Damon Evans' Legacy

It was pointed out to me recently that only two of Damon Evans' hires are still around: Mark Fox and head soccer coach Steve Holeman.  (h/t to Royorbisondawg)

Damon Evans

Think about that. He was AD for six years and five days. As of today, he has exactly two hires left. I run hot and cold about one and only know that the Soccer Dawgs made the NCAA tourney to lose the regionals in Durham to National Runner-Up Duke. It is stunning that only two of his hires are still around. Having said that, it is not hard to use hindsight to say the Damon Evans effect might also have been one of the contributory causes for the late '00's swoon in football.

Greg McGarity (Image: Red and Black)

I'm not willing to lay all of that on Evans, because the coaching staff has to want it, too. However, when the your boss is...busy...and not pressing excellence in the same way other ADs are, it isn't hard to get complacent. It also isn't hard to say the football program got very complacent, especially in recruiting, in the last year of Damon's tenure.

This didn't start out as an anti-Damon thing or a pro-McGarity thing. Other than McGarity's quick trigger retaining Perno this season, I haven't really questioned his moves (not that I explicitly question that move, but how quickly McGarity made the decision was interesting), as they all made sense in the context of the sport it happened in. In that regard, I dig the current AD's every year evaluation of the sport and the direction that sport is taking.

As for the current downward trend of Director's Cup Standings, that is something McGarity is going to have to take up with the new President if that doesn't change.

TD

Sometimes I Doubt Your Commitment to Sparkle Motion

Yeah, it has been three weeks.  I know.  I'd feed you a line about how busy I've been, what is going on, and life getting in the way, but frankly it is trite excuse making, the kind that has led to my malaise about writing. I haven't written because I haven't felt like it.

I've go the blahs. Not that I don't think Georgia athletics are necessarily blah. I remain as irrationally excited about them as ever.  However, the past month has also dealt a cold dose of reality to me:

Unless we change our drug testing policy to either do what we want it to, really keeping athletes from smoking the reefer, or change our policy directives, we are just hurting the program and the athletes.

Basketball recruiting is broken or was never fixed.

Gymnastics has fallen off and isn't on the direction it needs to be for us to continue to be viewed as The Program in the sport.

The baseball program has talent, but Perno continues to make crazy decisions and throw his players under the bus when those decisions don't work out.

Lady's basketball peaked eight to ten years ago.

The only bright spots this spring have been how well tennis is doing and the incredible football recruiting class that is shaping up for football, especially if five to seven of the early commits enroll early. And Bubba Watson winning The Masters. I don't care who you are, if you are a Dawg fan and don't get excited about that story, you have a lump of German Industripop music where your heart is.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest. On to the Kentucky Derby. And some snark.
TD

Dear Georgia Tech...

A division title is the minimum you need to earn a ring.

(via @brandensmith1)

NSD Review

Nothing really to talk about? Another top 10 class. Big gets on defense. Punter and kicker of the future. Some offensive line help. We could have signed a couple of more, but over all the 2013 class looks deeper, especially in state, than the 2012 class does. As long as we take care of business in 2013, a smaller class this year isn't that big of a deal.

So, anything else blog worthy going on about signing day? Oh, Joshua Harvey-Clemons.  My take: Give the kid...and his family...a break. Before you start with the 'you don't want to win' and 'be a Florida fan you f$*@$*g,' understand this: They are making a decision about where their family member will always be associated with.

As a Bulldog fan, I am mad that his grandfather would hold him up from his dream. As a parent, I understand. I believe Josh when he says he is 100% Dawg and is coming to Athens. I believe he is coming to Athens. His family will understand that his desire to succeed at the place of his choosing will, and should, win over any concerns of distance (or whatever it is that the Clemons are concerned about). Plus, his family can't keep him from enrolling at Georgia, so even if the LOI never gets signed, he can show up on time and play on scholarship.

Finally, I am not calling shenanigans, but why would the family want him at Florida with Coach Boom MF over Georgia with Coach Richt? Any ideas, other than the distance thing?

TD

PS. Yes, I know the mystery recruit never materialized. I have thought all along the mystery recruit was someone who hadn't really mentioned UGA, so if he'd have decided to come to Georgia, it would have been beyond a shock.

PSS. Blutarsky has art.

SEC!SEC!SEC!

