McGarity: Outback Bowl loss won’t impact negotiations with Richt
Georgia’s loss to Michigan State in the Outback Bowl will have no impact on contract negotiations between UGA and football coach Mark Richt, which remain at least “three to four weeks” away from completion, according to Athletic Director Greg McGarity.
Georgia AD Greg McGarity said the Bulldogs' overtime loss to Michigan State did nothing to change his opinion on the direction of the football program under coach Mark Richt. (UGA photo)
“We plan to meet as soon as we can get together,” McGarity said Wednesday. “But I don’t see anything, certainly not a signed document, anytime soon. We’ll start the process of digging into the details of our extension and it will be determined in the near future.”
McGarity also urged fans upset over the Bulldogs’ 33-30, triple-overtime loss to the Spartans to keep the defeat in perspective.
“Blair Walsh kicks a 42-yard field goal and we’re sitting here feeling great about ourselves,” McGarity said. “But would we have solved our running game problem? No. Would that have solved them being able to go on an 85-yard drive with no timeouts? No. So, I mean, the dynamics haven’t changed. It’s not going to matter diddly-squat when we start lifting weights in three weeks. If anything it’ll add more incentive for next year.”
Georgia lost back-to-back games — including a loss to LSU in the SEC Championship game — to finish the 2011 season 10-4. Richt, 51, is 106-38 heading into his 12th year as the Bulldogs’ coach.
McGarity said there is no rush to complete a new deal with Richt, who has two years remaining on an employment agreement that pays him $2.81 million annually. Including bonuses and outside income from endorsements, Richt earns more than $3 million a year.
Richt is expected to receive an extension of at least three years, which would keep him as the Bulldogs’ coach through December of 2016. McGarity said he and Richt already agreed in principle when they met last month.
“This is an important recruiting time and I told Mark after the SEC Championship game that he could go to these high school kids and tell them he’s going to be their head coach,” McGarity said. “We felt it was very important to send out the message that we haven’t worked everything out but Mark’s going to be our coach. That was the immediate need, to go ahead and address the future of our program. But we didn’t get into any details or anything like that that’s kind of where we left it. He wants to be here and we want him to be here.”
Any renegotiation is unlikely to include a significant pay raise for Richt, however. Richt is sixth among SEC coaches in compensation but that ranks No. 11 nationally. Alabama’s Nick Saban ($4.8 million), LSU’s Les Miles ($3.75), Auburn’s Gene Chizik ($3.5), Arkansas’s Bobby Petrino ($3.1) and South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier ($2.88) currently make more than Richt.
“Longevity is the first priority and then compensation would follow,” McGarity said.
McGarity said he has received about 50 emails in the wake of Georgia’s loss this past Monday. He said “about half” of those fans complained about coaching decisions made as the Bulldogs let a 16-0 at halftime lead slip away. Michigan State scored a touchdown with 14 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 27-all and send it into overtime.
Walsh missed a 42-yard field goal attempt that would have won the game in the first overtime, then had a 47-yard attempt blocked in the third OT.
“Any time you lose a game, especially one as gut-wrenching as that one was, people get frustrated and they vent in various ways,” McGarity said. “If the game was lopsided, if we had lost 42-0 or something, then there would be some concerns. But to point the finger at a player or a coach or offense or defense or special teams is a waste of time. That was a true team loss. There are plenty of second guessers out there, but there are so many what-ifs on either side it could have gone either way.”
What McGarity hasn’t heard is enough credit being given to the Spartans, who recorded back-to-back 11-win seasons for the first time in school history.
“What I have not seen in one email is anyone giving any credit to the Michigan State team, and that’s very unfortunate because they made the plays they needed to win the game,” McGarity said. “The first thing you should do when you get beat is give the other team credit, because they’re working just as hard as you are. Kirk Cousins, look what he did in the last two minutes of the game with no timeouts. That was pretty impressive, as was the way they defended us in the second half. Unfortunately people never give the opponent any credit.”
McGarity said it’s important that Georgia fans rally behind the team, which he thinks has a chance to do some great things next season.
