The man rides into town to take a proud program and lift it up from mediocrity to the place where all Bulldawg fans believe it should be. What does he do? He wins two championships in his first 5 seasons. In his next four, however, his teams bumble through, and he has one year where folks think "that team was pretty good - maybe they deserve a title"...but it isn't so. They lost when they needed to win, and were rewarded with only a bowl victory.
His team loses four games in its tenth season.
Is it time to get rid of him?
By the way, the year is 1973, and Vince Dooley is the coach. Do you fire him after that season?
How about after 1974, when the Dawgs are 6-6?
1975, when the team musters 9 wins?
If you answer yes to any of these, then you miss out on UGA's 1976 SEC title, the three year run of SEC titles from 1980-1983, oh, and that pesky little National Title in 1980.
People say Mark Richt has been given enough rope to hang himself. These people talk about the "Vince Dooley Era" as orchestrated by God Himself. Guess what...I wasn't around during that glory age. So, I look back on it without emotion. I look back on it through more rational eyes. If you're calling for the firing of Mark Richt because the program is in a "Decline" in your eyes, then you need to look back at the span of years following Dooley's 1968 title season.
1968: 8 -1 - 2 SEC Champions
1969: 5-5
1970: 5-5
1971: 11-1
1972: 7-4
1973: 7-4
1974: 6-6
1975: 9-3
1976: 10-2 SEC champions
I'm willing to bet the folks who are screaming the loudest for the firing of Richt are the same ones who in 1970 and 1974 were asking for patience for Dooley. I say this, because in my own personal circle, those crying out for Richt to be fired are of the 45-70 age range. Roll that back about 36 years....you have nine year-old kids who didn't really care about who's coaching a football team, up to 34 year olds, who remember more fondly the years when Dooley had brought titles, and wanted him to succeed again.
What happened? He succeeded again.
Vince Dooley was a very good coach in his time. He raised Bulldawg Football to a level that was unmatched for years, until Mark Richt came to the University of Georgia. How then, can those who supported Dooley so long ago be so against Mark Richt? People who say Richt's program should be better than it is in its tenth year, need to look back at the 9th, 10th, and 11th years of Dooley's program. They weren't pretty.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Football is cyclical. We have a very good coach at the top of this program, and he will bring us back up. That's what winners do, and Mark Richt is a winner.
Go Dawgs.
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5 comments:
YES!!!! i am 34 yrs old and was pointing this out today in the media guide.. YES YES!! good post!!
Couldn't agree more. Richt is not the problem and the chances of us finding a better coach are slim to none.
It's funny how fans expect coaches to be loyal to the University at all cost, yet when those coaches don't succeed they want them fired. We are all hypocrites.
Exactly, Todd! We want our coaches to have integrity, and yet we make them feel like the contracts we give them mean nothing. Mark Richt dedicates his life to UGA football, day in and day out. Our school made a commitment to him through 2013. To say that we would get rid of him before playing that contract out is completely contradictory.
Marks only problem is he does not know when to get rid of coaches that are not performing. Mike Bobo is not part of the solution he is the problem.
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