Coach Mark Richt will survive the storm and isn't leaving Georgia anytime soon
Spoiled Georgia fans have no idea how good they have it with Mark Richt as their football coach, so it’s a good thing the adults in the school administration do.
Newsflash, folks. Richt is one of the best in the business, and he’s not going anywhere.
Yes, a Bulldogs team loaded in talent has underachieved this season to the point where a 27-3 thumping of hapless Kentucky on Saturday was actually a thing to be celebrated. And nobody is more aware of that than the man running the program in Athens the last 15 years.
But fire him? Really?
Simply dismiss the guy who made the Dawgs nationally relevant again after taking over a program that hadn’t won an SEC title in 20 years before his arrival? A guy who’s won two SEC titles (2002, 2005), five SEC Eastern Division titles and tied for another? A two-time SEC Coach of the Year whose career record of 142-51 ranks him 5th-best nationally in winning percentage (74 percent) among active coaches? A guy who has graduated 238 of his players?
Richt is one of only seven coaches in history to have claimed two SEC titles within his first five years and one of only seven head coaches in conference annals to have recorded four straight 10-win seasons (2002-05).
But critics say that he can’t win big games, that he’s plateaued at Georgia and there’s no more left that he can accomplish in Athens. They likewise argue that he’s too nice, that his strong Christian faith prevents him from being the hard-nosed tyrant that consistently gets the best out of his players to win SEC titles and compete for national championships.
In short, they rue the fact that he’s not Nick Saban.
Yet, it was these same critics who were once maligning Richt a few years ago following a spate of arrests of Georgia players for various reasons, saying that he was recruiting the wrong kinds of athletes and sullying the school’s good name.
Funny how Alabama, LSU and Florida winning national championships within the last decade or so changed all those priorities for Georgia fans eager for one of their own. None of the school’s current students and young alums weren’t yet even a glimmer in their daddy’s eyes when then-freshman Herschel Walker led the Dawgs to the national title in 1980.
Now it’s win at all costs or bust. Never mind that those elite programs they seek to emulate in Alabama, LSU and Florida are pretty good, too, and also blessed with great players and coaches.
So let’s just dump Richt after one relatively “bad” season in which he lost tailback Nick Chubb, his team’s best player and legit Heisman Trophy candidate, to a season-ending knee injury early in the Oct. 10 game at Tennessee (keep in mind the Dawgs could still have a nine-win season and play in a significant bowl game).
Just not happening, folks.
Georgia’s big money people were understandably upset after the 27-3 beatdown in Jacksonville at the hands of rival Florida a few weeks ago and reportedly have tried to force Richt’s ouster, only to be rebuffed by athletics director Greg McGarity.
I’ve known McGarity for a number of years now and recall all too well how passionate he is about his alma mater. But he’s also wise enough to know that knee-jerk reactions in the heat of the moment rarely turn out well.
Have there been mistakes and recruiting misses that have haunted the Dawgs this year? No question, but that’s always the case for any other program as well, Alabama included. But Georgia will again be loaded in talent next year following another recruiting bonanza in a state full of talent. Plus, it’ll be armed with a healthy Chubb to fuel a potent ground game.
Hotshot quarterback recruit Jacob Eason may or may not be the savior many are projecting him to be, but that’s OK. Georgia will be very good next year anyways.
In many ways, the storm currently surrounding Richt mirrors the growing impatience nationwide as soaring coaching salaries and facilities arms races further push the onus to win right away.
Richt is making $4 million annually, even as school officials continue hitting up wealthy donors to fund a future $30.2 million indoor practice facility.
Those disgruntled donors are acutely aware of the banners hanging up in Tuscaloosa, in Baton Rouge and in Gainesville and likewise want the best facilities and the best coach available to be the face of the Bulldogs’ program.
They already have him in place, even if they don’t necessarily appreciate him.
The Dawgs could do a lot worse.
