I usually try to avoid unrealistic and deluded expectations for success when it comes to teams I root for or for any program in general. Kirby Smart’s tenure at Georgia, however, begins with an outlook to the grandiose. It isn’t Smart’s fault that he has to launch his head coaching career with the weight of the world on his shoulders, it’s Georgia’s Athletic Director-turned-fan-boy Greg McGarity’s. McGarity appears to have lost his ability to make rational and adult choices while under the pressure of vainglorious boosters who replaced their common sense with local talk radio homerism. Now, as a result of this farcical decision, Smart needs to win not only an SEC title but at the very least must bring Georgia to the college football playoff to justify McGarity’s ponderous firing of Mark Richt.
Richt coached at the University of Georgia for 15 seasons. His record was 145-51, with nine 10 win seasons, nine bowl victories — going 2-1 in BCS bowls–, and sending over 75 players to the NFL, more than any other coach in that 15 year span[1]. In terms of on field performance it is arguable that only a handful of coaches consistently produced better football teams, three of whom also resided in the SEC: Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, and perhaps Les Miles. As mentioned previously, Richt was an NFL-talent recruiting wizard. Some of the more well-known NFL bulldogs who played under Richt include Todd Gurley, Matthew Stafford, AJ Green, Thomas Davis, Akeem Dent, Justin Houston, Jarvis Jones, Alec Ogletree, and Geno Atkins. Richt’s current Georgia recruits are also certainly loaded with NFL talent. After all, is there any better way to recruit elite high school prospects than by pointing out that your program is an NFL-player-producing factory?
There are some significant criticisms to be made concerning Richt’s tenure at Georgia. Richt, despite bringing the bulldogs to six SEC championship games, had not won an SEC title since 2005. Georgia’s only other SEC title under Richt was in 2002. Richt also struggled against top 25 competition in the latter half of his time at Georgia, going 14-23 the past 8 seasons[2]. He also had a penchant for losing important SEC games in which Georgia was favored, and losing them badly. This past season had three such examples. Georgia, slightly favored over Alabama in Athens, was completely destroyed. They blew a 21 point lead in Tennessee and were non-competitive against a very mediocre Florida team in Jacksonville. Some of his more memorable and painful losses were a shocking loss to Tennessee at home in 2004 just a week after thumping the LSU tigers, the defending champions, a bitter blowout loss to LSU in the 2011 SEC championship game after leading at halftime, and terrible back to back losses in 2013 to Missouri at home and Vanderbilt on the road following huge and exciting home victories against #6 ranked South Carolina, then #6 ranked LSU, and a triple OT season saving win at Tennessee.
In 2007 Georgia opened the season as the consensus preseason #1 in both the coaches and AP polls but lost at home to Alabama in week 5, were blown out by Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow’s gators in Jacksonville, and defeated in a close game at home by Georgia Tech. Richt’s biggest loss, however, was probably the spectacular 2012 SEC championship game against Alabama with a BCS national championship bid on the line. Alabama’s total domination of the Fighting Irish left Georgia fans feeling that they had their first national title since 1980 slip just out of their grasp.
Richt was 5-13 against top tier SEC coaches during its nearly decade long run of college football domination going 1-5 against Urban Meyer, 0-3 against Nick Saban, and 4-5 against Les Miles, two of those loses coming in the SEC championship game in 2003 and 2011. All of these issues understandably left Georgia fans and the Georgia athletic department feeling that Richt was unable to bring Georgia over the top. Here is the problem with that thinking though: replacing Mark Richt, arguably the best coach in college football in his 15 year reign at Georgia besides Saban, Carrol, and Meyer, with an unproven commodity gilded by Alabama’s success isn’t going to work. Smart isn’t going to ascend above Richt’s own legacy much less Richt’s toughest rivals and he’s already proven that he is straying away from Richt’s humane and fatherly management of the bulldogs by eradicating Richt’s generous transfer program.
I guess that makes sense though. Richt was replaced because his elite on the field performance wasn’t elite enough. College football is about winning and Richt spent too much time caring about students and perhaps this detracted from the cutthroat and control-freak mentality needed to win it all. It is fitting then that Smart is starting his tenure at Georgia by cutting back on Richt’s liberality and treating his “student-athletes” like the chattel they really are. Good luck Kirby, you better win. http://gty.im/504598778 http://gty.im/488504566
[1] http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/14249377/mark-richt-fired-coach-georgia-bulldogs
[2] http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/14249507/mark-richt-won-lot-games-georgia-just-not-right-ones