Send me some of that cas$ Nicholas. (Image: Hipple)

I'll leave discussion of parallels between the SECCG and the BCSCG and how things could have gone differently for Georgia to Blutarsky (and believe me, Nick Saban should send the number to his hair guy and part of his bonus check to Mark Richt for Georgia's first half game plan against LSU), but I have to question the LSU fan's thinking that putting Jarrett Lee in would have made things different. I'll buy the argument that he couldn't have done worse, but honestly does putting him in and having him do the same make it acceptable to do so?

I point this out to ask this question: If Lee hasn't supplanted Jefferson before the 3rd quarter of the national championship game, is merely standing on the sideline not facing Alabama's defense the thing that convinces you that he is ready to supplant the guy that has gotten you to that point? If he didn't win the job while he has had the chance to do so, I don't see how merely being available makes him suddenly The Answer.

To put it another way, is there anything about Hutson Mason standing on the sideline not facing SEC defenses that makes you think he should take Aaron Murray's place on the field in Georgia games?

TD

McGarity on the Football Program

As fans, we spend a lot of time trying to get into the minds of those that are in charge of the football program. We agonize over why Richt did this or why Bobo called that play or why we are playing a soft zone and only rushing four.

One thing I am not wondering about this morning? Greg McGarity's thoughts on what we need to fix in the off season. I agree with Blutarsky's point that no amount of fretting over philosophy will change who Mark Richt is, nor will the person making the decisions about Richt's future and use of that philosophy make a change directly because of it. McGarity doesn't think the problem is philosophy. He knows the problem is approach and preparation.

From McGarity:

McGarity also urged fans upset over the Bulldogs’ 33-30, triple-overtime loss to the Spartans in triple overtime to keep the defeat in perspective. 

“Blair Walsh kicks a 42-yard field goal and we’re sitting here feeling great about ourselves,” McGarity said. “But would we have solved our running game problem? No. Would that have solved them being able to go on an 85-yard drive with no timeouts? No. So, I mean, the dynamics haven’t changed. It’s not going to matter diddly-squat when we start lifting weights in three weeks. If anything it’ll add more incentive for next year.”

I don't believe he thinks the issue is philosophy. I don't believe he thinks the issues are the individual running backs or individual blockers. I believe he thinks the issue is the ability of the coaches to put the players we have in a position to succeed, either by preparation, play calling or scheme (yes, I realize philosophy is reflected in at least two of those things; but I am talking about doing so successfully within the philosophy). At least two of those were suspect in three of the four losses. We saw the defense have issues with those things for first time in several games during the last two minutes of the game on Monday.

Greg McGarity said the right things to Coach Richt when he was hired. I believe he'll keep doing and saying the right things in the future. McGarity isn't telling Richt to be a different coach, to take more chances and be more Lesticles like. He is telling him that his program has to be able to do the things it takes to win games using the conservative game management approach, such as run the ball successfully and stop an opponent who has 85 yards to go with under two minutes to play.

We as fans might find that to be maddening, but it is what it is.

TD

Happy New Year

2011 was a challenging year for Georgia, but ultimately the successes of the football program, the first at-large NCAA tourney bid for the men since pre-Tony Cole, the toughness shown by the baseball program after the injuries, and the continued excellence of the ladies' hoops program helped make it a strong one.

Yes, we lost Munson, but he'd hate to know we are doing anything less than celebrating his life. In his honor, I'll light a cigar today, but not wait until late, LATE, to do it.

Here's hoping 2012 brings each of you health, happiness and prosperity.  Here's hoping 2012 brings UGA plenty of banner raising ceremonies and plenty of blogging opportunities about the foibles of our rivals.

TD

40 Motivational Speeches in 2 Minutes

GATA.

PWD

The Coldest Seat in Town

My how things have changed in 10 weeks.

TD

Photo of the Week: Michael Bennett's Catch

Damn what a catch! Image by Jim Hipple.

Which is it?

Is it "we should never lose to Mississippi State and Ole Miss" OR is it "the wins are only Ole Miss and Mississippi State"?

Say what you will (and you are), but while you are busy finding reasons to not be happy, we know our defense is substantially better than the last few seasons.  Hey, hate Richt/Bobo/McGarity/Grantham/JT3/Kasay all you want.  Be honest about the place we are in.  Not recognizing the improvement is being as intellectually dishonest as the inveterate homers that want Richt regardless of 13-0 or 0-12.  

At the same point last year, we had lost to Colorado (who only had beaten two meh teams).  We had lost to Arkansas (who had only beaten FCS and Sunbelt teams, as well as a pedestrian, to that point, A&M and lost to Alabama).  We had lost to South Carolina (who had wins over Furman, Southern Miss, Alabama and a loss to Auburn).  The difference was we weren't competent doing anything other than punting and kicking field goals.

