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We must be honest about Mark Richt’s career at Georgia.
And to be honest we need to understand who was truly responsible for most of Mark Richt’s success as a head coach at Georgia.
The man responsible for most of Mark Richt’s success at Georgia is not Mark Richt. It’s Brian Van Gorder.
Follow my logic. When Brian Van Gorder left the Bulldogs, he did so under very strange circumstances. In the last few years it came to light that he left because Michael Adams refused to pay him what BVG felt he, as Broyles Award winning DC, was worth, and even worse, that Richt didn’t back him in request to be properly compensated.
Why would Richt not back his DC?
Maybe because Richt wanted his former college roommate to be DC? Maybe? That is conjecture on my part. What we do know is, Adams didn’t pay BVG a fair contract, so he left. And then Richt promoted his good friend and former failed defensive coordinator to the position of Georgia’s DC.
Georgia DID win the SEC in 2005, with all of the BVG coached players on defense, but some subtle things began to change. The secondary exclusively began playing zone coverage, with no man coverage mixed in. Corners playing 10 yards off the line. An even more subtle change happened to the team: sideline discipline became an issue. How many times did we see Georgia get sideline warnings? That never happened with BVG patrolling the sideline.
Then the first obvious harbinger of things to come: being run out of the building by WVU in the first half of the Sugar Bowl. The Bulldog defense looked disjointed, like they weren’t properly prepared by coaches to play the game.
2006 continued the trends seen in 2005. The defense started giving up yards and points at levels not seen at Georgia… ever. This was made worse by Richt waffling on the QB situation for weeks. Sideline discipline continued to be poor. Players were seen acting unprofessional on the sideline, dancing and acting foolish, not at all focused on the task at hand. This was a team now run by Richt and Martinez.
2007 saw a head-scratching blow out by Tennessee because Georgia’s DC was unable or unwilling to adapt his defense to what was happening on the field. It saw a loss to SC that cost the Dawgs a shot at the MNC because the defense couldn’t stop the runs that everyone knew was coming. Discipline on the field was becoming a problem. Stupid penalties lengthened drives. But the Bulldogs got hot at the right time. Why? Because Marcus Howard, the last player coached under Brian Van Gorder, decided to play with discipline and unmitigated want-to, and he single-handedly saved Georgia’s season. Mark Richt embarrassed himself and the program by telling his team to commit a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The dancing and carrying on on the sidelines, the abject indiscipline and lack of focus on the sideline was reaching a fever pitch.
2008 began with an embarrassing string of arrests that would make Urban Meyer blush. Arrests that NEVER happened while BVG was the voice of discipline at Georgia. Nine arrests over the summer. NINE. The team came out, ranked number one, but by now, the unprofessionalism fostered by lackadaisical approach to discipline fostered by Richt and Martinez had so infested the team. The inmates now ran the asylum. For the FOURTH straight season under Martinez, Georgia gave up more points and more yards per game than the year before, yet Richt refused to even DISCUSS Martinez’s job status. He refused to hold Martinez accountable, just like Martinez and Richt were not holding their players accountable on and off the field. Personal foul penalties became rampant this season at UGA. Hitting the QB late. Hitting out of bounds late. Georgia was now the most penalizing team in the SEC. And the inexplicable blow outs continued.
2009 brought with it what was thought to be rock bottom. More arrests over the summer. Not nine, but more arrests still. That undisciplined nature of the team showed itself on the field yet again. This time, Georgia just didn’t lead the SEC in penalties, it was the second-worst penalized team in ALL of college football!!! And still, the players were allowed to dance and act foolish on the sideline, showing no respect for the game or for their coaches or for the fans. For the FIFTH straight year, Georgia gave up more yards and points per game than the year before, a run of defensive ineptitude that stands alone in Georgia’s once-proud defensive history. Willie Martinez set records for his defense. Finally, Richt relented, firing Martinez. The fact is… HE SHOULD HAVE NEVER PROMOTED MARTINEZ IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Now this summer, with TEN ARRESTS. A new DC comes in, but he can’t bring discipline to where the inmates run the asylum. Todd Grantham has tried. We’ve seen him yell. Saw it in the Spring Game. Saw it in the first game. Haven’t seen it again. Why? Because Grantham knows this is a losing proposition. He sees what Mark Richt has wrought and knows he has no chance. No chance at all.
On top of that Richt has publicly criticised grantham for using "Harsh languge" in his attempts to dicipline and fire up his troops?
Look at the choices and decisions made by Mark Richt over the last five-plus years of this program without the name “Mark Richt” attatched to the choices decisions, and ask yourselves, would you HONESTLY want this man to run the program? His name is blurring the reality of the situation HE has placed OUR program in.
He appears to have passive-aggresively backed Martinez over BVG as the DC by not backing BVG’s request to be fairly compensated.
He allowed his team to become an undisciplined mess on the sidelines during games. This spilled over into the games themselves, and then after the games with the embarrassing arrests.
He continued to defend the indefensible Soft Willie Martinez, putting his personal relationship with this man over the FACTS piling up about just how badly Martinez was ruining the defense and the program.
Think about that. Richt put his friendship with Martinez FIRST. BEFORE THE TEAM.
And THAT’S the man y’all want as the head coach? Because of what he did six years ago?
Richt doesn’t hold his players accountable. He doesn’t hold his coaches accountable.
It’s about darn time we and Greg McGarrity and Michael Adams hold RICHT accountable.
