Georgia Football Troubles
Apparently, Jeremy Pruit was fired and left his mark on the way out.
Mark Richt has lost control of Jeremy Pruitt. https://t.co/4sNuepyaSe
— ricobert1 (@ricobert1) November 5, 2015
EDIT: Apparently, I jumped the gun a little bit. Seems to be a false report. My bad. Still, not a good look at ALL for Georgia that this seems to have been taken so seriously so quickly.
November 5th, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^
I hope this works better:
Mark Richt has lost control of Jeremy Pruitt. https://t.co/4sNuepyaSe
— ricobert1 (@ricobert1) November 5, 2015
November 5th, 2015 at 12:02 PM ^
680 in Atlanta reporting Pruitt could already be out. And that there may have been physical altercations. Yikes.
— Corey Clark/TDO.com (@Corey_Clark) November 5, 2015
November 5th, 2015 at 4:04 PM ^
I think 420 in Atlanta was more responsible for this report. Just sayin...
November 5th, 2015 at 12:03 PM ^
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November 5th, 2015 at 12:10 PM ^
I think there is a shopped Pruitt tweet circulating and the story is fake
November 5th, 2015 at 12:09 PM ^
What the hell is this? OP, could you add a little detail (and an OT tag)?
November 5th, 2015 at 12:10 PM ^
We're actively recruiting a couple Georgia commits/leans. The speculation is that if Richt gets fired the recruits will bolt and there's a good chance they will end up in A2.
November 5th, 2015 at 12:09 PM ^
Hooray!
November 5th, 2015 at 12:09 PM ^
C'mon down!!!
November 5th, 2015 at 10:18 PM ^
November 5th, 2015 at 12:10 PM ^
Just so everyone knows, Jeremy Pruitt is our defensive coordinator and is in the office working diligently getting ready for Kentucky!
— Mark Richt (@MarkRicht) November 5, 2015
November 5th, 2015 at 12:12 PM ^
You're a faaast one, Mr Gob1ue22.
November 5th, 2015 at 3:23 PM ^
... you send out days before something actually happens. This will not end well. As a UGA alum (and son of a Michigan alum), I sure hope Richt is fired along with Schotty so that Nauta and Eason make their way to Michigan!
November 5th, 2015 at 12:11 PM ^
Just so everyone knows, Jeremy Pruitt is our defensive coordinator and is in the office working diligently getting ready for Kentucky!
— Mark Richt (@MarkRicht) November 5, 2015
November 5th, 2015 at 12:13 PM ^
He tweeted this while pinning down Pruitt with a desk.
November 5th, 2015 at 12:19 PM ^
November 5th, 2015 at 12:16 PM ^
There have been a few stories floating around in the last few days about support for Richt having eroded quite severely among the boosters and other high-dollar supporters of the football program too, so that may also come into play when his ultimate fate at Georgia is decided.
As for the Pruitt thing, there's some disagreement between Richt's official Twitter, which claims Pruitt is prepping for their game against Kentucky right now and just about every other outlet, a few of which are claiming Richt's time is all but nigh and this may not wait until the end of the season.
November 5th, 2015 at 12:16 PM ^
UGa is probably going to fire Richt during or after this season, right.
I would just remind UGa fans to remember their program BEFORE he took over. They were perenially 6-5 or so... regularly lost to UF and U-T, etc. They he comes in, having been OC for Bobby Bowden at FSU, and since then they are perentially 9-3, 10-2, etc., and were one play away from playing for the NC a couple years ago.
But I get it, they don't have a trophy like Bama, Auburn, LSU, Florida, even U-T (which one first BCS). So they are like, why not us, etc.
Maybe he's just been there too long. Just time to move on -- OU might be asking the same question this season if the Sooners don't win the conference. I mean, how hard is it to win a conference that only allows you to field half a football team (offense)?
If Richt does get let go, is he too senior to get a top gig? Would Miami (YTM) take him? [I'd think the guy at Memphis is going to get that gig.]
There was a day I sort of wished Richt would come to UM, but, he is such a Southerner, I'm not sure he's set foot over the Mason-Dixon line. If RR was culturally wrong, Richt would probably have been too; but he runs clean programs, doesn't over-recruit, etc. I have a very high opinion of the guy and think UGa probably ought to count their blessings.
November 5th, 2015 at 12:31 PM ^
This is somewhat true, but on the other hand, the Florida and UT of the last five or six years is nowhere close to what they were in those years prior to Richt. And yet, UGA has only had one really good year during that time period and only won the SEC East twice despite having by far the most talen in the division. They have definitely underachieved recently.
