucky while trailing LSU, Alabama, Florida, and now Auburn. ”
UGA is not better than MS State, ma’am.
UGA is even with Ole Miss, Vandy and Kentucky. Every other school has passed you by.
Damon Evans
December 16th, 2010
8:33 am
Elvis, you ain’t even funny-
HAHAHAAHAHA
December 16th, 2010
8:34 am
War plainsmen eagle Tiger
What are you gonna do when the NCAA doesn’t penalize Auburn for anything?
HAHAHAAHAHA
December 16th, 2010
8:34 am
“When you guys come up, will you bring some red panties for me? Thankyou, thankyou very much!”
Oh, they will bring you the Clark County jail as well.
Dawg_Mike
December 16th, 2010
8:35 am
I am a 40 plus year Dawg fan and I hope CMR stays with us as long as his mentor stayed at FSU.
I am sure we will have lots more ups and downs as all programs do, but I cannot think of anyone past or present I’d rather have as our leader.
I know I will get some grief about lack of National Championships but those are beauty contests anyway.
I fully support Coach Richt and the program 1000%.
HAHAHAAHAHA
December 16th, 2010
8:42 am
“I am a 40 plus year Dawg fan and I hope CMR stays with us as long as his mentor stayed at FSU.”
I agree with you 100%!
Joey
December 16th, 2010
8:48 am
I didn’t expect the Dawgs to win the SEC last year, but I did expect them to beat Colorado. It will take Richt’s next team to do something special (like beating Boise) next season to overcome the stigma of losing to a Colorado so pathetic, they fired their coach before the season ended. He got canned, but not before he out-coached Richt.
I was watching a bowl preview the other day on ESPN.com and when discussing the Liberty Bowl, one of the talking heads said that, “UGA was probably the best 6-6 team in the country.” One of the others said, “but they lost to Colorado.” It was a conversation ender.
HAHAHAAHAHA
December 16th, 2010
8:51 am
“UGA was probably the best 6-6 team in the country.”
That’s gotta to be an esteem booster right there.
Andy in Blairsville
December 16th, 2010
8:55 am
Even after a 6 or 7 win season and another loss to UF in 2011, Richt won’t be going anywhere.
If the powers to be at UGA had any pride, he would be gone already. The UGA football program is currently a cash cow and that’s obviously all that matters.
MURPHY
December 16th, 2010
8:57 am
HAHAHAHAHAHA
Tech is 1-9 against Dawgs in last 10 meetings. Good luck in Shreveport
Joey
December 16th, 2010
9:03 am
“We can land a couple of back to back great recruiting classes, we will back in the top 10.”
*****************************************
Rocky,
You shoulld go to Scout.com and check out our recruiting classes since Richt has been here. Starting with his first class, below are the national rankings for each year:
9th
11th
6th
4th
4th
17th
5th
4th
21st (was in the top ten til we lost Rogers to UT on signing day.)
The problem obviously hasn’t been lack of talent . . .
NewnanDawg
December 16th, 2010
9:06 am
Will Richt’s having a losing record against a 4th Florida head coach be enough to show him the door?
Joey
December 16th, 2010
9:09 am
Andy, about three years ago, after our ‘07 finish in the Sugar Bowl, UGA was #1 in sales of team paraphernalia in the country.
After last season, UGA fell to third, behind Texas and UF. I’m curious if we have fallen again after this mess of a season.
That “cash cow” may be drying up.
MURPHY
December 16th, 2010
9:10 am
Joey,
You are correct.Its not a lack of talent.It’s a lack of coaching up the talent.We do not do a good job of getting the most from our recruits.