You’re wrong bud. We haven’t won an SEC title in 10 YEARS. Great, we win the sorry east like 2 times every 5 years, but where’s the trophy for that? We have the talent. Look at our recruiting classes in the last 5 years. Our 2012 defense had the potential to be the best in Georgia history. That defense was LOADED, and we couldn’t stop the run. We had the division won last year, with a shot at Alabama and a playoff birth, and we lost to a Florida team who was less talented, had a coach who was on his way out the door, and a quarterback who was completely incompetent. He threw the ball 6 times in that game. We got stomped. What about the Florida game this year? That team is in no way more talented than us. People whine about Georgia’s QB woes, but Treon Harris is nothing to write home about. Yet, we go in there and get waxed. Why? Because first year SEC coach Jim McElwain knows something Richt doesn’t. Yeah Alabama, LSU, Florida have the titles in the last decade. But let’s get logical. What do they have that Georgia doesn’t? Better facilities? Nope. Better players? Not really. We get big recruits, they get big recruits. What’s the independent variable? The coach. I’m sorry, Mark Richt is a great man, and a good coach. But Georgia is only ever “good.” We have a chance to get 9 wins and play in a significant bowl game? Sweet. 9 wins, 3 losses, every year. I know I sound spoiled, and there are plenty of teams who would love 9 wins. Yet, Georgia is a big D1 SEC program. We need and want titles, or at least shots at them. Don’t even get me started on the Georgia Tech game last year. That team didn’t belong on the same field as Georgia. The level of talent on both teams couldn’t have been farther apart. And we coached the game away in the closing seconds after Hutson Mason led the team down the field on an apparent game winning touchdown drive, supposedly making up for a defense that got whipped in the second half. I just can’t handle the average seasons anymore with the talent we have. Look at the dawgs in the NFL, and look what they accomplished at UGA. End of rant. Someone respond
I agree 100%. Why should we have to settle for being good? CMR won’t even do the simple things like hiring a special teams coach. This writer is off his rocker. If they keep CMR it should be made known that the program expects significant improvement. 9 wins and a good bowl game would be a big deal for Vanderbilt or Kentucky, but we have everything in place for championships except the right coach.
I completely agree with you dawgman we have always had talent at UGA we just don’t have the coaching. What’s sad is that some fans are happy with wining 8 games a year as long as we keep Mark Richt. In my opinion Richt needs a pay cut he makes way too much and underachieves ever year.
I agree with the sentiment, not with the facts.
No. We do not have facilities on par with the rest of the SEC or even a lot of Power 5 conferences. Pruitt’s FIRST major comment was basically summed up to this “How in the hell don’t you have an inside practice facility?”
I tend to feel there are some other facilities lacking too.
I was just upset as you, and ready to fire richt after defending him most of my lifetime as a bulldog fan, I’m 24, so now didnt’ see out national championship, but CMR has been the HBC most of my life time.
And then a week pass, and I sat down, and thought about it. New OC. No QB. And then eventually, no Chubb.
Florida’s D is better than our’s, what do you mean we are leagues better than them? Are you saying that because they lack a top WR or qb? Or have you actually not even bothered to watch Florida outside of that ONE game against us? Fred Taylor’s son will be a beast in a couple of years, that returnman/receiver is a monster, and let’s not forget their DB’s rival LSU’s as best in the SEC.
The only coaching thing I see Richt has messed up this year that he can control is how they used Michel and Chubb against bama. It was obvious that Michel was doing better than Chubb, considering he was the better back for the style of D alabama runs which blows up the gaps. Clearly, keep Chubb and Michel on the field at the same time as much as possible, and try to get short passes to Michel/Godwin to keep them from focusing in on Mitchell.
I fear a lot of you calling for Richt’s head never played a down of football outside of pop warner. You know why you saw a flash of anger at the Tennesee game, which is uncharacteristic of Richt? Because he knew he had the gameplan AND the players to beat them, and the lack of discipline on d (caused by pruitt) really pissed him off. Not the players, but the lack of discipline and communication, which again was pruitt, which might lend some truth to the rumors about discontent between the coaching staff with pruitt at the center.
Richt has done a fine job, and yes UF has been his Achilles heel. But most of that was against spurrier and Meyer if i’m not mistaken, two coaches with national titles under their belt. And the year we lost to florida, and ended up beating FSU in the sugar bowl, lest we forget Green got hurt that game and Shockley had to step in for a few snaps (which one drive ended in a turnover I believe) and Green had to play hurt, and still almost won us the game against a touch Florida? I was a wee lad and I remember that tid bit of info.
