Coach Mark Richt is fired!!!!

I figured it was coming this year or next.  Some other college will get a great, inspirational football coach.  Just wonder who UGA will get to replace him.  Smart, Kelly, Mullen?

Or Spurrier?

Really dumb decision

A change was greatly needed. He had outlived his usefulness there. Time for new ideas.





Wow, I read what I posted and I sound like a retard.

It was definitely time for a change though now that it's been announced I feel kind of sad. Big decision picking Richt's replacement.

I wouldn't be surprised if richt wins a championship wherever he goes and I hope our next coach puts us back in contention. I think there was a weird dynamic and wasn't changing anytime soon.

Tech should get rid of Johnson and pick up Richt

That would be interesting. Some UGA fanatics would put a mark on his head (pun intended), especially if Tech started winning consistently against UGA.

I want Johnson gone too, but tech can't afford it. Especially with extending him until 2020 last year . His contract was up in 2016 until last years season happened.

What does he coach and for who?

I want Johnson gone too. Saw him on the news the news the other night and the reporter asked him if he was focused on the GT vs UGA game and he gave his usual "all games the same, UGA game not special, blah-blah-blah". Sorry, I am a Tech grad and the UGA game is special and Johnson needs to go. He seems to get his act together right at contract time.................................

I'm just glad I didn't have to hear a word about football or sports at Thanksgiving.  I was thankful for that.

Yawn....

I'm sure in 3 years he will have another superb season. Seems like once a contract session he will make something big happen .

Huh??

I seen SC was interested in Mark. Where probably waiting on bama to finish and talk to Kirby

I don't agree in Morehead or McGairty's decision to not support Coach through the 2016 season. I think it's a mistake.

Assume they did give Richt one more year, what have you seen that makes you think '16 would be any different than this season?

A lot tells me the 2016 season with Coach would be successful, like the past 15 years of being a proud Bulldawg.

Tell me how not having Coach around for 2016 helps us at all? What's the plan? We've heard the get rid of Coach for weeks months and even years... So what's the next step?

That was my question...exactly what are you seeing that makes you feel this way?  What about this season (or even 2014 for that matter) makes you feel overly optimistic?  



For one, it finally says the athletic department will no longer accept mediocrity, which is exactly what the football program had become.  There are quite a few coaches out there who can bring new motivation, and get rid of the status quo that has existed for the last 10 years.  

You must be a Florida fan.  



 

A change was needed, unfortunately it needed to be next year as we can not afford to lose the commits we have this year.  If any of those three QBs are at the helm next year, I might as well try out.  It was the boosters forcing UGA's hand.  They were going to withhold the money for the new $100 million Indoor facility if Richt wasn't relieved of his position.   Apparently he is going to stay on the staff in some sort of AD type role.

His dismissal was overdue--overdue even before the 2012 SEC Championship game.  

I'm not a fan and neither am I qualified to judge a coach's value.  I'm just saying that if he had coached at one of the other schools where winning championships once in a while is important, no matter how good a man he is (or not); no matter how talented a coach (or not), his ass would have been gone long before now.

First off, maybe I am just not into ESPN and the talking heads, but the college football playoff is stupid. I care about winning the State and winning the SEC. I could care less about Michigan and Ohio St. Lewis Gizzard said it best, it's like watching two mules fighting over a turnip. Everything beyond the SEC is up to some computer or some folks debating around a table.

As for 2014 we went 10 and 3 with a new D coordinator. We also didn't have (arguably) the top player in the nation for the majority of our season due to suspension and then injury. In 2015, we lost our long standing offensive leader and identity when Mike Bobo left. Then again we lost one of the top 3 or so players in the nation to injury. However, we are 9 and 3 with a bowl game left to play. Here is where I will stop someone about the quality of the wins. A win is a win. I bet AU or GT would rather have a win over a down UGA than a loss.

I think the change is stupid because the coaching staff has almost all changed in the past 3 years, and we need some consistency. Everything changes, the time to change head coaches wasn't this year. I believe great things were going to happen under Coach in 2016 with commits like Cleveland and Eason on the horizon. Those same people who say you can't put all the faith in recruits are the same people who say, "you know the SEC is won in February on national signing day...." You can not have it both ways. UGA has or had a special recruiting class that could possible have made a run. We will never know.

