I was in Augusta Wednesday night for the Georgia Bulldog Club tour stop there and found coach Mark Richt to be calm and typically laid back. Other than his pointed comments on Washaun Ealey, the meeting was generally warm and fuzzy and it came and went without much controversy.
That wasn’t the case in Macon last night. According to my old friend Michael Lough, who covered the meeting for the Macon Telegraph, Richt got a little feisty with one particularly whiny fan. In the question-and-answer session, one man apparently droned on and on about Georgia’s poor running game last season and his apparent dissatisfaction with offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and running backs coach Bryan McClendon.
That apparently lit a fire under Richt.
“I see your frustration, I understand your frustration,” Lough quoted Richt as saying.“I wasn’t born yesterday, I’ve coached football for 25 years, so I know what the hell I’m doing, OK? . . . I appreciate your passion, I appreciate your support for this football team. Everybody can just calm down and know that we’re in good hands. . . . And Bryan McClendon is a hell of a coach, he’s a hell of a recruiter. And I’m glad we got Bryan McClendon.”
Richt’s remarks, Lough reported, elicited a strong ovation from the crowd gathered at the Walnut Creek Shooting Preserve.
Not surprisingly, the normally-chaste Richt apologized a short time later for using the word “hell.” But he also reiterated his disappointment in the tailback situation and the fact that none of the lettermen have stepped up and seized the position in anticipation of Isaiah Crowell’s arrival later this summer.
So what do you think? Glad to hear such passion come out Georgia’s sometimes staid head coach? Disappointed with his word choice?
595 comments Add your comment
Stu
April 29th, 2011
11:52 am
Richt has got outrushed by Florida the last 5 years in a row, in SEC rankings.
DawginLex
April 29th, 2011
11:53 am
Here comes the troll under multiple handles.
Blog ruined
Goodbye
David Granger
April 29th, 2011
11:54 am
I hope Coach Richt does get things turned around, but he’s sort of in a no-win situation. If the new changes work, and the record drastically improves…it begs the question: If you know what you’re doing, and knew how to fix the problems…then why hadn’t you done it before now?
1eyedJack
April 29th, 2011
11:54 am
We can always count on a victory the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
dawggone
April 29th, 2011
11:54 am
were uga and we still suck
AltamahaDawg
April 29th, 2011
11:55 am
I think some of you guys are looking at this from the wrong angle though. I’m not sure this was really an out of character moment FROM Richt as much as it was calculated responce TO an “out of charcater” fan(s) knowing how uneasy everybody is right now.
nerds! nerds! nerds!
April 29th, 2011
11:55 am
Lake most blowhards on here, sit down and shut the HELL up! This man is the most loyal coach in the nation, shouldn’t we be as fans? Those five teams that have won a NC in the past five years WONT HAVE A JOB AT THEIR SCHOOL IN THE NEXT 5. They are all on the way down.
Coach Richt is a true Dawg. That redneck could learn a lot from him and not the other way around!
g1 dog
April 29th, 2011
11:55 am
If passion won football games, Derek Dooley would have gone 14-0 last season.
Saban
April 29th, 2011
11:57 am
Yep Richt knows how to run a program into the ground and collect millions.
Get ready Dawgs here comes the torpedo of truth. 4 wins and new daddies everywhere.
Tosh.No
April 29th, 2011
11:57 am
Looks like the pressure of that hot seat he is on is starting to get to him. Starting to crack under the stress. Guess we’ll see if he actually “knows what the hell he is doing” soon. I mean if he knows what the heck he is doing, then what the heck happened last year?
sylvia seawright
April 29th, 2011
11:57 am
I am sorry that Mark chose to use that kind of language. I hold him in high esteem and I am very disappointed that he let this happen. Of course we all make mistakes.
TinselMan
April 29th, 2011
11:57 am
Hopefully, Coach Richt will reflect on his stance a little more because he’s dead wrong. Richt’s record is 40-3 when he gets a 100 yards rusher.
Tosh.No
April 29th, 2011
11:58 am
And Tide Troll, or Saban or what ever you call your self today – go take a long walk off a short ledge.
You're a real man, Deion
April 29th, 2011
11:58 am
Well Buckeye, thanks for reminding me of Deon Sanders repeatedly throwing water on McCarver. That video was funny! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO9jo8XkOfA
Jack
April 29th, 2011
11:58 am
Memo to Saint Mark of UGA:
Find a mirror, your crown is slipping!
AltamahaDawg
April 29th, 2011
12:00 pm
David, the only folks asking that questions are folks who never had run anything.
