Some advice for those upset by Mark Richt

Alabama wants a strong Georgia. A strong Georgia protects the Atlanta recruiting area from raids by the Volunteers. A championship caliber Georgia program would serve as a check on Florida’s SEC East dominance. A strong Georgia beats Auburn, and thus makes for at least three probable SEC losses per year for the Tigers (Alabama, LSU and Georgia). Thus, a strategic view of SEC Realpolitik shows that it is in Alabama’s best interest for Georgia to get its act together. A strong Georgia provides balance against any potential hegemon in the SEC East, and balances traditional Alabama rivals.

It is with this understanding that I write to provide some helpful advice to the Bulldog family.

Georgia is a premier program. It produces immense revenue. It dominates a major media market unlike anyone else in the SEC. It has a proud tradition of excellence. However, the Bulldogs are having a bad season following on the heels of a disappointing season. How can Georgia regain its momentum?

There are three paths Georgia could take. The first path is to fire Mark Richt. The second path is to allow Richt to run his program. The third path is for Georgia administrators and boosters to interfere in Richt’s program and insist on personnel changes. Of the three paths the worst possible choice is the path of interference and forced personnel changes.

If we assume personnel changes NEED to be made, and Richt does not recognize the need to change personnel—then he should be fired. If a coach recognized his subordinates are incompetent or ineffective, but will not make the difficult decision then the coach should be fired. If a coach is incapable of holding subordinates accountable then he is incapable of managing a small organization. How much more so a multimillion dollar organization in the SEC!

Administrators will be tempted to interfere as fans pressure for ANY changes. There is nothing worse for an organization than when the head coach is emasculated to satiate the public’s desire for blood; the players and assistants lose respect for the coach. The question becomes, Who is in charge? This is the worst possible outcome; assistants begin pursuing their own agendas, and boosters begin to position for the inevitable fight over the next hire—the vultures circle. This creates an environment where factions flourish. If you have any doubt about the damage this can do to a program just look at Auburn. The animosity still simmers. Fans know the old clique caused the present disaster by alienating Tuberville, and then when the clique was able to summon the strength to fire Tuberville, the idiots hired a 5-19 coach. Auburn is a wreck. It is a powder keg of discontent ready to blow sooner rather than later.

Firing a coordinator is almost always a PR move—at least when done under pressure. In Alabama’s case, many fans, media commentators and administrators counseled Mike Shula to make staff changes such as firing his offensive coordinator. These staff changes were theoretically designed to repair the problems within the program. However, changing coordinators would not have solved Alabama’s troubles. Alabama suffered from a leadership problem; Shula did not command the respect of anyone. Allowing the coach to make a token personnel change would have been a bad outcome for the Crimson Tide. Players were out of shape. Players were undisciplined. While many fans wanted to say Shula’s offensive philosophy was the problem, the problem rested in Shula’s failure to make the team physically and mentally tough.

Penalties, poor blocking and technique were problems throughout the Shula tenure. Would a coordinator solve these deeper problems? If a coach won’t make a player work, will any scheme or teaching fix this?

The only solution for these woes is a strong leader willing to hold his players and coaches accountable. A weak coach cannot hold anyone accountable. Any move by the administration that weakens the leadership position of the coach invites chaos. And chaos is a friend of the Volunteers, Gamecocks, Tigers and Gators.

Another problem with a forced coordinator change is the growing idea that coordinators are somehow entitled to bring in their own personnel. The idiotic situation at Auburn with Tony Franklin illustrates this. Franklin complained to the press (and the press believed him!) that he should have been allowed to bring in assistants familiar with his system. These assistants would have presumably been loyal to Franklin. Who would want such division on a staff? The staff must be a reflection of the head coach, and be loyal to him. Anything else creates dreaded factionalism. A coach cannot control his staff if assistants owe their jobs to other assistants.

There is a strong case to be made against Richt. His teams are undisciplined. Doubt this? Just look at the penalties and defense. Richt has seemed clueless against Urban Meyer.

There is a strong case to be made for Richt. He recruits well. He wins games, and wins big games on the road. He has conference championships on his resume.

The entire situation boils down to this: you either trust Richt, or you don’t. If you trust him, then let him run his program. If you don’t trust him, then you should fire him. Anything else makes life more difficult for the Bulldogs. It postpones a tough decision; it prolongs your agony.

44 thoughts on “A letter to the Georgia Bulldogs”

  1. Prior to last year and in spite of Florida and LSWho grabbing the titles, Georgia had the best 10 year won-lost record in the SEC. CMR knows what it takes to win. Who knows what the problem is over there. They need to figure it out and fix it. But I don’t think firing CMR is the solution. Maybe beating Florida would help? RTR!