“We go from 6-7 to 10-4 and we’re looking forward to 2012,” McGarity said. “We’ve got a lot of kids coming back, a great nucleus and a great group of leaders. There’s a segment of our fans that want to play the blame game. But when you have a loss like that, everybody shares in it. I’m sure everybody on that field felt like they if they could have done something differently, coaches and players, we might not have lost the game. But that’s just part of the deal.
“What is important is for people to know that Mark Richt is our football coach, and he and his staff and these players spend so much time in an effort to bring championship football to Georgia. . . . The more negative people become, the more it distracts you from being successful.”
NOTES: Georgia’s annual G-Day spring football game has been set for April 14. No other spring practice dates have been set. . . . Junior noseguard John Jenkins sprained the AC joint in his left shoulder late in the Outback Bowl. However, the injury is not expected to require surgery and he will be available for spring practice. . . . Freshman wide receiver Chris Conley will undergo wrist surgery this month. . . .Redshirt freshman tailback Ken Malcome suffered a concussion early in the fourth quarter against Michigan State and did not play the rest of the game.
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962 comments Add your comment
Lowcountry Bulldawg
January 5th, 2012
5:57 pm
Guys you cant argue with True Dawg Fan. He thinks the same team that was blown out by LSU, blew a 16-0 lead to MSU, gave up a Punt return for a TD against USC and was embarassed the opening weekend of the season to BSU could NOW beat Bama and Arkansas. Enough said about the validity of any of his posts.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
January 5th, 2012
5:59 pm
O yeah the Punt Return against USC was by a DEFENSIVE LINEMAN! Sorry like you said True Dawg when you say something stupid you get called out on it. Not my words but yours to another blogger.
Joey
January 5th, 2012
6:03 pm
I don’t know how much longer it will take, Stephen A, but I think I know how much longer Richt will get paid, whether or not he’s on the sideline or not
Either 4 or 5 more years.
At $3.5 to $4 million per.
Bad Dawg
January 5th, 2012
6:04 pm
Lowcounty, I honestly believe it is unfair to compare any team to Alabama or LSU, they are on a whole other level of college football. The people who were saying Ok St. could hang with them seem foolish now. I believe with the talent at UGA they should at least be as good as Arkansas but have a long way to go offensively to catch up with them.
Summit Dawg
January 5th, 2012
6:06 pm
@Matthews Dawg…..”Richt is a Great Coach!”………Nawh, a good man, but definitely not a “great”
coach…..Just like Murray is not a great QB, and BOOBOO is not a great offensive coordinator!! We are going to be sorry when Hutson Mason jumps ship…..and as much as I love UGA and the Dawgs, if I were a high school recruit looking to play offense…..I would not consider UGA!!!!
Snoop Dawg
January 5th, 2012
6:15 pm
Great. McCavity is in the tank. Just great.
No more money from this alumnus while Richt is on the payroll…
UGA will continue to dwell ever lower in the cellar and sewer as long as Richt is in Athens…
Snoop Dawg
January 5th, 2012
6:18 pm
McCavity, Richt, and Murray are all Florida moles…
AU in ATL
January 5th, 2012
6:21 pm
I see Mark Richt staying at UGA for 20 years…you guys will be good next year and should make a run with that schedule….I don’t see UF/UT make it back anytime soon and USCe will never be the dominant force in the SEC…Richt will win just enough to stick around 20 years..not saying this is a good/bad thing..just looking ahead…
kral
January 5th, 2012
6:23 pm
I wish there was anybody on here who is really smart enough to know…myself included..some of you really think what you blog is the gospel..if he would have done that..he can’t coach ..he can’t kick..he can’t win the big one.. play the back-up qb..fire the coach..fire the oc….alot of you suck the BIG ONE
ARdawg
January 5th, 2012
6:28 pm
Bad Dawg
Bama and LSU are currently the yardstick and standard in which to measure a program. They are not invincible, they will be beaten (one of them will come Monday). They are not some super cosmic football team. They put their p.anties on one leg at a time just like anyone else. Who in your opinion should others compare their team to? Georgia?
