Kirk Olivadotti is officially on board as Georgia's newest assistant coach.
UGA announced on Friday morning that Olivadotti, who spent the past 11 years with the Washington Redskins, will be the inside linebackers coach. That's the same title that Warren Belin held before leaving a couple weeks ago to be the Carolina Panthers' linebackers coach.
"It's exciting to have this opportunity to work with Coach Richt, his coaching staff and players," Olivadotti said in a statement released by UGA. "I want to thank him for his confidence in what I can hopefully bring to the program. I also want to thank Mr. Snyder and the Redskins for the last 11 years in Washington and the NFL."
Head coach Mark Richt, also in one those handy team-released statement, stated:
"In hiring an assistant, we look for someone who first is at the top level in football knowledge and competency. Then we want someone who is a teacher of the game, be an example for young men, and can serve as a mentor for our student-athletes. We found all those qualities in Kirk."
One issue that remains to be resolved is what happens with Belin's special teams coaching duties. Belin coached the kickoff coverage unit, which ranked first in the SEC. Olivadotti did assist in coaching the Redskins' special teams during a portion of his time there.
Olivadotti was the Redskins' linebackers coach from 2007-09, then had a more general "defensive assistant" title last year. (Unlike in college, the NFL has no limit on the amount of assistants a team can have.)
During his time with the Redskins, Olivadotti also coached the defensive backs, assisted with coaching the defensive line and was a defensive quality control coach.
Friday, February 18, 2011
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17 comments:
This sounds like a huge hire which you usually don't get to say about assistants. What's the players' reaction? Have they spent anytime with Coach O yet?
I'm really happy to see us going out of the program to get what looks like a really great hire. The changes that have been going on around Athens have got me feeling (cautiously) optimistic, but any optimism is better than what I felt last season.
Hiring 3 new defensive coaches took Georgia form 8 wins in 2009 to just 6 wins in 2010.
7 out of 8 of the last 8 seasons Richt's won less than the previous season.
Unless Olivadotti brought a can of magic juice with him, expect a 4 or 5 win season, remember, Richt gets worse in wins 7 out of 8 of last 8 seasons.
If you're an optimist, there's a 12% chance Richt will win more than 6 games, once out of last 8 years Richt beats his previous win total.
Or you could just look at the average wins per year that CMR has produced. You could check the last 5 if you wanted to be as negative as possible. Fact is, 6 is a low water mark, and I would expect it stay that way. Even over the last 3 years, he's averaged 8 wins a year.
I'm with NCDawag & CSA
A new coach won't fix Richt's slide. Teams under Richt have gotten worse 88% of the time, the last 8 years. Richt hired 3 new coaches in 2010, and won 25% less games than 2009. Assistant coaches arn't the solution, that's for sure, problem runs much deeper.
Statistics can prove just about anything you want it to. Baseball announcers are the worst: "he's hitting .425 in the 8th inning against pitchers whose last name starts with an A."
12% or 88%, it simply means that you can use a calculator. I for one, am not impressed.
So true guys, 90% chance Georgia wins less games than they year before under Richt last 8 seasons. WOW!
For some unknown reason some people think just because you hire new coaches you're going to get immediate results. It just doesn't work that way. The hires that CMR made were good hires. There is a thing called a learning curve. There is new language, new scheme and just overall new ways of doing things. For the life of me I can't figure why folks can't get that into their thick skulls.
S. E. Dawg I think last year was the largest curve to negotiate so we should be much better in that regard.
As for the new hire he and TG have worked together in the past and I'm pretty sure the terminology they both use is similar.
Do I expect to win the East - not really but I do think we will see a much better team than what we have endured for the last 2 - 3 years.
My thick skull is working over time :-)
Chew on this number Techies. Georgia 9 , Tech 1. WOW!
Last ten years! Georgia wins 9 of 10. 100% chance it continues.
Anon @ 9:06, I agree on last year learning curve, however we did lose 3 starting LBs and most likely 2 of this years starters reshirted last year (Jarvis Jones and Richard Samuel). But they have been exposed to the system. It just bothers me when many see the glass half empty.
I think it's real easy to look at things in a negative light. It's harder to maintain your optimism and your hopes...
but that is exactly what this team needs from its fans: support and cheers. After all, none of us are coaches, so we really can't contribute on that level, but if we're true Dawgs, we support our team, through thick and thin.
At least, that's the way I see it.
I'm going to say that this was a good hire until proven otherwise. You don't just 'hang around' an NFL team if you're not contributing. I hope that coach Olivadotti really brings more expertise to the defense; I'm sure the linebackers know who London Fletcher is, after all.
1 thing for sure--hiring a new coach hasn't helped Richt--90% of seasons, Richt loses more games than the year before. Richt can't win more games with any asst coach except 1x every 8 years or so.
90% chance Richt beats Tech no matter who his assistants are. 90% chance Richt has a winning record against you if you're a SEC team.
Poor ole Georgia fans. After a 6-7 season, and going 2-8 against their biggest rival, all they can do is brag about beating Georgia Tech.
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