  2. Take out the parts of this article where you said Richt shouldn’t be fired… and I agree with you 100%.

  3. As hard as it is to believe, I actually agree with EG here. Richt has done a stellar job at UGA. He’s won more games than anyone ever thought about winning in an 8 yr period at UGA, and that includes Dooley. He’s won enough to win an NC, he just hasn’t had luck fall on his side at the right time. Anybody can have a couple of bad seasons if you stay at a school long enough. Look at what happened to Bear in the late 60’s.

    “A strong Georgia beats Auburn, and thus makes for at least three probable SEC losses per year for the Tigers (Alabama, LSU and Georgia).” You’ve got a real strange definition of “probable”, Cappy.
    AU’s lost to all those schools in the same year about 3 times in the last 25 years. In fact, Auburn has a winning record against all 3 schools in the last 25 years. (I guess all 3 have been crippled by NCAA sanctions for the past 25 years.)

  4. What is Auburn’s all-time record? What is Auburn’s record for the last five years? 10 years? 35 years? 45 years? 55 years? 65 years? 13 and 3/4 years?

    Yeah, we can pull arbitrary numbers out for any arbitrary time frame; however, it is impossible to say that a strong Georgia isn’t bad for Auburn.

  5. I hate to say it, but I think this is weak. Fellas, we don’t have to think about “I hope that THAT team is good so that we can get (whatever scenario/advantage).

    So…personally, I could careless how good/sorry Georgia is last year. Won’t matter if we’re undefeated. That’s the objective. No need to worry ’bout those other losers (georgia, auburn, lsu, or even florida (yes…them too, ’cause the Reign of Tebow is about to end.))

  6. Gee Cappy, you bammers seem to crow an awful lot about an arbitrary time frame of 1958 to 1982 despite the fact that it ended nearly 30 years ago. How come there’s nothing wrong with that?

    Georgia has been plenty strong since the beginning of time, and Auburn has done just fine. For the record, AU holds an overall advantage in the series of 53-51-8.

  7. Cap, you have a semi-valid point. We do play Goergia yearly in the deep souths oldest rivalry. Georgia usually fields a strong team. A team that is very comparable to Auburn. So I can get your logic there. Bama on the other hand has Tennessee. While as of late, they suck. But overall , they field a solid squad.

    Georgia would be foolish to fire Richt. Unlike Tommy T. Richt is not as sharp at seeing young talented ASSISTANT COACHES. Yes, he can see a players talent 10 miles away, and will usually sign that player. But, Goergia hasnt had a decent defensive coordinator in a long time. Nor have they really had a decent offensive coodinator. Ive always said that Georgia is the school that 5 star running backs plunge into obscurity.

    As far as class goes, there are no coaches in the NCAA in Richts league. He is a straight up good man who walks the walk, not just talks the talk. I for one have been a huge fan of the man for the past 8 or so years. Hey, if they dont want him, I would give my vote to hire him, that is , if I had a vote.

  8. ulio,

    If I recall we won a MNC in 1992 and you can just combine all the years that Bama has been playing football and count the Championships. Look at the entire picture. Bama fans have a lot to be proud of and more tradition than 99% of all college football teams.

  9. Uhh Julia, you’ve never heard me crow about the Bear Bryant era. Alabama was king of the south and a national power long before the Bear came around. In fact we’re #5 in all time wins, #1 in bowl appearances and #1 in bowl wins. In the prestigious Rose Bowl, only USC has more wins than us and we haven’t played in it in 50 years. I’m not sure about now, but before probation we had the record for most winning seasons, most 10 win seasons and most undefeated seasons in the history of college football. And our rediculously lopsided winning record against every other SEC team has allowed us to maintain a comfortable winning record against all of you even after our lean probation years gave you the opportunity to catch up some. But now daddy’s back. Go stand in your corner! RTR!

  10. All good points Ballplay. I would tend to think Richt should be retained by UGA; however, fans and administrators need to be content with that decision. If they aren’t, then making a change is better than trying to micromanage Richt.

    Julio, I don’t doubt Auburn has done well against all its rivals. Auburn is an upper echelon SEC team–it isn’t Ole Miss, Miss State or Vandy. However, Auburn has not faced its major rivals of Georgia, LSU and Alabama being on solid ground at the same time for an extended period of time. All things being equal, LSU looks like it will contend for the division crown most years; Alabama looks set for the next 3-4 years. Throw in the rise of Arkansas and if Georgia gets it together, life would be much harder for Auburn.