Stephen A.Dawg
January 5th, 2012
6:31 pm
Well said Joey. I agree with you. Richt was imported from FSU to resurrect the UGA program that had fallen to hard times under Ray Goff and Jim Donnan. I can’t defend Goff, but Donnan deserved one more year. Anyway Donnan left the cupboard of talent stacked for Richt and he quickly backed into two SEC titles in 2002 & 2005. Then something happened to Richt. Did the success go to his head ? I don’t know but he was no longer just head coach, but became CEO Richt after he promoted Bobo to OC. Van Gorder, the DC, really deserved the monetary raise that went to Bobo. So Van Gorder left and it’s been season after season of unfulfilled promises until Coach Grantham’s defense matured and blossomed in his 34 defense.
Richt has had enough talent to take UGA to the next level over the course of the past 4 to 5 years, but his habit of playing favorites at QB, labeling then chasing off his RBs, not utilizing TEs, and poor offensive coaching and playcalling, has doomed Georgia to second tier status. Note changes on defense led to better results on that side of the ball. But no changes in strategy on offense and special teams is keeping Georgia down and kept the Dawgs weak & mediocre. That’s why I say under Richt, UGA has sold it’s SEC soul to appease its delusional, conservative side of its badly divided fanbase. If you ever wondered how FSU of the 90s would fare in the SEC, look no further than Georgia under Richt. It’s past time for Georgia to dump the soft ACC mindset and play SEC ball like ‘Bama & LSU. With or without Richt !
AltamahaDawg
January 5th, 2012
6:32 pm
Joey. I wasnt calling out any one person. If you thought it applied and raised your hand, then that’s on you.
kral
January 5th, 2012
6:35 pm
Auburn was on another level last year…Flaarrida was on another level awhile back…who stays on that level or get’s to that level..nobody on here really knows..except the ones who think they know
Jborodawg
January 5th, 2012
6:35 pm
I agree with McGarity. We’re a missed FG away from praising the Dawgs and the coaches. I think we had our hopes up so high and really thought we’d beat MSU. When we didn’t, we just had to find scapegoats. We forgot about the overall season: 10 straight and beating our main rivals, Tn, AU, Fl, and Tech. I remember lotsa praise after the AU and Tech games. It even seemed that most bloggers were in CMR’s corner. Many even had praise for Bobo.
Ad nausea about Bobo’s play calling…when in reality his play calling had us ahead of MSU with 1:55 to play (and MSU at their own 15; and no timeouts). Why not the same hate for CTG? I believe we averaged about 32 PPG with Bobo’s play calling in 2011. And that with a patchwork RB corpse, a soph QB, and an inconsistent O line.
Saying that UGA is mediocre because we haven’t won a NC borders on the absurd. There are a lot of “storied, top-tier” programs that haven’t won a NC in 10, 20, 40 years. Playing for SEC championships, yes. The rest will follow.
Our program has a lot going for it right now. Some just aren’t aware of all the positives. Keep coach Richt; give him the extension. I have every faith he’ll keep the ship headed in the right direction. You don’t agree? So be it. But I agree with McGarity.
AltamahaDawg
January 5th, 2012
6:39 pm
Stephen, just how thin is your skin there, Missy? Snicker at you because you are a Dawg fan? good heavens.
I know quite a few fans of team doing WAY worse than Georgia right now, and I can honestly say that giggling or snickering at them never one time crossed my mind. I really don’t know a single person so damn stupid that they would either.
You just need to hang out with a much higher class of people. Or at the very least, adults.
Fan of the Game
January 5th, 2012
6:41 pm
Everybody says UGA has had the best talent. I watched 5 to 6 teams already in Bowl games that have burners that know where the goaline is. We don’t have near the talent at running back and wide receiver position that we think we have. You judge talent by yardage gained after touching the ball and we had few long plays. Matter of fact the Outback Bowl gave us the a coulple and we had the one with Boykin against Boise St.
dawgs111
January 5th, 2012
6:41 pm
Don’t get me wrong there were many questionable plays called but I think one of the reasons Bobo tried to run so much in the fourth qtr was because after the two int’s and fumble he lost faith in Murray. Our QB has done a lot of great things but he’s erratic, he panics under pressure.I hope Richt will give Mason (if he stays) and Lemay a chance this year!!