Jason280 I don't know how old you are or rather how long you have been following UGA, but mediocrity is not a word I would use to describe Coach Richt. Coach went 145 and 51. Under Coach UGA began a 15 year bowl appearance steak. Richt's team wins 3 out of 4 games it plays for the past 15 seasons. UGA has claimed 2 SEC titles, 6 SEC East titles, and 2 SEC coach of the year awards. UGA, before Coach Richt, was 20 years removed from a SEC championship. I was there when Greene threw to Michael Johnson in the corner of the end zone at Jordan-Hare to seal our trip to Atlanta.

Coach brought us from losing 3 in a row to the enemy, Tech, to a 13 and 2 record. Coach Richt's teams won 10 out of 15 against Auburn. I know, but we didn't fair so well against Florida at 5-10. Hell, we hadn't beat UT in a decade before Coach Richt (with the exception of 2000) and we went 10 and 5.  Speaking of, look at UT after Fulmer, or the crazy up's and down's at Auburn in the past few years. UGA under Coach Richt has been consistent even when we weren't healthy or suspended.

Yeah all those serious injuries and suspensions add up...  Chubb, Gurly, AJ Green, Keith Marshal, Justin Scott-Wesley, Michael Bennett, Malcolm Mitchell, and the list goes on.

I just think the time to move on from Coach Richt was a few years ago after a losing season in 2010 or a few years from now based on this 2016 recruiting.  Things just looked different to me. Just how I see it.

If you want a new coach I understand and you got your wish. UGA was here before either of us and will be here when we are gone, but don't accuse Coach Richt or his team of being mediocre. Coach Richt is a damn good Dawg.

Lot of issues in Athens and the AD with spending $ for recruiting and support and the indoor practice facility. And as for the jorts fan comment... those are fighting words.

No SEC championship in 10 years

Cannot win a weak SEC east for the past 3 years


Loses to TN,FL,AL barely beats GSU and GT


Great man no doubt no so great coach


yeah yeah yeah 73.8% winning record doesn't mean squat if you can't win your division or conference at the very least.  UGA fans are hungry for a MNC and Richt has proven he isn't going to get us one anytime soon.

 
They've had a top 5-10 recruiting class for the last 5-10 years man.  You had the dream team in 2008 Stafford and Moreno, preseason #1.  Richt etc. brings in lots of talent, talent that for some reason is never fully utilized.


All those stats injuries blah blah blah.   You pay the man 4 million a year to win championships, he wasn't winning championships in fact the last 4-5 years have been dreadful against ranked teams.  College football is a business and last time I checked a successful business doesn't pay it's CEO a ton of money to NOT bring results, and thus Richt is gone...........simple as that.

^^^^^ Ok.

eta: we shall just agree not to see eye to eye on this one. Come fall in Athens we will both be rooting for the Dawgs.

As a Tennessee fan,I'd like to point out that Lane Kiffin could probably be hired from Alabama to replace Richt.

No thanks



 

Who is his replacement?

Do they not know that yet?

Did they make this move without a known coach already being hooked up?

Look at TX and TN once they let their coaches go a few years back.

From consistent, maybe not excellent, records to losing record and neither one has fixed it yet.

Please.

The Tennessee comparison I keep hearing is not relevant, as Georgia will not be making the same hiring mistakes.  Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley were terrible hires, and neither had any business as the head coach of a major SEC program.  Texas, on the other hand, is a legitimate comparison, as Strong was an already established head coach with a pretty good resume.

How do you personally know what mistakes that UGA will or will not make?

A very fair write up. I've seen more people that can read the stats posted for them recently, but not have the objective opinion of someone that WATCHED it happen, and come to a conclusion. Too many things have happened that were out of his control and yet he's the worse thing to happen to UGA.  9-3 with a beat up team and no QB is impressive. I for one did not approve of the move, especially when we see how many years it takes to recover.

"Since 2002 no coach had more players taken in NFL Draft than Mark Richt’s 79. Every other coach w/60 drafted in that span won a national title"

Problem is, Georgia isn't even consistently contending for East titles, much less SEC titles.  In the last 10 seasons, Georgia has won the East exactly twice.  Missouri has only been in the league four years, and has collected as many as Georgia in the last 10 seasons....and that's the major rub with a lot of disgruntled fans.  Florida and Tennessee have been absolute train wrecks for the last few years, yet Georgia still gives up titles to Missouri.  



You're missing the forest for the trees.  The assistants are all changing, but the results stay the same...5 losses in '13 (including two to unranked teams), 3 losses in '14 (two more to unranked teams), and 3 more losses this year (including two losses in games where Georgia was favored).  Guess what (actually "who") the common denominator is in all of this?  



