For a head coach that’s averaged nearly 10 wins a season during 14 years at one SEC school, Mark Richt sure gets a lot of hot seat discussion.

In what seems like an annual conversation, the latest instance comes just days after a No. 11 ranked Georgia team was dominated by a 3-3 Florida Gators team. The 18-point loss likely ruined UGA’s postseason aspirations of playing for a spot in the College Football Playoff and now the ‘Dawgs are no longer controlling their own destiny in the SEC East race.

With how the season played out until this point, Georgia seemed like a shoe-in for the SEC Championship especially after a 34-0 win against Missouri. But once again it seems like Georgia’s underachieved under Richt.

Let’s look at the numbers:

Mark Richt’s coaching records at UGA

*Per UGA communications

  • 132-47 over 14 seasons
  • 45-14 in road games
  • 4th winningest coach among active FBS coaches
  • 13 straight bowl appearances
  • 2x SEC Coach of the Year
  • 2 SEC titles in 5 SEC Championship appearances

Tough to argue with those stats.

Nearly every SEC school would love to have a coach with that kind of record and continuity. Richt is the longest tenured coach in the conference, aside from Missouri’s Gary Pinkel (14 seasons), but Richt has survived 14 straight seasons in the SEC and that’s a rare achievement in today’s culture of college football.

Despite the strong numbers from Richt, there’s no denying the recent failures to live up to expectations, however. While Richt hasn’t lost much while at Georgia, but it’s been the timing of losses that’s been so damning.

This season, the SEC East was practically handed to Georgia thanks to an incredibly disappointing season by the South Carolina Gamecocks and a slow start from Florida. The ‘Dawgs took care of Missouri in Columbia a few weeks ago, but yet here Georgia is — second place in the SEC East and officially behind the 8-ball. Georgia was 13-point favorites over Florida, but lost by 18 points. Earlier in the season, Richt’s team was outperformed by a South Carolina squad that has trouble staying at .500 this year.

In 2013, it was the back-to-back losses to Missouri and Vanderbilt and then a late-season loss to Auburn on a miraculous hail-mary for the Tigers. Georgia made the SEC Championship games in 2011 and 2012, but an 0-2 start against two ranked teams in 2011 and a 35-7 blowout loss in a top-10 ranked game between Georgia and South Carolina certainly didn’t appease many of the Georgia faithful.

Unfortunately for Richt, it seems he’s a victim of his own success.

Georgia got off to such a hot start when he became the coach in 2001. Two SEC Championships and three total appearances in his first five seasons and four consecutive 10-win seasons from 2002-2005.

In the near decade since then, Georgia’s only achieved four 10-win seasons and just two SEC championship appearances with zero wins in Atlanta.

There’s no denying that Richt is one of the better coaches in college football and especially in the SEC. His record over the course of the past 14 years proves that. His struggles in the big games recently, however, are waining on UGA fans, and despite the success early in his career, college football is very much a “what have you done for me lately” kind of sport.

If this season ends up being another dud for Georgia and Missouri advances to the SEC Championship, the ‘Mark Richt should be fired’ talk will only increase. His detractors will continue to point to the Richt’s dry spell of not winning SEC championships and until he starts winning the big games again, that hot seat talk won’t cool off.

Eventually, UGA’s hand may be force to make a change — whether its right the thing to do or not.