    If Auburn were to have 3 losses in the SEC, it is unlikely the team would win the divisional crown. And that is really the point–increase the difficulty for AU winning the western division means that the Alabama-LSU winner would usually win the division.

  11. Is this where I say Rome was the greatest empire right before it fell? Or would that be too cliched, just like this entire article and thread. I swear, the SEC blogosphere has to be the asshole of the internet. Here we are in an article about some stupid arbitrary theory involving Georgia, and, right on cue, it degenerates into a discussion on the merits of Bear Bryant’s posthumous relevance. Alabamians know how to use the internet for one of two things: 1) arguments about Alabama’s national championships and 2) porn.

  12. Don’t know which cesspool league Dank fell out of. Obviously he’s ashamed to say. Since it certainly isn’t the SEC, then it most certainly is a cesspool league full of pussies! Cap this is the toughest and most important game of the year, and yet I haven’t read anything about LSWho, and have seen only two Corndog posts. Can’t you ban all these damn Barners, Viles and outsiders until after Saturday? We need some trash mouthed Corndogs on here. Why don’t you invite Friendly Foe and Denis4lsu over. They are mods on Tiger Sports Forum and are real assholes and Bama/Saban haters. RTR!

  13. Cesspool league full of pussies? I don’t even know what a cesspool is because I couldn’t afford to go to community college like everyone else on here. I do know what a pussy is because I’ve been laid like 6 times unlike all you loser virgins.

  14. Cappy, I get your point about life being harder for AU if Bama, UGA, LSU are all strong at the same time. Life was certainly hard for Bama when Auburn, LSU, and Tenn were strong at the same time.

    The same analogy goes for Bama where UT is concerned. As much as I hate to admit it about Kiffin, I think Tenn is about to get strong again. LSU should stay strong under the mad hatter. We’ll see about Chizik and AU, but the recuiting looks good and the staff does too. That makes 3 tough outs for Bama, too.

  15. I tend to agree with Alabama facing three tough annual opponents. This makes it critical for the other major programs in the SEC West to face similar issues.

    However, I think UT will be good again…only after they fire Kiffin. I don’t care what happened in Tuscaloosa…Shula played Fulmer close a few times too.

    I think Auburn is always a tough game regardless of the coach. I remain unconvinced of this staff. I like to make fun of Chizik, but I have much more confidence in him than Malzahn. If Chizik had hired Borges, I’d be much more concerned about Auburn’s long range viability.

  16. Dank Dankerson — LMAO — I give you credit on your posts — although I’m a “bammer” — you should be careful to judge before you know.

  17. EG all that ancient history is nice, but at what point does it become largely irrelevant? Minnesota has won multiple NC’s, but they were so long ago that rational people would laugh in your face if you tried to claim that Minn was a natl powerhouse based upon those. Saban has given Bama a future to look forward too, and I’d much rather have that than memories of ancient championships.

    P.S. Your claims about Bama’s Rose Bowl victories have about as much credibility as Bama’s claims to 12 NC’s. Michigan, Washington, Ohio State, Stanford, and UCLA all have more Rose Bowl victories than Bama.

  18. “P.S. Your claims about Bama’s Rose Bowl victories have about as much credibility as Bama’s claims to 12 NC’s. Michigan, Washington, Ohio State, Stanford, and UCLA all have more Rose Bowl victories than Bama.”

    How many of those did they win in the pre-AP title era? Exactly!

    This video pretty much cleared up the debate about Alabama’s 12 NC’s and the misleading facts they try and deceive people with:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCzJiHQFO9Q

    It’s hard to argue with the facts, isn’t it?

  19. Yeah, I made a grammatical error in my rush to type. So sue me! The Rose Bowl wins to which I refered, were prior to us being banned from there after they got tired of us beating the shit out of their pussy west coast teams in their home bowl! Certainly after 50 years there are a few teams with more wins than Bama. As for our 12 NC’s, I am tired of arguing with you retarded, penis envying bastards who want to deny them. You’re nearly always from a team over which we have a domimant record (which would be the entire SEC and anybody else we’ve played 7 or more times except Texas) and therefore you have few or no NC’s yourself. You can bet your sweet ass that if you dumb bastards had a NC awarded even from Wal-mart, you would be claiming it! Dumbass tit turds. RTR. #13 in ’09!

