Saying Good Bye to THE Coach of My Generation

Posts here at Bubba 'N Earl are a rare occurrence these days.  But given the circumstances of today, I felt it appropriate to dust off the ole' blog. For those of you who know me, I have shared my opinion about the firing of Coach Richt on Facebook. The TLDR version, I'm saddened and shocked but I understand it may be for the best in the long run.

But how I feel doesn't matter, Mark Richt is no longer the head football coach at The University of Georgia. Let that sink in for a minute.  I enrolled in Georgia during the summer of 2000 and was (unfortunately) witness to the final year of the Donnan administration.  So while I may have seen someone else man the sidelines for Georgia since I officially became a Dawg, Mark Richt is the only one that matters.  And that is why some many in my generation are sad today.

We know the legends of the glory days, of Trippi and Hesrchel, of the Junkyard Dawgs and Erk, and finally getting the championship.  But I was born in August of 1981 and the earliest memory of have of Georgia is watching Georgia play Tech during Thanksgiving break circa 1991.  My family is from Ohio and my parents went to Morehead State University, not exactly a football powerhouse. So I grew up with no real allegiance, just a kid watching the games for fun. I got more into football as I approached high school and almost played my freshman year (though a bout with Mono one week into summer practice quickly ended my career).  My high school classmate David Greene led us to the state playoffs in '98 and '99 after we'd gone 0-10 in '97.  So when it came time to pick my school, a good football program factored in my decision to go to Georgia.

So after a Quincy Carter disaster of a season in 2000, Georgia fired Jim Donnan.  Not gonna lie, I was pissed.  I thought it was a bad decision.  In comes Mark Richt, fresh off FSU getting their tails whipped by Oklahoma.  I had no real expectations because back in the days before blogs and tons of coverage, you just didn't know a ton about assistants outside of your own school.  But Richt came in and by that fall had named Greene the starter, so I had a reason to like him.  Things started fine with a cupcake win and then we went up to Tennessee.  We all know what happened - The Hob Nail Boot. The previous generation had Run Lindsay Run, but my generation will always have the Hob Nail Boot.  And we were off to the races.

2002 was magic. From the opening win over Clemson, to the clincher at Auburn, we all thought Georgia was just getting started.  A couple mental mistakes (Billy Bennet misses and a Terrance Edwards drop) cost us a national championship shot, but there was no reason to think there would not be more to come.  Richt beat his old coach in Bobby Bowden in the bowl and it was like a passing of the torch.  We were ready and we had the right man to do it.

And the last two years of my college career were great, but once again we just missed out. We had some of the best players to ever come through, in Greene, Pollack, Thomas Davis, and Jon Stinchcomb. 2005 was another what if year, where if Shockly doesn't go down against Arkansas things may have been different.  But we beat LSU and Stafford was coming.  Things looked bright.

The next ten years went by so fast.  We saw the emergence of Evil Richt in '07 and the blackout.  The program was cool again and we opened at #1 in 2008.  Some more legends came through, like Jarvis Jones, AJ Green, Aaron Murray, and Nick Chubb.  And despite having everything from a losing season to a year where we were 5 yards from the National Championship game, Richt was still the man.  He has been an continues to be a wonderful human and leader of men.   Paul Oliver was at Georgia when I was and hist death hit home for me.  I was so proud to see the establishment of the Paul Oliver Network and I hope it continues.

But now it's over. For my generation, Coach Richt has been the man that we have grown with.  He finally lead Georgia back to the top of the SEC mountain, and for most of us, that was good enough. 