Yes, Injuries happen, but Bama stuffed fournette, is LSU no longer on the same plane as Bama because of that butt whooping? If fournette had suffered a season ending injury like Chubb, would LSU even ONLY have one loss? It’s so easy to complain about what you don’t have, instead of breaking down WHY you don’t have it.
Oh, did we neglect to mention Georgia plays 22 freshman, including 11 regularly on defense, including an interior d lineman, and a secondary stock full of young guys?
COME ON. TEMPER YOUR DAMN EXPECTATIONS. did you really EXPECT a natty this year? An sec title? Winning the east? Oh, we got Chubb that meant we should win. We had gurley before, and even at some point gurley and chubb, and then gurley the entire rest of the season. Did we win a title ? No.
Have we even let puritt’s players he recruited get time in the system? Not really. Next year, presuming the rumors aren’t true, and pruitt doesn’t jump ship, next year we should have a more disciplined and sound d all the way round.
We’ll lose mitchell, but we’ll have a Godwin who seems to be getting his sea legs, and Eason and a buncha top recruits at the skill positions coming in. NO, the Offense won’t be a Murray/Green/Massaqoui potent offense, but I promise you, if they survive half the season next year without taking an L, you’ll see flashes of brilliance and a possible SEC championship.
I’m probably not going to respond anymore after this. So later days. lol
Please take your head out of the sand/stop being a sheep.
First, we are not league’s better than Florida this year. However, last year, we were. We had no business going into Jacksonville last year and losing the way we did to a team with an anemic offense like they had. This year was different. Their defense was clearly better than ours, and talent wise our offenses were a push. Yet, you would have thought they were better than us on both sides of the ball from the way they did move it compared to us. My whole point is based around the fact that I HAVE watched Florida’s other games this year. I watched them eek by Kentucky 24-22 and I watched a similar match up between them and Vanderbilt. This Florida team was a beatable one, and Richt and co. flopped. Did I expect to win the National Title? No. Did I expect to win the East? Yes. Why wouldn’t I have? Our O-line returns, our defensive coordinator gets a second year under his belt, Nick Chubb and Sony Michel bring up the backfield? Yes I expected to win the East. I expected to beat Tennessee. Richt showed emotion because the defense struggled? Our offense scored 17 points. The Coach is responsible for continued mediocrity.
We have an “Inside facility, look how much that’s helped us”.
5-10 against Florida. Despite having the better team in at least 8 or 9 of those 15 years. No amount of excuses you make can change that.
Alabama and Clemson recruit where? On Mars? Nope, right here is our back yard and in exactly the same high schools that UGA recruits in. Then the recruits go to their new teams and coaches and as Spurrier says, something happens. What is it Hollis? You have all the answers and we are stupid, tell us what the differences are.
UF has more raw talent than Georgia. From 2010-2014 Florida pulled in the 2nd ranked recruiting classes in the SEC behind only Alabama. UGA was 5th behind Alabama, Florida LSU and Auburn as well. Over this same period UGA won the 3rd most SEC games and placed the 2nd most players in to the NFL so the trend was going Georgia’s way. Injuries kept the 2013 team from getting back to Atlanta and I was surprised the 2014 team did as well as the did considering all the defensive changes, new QB and key injuries. This year has been about what I expected with all the changes on the offensive side and the injury to Chubb. I think the Auburn game will tell the tell for the season and if UGA can win out and win a good bowl game 10-3 looks pretty darn good.
With the way the teams are trending, Auburn’s set up to pound Georgia and a loss like that would do Richt in. This suddenly ain’t the same Auburn team that people made fun of earlier in the year.
Don’t care. I’ll always make fun of little brother.
We will get to you shortly. Got stuff to attend to first.
Going to overtime with Jacksonville state?
Not gonna help y’all Saturday.
We probably wont need overtime like the powerhouse in Jacksonville
You won’t need overtime to lose? Because you know they lost in OT, right?
A complete Idiot Alert!!!
You’re right Dd2. Georgia won’t need overtime this weekend, Auburn will have y’all put away long before that
Mark Richt’s problem is not that we haven’t won a National Championship. We’ve been close to it 3 times I believe. It’s the lack of competitiveness in the SEC. Bobby Bowden was a “god” at FSU because they won the ACC nearly every year from the first year they joined and had never been considered a top tier program prior to that.