P-The-Ricker
April 29th, 2011
12:02 pm
all of this ovation for coach richt????? that fan should be getting an ovation for not shying away and confronting richt with a frustration that EVERY GA FAN whined about the last 2 seasons (since moreno’s departure).
the coach is getting paid $3MM. why should anyone be satisfied with a 6-7 record with a coach making that kind of money?
Saban
April 29th, 2011
12:03 pm
Boise State 50 Dawgs 8. Richt`s response, “Darn it”
Big Daddy
April 29th, 2011
12:03 pm
You will go to heck if you dont believe in gosh
DIT
April 29th, 2011
12:05 pm
@P-The-Ricker
Just my thought. I do believe that the fan said things that many have been thinking. I believe that the majority of us are just happy to see that CMR showed the emotion that he did. It shows that he is frustrated as well and wants to change the course of the football program. Many of us were wondering if he had that fire in him to do so. I think this was a step in the right direction if he can direct that fire towards his players as well.
Oconee Dawg
April 29th, 2011
12:06 pm
Coach Richt right on….! You are a hell of a coach, and don’t let the pot head and whimps…….make a point, they don’t have any idea how college football operates. GO DAWGS…..
Bay City Rollin'
April 29th, 2011
12:07 pm
Here’s what’s down. SEC D’s have loaded up their D’s to stop the run. So Richt figures he can pass it since SEC D’s are ranked so poorly against the pass? So, if that’s true, why did Richt go 6-7 last year with AJ Green, who experts like Gruden called the #1 guy in the draft this season? Something doesn’t add up. Richt’s passing a lot. And went 6-7. Pass, 6-7, pass 6-7. Ain’t adding up.
trottsky
April 29th, 2011
12:07 pm
They’ll have another crappy year…..Richt is done…..
SportsFan31313
April 29th, 2011
12:07 pm
CMR states that he knows what he is doing. Well I sure hope so. Two SEC Titles in his tenure at Georgia does not equate knowing what you are doing. The season last year was a disaster. On and off the field problems, arrest and suspension on team members for off the field problems among other thnigs. There are some problems within the staff. We all can see that. Lets just wait and see what happens this season. Florida is on a rebuilding year, and the schedule seems to be not as britual as it was in previous years.If CMR does not turn this program around this year, lets see how much support he will get at the end of this season.
FireRichtnow
April 29th, 2011
12:08 pm
let’s just wait and see if we have any more patience with you, Richt after another disappointment this season… underachievers!!
D-Dawg
April 29th, 2011
12:09 pm
Saban, atleast come up with a realistic football score…like 48-7…are you giving us a safety…or a two point conversion?
DawginLex
April 29th, 2011
12:10 pm
and trottsky wins the Mr Obvious clown TROLL Award for the day!!
Robdawg
April 29th, 2011
12:12 pm
So he did not take up for “BOZO” in his comments. We need an O coordinator and bad. Play after play last year.
Arkansas – not having a back that could block in the game on the biggest play of the game cost us the game and nearly cost Aaron Murray his carreer. Other teams have been using tight ends, fullbacks in those situations for years but not BOZO. Let’s keep a bhack in that could not block BOZO. Also having no receivers run a route within 20 yards of the QB on that play.
Florida – the whole game. AJ with 9 yards receiving going into the 4th quarter. All of the play calling in OT.
All season –
Pass on first down, run on second. If a fan in south georgia can figure this out. You think the rest of the league, who watch film daily, may have.
Running Calton up the #$%^%$ middle. As Richard Pryor once said, “How long will theis #$$%^% go on?”
Frankly, that stumbling, bumbling, non clock watching, Michigan grad in Baton Rouge callls better plays thaN BOZO.
Unless CMR gets back involved in calling plays, BOZO will cost him his job.
DawginLex
April 29th, 2011
12:13 pm
Hey Saban, smoke on this you redneck idiot
Arkansas 31
Bama 27
LSU 17
Bama 13
Miss St 19
Bama 14
another 3 loss year for the self annointed greatest team in america.
If Bama is the best in college football in 2011, college football is in sorry shape
Fortunately, Bama is 4th in the SEC West
SportsFan31313
April 29th, 2011
12:13 pm
People can enlightend you with encouragement CMR, and I appreciate that as well. But when it is all said and done, the ONLY thing that matters is whether you won or lost. This is Big Business. Not a popullarity contest.
D-Dawg
April 29th, 2011
12:13 pm
If trottsky had said IF at the beginning of his comment…maybe he would be right.