Recruiting in the Richt Era – Top 5’s

Mark Richt took over as Georgia’s head coach following the 2000 season and has enjoyed a lot of success on the recruiting trail. While Richt was able to secure stars like DJ Shockley as part of the 2001 recruiting class, the class of 2002 was his first full class in Athens. Here’s my opinion of some of the best and worst of recruiting in the Richt era:

Top 5 Players who “Lived Up to the Hype”
1. AJ Green – Any questions?
2. Matthew Stafford – The kid from Texas was expected to lead Georgia to a National Championship. We got pretty close during his sophomore season.
3. Max Jean-Gilles – I remember all the hype about how big this kid was and how we stole him away from Miami. He definitely fit the bill, becoming a multi-year starter and an All-American.
4. Kade Weston – The five star recruit from New Jersey, turned in a great Georgia career.
5. Paul Oliver – Another top 5 player at his position, Oliver really developed during his career. Too bad academics got in the way.

Top 5 “Busts”
1. Akeem Hebron – Originally part of the 2006 class, Hebron went to Hargrave and then came back to Georgia. But the 5 star recruit never materialized into much on the playing field and he finished his time at Georgia this fall having never really made an impact.
2. Brandon Miller – The number on DE in the country in 2004, Miller eventually found a home at linebacker. And while he became a starter and was good on special teams, his career never met the expectations that most fans had.
3. Darius Dewberry – Like Hebron, he also failed to qualify initially but still found his way back to Athens. His impact was minimal at best, but much better than Hebron’s.
4. Kregg Lumpkin – You could probably put the careers of Lumpkin and Caleb King in the same boat. Both were 5 star recruits considered as one of the top 5 running backs in the country. But injuries and a crowded depth chart hampered their development.
5. Marquis “Mud Cat” Elmore – While other players on this list were 5 star recruits, Elmore was not. But his name was so distinctive that he developed almost a cult status before he ever saw the field. He made little to no impact in four years, and failed to have a good career to match his nickname.

Top 5 “Overachievers”
1. Fernando Velasco – “Bubba” was a two star O-lineman but turned into one of the key players on the Dawgs offensive line in 2007.
2. Knowshon Moreno – Yes, he was highly recruited and was considered one of the best running backs in the country out of high school. But the fact that he was redshirted in 2006 means the coaching staff was not really sure what they had. Clearly, if you rated him again he would have been a 5 star recruit.
3. Danny Ware – Ware was originally recruited as a two star linebacker. The fact that he ended up as a successful running back is pretty impressive.
4. Christian Robinson – Robinson will only be a junior this fall, but his development has been fun to watch. I only expect him to get better over the next two years.
5. Brannan Southerland - Fullbacks are rarely rated above 3 stars, but maybe they should be. Southerland was a vital part of the Georgia offense during his four years.

Top 3 "What were the Experts Thinking"
1. Israel Troupe - He was Georgia's highest rated player according to ESPN in 2007. Really???
2. Joe Tereshinski/Logan Gray - Both were rated 4 star quarterbacks, but they are no where near the level of Aaron Murray.
3. Bryan Evans - Don't get me started.

So what are your top 5’s of the Richt era?

Coaching 'em Up

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article highlighting a vestige of Division I athletics from another era: head coaches teaching class.

Jim Tressel teaches a "Coaching Football" class on football to 49 current students in the fall. Tressel intentionally shifted the class from spring to fall, as part of his class requirements include observing high school practices and one OSU practice. Beyond Ohio State, there are no other D-IA football head coaches currently teaching a class. From what I've been able to find, this class existed before Tressel left Youngstown State, as John Cooper formerly taught the class.

"You see, this is how we plan on losing to an SEC team every year..."

I was able to find some more background information beyond what was mentioned in the story from a Buckeye blog thread from last year. The class is scheduled to meet MWF at 7:30AM, but due to the practice/scouting requirement, the class is only held Mondays and Wednesdays. Tressel frequently features guest speakers in class, including former head coaches Earle Bruce and John Cooper. The class is apparently held in their equivalent of the Butts-Mehre building, limiting average students from crashing the class.

The class goes from reviewing year-old scouting reports created for an opponent, to diagramming defenses (special love is given to the 46 defense), to breaking down scouting tapes. Definitely not a Jim Harrick Jr. class.