takedowndawg
December 16th, 2010
9:11 am
JB, I think that I would have to agree with most of your points that you have made. It is like a good guy who has dated a girl for a long time and he knows that he is losing her to someone else. The guy knows that no matter how good his intentions are and how hard he works to try to save the relationship, he knows in his heart that he has lost her. The one main thing that he has overlooked is the main reason he lost her is that HE CHANGED. When Coach Richt first came to Georgia, he said and did, “I am going to lock down the borders on recruiting in the State of Georgia.” And, for the most part, he did just that for the first 2-2 years. The team prospered. What happened AFTER his first three to four years of his tenure, he starting looking outside the state for players and started letting instate talent ONCE AGAIN begin flowing out to surrounding states. This change by Coach begin the decline of LOYALTY by him and his staff once again for our instate talent. I think that this fundamental change begin when some started advising you to become a national recruiter, “like” USC/CA. Bad advice for you, Coach. Do you remember the glory years of Tennesee, it depended very heavily on Georgia Athletes for its foundation. Auburn, has done the same thing as TEN. in its best seasons over the past thirty years with the exception of Bo Jackson era. Auburn doesn’t compete with Ala.for instate talent, but does compete with Georgia for its states best talent. This begin because what has changed somewhere along the way, he, Coach Richt, was the ONE that changed, much like the good boy who lost his girl. LOYALITY, to the talent within the state will be YOUR salvation, Coach Richt, or continued lack of it will prove to be your demise. We have to stop the lost of our quality players to FL, AU, Ten. and SC.
Who Cares
December 16th, 2010
9:13 am
Richt sounds like a broken record, and his team has been performing like one the last 3 years. UGA has the worst coaching staff in the SEC East except Vandy, and that could change depending on who they hire. Let’s see, a wide receiver coach that was a running back, a running back coach that hasn’t taught a back how to block in 3 years, and didn’t know that Moreno was better than Thomas Brown for God’s sake. An O.L coach that it takes half of a season to figure out who his 5 best lineman are, and by then, UGA has lost 2 or 3 games. A D.L coach that got his job because he was a good recruiter,and that has changed now. He gets beaten on the road recruiting constantly by Tracy Rocker at Auburn. He lost Whitaker last year, and he would have been a great noseguard, he is losing Wright this year, and possibly Drew to Auburn. Auburn will line up 3 d.l.s from Ga. and kick UGA’s ass. We have a D.C. that doesn’t know how 2 defend the option or spread offense. We have a d.b. coach that hasn’t taught his players what side of the field to lineup on, much less how to come up and support the run, and god help them if they have to tackle someone. Add to this, the fact that none of them can recruit, and there you have the state of UGA’s program. I didn’t even mention BOO BOO, who runs play action every play with backs that can’t block, and linemen that can’t block. And then Mr. RIcht is the clown that hired or promoted all of these clowns. Richt is a joke, always has been. VanGorder carried this clown with players that Donnan recruited, yet UGA fans keep talking about his 2 sec titles. These are the same fans that talked about Hershel and the 3 sec titles his teams won for 30 years. These are the same fans that will be talking about RIcht’s Sec title in 2005 for 10 more years unless they fire this clown. Only problem is that RIcht has set this program back for at least 5 more years. Whoever replaces him, will be behind Fl. and Bama so far in talent, that it will take 3 or 4 recruiting classes to catch up. DREAM TEAM my ass, Richt and his loser coaches can only dream about a great class this year. BTW, UGA lost out on the top D.E. from J.C yesterday to FL.State, RIcht’s old team. That should tell you where this program stands. What Juco with only 2 years to play to impress pro scouts would want to play in the ACC over the SEC. You have got to be kidding me. The DREAM continues for UGA and it’s fans!!!
schmeckdawg
December 16th, 2010
9:21 am
Talk is cheap! CMR better win and win big this year or it’s adios amigo!
schmeckdawg
December 16th, 2010
9:32 am
@ Who Cares
Very hard to argue your points sir. As a matter of fact, I won’t even try!
Rob
December 16th, 2010
9:32 am
Sturdivant and Glenn have been part of an underperforming line.. who regressed since last year.. they would do well to stay another year and prove that they are even NFL worthy because right now they are barely college worthy.. they showed me very little to think otherwise.
wildbill
December 16th, 2010
9:37 am
SC and Auburn will get more players from Georgia again this year than UGA gets. Richt, explain that! Actions speak louder than words.