But when the conference titles dried up after 2005, so did his support.
Just based on recruiting territory, Georgia and Florida should dominate the East every year. If UGA won the East every other year, most people would be very happy with Richt right now. But we have only won it outright twice in the last 10 years, losing in the SECC both times.
Florida has been his Achilles heel. And that was the ONE series he was expected to turn around coming from Florida St. I imagine it was one of the significant reasons he was hired over other candidates at the time. He was the THE GUY from FSU who BEAT Spurrier 8 times out of 13 games during the same period that we only beat him once. But that expectation has NEVER been fulfilled in 15 years.
Even the two times UGA won the SEC, we LOST to Florida in both years, costing us a shot at the BCS Championship in 2002.
Those facts are at the core of the dissatisfaction with him.
Every team deals with injuries. Ohio State won the National Championship last year with a 3rd string QB. Sound recruiting and the creation of depth on the roster is the hallmark of great coaches. And aren’t we always told that continuity on the coaching staff is what leads to great recruiting? Well we’ve had that continuity for 15 years yet the excuse every year is “we’re young, our star player got hurt, we had 6 guys from last year’s defense get drafted to the NFL,” etc. Why in 15 years with one of the best recruiting bases in the NCAA do we ALWAYS seem to be THIN at some key group, particularly on the OL?
Yes, in 2012 we were 5 yards from going to the BCS Championship vs Notre Dame… in a game where we blew a 2 score lead in the final 20 minutes. While you might say we were on par with Alabama in 2012, the trajectory of the two programs since then was shown in stark contrast on Oct 3 with a healthy Nick Chubb in the game.
See, Hollis, the fans know more than you. Read above ^^.
Here are the cold hard facts about Mark Richt’s tenure at UGA.
He has not won the SEC east in 3 years
He has not won the SEC in ten years
UGA has not won a national championship since the 1980s
Mark Richt has never beaten Bama since the Saban era
Heck any coach who’s been coaching for a big football program like UGA and looses big games time after time needs to go.
Lastly since 2008 his record against ranked opponents is 9-23 which is pitiful.
Was Saban not coaching in 2007 when UGA beat Bama in OT in Tuscaloosa?
His first season in which they also lost to UL- Monroe, except UL- Monroe didn’t need overtime
2007 ha! that was many years ago. Did we win an SEC title that year?
He calls you out on a mistake, and instead of saying, “My bad, you’re right.” you say “Did we win an SEC title that year?”
O…..k..
Yea, wasn’t defending Richt, just pointing out your false information. Do some research before you post.
Lol I normally wouldn’t defend Alabama ,but that was his first year there how much was Saban really going to improve that team in one season?
How was I defending Richt or putting Saban down? Just pointing out the fact that his facts were wrong. Read before you comment, I know being an Auburn fan it is difficult, but come on.
OK jmann let’s fire Les Miles because he has not won the SEC West in 4 years, only four teams have won the SEC over the last 10 years, Alabama, Florida, LSU and Auburn and they were all the best team in the country at one point over the last 10 years as well. There are only a few teams that have won a national championship since Georgia won back in 1980 and in 81, 82 and 83 you saw how difficult it was. Not many coaches have beaten Nick Saban so I don’t understand your point there. Most of the big games Georgia has lost were to really good teams and in many cases the eventual best teams in the country that year so again I do not get your point there either. You statistics don’t jib with Wikipedia which shows Georgia has won 14 games against ranked opponents between 2008-2014 and if you check the other SEC teams you will see that the only two SEC coaches with a winning record against ranked teams over this period are Saban and Miles. Georgia has the 4th most wins against ranked opponents from 2008-2014 , other than Saban and Miles CMR is only behind the HBC in wins against ranked opponents.
I’m a little confused by “There are only a few teams that have won a national championship since Georgia won back in 1980”. The NCAA recognizes 21 diffferent teams as National Champions since 1980. That’s more than a few.
Mark richt beat Alabama in nick Sabans first year as HC there.
