Georgia Bulldogs

[Jungle Rat]

Tick knows the difference between slapping and punching.

[Professor Tiger]

Auburn down, Tech to go, a bowl victory over a MAC team on deck.

Richt keeps his job another year.

[DDAL]

6 more days until this season mercifully ends...

[The Gray Ghost]

The Dawgs need to prevent an ACC/SEC sweep, then they can belly up and die.

[Professor Tiger]

Belly up and die? Incorrect. When he soundly beats Tech (as usual) and squeaks out a win over the MAC champion in a bowl, he will have completed another 10 win season (as usual). This despite losing the second best RB in college football.

How can UGA even consider firing a coach with such impressive accomplishments?

[DDAL]

Ask LSU

[Professor Tiger]

I don't follow LSU all that closely. Are they thinking about getting rid of The Hat? Unlike Richt, Miles has won a NC. He's got a little wiggle room.

[DDAL]

He's as good as fired. They don't even care about the 15 million buyout. Richt is not expensive to fire, but Georgia won't do it. He'll get to try one more time to win it all with the Eason kid. After he competes but doesn't win with Eason, he will be done.

[Professor Tiger]

Miles seasonal records at LSU are 11-2, 11-2, 12-2, 8-5, 9-4, 11-2, 13-1, 10-3, 10-3, 8-5, 7-3(present). I would die for an Auburn coach to have this level of consistency. Firing a coach with this kind of record over 10 years is sheer madness. If he leaves, LSU deserves a decade of Curly Hallman's and Gerry DiNardo's, just Tennessee is enduring.

[Professor Tiger]

I wish you would die for any reason...

Beat ya to it.

[JRB]

So, Les Miles survives, and Richt gets fired. Wow.

[AlabamAlum]

Huge mistake.

[JRB]

I don't know. I think things had stagnated there, and Georgia has to be envious of Florida's resurgence under McElwain. I think Richt had done what he was going to do at Georgia, and might need a fresh start somewhere else-- I imagine Miami and UVA will be calling, and if Georgia manages to poach Justin Fuente away from VT, I know VT would be calling. He may just want to focus on his mission work from now on. This move might be best for all concerned in the long run.

[AlabamAlum]

The thing is I think you have to have a coach you know to be better to make that change. Herman from Houston, or Fuente from Memphis/VaTech, or Kirby from Bama are unproven - the first two at a major college level, the last at a head coaching level. It's a gamble. Kinda like Dooley from LaTech to Tennessee, for example. To me, at least.

Richt was 9-3 this year and 145-51 at Georgia. He's won the East 6 times, 2 SEC Championships, made a bowl game every year (and is 9-5 in those bowls), and he has never had a losing regular season. His teams have been plagued with major injuries over the last few years, which is on him, I suppose, for not having enough depth.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Les should tell LSU to f off and head to Georgia

[The Gray Ghost]

Les should tell LSU to f off and head to Georgia

Kindly STFU with that talk.

[JRB]

It absolutely is a gamble. Sometimes you have to gamble to improve your situation if you're not happy in your current one, and clearly, the Georgia folks are tired of coming up short in the SEC race. If they land Kirby Smart, which seems the most likely outcome here, they could end up with something like Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, or something like Will Muschamp at Florida. In either case, in the short-term, this is going to re-energize that program, and I'd argue it needs a jolt of new energy.

Maybe Richt could have provided that, if he'd gotten to coach Jacob Eason and gotten a year of good luck on the injury front. It's a 50/50 call to me. Kirk Ferentz at Iowa is very similar in many respects-- a couple of years ago, Iowa fans would have said their program was stuck in a rut, and now they're one win away from the playoffs. But, as the coaching cliché holds, "If you're not growing, you're dying," and it seems the Georgia folks think their program wasn't growing. That being the case, I can understand this decision.

[KeviNole]

Hell, Miami fans loved to call Jimbo "Four Loss Fisher" before the run of the last 3 years. A LOT of it is luck and timing - UGA always seemed to have a great defense and no QB, or a great RB and defense but no QB, or a great QB and porous defense. Les Miles' problem seems to be so many kids going pro early - FSU had always been pretty fortunate there but this is going to start hitting us harder (and did last year to an extent).

I really didn't think they'd fire Richt, at least not this year. I'm smack dab in UGA country and I hope it bites them in the ass - the only reason I've had an affinity for UGA is that I like Richt so much. Now that he's gone I hope the football team burns.

[AlabamAlum]

Good post, Jason. I don't agree with it, but you make a reasoned argument..

[Professor Tiger]

At a bar, a Bama fan says, "Our coach has won five National Championships!"
An LSU fan says, "Our coach won a National Championship!"
An Auburn fan says, "Our coach led us to the National Championship game!"
An Georgia fan says, "Our coach spoke at my church last year!"