I'm a firm believer that some coaches are coaches and some coaches are recruiters. So you may have talented players (Goff Era) that just don't show the results. Other times we have lesser talent that gets coached up into great players (Early Richt Era). You hear it all the time that he won with the other guys players. And this is inevitable these days. I'm not saying RIcht is a good or bad coach or a good or bad talent evaluator, you can make your own judgement. So I went through the wins and losses and decided to add my opinions on this. So lets look at the Richt Era.
Now this is not, I repeat NOT a fire Richt post.
The Wins and Losses over the Richt Era.
Year | Win | Loss | SEC Win | SEC Loss |
2001 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
2002 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
2003 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
2004 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
2005 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
2006 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
2007 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
2008 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
2009 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
2010* | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
*in Progress
So what do you see, any patterns. Well try this. Break it down by Eras. You can't compare 2004's 10-2 to 2008's 10-3. Why, Coaches change, players change, times change. You have to look at it from this perspective. Look at the teams that have the same story. Like the 2001-2004 (maybe 2005) teams. Why Because that is really the time when Georgia had the last of the Donnan players. It was also the time of Brian VanGorder, David Greene and David Pollack. So here's the break down
2001-2004 Keys
- David Greene
- David Pollack
- Billy Bennett
- Brian VanGorder as the DC
- Donnan's last recruits and signees
- 1 SEC Championships (should have been more)
2005
- DJ Shockley
- 1 SEC Championship
2006-2008
- Matthew Stafford
- Mohamed Massaquoi
- Brandon Coutu
- Willie Martinez as DC
- Mike Bobo as OC
- All Richt PLayers
2009
- Joe Cox
- AJ Green
- Blair Walsh
- Willie Martinez as DC
- Mike Bobo as OC
2010
- To Be Determined
So now that's it's broken down, do you see a pattern. I see a 4 year run, a one year question, a 3 year run, then last year. So what does this mean. Well the way I see it, this could be like the 8-4 year in 2001. I know we aren't playing as well as 2001. But we could still turn it around and end with a decent year. Much like the 8-4 year.
So 2011 will be the key. Do we perform like 2009 and 2001 or do we perform like our 10 win years. IF we rebound and start another run, then everyone will settle down. If not, well you know what happens.
I don't believe college football allows coaches to stay in place for to ride out the bad years. Every coach has a bad year and if he has some history of winning, he will usually get a mulligan or two. For Richt, he got 2 rings, so two mulligans.
So what years are his mulligans. I see it like this : 2002 covered for the 2006 year and the 2005 ring covers the 2009 year. You can stretch this to have the 2002 year cover this year. But anyway you look at it, Richt is about to run out of mulligans.
So you can see how the 2011 year is going to be the make or break year for Richt and his staff. Now I think we should let him stay. I do believe he has been good for the players and the school. BUT and this is a big BUT, things have been amiss lately both on and off the field. And if Richt is shown the door, it will be because of the off the field troubles. Because ultimately those impact the on field performance.