Consistently outcoached. Consistently unmotivated. Recruits against 2 triple option teams in a state with enough talent that Peewee Herman could land a class of 4 stars. I’m one Bulldog who expects the greatest university in America to have a top notch football team, not continue to be incarcerated in mediocrity. Apologists are an embarrassment to the greatness of our institution.
I got my first degree from uga…but seriously, “greatest university in America”. It’s not the best in the state. Statements like that feed into the georgia fans are delusional talk. And lets be real 8 or 9 wins a season is not mediocre. 1-5 wins is poor, 6/7 wins is mediocre, 8/9/10 wins is above avg.(ranked in the top 20 at the end of season),11/12 is elite.
You’re a tennesee fan, you havent won the East in more than 10 years.
Are standards are different.
Our*
2007, smashed UGA in Neyland and won the East. We have a winning record against UGA, more all-time wins, more SEC Championships, more National Championships, and for some reason you believe you’re entitled to higher expectations? You’re delusional.
I was like for 1 year in the 1900s, can we talk about this century?
#BrickByBrick #NextYear
Tennessee in a couple of words ^
alive for 1 year*
Just stoppin by to say Roll Tide!
But seriously DD2, I just want to say that Tennessee is historically better than Georgia, really the rest of the SEC except for Bama. Only a prick like you can make me say this smugly.
vol fans, get over yourselves….you aren’t that much better than UGA historically. UGA has more bowl wins, is only ONE behind in SEC championships and national championships (unless you new vols are trying to “claim” more than 2)
Hollis, what kool-aid you been drinking?
UGA beat Bama in OT at Tuscaloosa in 2007. Saban’s 1st year there.
Big deal Nick Saban and the tide only won like six games the whole season. In other words why even recognize Saban’s first year. Most first year head coaches don’t win much their year. Of course UGA beat Bama in 2007 but what about 2009, 2012 and 2015??!!
Richt also defeated saban when he was at lsu
The two key words in your post were “first” and “year” how many first year head coaches just dominate?…none in the SEC
Gus had a lucky horseshoe in his @$$ his first year but you are correct. Not many.
Jim McElwain.
I’ll be interested to see where it goes from here. McElwain is a great offensive coach with Muschamp’s defensive players. Not saying it will change, I’m just interested to see where the first year success goes after those players leave and Florida is competing for defensive recruits with Muschamp at another school.
Can we please stop comparing this Mark Richt presently to the Mark Richt in his early career. They clearly aren’t the same guy, he has reached his pinnacle and its time to go. He will get rid of his OC and his DC wil probably walk so he gets another year to try and right the ship. Since the original blackout game against Auburn in 07 Mark Richt is 5-20 against SEC teams that finish the season above .500 in conference play. Let’s let that sink in. He beats cupcake OOC teams, feasts on UK, Vandy, and a down UT during that time and gets his 9 wins but loses three games at least every year. The guy needs to go. Thanks for everything (like all Georgia fans have been saying for a while now) but the time is now.
This stat has been thrown around a whole bunch and not many people really understand it. Every year each SEC team plays 8 conference games and if you are the division champion you play a 9th conference game against the best team from the other division. That means each year in each conference there are only a couple of teams with a winning conference record. From 2008 – 2014 the East Division has only had 14 winning conference teams and only 1 of these teams has won against the West in the Championship game. UGA has 5 of these winning Eastern divisions teams, Florida 3, South Carolina 4 and Missouri 2. It seems to me that UGA has won more than every other team in the East Division over this period and you better be a winning SEC team or you will not beat Georgia because all of Georgia’s loses in the SEC (20) over this period have come against winning SEC teams. So please quit using that stat, it looks good on the surface if you’re disparaging CMR but once you examine it closer you’ll see it is actually another stat that actually shows how food a job Richt has done.
You are over thinking it. It means he isn’t winning against quality/good teams.
No offense here, but I’m not really sure that you understand the stat you are referring the true context. Georgia has been the leader of the SEC East over that stretch,. Sure, but is Georgia trying to be better than mediocre Florida, Mizzou, South Carolina? Or, is Georgia trying to compete at the level of the premier programs in the nation (some of which happen to be in the SEC West which Georgia falls way behind in). Yeah, you could compare Georgia’s schedule against ranked opponents to a team like Vanderbilt, but success is a measure of expectations. If the expectation is to be better than 80% of the schools in the country then Mark Richt has bee successful even over the last decade of lesser results. If the expectation is to compete at a high level like Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, Florida State, etc…then he has not been successful over the last decade, and to me that is where the bar should be for Georgia.