Folks keep parroting the win/loss totals, but those numbers are misleading.  In the last 10 seasons, Georgia is 93-38, for a 70% win percentage...Donnan was 40-19 for a 68% win percentage, yet he was fired.  In its last 52 games against ranked opponents, Georgia is 26-26...except 8 of the teams they lost to finished the season out of the Top 25.  Furthermore, in 26 of those losses, 19 were against lower ranked opponents.  More importantly, in that same amount of time, Georgia lost 10 games to unranked teams (including twice to Vanderbilt)....and has only beaten a higher ranked team 11 times.  3 losses in '14 against lower ranked teams.  7 losses in '10.  4 losses in '13 against lower ranked teams.  3 losses in '08, despite entering the season as the Preseason #1 and with the #1 QB and RB drafted in the NFL.  Last time they beat a higher ranked team?  2012 against Florida.

I know you don't like the term "mediocre" being attached to Richt's legacy, but that is exactly what the program (specifically the offense) has become this year.  6 games with 1 or fewer passing TD's, including 4 games with ZERO passing TD's and two games with ZERO TD's period.  9 points against Missouri.  10 points and 28pt loss to Alabama, 3 points and 24pt loss to Florida.  Arguably the worst OC in the country, a backup QB who is now your punter, and the starting QB is the same guy who was benched on a 5-7 Virginia squad.  That last one should be the most telling of all.  You have a 15 year HC in Richt, who lead a very potent offense at FSU, an NFL pedigreed OC in Schottenheimer, and they bring in a kid who wouldn't start at a single other school in the SEC (maybe not even the country).  You have all these supposed offensive gurus, yet you have  a QB with 3 games under 100 yards passing...5 games with ZERO TD passes...and 6 games where he completed 12 or fewer passes.  I'm not sure what word you would use to describe this team. specifically the offense, but "mediocre" seems to fit.

Let me ask you this, when is the last time you've seen Georgia beat a team it probably shouldn't have?  Flip side, how many have they lost they should have won?  UT game this year, despite 21 point lead...GT, UF, and USC losses last season...

Honest question.  Which would you rather have, Richt's "consistency" over the last six years or Auburn's "up's and down's"?  Remember, one has lost two SEC title games, and the other has won two, a NC, and played in another championship game against FSU two years ago...



I'm not discounting that at all, but I have also seen Richt's results when top players were healthy.  Aaron Murray is the SEC leader in yards, completions, and TD passes...how many SEC titles does he own?  Richt had the #1 QB and RB selected in the '09 NFL draft, yet lost three games.  



Haha, I was at that game as well...except in the opposite end zone from The Catch.

I doubt you'll find anyone, anywhere that doesn't think CMR is a fantastic person.  He's set the standard for handling a competitive job with class, consistency, morality and generosity.  I've met him and he's genuinely a super person.

Problem is, he was being paid (a lot) to put the Georgia football program in a position to win conference championships.  McGarity said as much years ago.  Richt has underachieved at that goal for years.  If Richt wasn't such a great guy, he would have been fired a long time ago.  Nobody has done less with more than Richt in the last decade.  He had more than enough time to hire the right people and recruit the right kids (recruiting was not the problem) to be successful.


Georgia still owes Richt over $4 million and he's already receiving job offers.  He'll be fine.


Unless Georgia makes a terrible hire I bet the new guy gets The Dawgs into the CF Playoffs within the next 2-3yrs.

Mark Richt appears and I'm sure is a great guy that is a great role model for his players. My observation is that Mark did not seem to show much emotion or intensity during the games no matter what was going on. Some players will play to the intensity of the coaches and Richt appears very lethargic sometimes. I have heard that his motivational speeches during the game were sleepy. Coach Richt is a man of character on and off the field I will give hm that.

this.

to win in college football sometimes you have to play beyond your ability, over the top. richt's team never did and in fact seem to bring less to the effort when the stakes were high. with his recruiting classes, he should have done better.

why was he fired this year instead of next? i think because the folks in charge realized this was gonna be a watershed year for college coaches and there was gonna be a lot of musical chairs between now and next season and they didnt want to wait another year and loose out on a top choice in candidates since it looks like all of those folks are gonna make their move this year.

A lot of valid points being made here. Missouri still hasn't won much in the way of SEC, they've gotten tie-breaker victories because of big rivalry upsets between the other(older) East teams. Winning is winning, I get that, but we skunked them 34-0 but lost to florida. Hell bama almost lost the west to ole miss this year over the same crap, nobody would have said anything but it was a tough loss; it happens a lot in the SEC that's why we love the playoffs around here. We were one play from a NC in 2012 an Bobo caused that, and Richt took the blame anyway. I won't and don't miss Mike.