  20. I’m still laughing about the fact that someone boasted about getting layed 6 times. I got layed 6 times…WHEN I WAS A FETUS!!! Rofl! Anywho I bleed Crimson, I’ve known at least 2 former P.B.B. Players one is my fathers cousin the other has a 79 NC ring. That said, those days are gone. They are not as important to me as a 28 yr old fan. 13 IS! 14 IS and so on. I don’t care if UGA is week or not, CNS will be able to recruit In Ga as he needs. I want a strong Auburn and to see two 11-0 teams in the iron bowl each yr play for a de facto NC. It’s the best situation for the whole state and the rivalry, ask UF how much the FSU game means these days and you will get a sense of why I think this way.

  21. I’m with ya on the laid 6 times! LMFAO! Sometimes I get laid 6 times in one night, and sometimes it’s by 6 different girls. Ha, ha, ha! But can’t go along with that undefeated Iron Bowl bullshit. When I was younger I felt that way. But that was before the Barn, the Viles and the Lizards conspired to destroy us with the NZAA for the same things they were doing. It was before all the unmittigated hate that’s constantly spewing forth toward Bama as toward no others. And it was before the 6 fingers. I don’t want the bastards undefeated in 1 Iron Bowl, much less all of them! If they are that good, then they would win their share of the Iron Bowls. It would be impossible for it not to happen. And no true Bama man would ever want to lose to Auburn. No dude, I hope the Barn never wins another football, basketball, baseball or any other sports competition. And certainly never want them even close to undefeated in the Iron Bowl where with a victory they might advance to bigger things. Nope, screw Awbarn! RTR!

  22. egg…We can finally find somethjing we both can agree on. That feeling is mutual.

  23. EG, that’s the whole freakin’ point. Auburn could make flaky claims for the NC in 83, 93, and 04, too. (especially 83). We don’t do it. Those 3 seasons would have a far superior claim to Bama’s 1941 “NC” that was awarded about 20 years after the fact by Good Housekeeping despite the fact that Bama finished the season with 2 losses and ranked #20 in the AP.

  24. Julia, no you cannot make those claims about ’83, ’93 and ’04! You were not awarded a NC or even part of a NC in any one of those years by any ligitimate or accepted source, which would have been only the AP and UPI. Whereas our NC’s that you love to dispute were each and every one officially awarded to us by one or more of the accepted sources of that time. And it doesn’t matter if we had the best w-l record or not. With 7 or 8 different agencies from all around the country awarding NC’s mostly based on regional prejudice, it was not uncommon for 2, 3 or even 4 teams to claim a NC for the same year. Tough shit! A legitimate source of the day awarded them to us and therefore they are ours to claim, even if they are shared. Why wasn’t the Barn ever awarded any of those old NC’s? For the same reason you never played in the Rose Bowl! You weren’t good enough! So screw ya’ll! RTR!

  25. Wasn’t this post about Georgia? Oh wait, now it’s even more so about Alabama’s disputed national championships (which is exactly what I said earlier). This is all you inbred idiots can talk about.

  26. The Crimson TURD Moron Nation giving a class program like Georgia advice when Bammer is the dirtist program in college football??

    You Bammer boobs have no shame! Get over yourselves and get ready to be disappointed again this year; no SEC nor National Title for the Tuscaloser Cheaters!

    As for Kiffin, get ready to be owned by Kiffin as your Turds were by Fulmer!

    GO VOLS!!

  27. Indy Hoe -\
    12-10
    12-10
    12-10
    12-10
    12-10
    12-10
    12-10
    12-10
    12-10
    Now study that you fucking Moron.

  28. 12-10? Is that a football score, or is that the average number of chromosomes of the fanbases at Alabama and Tennessee?

  29. EG, Bama was retroactively awarded the 1941 NC by the Football Thesarus. Funny that you refer to that publication as one of the “accepted sources of that day” when it wasn’t even published until 1946. Bama didn’t even win the SEC that year.

    BTW, the 83 AU team was awared the NC by the NY Times, and the 93 AU team was awarded the NC by the National Championship Foundation. (They were actually awarded at the end of the season too, not 10 years later).

  30. Pluto (aka CRIMSON TURD MORON);

    Fulmer 12
    Crimson TURD 4

    Get used to it; Lane Kiffin will own the dirty, cheating Bammer bastards just like Fulmer!!