I think you answered your own questions. c’mon man…
2 SEC titles in what, 30, 35 years? Yes sir, too good to let go. This guy is either a fool or on the UGA payroll. Either way, he has no credibility.
It’s been 10 yrs not 30. Mark richt has not coached at UGA for thirty yrs.
I’ve said it over and over. If Georgia fans don’t want him, South Carolina will take him. He’s a great coach. No coach will win all the time. But with him, he wins most of the time.
My philosophy on college football is this. Your team has a 50% chance of winning or losing. If your team loses, what else are you going to do about it. Quit being a fan? Start knitting? Join a women’s book club? No offense Malcolm Mitchell. You’re a fan through the wins and losses, highs and lows. It’s so easy to be critical when times are tough but when it comes to being thankful for the good things MR does, people are absent. We beat a good LSU team at home in 2013, and the very next year we beat a Clemson team who’s #1 now. Even had a big win at home last year against a threatening Auburn team and we swept the SEC west that season. I think people should be more appreciative and THANKFUL that we’ve had MR for this long. I know for a fact other schools would love to have him. Be humble and thankful fellow Dawg fans, it could be way worse.
We can’t judge it based on winning a big game every year, we need to judge it based on consistency, effort, focus, tenacity, perseverance, words rarely used to describe the Dawgs these days.
Why do people equate being critical with not being a fan? Do you cheer when Lambert throws an interception or the defense gives up a deep bomb? It’s ok to not be happy when something goes wrong. It’s not like people are suddenly cheering for Ohio State instead of UGA.
Clemson’s #1 ranking in 2015 has no relevance to Georgia beating them in 2014. There is massive roster turnover each year in college football. It was a good win, but don’t bring up 2015.
“Threatening Auburn in 2014”? Is the bar set so low that a team which finished with 5 losses is threatening?
“swept the SEC west”? Ok yes they won 2 games against teams which were a combined 16-11.
“we beat a good LSU team at home in 2013”? No fault with that statement except, where are the other examples? I’ll throw in 2012 Florida and 2009 Georgia Tech for you. How about 2015 – Auburn, Florida, 2014 – South Carolina, Florida, GT, 2013 – Clemson, Missouri, Auburn, 2012 – South Carolina, 2011 – Boise State, South Carolina, LSU, Michigan State and on and on all the way back through 2008?
I’m thankful for early success Richt gave the program, but it’s time for the program to move on.
Thats funny, my bama lunch buddy said today that if Richt stayed then Shotty and Pruitt would be gone. I tried to bet him a lunch but he would not do it.
Here’s the real story on Richt: He does have offensive skill, which makes sense why he was a good OC at FSU. That gave them a great start when he started off with Donnan’s and Rodney Garner’s talent at UGA. Despite some stumbles in the early days, year after year, he kept getting good recruits, 18 year olds buying into a promise of success, yet he never stopped stumbling.
Now remember 2012: SEC Championship Game, Alabama. A perfect testament to where the path could go. UGA undoubtedly had more talent than Alabama, and were motivated more by Safety Shawn Williams than by Richt. But they were poorly conditioned and couldn’t play for 4Q and had poor mental toughness. I counted 15 critical mistakes Georgia made in that game, while Saban’s only mistake was that he kept 2 timeouts going into halftime.
UGA does not run their operation with strict military discipline. They are laggard, and weak, despite having some of the best talent in the country. “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.” Colossians 3:23
And as Jim Collins says, good is the opposite of great.
Asinine Drivel. Those are the two words that come to mind after reading just the first paragraph of this article.
2001-2005 was a long time ago. I have 10 years of additional and more recent data to look at though which is eerily similar to the Jim Donnan era.
John Hollis, have you ever done a bit of analysis in your life? There was a nice high trend early in his career at Georgia. That graph has taken a nose dive since then though.
Georgia fans have it good compared and 80% of the 120+ teams in the nation sure, but why should Georgia with all of it’s resources compare itself to Vanderbilt?
In sum – your article is bad and you should feel bad.