I'm a Dawg no matter what, and wish nothing but the best for Mark and whoever we get as the new coach. But as far as his speeches go, he wasn't as laid back in the locker room and at practice. He showed composure at games, but he was intense in a different way. I've met him several times, and have a few close friends that have started for him at UGA and many other friends I've met since they got there. Most have played NFL afterwards, and still think back on Mark for inspiration. Just because he didn't feel the need to go apeshit in your face doesn't mean he isn't being intense.

On another note, if he's mediocre then what was Dooley? Some of our worst seasons ever came under the great coach, and it took him 17 years to win the big one. Nothing but support for a good coach and good man. Today? It's win me a title or piss off it seems. Not to say I wouldn't love to have one, but it's not all I care about as a fan.

90% chance we high fived. I was jumping around that entire section in the other end zone too!



As far as consistency I wouldn't want to go through what Auburn has gone though. The 2012 AU 3 win season and 0 wins in the SEC would literally drive me out of my mind! I wouldn't want what Auburn has right now which is a National Championship and another appearance and loss (which I commend) book ended by some serious troubles. Lets be honest everyone right now wants to be Saben and Bama. That's a dynasty and something that is so rare it takes skill and a ton of luck. (For instance if Arkansas doesn't convert 4th and 25 in OT against Ole Miss, Bama is at home this weekend. Never trade luck for skill) . I'll take a 9 to 11 great Saturday nights in Athens anytime. I believe consistency will yield better results and less tums for me.

As for SEC east wins and Missouri, all valid points. Your numbers aren't correct though. We have played for SEC in the past 10 years 2005 Win then, 2011, 2012 both Losses. 2007 we didn't play because UT had the tie breaker.

Like I said, the 2010 losing season and Liberty Bowl loss to Central Florida (and in the regular season to Colorado) would have been the time to make a Coaching change in my mind. At that time it had been 5 years since the last trip to Atlanta. That was the low point to me. Keep in mind we had also lost AJ Green for selling memorabilia that year. Not always so black and white to me with just numbers and stats. But the next year we lost to LSU in the Dome and again in 2012 to Bama. Now we have slid 3 more years from going to the Dome and playing for the SEC.



As for beating a team we shouldn't I don't know how you define shouldn't. But wins that look good to an outsider you'd have to go back to the 2013 wins against LSU and South Carolina both ranked in the top 10 at the time. Then 2014 Auburn who was #9 (and we killed them too). Admittedly I had to look the rankings up but I remember being a proud Bulldawg on those Saturday nights. As you said, UGA is favored by Vegas in a ton of games, so most games I guess there is an outside perception or confidence that I do not have as an Alumnus and lifelong Bulldawg. Tech, Florida, Auburn... all those long standing rivalries, could be 0-11 and somehow beat us.



We had a few good wins in 2013/ 2014 too

Yeah we suck this year. We made terrible decisions. Never agreed with Schottenheimer hire. No excuse for what we did to Bauta. This was a train wreck. Doesn't change my view that Eason for almost 2 years has been the recruiting goal. Eason was committed and suppose to be here in Jan. with a lot of players Eason recruited. I was all in on a 2-3 year run. I just felt like getting rid of Schottenheimer and somehow keeping Pruitt's D would get us back on track. That won't happen now. Just my opinion. It was the wrong year to make this move.

News keeps saying Smart.

Yeah, AJC says Smart will be introduced Sunday and he plans to retain some of the assistants.  Pruitt is likely going to be DC at Bama.

 

I keep hearing he's a candidate for the HC job at South Carolina...

I hope they hire Muschamp for that.  



*EDIT*



Now I'm seeing that South Carolina is looking at Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma.  Must mean things aren't going well with Muschamp.



If Smart is Georgia's next head coach and Muschamp is the next DC then at least we should feel confident about defensive recruiting for the next couple years.  Pruitt had hauled in some good talent recently.





 

Yeah that might be a new record...  I can't name another guy who in three years coached at 3 different SEC schools

Looks like

Kirby Smart at HC
Muschamp at DC
and possibly
Lane Kiffin as the OC if UGA gives Smart enough room in the budget   we will see....

That would be a recruiting machine.

Getting Cochran from Bama would be great.

 

Lane Kiffin ways to be a head coach again. When he leaves Bama it will be for that.