And to be honest we need to understand who was truly responsible for most of Mark Richt’s success as a head coach at Georgia.
The man responsible for most of Mark Richt’s success at Georgia is not Mark Richt. It’s Brian Van Gorder.
Follow my logic. When Brian Van Gorder left the Bulldogs, he did so under very strange circumstances. In the last few years it came to light that he left because Michael Adams refused to pay him what BVG felt he, as Broyles Award winning DC, was worth, and even worse, that Richt didn’t back him in request to be properly compensated.
Why would Richt not back his DC?
Maybe because Richt wanted his former college roommate to be DC? Maybe? That is conjecture on my part. What we do know is, Adams didn’t pay BVG a fair contract, so he left. And then Richt promoted his good friend and former failed defensive coordinator to the position of Georgia’s DC.
Georgia DID win the SEC in 2005, with all of the BVG coached players on defense, but some subtle things began to change. The secondary exclusively began playing zone coverage, with no man coverage mixed in. Corners playing 10 yards off the line. An even more subtle change happened to the team: sideline discipline became an issue. How many times did we see Georgia get sideline warnings? That never happened with BVG patrolling the sideline.
Then the first obvious harbinger of things to come: being run out of the building by WVU in the first half of the Sugar Bowl. The Bulldog defense looked disjointed, like they weren’t properly prepared by coaches to play the game.
2006 continued the trends seen in 2005. The defense started giving up yards and points at levels not seen at Georgia… ever. This was made worse by Richt waffling on the QB situation for weeks. Sideline discipline continued to be poor. Players were seen acting unprofessional on the sideline, dancing and acting foolish, not at all focused on the task at hand. This was a team now run by Richt and Martinez.
2007 saw a head-scratching blow out by Tennessee because Georgia’s DC was unable or unwilling to adapt his defense to what was happening on the field. It saw a loss to SC that cost the Dawgs a shot at the MNC because the defense couldn’t stop the runs that everyone knew was coming. Discipline on the field was becoming a problem. Stupid penalties lengthened drives. But the Bulldogs got hot at the right time. Why? Because Marcus Howard, the last player coached under Brian Van Gorder, decided to play with discipline and unmitigated want-to, and he single-handedly saved Georgia’s season. Mark Richt embarrassed himself and the program by telling his team to commit a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The dancing and carrying on on the sidelines, the abject indiscipline and lack of focus on the sideline was reaching a fever pitch.
2008 began with an embarrassing string of arrests that would make Urban Meyer blush. Arrests that NEVER happened while BVG was the voice of discipline at Georgia. Nine arrests over the summer. NINE. The team came out, ranked number one, but by now, the unprofessionalism fostered by lackadaisical approach to discipline fostered by Richt and Martinez had so infested the team. The inmates now ran the asylum. For the FOURTH straight season under Martinez, Georgia gave up more points and more yards per game than the year before, yet Richt refused to even DISCUSS Martinez’s job status. He refused to hold Martinez accountable, just like Martinez and Richt were not holding their players accountable on and off the field. Personal foul penalties became rampant this season at UGA. Hitting the QB late. Hitting out of bounds late. Georgia was now the most penalizing team in the SEC. And the inexplicable blow outs continued.
2009 brought with it what was thought to be rock bottom. More arrests over the summer. Not nine, but more arrests still. That undisciplined nature of the team showed itself on the field yet again. This time, Georgia just didn’t lead the SEC in penalties, it was the second-worst penalized team in ALL of college football!!! And still, the players were allowed to dance and act foolish on the sideline, showing no respect for the game or for their coaches or for the fans. For the FIFTH straight year, Georgia gave up more yards and points per game than the year before, a run of defensive ineptitude that stands alone in Georgia’s once-proud defensive history. Willie Martinez set records for his defense. Finally, Richt relented, firing Martinez. The fact is… HE SHOULD HAVE NEVER PROMOTED MARTINEZ IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Now this summer, with TEN ARRESTS. A new DC comes in, but he can’t bring discipline to where the inmates run the asylum. Todd Grantham has tried. We’ve seen him yell. Saw it in the Spring Game. Saw it in the first game. Haven’t seen it again. Why? Because Grantham knows this is a losing proposition. He sees what Mark Richt has wrought and knows he has no chance. No chance at all.
On top of that Richt has publicly criticised grantham for using "Harsh languge" in his attempts to dicipline and fire up his troops?
Look at the choices and decisions made by Mark Richt over the last five-plus years of this program without the name “Mark Richt” attatched to the choices decisions, and ask yourselves, would you HONESTLY want this man to run the program? His name is blurring the reality of the situation HE has placed OUR program in.
He appears to have passive-aggresively backed Martinez over BVG as the DC by not backing BVG’s request to be fairly compensated.
He allowed his team to become an undisciplined mess on the sidelines during games. This spilled over into the games themselves, and then after the games with the embarrassing arrests.
He continued to defend the indefensible Soft Willie Martinez, putting his personal relationship with this man over the FACTS piling up about just how badly Martinez was ruining the defense and the program.
Think about that. Richt put his friendship with Martinez FIRST. BEFORE THE TEAM.
And THAT’S the man y’all want as the head coach? Because of what he did six years ago?
Richt doesn’t hold his players accountable. He doesn’t hold his coaches accountable.
It’s about darn time we and Greg McGarrity and Michael Adams hold RICHT accountable.