  31. You can say all you want viles but your 0-3 against Saban teams, what makes you think that will change anytime soon, all those no. 1 ranked recruiting classes??? And Dank, I must say that judging by your comments, I do not believe you to be a person that will be reading scholarly journals anytime soon. This said, your ad hominem attacks on the intelligence of Bama fans on this site is a bit ironic. E.G. I completely understand what you mean, but I would prefer UcheaT never win another game. Aubarn on the other hand is to me much like the fat girl at the prom that no one ants to dance with so her smoking hot friend (Bama) dances with her and all the boys follow. This is what UA does for the cow college, it would be even better for that fat girl to have a dance with the prom king (NC) and the best night of her life until the smoking hot friend walks by and gets his attention. So for me it is not unBama to want two undefeated teams entering the Iron Bowl. It would be so much sweeter hearing the barners say “we coulda won the 2003 NC if that 11-0 bama team that beat the breaks off us hadn’t” rather than “we shoulda played USC in 2003 we woulda won”. See for the fat friend, losing to the prom queen has a certain sense of finality and sobriety to it. She is reminded that she is after all the unnatractive fat friend. Ask dank what I’m talking about, he knows six of them.

  32. alabama built the conference.

    alabama put the conference on the map.

    alabama carried the conference for years.

    we can claim as many nat. championships as we want.

  33. Are you implying that I must read scholarly journals to point out the stupidity of Alabama fans? Although I wish there were a “Roll Tide Quarterly: A Study of the Inbred Stupidity of the Alabama Football Nation,” there sadly is not. I need only look to this site, however, to prove that Alabama fans have the intelligence of a pile of ostrich doo-doo.

  34. I am implying that you are quick to criticize a fan base that loves its program. Meanwhile, you have not offered any support for your own. It seems to me that you are more in love with the Tide than your own team. If you had posted a logical argument explaining why your team or teams fans(whoever that is) is better than Alabama’s, offering proof and beginning a meaningful discussion, you would’ve found that most Alabama fans are quite engaging. That is not what you chose to do. It seems that you would rather get on an opposing fansite and belittle the fans rather than actually talk about football(the reason this site has forums etc…). So to answer your question strait forward, I am emphatically emplying that it requires less intellegince, education, and analytical skills to make personal attacks than to actually communicate a well reasoned and cohesive thought from an opposing viewpoint. Your claims that Alabama fans have no intelligence is without merit and void, they are similar to the names that children call one another. If you are a child, (hopefully you are not a child, but merely pretending to be one) then your actions are completely allowable. And lastly, if there were a scholarly journal that related to UA it would be titled, The Quarterly Journal of Class.

  35. What engaging Alabama fans? By engaging do you mean, “Boy, that Alabama fan’s breath was pretty engaging. He should probably lay off the Old Grandad and move on with his life. After all, most 45 year old men have become doctors or bankers or productive members of society. This guy still hasn’t retired the Houndstooth hat or cut the back of his hair in at least 18 months.”

    The Quarterly Journal of Class? Think, are you always this delusional or do you just play like this for your internet friends? What’s worse is that you fuel your self-importance not by things you have done, but by things you have imagined a college football team to have done. Do you think Alabama football players wear suits to class and visit St. Jude’s Children Hospital on the bye week? Hell no. They get wasted and get into fights in the off-season, take gifts from rich alumni, and go to class hardly at all. Wait! That is the name of your journal. The Quarterly Journal of Class: About a Quarter of the Time, SEC Football Players Go to One Class. No SEC team has class. At least not the good ones.

  36. Offer proof of your claims otherwise you are merely billowing hot air. I still have not heard what school or conference you support. You have completely failed to recognize that you have no real or clear argument. Please go to some other site and play shouting matches, I’m no longer going to waste my time trying to convince you to have an actual disussion wherein two or more people offer up intellectual developments and use reason to persuade. “Here in Alabama we are better than you, and now you know it.” JT Bowtie

  37. See dude? You just did it again. You made yourself feel way important and accomplished off something a college football team did. Here in Alabama we are better than you? At what? Football? Sure the FOOTBALL TEAM is great. One of the best in the nation. YOU on the other hand have done nothing. It’s one thing to say “I root for Alabama.” It’s another to confuse yourself as being able to say you are better than someone because the football team you root for may have beat them at some point. You are delusional. Clearly, Alabama football is life for you. Not in the way that you are a fanatic. No, in the way that you feeling good about yourself depends upon them winning or losing. It’s pathetic.

  38. Dank – you obviously masturbate too much. Guess it’s time for the big 7 shot of chromosomes ……

  39. This Rank Foreskinson is pure chickenshit. There aren’t too many schools outside the SEC that he could be from and be that rank and retarded and have so much hate for Bama. I’ll name some that come to mind who I know for a fact are assholes. Miami, Michigan, USC, Notre Dame, Utah, Boise State, UAB. It’s time to ignore the inbred bastard. He’s irrelevant. RTR!

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