Bad Dawg
January 5th, 2012
6:43 pm
ArDawg, I don’t think there is a team you can compare UGA too that play’s real football. I guess Arkansas is a good measuring stick. There is not one team in college football this year or next year that will beat Alabama or LSU other than when they play each other, I really think they are on another level but you could throw USC west into the conversation.
kral
January 5th, 2012
6:43 pm
I take exception to the fact that you say CMR backed into 2 sec titles…Stevie Dawg….that is stupid…since it has already been noted here that CMR has struggled with the great recruits…supposedly better than what he inherited…must have done better with less..oh…sign of good coaching you people kill me…
Jborodawg
January 5th, 2012
6:48 pm
Stephen A., so UGA is second tier, but “…Spurrier… knows that domination of UGA is the key to national respect…”? And, therefore, if we beat SC we’re no longer mediocre? Hmmm.
GaDawg97
January 5th, 2012
6:48 pm
Get rid of Richt now! Otherwise we will always be also rans…
d
January 5th, 2012
6:49 pm
Some of you UGA fans kill me!!!! Uhhhh msu WASN’T AND ISN’T A BETTER TEAM!! Mark richt sucks that’s the bottom line. Yes bobo sucks and so does all the offensive staff mark richt sucks because he istoo nice and scared to fire coaches!!! CMR SUCKS!!! The only way he will ever be in the national championship game is if he buys tickets!!
AltamahaDawg
January 5th, 2012
6:49 pm
Alabama and LSU are above the rest because they are DEEP. It’s been speculated that over-signing had a lot to do with that. Thats pretty simplistic IMO. They are deep with top players, not just numbers. (although I guess its easier to end up with 85 top player if you can cull)
In our case, Our issue with depth right now was losing so many players. Alabama oversigning didnt cause Georgia to play this year with the equivalent of an entire squad missing. Thats on us. Being corrected it seems to me, and well worth the pain as it turns out.
DawginLex
January 5th, 2012
6:50 pm
Would love to see the QB position opened up in the spring. Murray is simply not the answer if we want to win on the big stage. Mason and Lemay deserve a shot to prove they are.
GaDawg97
January 5th, 2012
6:52 pm
Murray will be fine if he grows another 3 or 4 inches. i agree that guy is a turnover machine in big games. And still hasn’t beated a good team…
Stephen A.Dawg
January 5th, 2012
6:57 pm
You are correct…..SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW. Georgia’s championship run began in 1980 and ended after January 1, 1983. We won 3 consecutive SEC titles. We also played for 3 consecutive National titles winning only one, and closely losing the other two. You have to take into consideration Vince Dooley, who always could beat UF, was nearing the end of his head coaching career after ‘83. CVD hung around 5 more years before shutting it down after the ‘88 season. We had some great seasons in the 70s, like the 76 Sugar Bowl season. The WonderDawgs had a great season by winning the SEC, and had its hopes for the National title dashed by RB Tony Dorsett and the Pitt Panthers in the Sugar Bowl. 12-0-0 Pitt finished # 1 and UGA finished # 10, with a 10-2-0 record in 1976.
Beast from the East Eaten by Dawg
January 5th, 2012
6:57 pm
As bad as Murray is at times, we still would have taken him in Gainesville this year. So would have every team in the SEC other than LSU, Arky and maybe Bama.
kral
January 5th, 2012
6:57 pm
Let’s see d..they all suck..get your point emphatically..but the only way to get into a beauty contest system championship..is win your division..well no…win your conference..well no…oh..that’s right win a poll…win a computer contest…not saying that bammer and the bayouuu..ain’t the best..do not know…cause sometimes the best team might not win a playoff..oh..yea…they just win it on the field
AltamahaDawg
January 5th, 2012
6:58 pm
Murray is not the answer if we need a guy to carry a team on his shoulders. But with ANY decent running game, he could win any game he plays in. You guys are nuts if you think Mason is going to come in here and single handedly win “big stage”, meaning against great teams,games if he has to do it with no running game at all.