GREAT TO BE AN AUBURN TIGER
December 16th, 2010
9:39 am
Please keep CMR on at UGA. We love the talent we pull from this state. Signed the Dirty playing/cheap shot Auburn Tigers. After this years beat down I hope everyone beats the snot out of GA. Biggest Whinners within the SEC. PERIOD. Always an excuse.
ga gator
December 16th, 2010
9:40 am
Read an interesting article late yesterday. The average Star rating for this years All American Freshman team was only 3 stars. It comes down to coaching not recruiting. Sounds like a remark I remember Spurrier making back in the Mid 90’s.
Who Cares
December 16th, 2010
9:41 am
Joey, glad you brought up the class when we finished 17th. Those are the players that are juniors and seniors, and they aren’t very talented. That is the year that RIcht and his buddies started the decline. We lost every big time player in state except Rashed Jones, if you want to call him a big time player. Ga.Tech dominated UGA in recruiting in state that year. Does, Morgan Burnett, Dwyer, Nesbett ring a bell, how about Berry, Bailey, Heyward. UGA would have won an SEC championship or 2 with those players. Face facts, Richt and his staff can’t close on the top talent anymore.When you put the group UGA finished with that year, with the class they finished up with last year(21st), then it’s obvious it is talent. Yet no UGA fan can see that. Let’s see, Fl. played 17 freshman this past year from their class, Auburn wins the SEC with a first year Q.B., and another freshman from Ga. and a juco d.l heading up their defense, not to mention a true freshman running back. S.C. wins the east with a true freshman running back carrying their team. And Tenn. even played 15 freshmen. UGA played one true freshman alot on defense, and started a true freshman o.l. at the end of the year, and they finish 6-6. That shows you how bad this past class was, and it also shows you that Fl, Tenn, and S.C. will be ahead of UGA for the next 2 or 3 years due to last year’s class and what is shaping up to be a major disappointment this year. So keep drinking the coolaid, and keep dreaming. UGA will lose I.C., Drew, Mitchell, Dickson, should i go on. Too bad Richt can’t take them all fishing, because it’s obvious he can’t catch the big “ONE”.
ga gator
December 16th, 2010
9:44 am
Who cares…..ouch!!!
Spurrier Hater
December 16th, 2010
9:48 am
I hated Spurrier but he did have some funny quotes. One of the funniest was when he was asked before the Georgia game in 95 if the Gators would beat Georgia again he replied, “Is Goff still the coach there?” Muschamp probably will be thinking along those lines this year. It is time for CMR to go!!
Joey
December 16th, 2010
9:54 am
Richt may have gotten a big “ONE” (Cam Newton) if he offered him at QB instead of tight-end!
I firmly believe if Cam had come to UGA, he would have caught 10 passes last year as a backup tight-end.
AltamahaDawg
December 16th, 2010
10:00 am
Who Cares…….”(talent not up to par),yet NO Dawg fans can see that”???
Excluding those of us that have said that repeatedly, you mean. In fact are there ANY fair minded Dawg fans claiming that we have recruited the best talent over the past few years?
Joey
December 16th, 2010
10:01 am
Spurrier: “you can’t spell Citrus without UT!”; “I guess FSU stands for Free Shoes University!”;
One of his best was when told of a football dorm fire at Auburn that had burned 20 books, Spurrier said, ” but the real tragedy was 15 hadn’t been colored yet!”
schmeckdawg
December 16th, 2010
10:01 am
@ Rob
In his and only his defense, Trinton Sturdivant has had some pretty brutal knee injuries the past two years and is more than likely nowhere near 100%. I would think he would stay @ UGA for his last year because at this current rate, he MAY be a free agent on some NFL team. I just don’t know who would take a flier on a kid who has had injuries like theone’s he has had. The other guys…NO PASS!
MURPHY
December 16th, 2010
10:07 am
Joey,
I dont see Cam having the same 2010 if he was a Dawg.I dont see Richt or Bobo turning him loose like Malzahn did at AU. He would not have won the Heisman at UGA. Wrong offensive scheme for his talents.This is just my opinion.
ga gator
December 16th, 2010
10:07 am
Schmeckdawg, I agree about Sturdivant. I go to all of the UGA home games with my girlfriend and I was shocked to see how poorly the young man moved around because of his injuries. Before he got hurt I would have said that he would have easily been a top 2 or 3 round pick. Now I would say he needs to stay in school and get his degree.