I'll grant we have much more to go before we'll come close to calling this thing turned around.  Three years of mediocre and worse isn't solved in four games.  I recognize we are trending in the right direction and with the defense we have, that will likely continue.

TD

Game Day in Athens

It never gets old.  The feeling of excitement.  The sun on your face.  The crowd that seems to become less throngs of people and more an organic being the closer you get to Sanford.

There is a palatable adrenalin surge when you walk through the tunnel into the bowl.  The noise goes from loud to being a part of you.  Your sounds are not longer yours, but a part of the sounds of the stadium.

92,000 of your closest friends.  Red.  Black. The lone trumpeter. Glory, glory. Spell Georgia. Defend the "G". Krypton Fanfare at the start of the 4th Quarter. Hail to Georgia. The Alma Mater.

These are my people.  This is my home.

Go Dawgs!

Ole Miss Preview

I really struggled with this preview.  I had planned to do a breakdown of both teams, using stats and such.  However, I stumbled on one stat that was glaring, so unreal, that I decided to just use it and move on:

Ole Miss 2011 Total offense: 757 yards.  That is 252.3 yards per game.  For comparison sake, Georgia is gaining over 125 yards per game more.  Ole Miss has played the number 10 (Vandy..what?), 46 (BYU) defenses by total yards, plus DI-AA Southern Illinois (who the Rebels didn't exactly pile it up on with 315 yards).  Before you fret about that, remember, Elon gained nearly 100 more yards against Vandy than Ole Miss did.  Utah doubled Ole Miss's offensive output against BYU.

The key to this game really is sound defense.  On offense, run the ball and run it some more (they are stout in the first quarter on run defense, but fade through the game).  Take shots down field, but don't get fancy.  They aren't geared to spread the field and love to run the ball on third and anything.  Just about a vanilla as you could imagine. Defensively, use the meat upfront to create match up issues for them.  Force them into making mistakes, since they are so good at that.

It is time to get the road mojo back.  This is just about as good a road game as you could ask for in the conference to do so.

Quarter Season Review

Ok, not so much a review of the team as a review of...what?  How we feel as a fan base?  How I feel as a fan? 

First, group hug.  No seriously.  All those that want Richt fired and preferably last January and those that are ok with him staying arguably want the same thing: a successful program.  The problem lies in the definition of that. Now, I am not smart enough to try to suss out the definitions and the motivations for that.  I am smart enough not to say it should be one or the other. 

All that is to say that Mark Richt will be our coach at least until the end of the season.  Those that want him gone will only find satisfaction in us winning the rest of the games with no turnovers, no errant passes, no stupid penalties, no ill timed draw plays, no blown coverages, no missed field goals, and preferably 45+ point shutouts.  Those that want him to stay forever will find reasons to keep him, regardless of how ill prepared and under coached the team looks.  Now, Greg McGarity views success for the football program the same way Potter Stewart viewed pornography: He knows it when he sees it.  A lot of him 'seeing' that comes from what the money people tell him and President Adams.

As long as McGarity is the AD and there are no serious issues with a team revolt, Richt will coach the team until the Georgia Tech game.  My personal feeling is that he'll be here longer than that, but honestly, I can see the team reverting to last year's barrel of fail and him being gone.  The next few weeks will be far more important than the last three were, in that regard.

Hopefully, Georgia wins this week, which I think we will.  If not, Nutt will become the second coach in two seasons to get one of his few wins in his firing season against Georgia.  That guy is as fired as Damon Evans on July 1, 2010.

Coast Carolina Review

Mitchell with the catch (Image: Hipple)

I'm not going to break down in my typical fashion, since about the only bad or ugly thing I can find are the infernal holding penalties (admittedly mostly committed by young guys that got playing time).

Hey, I wanted Crowell to get 100 yards in the first half.  He got close, but had to settle for 86 on the day after dinging up his ribs again.  Murray hit five in a row to start the game.  He only really telescoped one pass all day.  The defense played well against an over matched offensive line.  We didn't get any sacks, but we had 9 tackles for loss.  We spread the passing around.  We got young guys reps.  We shut them out.

Hey, if you need to find places to complain about something, go for it.  I just can't find it this week.

TD

PS. I meant to include something about Rambo's return and fumble.  He probably should/could have gone down, but if he had, I might have found a reason to gripe about that.