There are good arguments to keep him and UGA hasn't been outright bad (though this year may end up in that category) with him at the helm. But there's also a reasonable basis to say that Richt is never again reaching the consistent heights of 2001-2007, and that it's time to find someone to reach for those heights again, even if it means risking downside.
Also, fwiw, the last few years haven't been noticeably worse than Jim Donnan or later era Vince Dooley. Goff was worse, yes, but that's really the outlier at UGA. I think it's reasonable for UGA to expect to do better than what Richt is giving them lately.
November 5th, 2015 at 12:45 PM ^
Lets not forget that UGA was within 5 yards of beating bama in the 2012 SEC championship game and if they win they would likely go play ND in the NC. This is a terrible year but it is definitely an outlier.
November 5th, 2015 at 12:57 PM ^
I'm sure a lot of UGA fans would say that 2012 was the outlier since 2008. Neither is really true. They've been wildly inconsistent. Three seasons unranked (about to be 4), two top-10 finishes and a middling year where they won a very down SEC East and finished at 18, in the last 6+ seasons.
If they had managed to pull off that upset, Mark Richt obviously would have bought himself some more leeway. But alas, they did not...
November 5th, 2015 at 1:13 PM ^
Lloyd Carr or Mack Brown without the the 1 national championship. Good man by all accounts, clean program, and perennially doing less with more talent than most of his contemporaries.
As we know all too well, be careful what you wish for as a program going 9-3 annually and rotating between BCS adn 2nd tier bowls but believing your school and recruiting entitle you to a national championship game at least once every 4 years.
Only Pete Carrol, Nick Saban, and Urbz have managed to achieve such standards....all three of which are anything but the embodiment of integrity. It's a tough call, but with Georgia being in the SEC they probably would be willing to get dirty if thats what the next level of success calls for.
We really are the most blessed fanbase in the country right now with Harbaugh. Ultimate competitor, brilliant football mind, and not a scumbag sleaze like the other big time coaches out there. His quirkiness is endearing to many and he combines intellect, innovation and toughness....seemingly taking the best from Lloyd, Bo, and Moeller.
November 5th, 2015 at 1:45 PM ^
I know that Saban isn't the most likeable dude in the world, but if you think about it, Alabama hasn't really been hit with any big scandals under his watch. The worst thing he's been mixed up in is oversigning, but he was hardly alone in that respect. He's never had a bagman scandal (like Auburn under Chizik), he's never had a nighmarish string of player arrests (like Florida under Urban), he's never had a scandal involving shady "recruiting consultants" (like LSU under Miles and Oregon under Chip Kelly), he never got a student manager killed (like ND under Brian Kelly), and he's never been caught lying to the NCAA (like Tressel). By and large, Alabama under Saban hasn't generated as many negative headlines as its peers (low bar, I know).
Either he's really good at hiding his dirt, or he's just not as evil as we think he is.
November 5th, 2015 at 2:17 PM ^
I think people are pretty good at overlooking his dirt. On the cheating front, Alabama has always cheated, it's in their DNA, and I highly doubt it stopped right when Saban started pulling in consensus #1 class after consensus #1 class. Just because they haven't been caught recently doesn't mean it's not happening. He's also had is fair share of arrests. They've had six or so guys arrested since the end of last season and a couple years ago a car full of his players were arrested on armed robbery charges.
I think there's a point to be made that he's not any dirtier than a good portion of college football coaches, but lets not pretend he's a saint, either.
November 5th, 2015 at 2:31 PM ^
I'm not saying he's a saint, but he's portrayed as the slimiest coach in college football. There are other coaches who would have a stronger claim to that dubious distinction (including Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel, Bobby Petrino, Les Miles, etc).
Also, Alabama was actually dirtier before Saban than it has been under Saban (again, I know that's a pretty low bar).
November 5th, 2015 at 2:33 PM ^
I think its pretty much consensus at this point that the title of slimiest goes to Urbz given his history at UF - player arrests, looking the other way (Aaron Herndandez/murder on campus), banging coeds, using Jesus bible study gimmicks to perpetuate a false image, running away with "healh" problems when it was clear Saban was going to own him for years to come.
Urbz has managed to check off every box on the slime criteria list.