And apparently students can be valuable to the coach too. According to a coach who runs a similar program in Div-IAA:

"Southern Utah's head football coach, Ed Lamb, who teaches a coaching class like Mr. Tressel's in the spring, says regular students can even provide valuable feedback. . . some helpfully pointed out in practice evaluations that they thought 'coaches could be more organized' and 'players should move faster from drill to drill'."

I wonder, though, whether Ohio State realizes any true advantages by having a coach teach a class? While it is somewhat of a rarity for OSU players to actually take the class, I'm sure that Tressel is more in touch with the workload of students and probably has more of an ear to the ground for things that might hurt his players off-the-field and impact their on-the-field eligibility.

Maybe this is something that Richt, or more likely one of our assistant coaches, should consider for future years. Anything that could lessen the likelihood of banishment from Valdosta and suspended licenses...

Coming to a classroom near you?

Georgia vs. Auburn in the Richt Era, Part 1: 2001-2003

*** This is the first post in a series that looks back at the Georgia-Auburn Rivalry since Mark Richt came to Georgia in 2001.

2001:

Mark Richt’s first Bulldog came into the Deep’s South Oldest Rivalry ranked #22 in the country, including their upset victory over Tennessee in Knoxville. The Dawgs were led by a freshman quarterback David Greene and linebackers Boss Bailey and Tony Gilbert. In their third season under Tommy Tuberville, Auburn had struggled to find a solid starter a quarterback. Freshman Jason Campbell saw his share of snaps that season, but the starter on that day was Daniel Cobb, a former Georgia player who had left when Quincy Carter came to Athens. By the end of the game, a young star would cement his place in the rivalry’s record books and a young coach would learn a lesson in time management.

Georgia jumped on top the Tigers early to open the contest. Borrowing a play from his years at Florida State, David Greene executed a near perfect “hidden ball” play action pass that resulted in a 67 yard touchdown to fellow freshman Fred Gibson. Carnell “Cadillac” Williams would make his first big play of the game in the first on a 1 yard touchdown run that tied the game after 1. Georgia would take the lead on another long TD pass, this time a 56 yard strike to Terrence Edwards that gave the Dawgs a 14-7 halftime lead. Auburn made some adjustments in the locker room, and took the lead back from the Dawgs before a Billy Bennett field goal tied the game at 17.

In the fourth quarter, the game was taken over by Cadillac Williams. On an Auburn single game record of 41 carries, Williams rushed for 167 yards. The most important yard was his final one, which came on his second 1 yard touchdown of the day that gave Auburn the lead with very little time to go. Georgia was able to quickly drive the ball down near the Auburn goal line. But with just seconds remaining and no timeouts, Richt elected to go with a running play. Jasper Sanks was stopped at the one and the Dawgs were unable to run another play.

Two goal line failures will be what Jasper's career at Georgia will be remembered for

Auburn 24, Georgia 17

2002:

Georgia came to the Plains with a shot to clinch it’s first ever trip to the SEC Championship game but came out looking flat against the underdog Tigers (or Eagles or whatever). Without receivers Terrence Edwards and Damien Gary and Fred Gibson playing with a cast, Georgia needed to find another target in the passing game. Few expected the hero that would emerge that day.
Georgia struggled to get much offense going in the first half and had only 3 points on a Billy Bennett field goal to show for. For Auburn, just as Cadillac Williams broke out against the Dawgs in ’01, Ronnie Brown made his presence known to the rivalry in 2002. Brown scored on a 53 yard scamper to give the #22 Tigers a 14-3 lead on #6 rated Georgia going into half.

After an inspiring speech by senior tackle Jon Stinchomb at half, Georgia came out determined to not let their championship dreams die. Led by the play of safety Sean Jones (both on defense and on special teams) the Dawgs clawed their way back within 4 with a 1:15 showing on the clock. Georgia was able to drive into the red zone but after a penalty and a few incompletions found themselves at 4th and 15. David Green then ran the play 70X takeoff and lofted a jump ball to receiver Michael Johnson. Here’s the call from Larry Munson…


It was Johnson’s 13th catch on the day and it sent Georgia to its first ever SEC Championship game. I was in the third row on the opposite side of the stadium and did not know who had caught the pass until the following Monday (I thought it was Gibson).