AlwaysAVol
April 29th, 2011
12:13 pm
Glad to see the fire in the belly! I love the passion in SEC football. I pull for all the SEC teams except one game a year. Congrats to Coach Richt and best of luck to Georgia this year. Go Dawgs! Go VOLS!!!!
Woodstock Dawg
April 29th, 2011
12:14 pm
hELL fIRE!!!! Go Dawgs!
D-Dawg
April 29th, 2011
12:14 pm
You tell em Coach!!! Hunker down on that drunken FOOL!!! WOOF WOOF!!!
jay
April 29th, 2011
12:15 pm
Good, decent man who better figure out a way to motivate a very
talented team. Otherwise, he may be out of a job this time next
year.
D-Dawg
April 29th, 2011
12:15 pm
Aw man…another D-Dawg…did I take your name or did you take mine?
nerds! nerds! nerds!
April 29th, 2011
12:16 pm
trolls! trolls! trolls!
Thunder Down
April 29th, 2011
12:16 pm
Moreno ran the ball a lot in 2007. And scored 36 a game against ranked teams. But that scoring against ranked teams has dropped more each year.
Offensive Scoring against ranked teams under Richt:
2007 36 points a game
2008 27
2009 20
2010 16
Doesn’t look like a guy who knows what’s going on? Looks like a guy who has no idea how to turn around ths ship. What kind of offensive genius scores less every year, and drops to a mere 16 a game, 11th in the SEC out of 12 teams?
secfactcheck.com
April 29th, 2011
12:16 pm
Richt is a great coach. The problem with UGA has been Gators and one ex-Gator. Boise State is the biggest UGA game of the season. The players all know it as comments during spring season indicated. A UGA loss against Boise State assures that UGA will not be in the SEC championship game. Can’t have the SEC throwing an undefeated Boise under the bus while their East champion lost to them. Even the most loyal Kool-Aide drinker will have to spit that out. So, if Boise wins, UGA will not get the “calls” against other SEC teams.
GIVE ME A BREAK
April 29th, 2011
12:18 pm
GEORGIA TECH is looking forward to meeting the Dream Team. Then we’ll see if Richt knows what the hell he’s doing. ” GO JACKETS “
DawginLex
April 29th, 2011
12:19 pm
thunder down,
nothing like a little selective figures.
Scoring against ranked teams?
what’s next?
Scoring against teams in the 4th quarter where UGA lost the opening coin toss when the cheerleaders were standing on the side of the stadium where the afternoon sun was hitting the pom poms and reflecting off of the helmets and off of the bald headed men in the stands on the east side of the stadium?????????
D-Dawg
April 29th, 2011
12:19 pm
I’m sure the dream team will give them some autographs after the game Give Me A Break.
katie04886
April 29th, 2011
12:20 pm
Ummmm – a few words in Macon and all is well? We’ve watched 4 SEC schools win the title in the past 5 years. We have the wrong coach.
DawginLex
April 29th, 2011
12:22 pm
Ok katie,
Let’s fire him right now.
Explain that one to all the recruits we just signed 2 months ago.
Explain that to any coach worth his salt that would now NEVER consider coming to UGA to coach because of idiots like you advocating firing the coaching staff now.
good lord.
D-Dawg
April 29th, 2011
12:22 pm
Look…a lady! How YOU doin’ Katie?
Colin
April 29th, 2011
12:22 pm
Richt’s a trip. Who’s he trying to kid with his smoke & mirrors? Richt’s been running up the core against losing teams, and can’t score against winning teams.
In 2010, Richt got 42 points a game against LOSING teams (3rd in SEC)
yet only scored 18 against winning teams (10th in SEC).
Richt just can’t score on winning teams anymore than 2 teams in the SEC.
That’s what it’s come to.
tide roll
April 29th, 2011
12:22 pm
Richt knows very well what he’s doing. He’s keeping an offensive coordinator on the payroll who Richt and everyone else knows is in over his head. He has the position because the guy is married to Barbara Dooley’s niece. Crazy, but it’s true. There’s absolutely no accountability. How about my man James Carpenter !! 1st rounder from Hepzibah High!! and Chance Wamack’s even better ! and Brandon Greene is going to be better than both of them! All Georgia natives! Unbelievable. Thanks Coach Richt.
D-Dawg
April 29th, 2011
12:23 pm
I bet Katie is way hotter than the Chicks on the GT blogs!
GIVE ME A BREAK
April 29th, 2011
12:23 pm
D-Dawg, I hope it’s a great game.
DIT
April 29th, 2011
12:24 pm
I agree with you DawginLex – It’s the same old song and dance for many on here