By and large, when you talk about firing someone, regardless of his profession, it is done because of one of two things, or a combination of the two.
First, you can fire someone because of past failings. A salesman may be fired because he has failed to achieve a particular quota set forth. Donnan was fired for his inability to beat any of Georgia's rivals with any real consistency. Damon Evans was fired for basically disgracing himself and the university.
Second, you can fire someone due to a lack of confidence in future success. While this obviously feeds off of the past failings idea, it is still a choice made independently of that in many cases. You may choose to keep a salesman who's come up short of his sales goals, because you know that he has talent and ability, his numbers have improved, and you know that this is a struggling economy. Or, you may fire him because you have not seen any noticeable improvement, and you simply have no confidence in his ability to get on track.
When you hear Athletic Director Greg McGarrity talk about evaluating everything on a week-to-week basis, he's taking both scenarios into account. It's a balancing act, and one to which a great deal of thought must be given. Certainly, the fact that Georgia has had great success under Richt shows that great seasons are a possibility. Yet, the last 2+ years show that continuing to lose is also a conceivable eventuality.
Many fans want to see a number of victories or an SEC East/SEC Championship labeled as the low-end threshold for keeping Richt. Putting aside the ridiculous amount of scenarios that would create a problem with this, it's still more about the confidence McGarrity ends up having in future performance.
Everybody is past having to accept that we saw some "good signs" in a loss. What must be decided is this: Are those good signs going to lead to actual wins, or is Georgia destined to continue to show good signs while mired in ~.500 seasons under Richt?
It would take a complete debacle by Georgia for this decision to be made mid-season. So, barring that, fans are just going to have to play along. While you may have made your choice already, McGarrity has not.
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My guess is he already has made the decision he's just not going to announce it till the season is over. McGarity knows what SEC fans want to see out of a head coach and I think he is going to give it to them just not right now.
ReplyDeleteif fl beats us for the 4 time in a row it is time for a change!
ReplyDeleteI suspect that will weigh heavily into McGarrity's decision, especially considering the Dawgs have already lost 2 games.
ReplyDeleteI have to say this. I hate losing. I hate that my beloved Dawgs are 0-2. But, if I take the homer out of it, look at things objectively and form my opinion that way and not with my heart, I see a young, but definitely improving football team. Are we gonna go on a 10-0 run? I don't know. If we play the remainder of the schedule like we did Saturday, the chances are very good. We played good enough to win, minus a couple crucial mistakes. The OL blew their protection on the Murray sack/fumble, but otherwise played pretty damn good. Crowell made a miscue on the hand-off that got flubbed, but he is a true freshman plus he owned up to it without hemming or hawing. Said it wouldn't happen again. I tend to believe him. Truth is, a lot of fans want a divorce from mediocrity and expect the team to win big always, but the history of this program is far from that of a perennial championship winner. We won the NC in 1942 and 1980. Played for it and lost to Pitt twice and Penn State once. Won a bunch of SEC titles over the years, but no sustained track record of excellence. Everyone points to Bama and the Gators with their runs, but they won't last either. Their programs' history is full of mediocrity also. I think too many want CMR gone without question. If they expect a new coach to turn us into some team that will contend for a MNC or even the SEC every year, they're sadly overestimating things, and giving way too much emphasis on something that will never happen regularly here at UGA or anywhere else for that matter. I think Richt will turn this thing around..this year. Let's let the season play out and then we'll see if I'm just another fan willing to settle or if I am correct in believing we are on the right track and headed back to the "glory days".
ReplyDeleteJust more thing...about these MNC's that all of us want and hope we'll win eventually. I don't remember who was # 2 in 1980. If the BCS had been utilized back then, who would we have played? It wouldn't have been Notre Dame, I can tell you that much. My memory isn't what it used to be, maybe some of you true historians can help me out...I believe we were #2 or #3 in '82 against Pitt, #1 against Penn State in '83. Don't remember the facts from the '76 game against Pitt. Just remember Dorsett was unstoppable. And since I'm reminiscing, that 1982 game against a future Hall of Famer by the name of Dan Marino...he was pretty tough, too.
ReplyDeleteI just thought it was appropriate to point out that a lot of great things have to happen for a team, any team, to win the national championship. Just points to the cold, hard fact that Florida had a helluva run from 1990 until 2008, but no one except gator fans should believe that will happen again any time soon, if ever. If Richt can get us back to winning 9-10 games every year, that will put us in the running for SEC hardware every year and with a little luck and the occasional 11 or 12 wins that might come with it, we get a shot at playing for it all. I'd take that and consider my Hartman fund donations money well spent. But that's just me.
In my opinion I would gladly say that Richt will stay in the game.. Amanda Vanderpool
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