Wayne
January 5th, 2012
7:04 pm
Another 3years of richt mediocrity. Typical of all sports teams in georgia, never get the absolute best possible candidate. It’s a shame and the reason there won’t be a championship in georgia in any sport any time soon.
kral
January 5th, 2012
7:09 pm
Stevie Dawg…and at the end fans..like the ones on this blog wanted Coach Vince gone..me too at a young naive age…doesn’t throw it enough..beat an Andre Rison team…MSU with passing in a bowl game at the end..thank goodness Vince did not have to go through all those years of blogs…thanks also to Belue to run Lindsey ..run Lindsey Scott
Lowcountry Bulldawg
January 5th, 2012
7:31 pm
So outside of Keith Marshall any other UGA guys playing in this game tonight? Theus maybe? Not for sure of the rosters.
bitter QB
January 5th, 2012
7:32 pm
@steven a something—————-true, very true—facts stand out like the play of turnover murray
horrible play of the “O” line————so on and so on
——-what to do????????———bad leadership always starts at the top
———–just like on the battle field, if you dont lead by example and lead out front—-then people die
—————DR PEPPER ADAMS IS FA-T—LAZY—-NOT A UGA GRAD
————-ST RICHT—-ford truck salesman—-miami grad—-horrible coach——not a UGA grad
————BOBO————great senior season as a uga starting QB——brown-noiser—-UGA GRAD
——————GATOR-MCGATOR—loyal still to gay-tards—-loyal to dr. adams—no spine
—————-BOTTOM LINE————7-5 from here on out—–doomsday has arrived!!
hdawg33
January 5th, 2012
7:37 pm
I understand where McGarity is coming from. Richt is a good man and a good coach. But Bobo is the reason why we can’t finish games. Bobo doesn’t know what the crap he is doing. Richt tries to cover for his a$$. If Bobo is calling bad plays Richt starts to call them so Bobo doesn’t look bad. Richt knows that Bobo has a big family and needs the money, but they need to understand that Bobo is not the right person for the job. Grantham is the whole reason why we got to where we are right now, not Richt, not Bobo but Grantham. He atleast knows what he is doing and is not a pu$$y and actually screams at the players.
Chip Towers
January 5th, 2012
7:58 pm
Flat Tire: Quite a stretch there to say that McGarity was blaming Walsh for the loss. He wasn’t. Not sure how you arrived at that interpretation but I know you’re wrong because he was talking to me. McGarity was merely illustrating that if Walsh’s 42-yard field goal in the first overtime had gone through people wouldn’t be logging all the complaints they are this week; they’d be talking about how great UGA. His point was that the offensive and defensive fundamental problems would still be there.
RHall55
January 5th, 2012
8:12 pm
CMR, will need to make changes again to win more games in the future thus saving his job!! 1) Eventually, he will have to demote CMB to QB Coach 2) To tell IC either work harder in off season to improve his ability to sustain himself for a full season or ask him to leave 3) To again change up the S&C program to get someone who is really qualified 4) To come off the hip and hire a ST Coach 5) To ask CRG to lose 100 lbs and be more productive w/ the top kids in the State!!
Big Wally
January 5th, 2012
8:14 pm
Georgia football………We strive for mediocrity.
Phil
January 5th, 2012
8:25 pm
Stephen A.Dawg
Great points. McGarity and most fans appear to be happy with 8,9,10 win seasons but truly aren’t a threat to win the SEC. With our schedule next year we may win 10-11 games in the regular season. We will probably win the East because South Carolina has to play LSU and Arkansas so we will probably get help. And just like this year we will get embarassed in SEC Championship game against LSU or Alabama.
Richt cannot take the program to the level that LSU and Alabama are on. To compete for a National Championship, you have to win the SEC first. Win the SEC and you are probably in the NC game. Richt can stay another 10 years and he won’t win the SEC.
I thought McGarity was smarter than he sounds in the interview. He’s appartently bought into Richt full time. 10 years from now we will still be dreaming of “next year” and making a run. Richt cannot take us to the next level and anybody that believes he can is dreaming.
Stephen A.Dawg
January 5th, 2012
8:26 pm
You don’t have to have a superstar at QB to win the SEC and National title. Alabama won it all with limited McElroy at QB two years ago, but they had Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson at RB. Look at LSU’s starting QB Jordan Jefferson, who can’t pass a lick, but has a stable of talented running backs behind him playing for the 2012 title. UF’s Tim Tebow can’t throw that well but ran UF to a National title. As did Cam Newton who passed and ran Auburn to the MNC.
