A few weeks ago Greg McGarity was having to answer questions about the state of the Georgia football program, and the status of head coach Mark Richt.
After a three-game win streak, McGarity, Georgia’s new athletics director, is praising his coach. Specifically, McGarity lauded Richt for “admitting … mistakes” about the way preseason was run, and going to more physical practices.
“At one time it didn’t look it was going in the right direction for our program. And I have to credit Mark with what he was able to do, to basically rally the troops after a rough run there and a tough game at Colorado,” McGarity said on Monday.
Georgia was 1-4 after that loss at Colorado. Richt called a full-pads practice for the next Monday, saying it was the first time he has done that at Georgia.
“I think that Monday really set the tone for the season. I really do,” McGarity said. “That different tone, and Mark being a man enough to take some responsibility to say we probably made some mistakes the front end, in terms of the practices and the two-a-days. For him to acknowledge that, I think that speaks to the type of man he is.”
McGarity, who started on the job the last week in August, said the practice changes were not made at his suggestion. Richt initiated them on his own.
“I think that was huge. I think for him to basically do that,” McGarity said. “People are afraid to say in business or government or whatever, hey I made a mistake. It’s another thing to say hey I made a mistake and this is what I’m gonna do to change,” McGarity said.
“If you’re always looking at ways to get better, then I think you have to do things that are a little out of your comfort zone. And that may be admitting that you make mistakes. But the ability to make it publicly, and chart that, I think that’s a credit to him.”
Georgia puts its 4-4 record on the line Saturday against Florida, where McGarity spent the previous 18 years as an associate athletics director.
Monday, October 25, 2010
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19 comments:
Guess that means Richt won't be canceling two-a-days again next summer.
The best place to learn football is still on the field.
Hopefully Richt doesn't have to take responsibility for much else bad.
It's only admiral the first time.
glad to see physical play finally seems to be important to richt.physical play and emotionalism has been in decline since his arreival
I can remember when it was first announced that Richt wasn't using any two-a-days how it would prevent off-season injuries like in previous seasons. Most fans agreed with how it was probably an outdated technique anyhow. Looks like we definitely could have kept them in there.
All in all though, we're just rebounding from a lot of bad early breaks to start off the season. Losing AJ really hurt us, as our offense needed to come out scoring points while our defense adjusted and got comfortable. The Dawgs just need to knock Florida while they're down and bring another SEC victory on home to Athens.
Practice during the season and two a days are two different beast. This doesn't prove anything about summer camp. Just glad our football fans aren't running our school's research programs, or shows they fail or never took more than a semester of statistics.
If I were McGarity, I'd keep my mouth shut until after the season had ended. Then I would make the appropriate and necessary comments. No matter what happens, he ought to presure Richt to get rid of Bozo.
@ dawgofdasouth: "emotionalism on the decline since his arrival? What lala land were you living in when we won those SEC championships. Perspective I had being on campus must be totally different.
Also when Richt arrived people were praising him for how much more physical he was in practice than Donnan. Richts always had full pad practices. Just because decided to make Mondays a full pad day doesn't mean he never has. Heck I never had a Monday where I was in Full Pads unless there was a bye week.
Richt has done a great job getting this team turned around. We could easily be 1-8 if he and the players didn't get back on track.
With that said, there is still a fundamental problem of Georgia underachieving and not showing up for big games. Why does it take a four game losing streak for this team to get motivated? He needs to find a way to get these guys both physically and psychologically ready to play 12+ games a season. They don't show up for one or two games every single year. (four games this year)
That's why next week's game worries me. Florida is in our heads and I don't know how/if Richt can get these guys motivated to go out there and beat a struggling UF team. I will once again have low expectations and high hopes. It's just too painful otherwise.
Seth can you find out if Richt has been more involved with the offensive play calling of late?
I noticed he had what appeared to be the offensive play sheet in his hand Sat. I may be mistaken but I don't recall him having it before.
Also BoBo looked to be watching Richt most of the game - again I may be mistaken.
I highly doubt Richt, or anyone else for that matter, is going to willingly admit having taken away play-calling duties. Plus, who do you ask? In any case, who cares, we are winning our games.
We've learned from our mistakes this year and will make the necessary changes in the off-season, just as we did last season.
So the "Monday Full Pad" practice has turned the entire season around? Sounds a little too good a story too be true, doesn't it?
I think Richt used the "Full Pad" practice as a smokescreen story for him becoming more involved with the offense. Any subsequent improvement in play could then be attributed by Richt to the practice rather than his increased involvement.
Rather than point to full-pad Monday practice, Bobo not calling the plays anymore, or whatever other multitude of things you can attribute our recent successes to, it's more than likely a bunch of different things that we seem to be doing better than we did before.
For example, OL play, running game, defense getting adjusted, AJ back on the field, etc.
This season turned around because Richt began leading the team onto the field. That's a scientific fact.
It wasn't the Monday full pads practice. It was Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of full pads practice. If that doesn't help toughen you us nothing will.
Hey toine dodson, did you ever find the rapist in Lincoln Park?
We won because we actually played teams who were worse than we are and we did not screw up too bad. Lets see what happens with Fla, Aub and Tech. We are second tier in the SEC. I expect both Fla and Aub will beat us and hope we can beat Tech.
Right now I would say Florida is second tier and we should beat Tech pretty handily. As for Auburn, if we play like we have the past 3 games (minus the end of the UK game) then I think we have a fair enough chance to pull off some magic.
I want what you are drinking.
I was afraid of this based on Greg McGarity's prior comments. McGarity is becoming quite the Mark Richt apologist.
McGarity's standards:
1)Is Georgia Football "in the Hunt". Yes for now but winning against Florida is mandatory to continue to be in the hunt.
2)Is the team showint improvement?
Yes, Mark Richt is undefeated this year against unranked opponenents.Florida is unranked.
3)Do the players respect the coaching staff? So far yes, although off the field issues continue to make Mark Richt look like a knucklehead.
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