On his second day on the job, Greg McGarity was asked a thinly-veiled question about the future of the football program, and presumably head coach Mark Richt.
As you’d expect, the new boss demurred.
McGarity was asked Tuesday, during a quickie news conference at Stegeman Coliseum, about his expectations for the football program this year.
“You never put a win total on any sport,” McGarity said. “You just wanna be in the hunt. Every sport that we sponsor, you just want them to be in the hunt for championships. And there could be circumstances that lead you to not be in the hunt in a certain year due to various circumstances. But you want every sport at the University of Georgia just to be in the conversation. ”
McGarity later pointed out that the SEC is a “meat-grinder,” with as many as nine schools entering this season thinking they have a shot at the league title.
“I think it’d be really unfair to coaches to tell them you’ve got to win 10 games, 11 games, whatever that number is,” McGarity said. “It’s how people go about their work. Do you see improvements made. And do you see people giving 100 percent effort everyday. I think those are the things that I would be looking at that’s more important than a number of wins.”
In other words, McGarity wasn’t about to sit there and throw the gauntlet of expectations down on head coach Mark Richt. The belief continues to be, after nearly five weeks on the beat, that Richt’s seat is not quite as hot as you’d think if you listened to some national media types.
That could always change if the season crumbles, but at the moment you’d much rather be Richt than Les Miles.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
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5 comments:
I see one possible change and I emphasize possible.
Many of the SEC schools (as well as other conferences) drop kids in their 2nd or 3rd year if they are not performing at the expected level.
From what I can tell UGA doesn't practice the same. It seems that if you get a scholarship you are good to go unless you break the rules or flunk out.
Perhaps some of you guys that are closer to the program can share your observations.
While it may be the way some schools do it, I don't think CMR will ever change unless he is forced to do so and I think that would be a mistake on the AD's part. All of this Mark Richt is on the "hot aeat" talk is predicated on being able to hire some one better and that is a long shot.
I like the UGA program the way it is. That being said the practice is acceptable at more than a one or two schools.
All you have to do is look at the rosters of the real powerhouse programs over a 4 year period and look at the size of their yearly recruiting classes.
"In the hunt" isn't good enough Mr. McGarity! The Football team under Mark Richt is averaging 3 conference losses per year for the last four years. You are not in the hunt. The Football team was not ranked in the top twenty five of the AP poll. You are not in the hunt!
because our President fired our last coach when it was apparent that our program had plateaued, we had lost to all of our biggest rivals, and the AD could not guarantee that the overall and record against are rivals would improve the next year.
Richt is just 9-7 to our four biggest annual rivals (UT, UF, AU, Ga Tech) over the last four years. Our overall record the last four years is strong but we certainly have had a share of frustration too.
While I have been on record that I do not think that Richt is on the hot seat, I also believe that given Adams proclivities for meddling in athletics that it is not beyond him to step in to make a change if he thinks CMR has peaked and we struggle against our traditional rivals. I think we UGA fans would be deluded to think that Adams believes that he is that powerful.
The problem, as I have stated before (here and other places) is not that we UGA fans believe it. The problem is that coverage and commentary are rapidly moving beyond “is he or is he not” to he is on the hot seat. It's now a “fact” because so many people are writing about it
Really? Just because people write about it makes it true? I could pay a bunch of people to write daily or weekly articles about how the moon is made of jello, but that doesn't make it true. How dim-witted are you? Must be a Florida grad.
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