November 5th, 2015 at 3:45 PM ^
I don't really think he's portrayed as being that slimey at all, and this is despite more than his fair share of arrests, the over-signing business, and the certainty of Alabama having plenty of bag men. He doesn't have the slimey personality of three of the four you list, and he gets the benefit of that as you're aptly demonstrating. But I'd say he's pretty much Jim Tressel before Tressel got busted, if not a little worse.
I also highly doubt Alabama is any less dirty than they've been. Being dirty and being proven to be dirty are not the same thing.
November 5th, 2015 at 1:28 PM ^
It's kind of a shame; he's one of the few decent guys in the SEC. I always thought it was a crock of horseshit that he was cited by the NCAA for paying his assistants bonuses out of his own pocket because he thought they deserved a raise and he couldn't get his AD to pony up. He and his wife also adopted two kids from the Ukraine, one of whom has some rare disorder.
But given the recruiting base of that program and the resources he has at his disposal, it's hard not to get the impression that Georgia has underachieved.
November 5th, 2015 at 12:20 PM ^
Mark Richt will be Illinois next head coach.
If it doesn't happen, I will eat an apple at my desk at an obnoxiously loud volume.
November 5th, 2015 at 12:33 PM ^
Your gullibility does not translate to a "bad look" for Georgia FYI.
November 5th, 2015 at 1:52 PM ^
It will be great for the Big Ten if this happens.
November 5th, 2015 at 3:38 PM ^
I'm curious, is Richt known as a good recruiter or is it just that UGA basically recruits itself due it's name and position in the talent rich south? Lotta UVA folks think he's a great candidate to replace Mike London after his inevitable canning. I have no idea if he's the type of coach that could win at UVA (which needs to run a program similarly to Michigan and Stanford).
November 5th, 2015 at 7:43 PM ^
He was born in Omaha and played for Miami. Maybe Nebraska and the U will be interested.
November 5th, 2015 at 12:21 PM ^
November 5th, 2015 at 12:34 PM ^
If they end up unranked this year, which is probably one more loss from happening, that will be four times in seven years. That's a far cry from what we were doing up until 2005.
November 5th, 2015 at 2:50 PM ^
November 5th, 2015 at 3:55 PM ^
If using 2000 Michigan as your barometer as you did in your OP, I think you have to go back to include 1997, since it isn't all that far removed from 2000. So, from 1997-2004 (the range I said it's not comparable), Lloyd Carr had at least a share of four big ten championships, four top ten finishes, a national title, four major bowl appearances, and no team finish lower than 20. From 2008 to this year, Mark Richt has had three teams finish outside the top 25 (possibly soon to be four), only two top 10 teams, no conference championships, and no major bowl invites.
Even the area they're most comparable, struggles against the major rival tilts toward Lloyd Carr with his 4-4 record in The Game over that span compared to Richt's 3-5 against Florida.
I'll say it again, the two situations are not comparable until you get toward 2007 for Lloyd Carr, and I think most Michigan fans, despite what happened afterward, would still hold that it was time for Carr to go at that point.
November 5th, 2015 at 1:50 PM ^
I envision the boosters buying the new less clean coach a team similar to like Ole Miss has done for Hugh Freeze. IMO most SEC/Georgia fans would rather win at any cost and don't give a damn about the rules, it's a culture thing. Have coworkers in the south. They just wish their team was best at bag men etc and don't see it as anything wrong.
November 5th, 2015 at 2:23 PM ^
Georgia doesn't even have a dedicated indoor practice facility, they aren't really in the same world like that.
November 5th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^
November 5th, 2015 at 12:32 PM ^
“It is pleasant, when the sea is high and the winds are dashing the waves about, to watch from the shores the struggles of another.”
-Roman historian Titus Livy
November 5th, 2015 at 12:43 PM ^
This isn't a completely made up rumor. Pruitt and Richt had a very verbal disagreement during practice recently (I want to say yesterday but didn't ask). Nothing physical like some of the rumors that have been floated around but there is definitely tension amoung Pruitt and the Staff. I have to think that fact that Richt didn't deny the incident is telling.
November 5th, 2015 at 12:51 PM ^
The assistant coaching staff has not been on the same page in a while and Richt is under orders on threat of termination to get his house in order. What we're seeing is some knocking of heads and him trying to right the ship. Not sure if it's possible at this point.
November 5th, 2015 at 1:44 PM ^
2. Brian Schottenheimer is a terrible offensive coordinator. He has been hated everywhere he has been by fans, and has apparently been a disaster at UGA.
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November 5th, 2015 at 5:03 PM ^
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November 5th, 2015 at 6:45 PM ^