Georgia 24, Auburn 21

2003:

Georgia came into the 2003 match up with Auburn with a record of 7-2, holding onto hopes of a rematch against LSU in the SEC Championship game. Auburn, who has started the year in the top 10 had struggled and came to Athens with a 6-4 record. After the last minute victory on the Plains in 02, Georgia was looking to defeat Auburn at home for the first time since 1991.
The game would be all Georgia in the first half. Billy Bennett connected on two field goals and David Greene found Michael Johnson for a 19 yard touchdown as the Dawgs took a 13-0 lead into halftime.

Auburn put together a nice drive to open the second half, driving inside the Georgia ten. Kicker Philip Yost, who had attempted a 60 yarder at the end of the first half (he missed), shanked a 25 yarder. Georgia would take over a cap off another scoring drive with a 16 yard touchdown run by Kregg Lumpkin. Auburn once again drove down the field, but on a 3rd and goal they decided to go against using Williams or Brown and put the ball in Jason Campbell’s hands. Tony Taylor tipped a pass and the rest was history:


Auburn scored a late touchdown to avoid the shutout, but Georgia had defeated Auburn for the second year in a row.

Georgia 26, Auburn 7

Tomorrow: Auburn comes roaring back (2004-2005)

The Countdown 2009: 6 Days to Go

6

Number of 10 win seasons the Georgia Bulldogs have had in the 8 years Mark Richt has been head coach.

Pitt Basketball, UGA Football and National Championships

Earlier this week, Pitt basketball rose to #1 for the second time this season, holding the spot for 2 weeks previously. In its first game back at #1 last night, Pitt was dominated by Providence 81-73, never leading and at one time down by as many as 20 points. Providence is 17-11, 9-7 in a very tough Big East conference, but by no means should dominate the #1 team in the country.

Under Jamie Dixon, Pitt basketball has continued the success started by Ben Howland before his departure to UCLA. In fact, Dixon's overall record stands at an impressive 157-43 over his first 6 years as a head coach. He is just 5 wins away from overtaking N.C. State's Everett Case (1946-1952) for the most wins by any head coach in NCAA history in the first 6 years of his head coaching career.

Pitt is 25-3 this year and primed for a possible #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, something it has never accomplished. Under Dixon, the Panthers have consistently competed for #2-#4 seeds in the tournament. Yet, Pitt has never advanced past the Sweet 16 in those years.

In Dixon's first season (2003-2004), Pitt went 31-5 and won the Big East conference's regular season championship and Dixon was named Big East Coach of the Year. In 2006-2007, Pitt finished second in the Big East's regular season. In fact, Dixon's Panthers have never won less than 10 games in the Big East, one of the nation's toughest basketball conferences. And Pitt has advanced to the Big East tournament title game in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008, winning it in 2008.

Yet, they quickly lost as the nation's #1 team and haven't advanced past the Sweet 16. Sound all too familiar?

From all appearances, Jamie Dixon runs a clean program like Mark Richt. They are both excellent head coaches. They both have conference championships in the nation's toughest conferences for their respective sports. And yet both programs have proven time and again that they are not-ready-for-primetime players, losing quickly when ranked as the nation's #1 team and in dominated fashion. That or losing games when it seems like the programs are only a couple of rungs away from the top of the ladder.

So what gives? Only Dixon and Richt can answer that question. And that question needs to be answered by those two coaches because in today's 24-7 sports world, if a coach can't answer that question and falls short of a national championship because of it, he can kiss any mention of his name with the top coaches goodbye, no matter how many games he wins.

Dixon, being interviewed by ESPN about his impressive 6-year record, was asked why Pitt wasn't in the same discussion as the UConns of the world. He had a simple answer: Pitt hasn't won a national championship. Dixon simply said, "We have to win a national title."