Even back in 1980 Georgia’s Buck Belue was a very limited QB, who completed 77 passes out of 156 attempts (49%) for 1314 yards that season. But the difference was he had Herschel Walker lined up behind him in an I formation.
The moral of the story is you can’t win the SEC or National title with a weak running game and a short, erratic QB that always turns the ball over. A dominate ground game helps a whole lot now as it did 32 years ago.
Mr. SEC
January 5th, 2012
8:33 pm
But when you have a loss like that, everybody shares in it. I’m sure everybody on that field felt like they if they could have done something differently, coaches and players, we might not have lost the game. But that’s just part of the deal.
A quote from McGlarity! I agree with him whole heartly! BUT this is becoming a very popular cop-out! It does not take an idiot to figure Bobo out, he does not know what in the ____ he is doing. Anybody that knows anything about UGA fooball knows that Bobo goes ultra conservative to soon. How many times in past years have we got burned because of that; and CMR lets him do it! Bobo will be CMR’s coffin nail one day. CMR better start looking after his own butt, instead of defending his OC every Saturday, cause his butt can go jut as fast as anybody else’s in this league.
I bet you the out of the last 5 NC’s, you ain’y gonna find no BS coach calling plays!
Fan of the Game
January 5th, 2012
8:35 pm
Man if UGA does open their OC position there will be alot of applicants. It will be a hard choice for Coach Richt because everybody knows how to solve all the problems.
Phil
January 5th, 2012
8:45 pm
stendek
McGarity is a clown. Apparently mediocrity is good enough in his book. What is wrong with wanting to be like Alabama or LSU, to be on that level. Richt is not in the same class with Saban and Miles.
Richt and Bozo are no match for those guys.
"Our Guys had a GOOD YEAR." Mark Richt 3 January 2011 to ESPN David Ching.
January 5th, 2012
9:07 pm
AltamahaDawg January 5th, 2012 5:36 pm
“I keep wondering who you all keep referring to as the folks that are “happy just to win 10 games” . Mr. & Mrs. Straw Man? Cap’t MadeUp to Make Myself Look Awesome?”
________________________________________________________
True Dawg Fan January 5th, 2012 4:45 pm
“And yes I am happy with 10 wins but not the last two losses.”
________________________________________________________
“Our guys had a good year,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said.
http://espn.go.com/colleges/georgia/football/story/_/id/7419213/georgia-bulldogs-trending-upward-not-satisfied
Phil
January 5th, 2012
9:10 pm
stendek
If Richt would go out and get a top notch offensive coordinator, the program would take a giant step forward. Imagine having somebody like Grantham on the offensive side of the ball. Ralph Friedgen is sitting out there, I would talk with him. If we are stuck with Richt, then upgrading all around him is the next best thing. Maybe McGarity will demand a change on the staff. Bozo can go back to be being the QB coach, you don’t have to fire him completely. Get a special teams coach. There are things that McGarity can demand out of Richt if he is intent on keeping him.
But McGarity sounds like a Moron so I’m not holding my breath.
"Our Guys had a GOOD YEAR." Mark Richt 3 January 2012 to ESPN David Ching.
January 5th, 2012
9:10 pm
T. Kyle King is another.
Bluto, Get The Picture.
Buck Belue.
Greg McGarity.
Aaron Murray.
Chip Towers.
Mark Bradley.
Ben Dukes.
"Our Guys had a GOOD YEAR." Mark Richt 3 January 2012 to ESPN David Ching.
January 5th, 2012
9:12 pm
Aron White.
"Our Guys had a GOOD YEAR." Mark Richt 3 January 2012 to ESPN David Ching.
January 5th, 2012
9:14 pm
Quarterback Aaron Murray said. “I think the whole Dawg Nation is excited, nd I think as a team we’re pretty excited”
007
January 5th, 2012
9:18 pm
Could someone please explain why our offensive line CANNOT BLOCK.
pop
January 5th, 2012
9:20 pm
the dawg nation wont same play bobo gone richt do your job and quit the buddy system hire a real off.cordinator and hold up that championship ball
Pitbull
January 5th, 2012
9:20 pm
The fact is ever since the new RBacks Coach came it’s been down hill. Richts major fault is he is too slow making Coaching changes. But it’s his job to do so. That’s what he gets the big bucks for!