Jim Calhoun and UConn is a great example. Calhoun built the UConn basketball program over many years. But until UConn upset Duke in the 1999 national championship game, UConn just wasn't mentioned with the Dukes of the world. It didn't matter how many games Calhoun had won up until that point.

As many games as Richt has won at UGA, he has to win a national championship to be mentioned with the Floridas and LSUs of the world. It doesn't matter that LSU won a title with 2 losses and it doesn't matter that Florida has never gone undefeated and it doesn't matter that Richt and UGA only lost 1 game in 2002. In the public's eyes, it comes down to the mythical national championship. God, that's tough to write...because what matters is winning when it counts, on the big stage.

I like Jamie Dixon and I like the hard-nosed basketball that Pitt plays. So, here's to the Panthers, the UGA of college basketball, winning on the big stage...or getting out of the Sweet 16...at least...

Disclaimer: I realize that some UGA fans will never cheer for Pitt at anything due to Tony Dorsett and Dan Marino. And, yes, I threw up in my mouth a little thinking about pulling for Mark May's alma mater.

Elect Mark Richt

Don't forget that on this election day, write in Mark Richt's name everytime you don't know anything about the candidates running for an office. So, that's pretty much all of them!

Sure, it might not technically "count," but having a non-official write in candidate receive the most votes for your county's tax assessor office would just prove the might of the Bulldawg Nation.

Go Dawgs. Viva la Richt!

Mark Richt on ESPN First Take

This morning on ESPN First Take, I happened to catch Michael Kim’s interview with Mark Richt.

Here’s a synopsis of the questions and answers (both are paraphrased), as well as my reactions in parentheses:

Kim: What is different about Vandy this year, as opposed their previous teams?

Richt: Their team speed and physicality have improved and even dominated in their games this year. Part of it is also the past misconceptions about Vandy being weak and unable to compete in the SEC.

(No one, except on occasion Florida, ever clobbers Vandy. This year they just happen to be living up to some of their usual potential. However, Vandy reverted to their typical nature by losing to Miss St.)


Kim: What are your thoughts on Mackenzie Adams starting at QB?

Richt: He is a QB with great confidence, passing ability, and a great ability to run and move quickly down the field. Typically, with a QB like him it allows our coverages to become simpler because of his tendancy towards running, but his additional great passing ability will make this a challenge for us.

(Please say hello to my friend, Rennie Curran.)


Kim: How much are you concerned about injuries and depth at your different positions?

R: If we keep losing left tackles, we won’t make it through the season (laughs). We’re on our fourth left tackle, we’ve lost Sturdivant and Vance, and Clint Boling will be there this week. As long as we stay healthy, we’ve got a chance.

(FYI, we have open tryouts to fill out the depth chart at left tackle.)


Kim: Stafford and Moreno rarely get big stats because of the multiple threats of your offense. What would you say to Heisman voters to sway them to vote for one of them?

Richt: Richt essentially said we have a balanced offense between Stafford, Moreno, Green, Massaquoi, and how they each allow for the other to make big plays.

(You could tell Richt wanted to say, “Because they’re awesome. Period. What is this bullshit you’re insinuating about them?!” But, Richt is much more level headed and is not, well…me.)


Kim: Earlier this season you called out ESPN for not showing Knowshon’s hurdle. Since then, we haven’t stopped playing it. Where do you rank it out of all the plays you’ve seen?

Richt: It’s probably tied for first with another time he did it in practice. (Richt then described how Knowshon once did the same thing in practice, but it sounded even more impressive than the hurdle in the Central Michigan game).

(You morons better not stop playing that hurdle, either.)


Kim; Does Knowshon going airborne ever make your heart stop?

Richt: No, it is really more of a wow sensation.

(Damn right.)


After the commercial break, Dennis Franchione all but said Vandy will upset us. (I don’t even know how to say it…who cares what Franchione thinks?!)

Dana Jacobson said she’d like to see the upset, just so Skip Bayless will be a little happier. (Well, isn’t that convenient. How about you stop talking about every sports team in the State of Michigan, because they all blow right now.)