I respect your opinion. I responded yesterday with a different view. Mine is based not on total losses or wins. It's blowouts, record vs ranked quality competition, general program direction and other stuff. I just don't believe that he can push us to the top and keep us around it. We shouldn't ever be less than 5/6. With every couple years being 1-3. Our state is like fourth in football talent in the nation. We are THE University in that state. We loose some to other schools but we steal some from other states. That balances out. Yet we can't get there. I just think we should be all in as a university and that means making some hard choices and not being scared to go for it. Sure we may lose a great man. But we may gain a great coach. And honestly he gets paid to be a great coach first. What is his salary up to now, 4 million? That's not 9 win with a blowout or 2 money. I appreciate his loyalty, integrity, and compassion for his players and UGA. But I believe we need a change.

Thanks, David, for the comment. And, I totally agree - the WAY we've lost is probably what has many Dawg fans with a really sour taste in their mouth. Again, this is just my opinion (and hope) that I believe with the changes in place, we'll get there.

If all you people who think CMR should be let go would just look at it this way... The University of Ga isn't going to let any player do anything that will embarrass the program.. So no matter what coach we hired, they cant get any better win %age than what CMR is getting... I have seen CMR grow stronger and sterner on his players than I saw a few years back.. He has the passion and wants to win just as much as any other coach.. And no, I'm not happy with the losses we have each year, but I also see him putting a Championship Team in place.. Just my opinion...

I Don't Understand Why UGA Fans are acting like Hoe's for, Seriously...If You know Football. Well then, You Know We are Right About where we Should be... Listen We Are All Mad About losing to Our Arch Rivals in a Blowout !!! Believe Me It was hard for me too...I am a Dog that lives in Florida with an Older Brother who is a Gator Fan !!! I am Proud of our Dogs cause they have played beyond their abilities and have Rose to the Occasion for 2 Victories without Gurley...........OFFENSE :We Have A Stud Offensive Line !!! We Have won Games with a Mediocre QB, Our Heisman Contender Suspended, Our RB & WR Core are Still Either Injured or Coming off Injury..........DEFENSE : Going into the 1st Year with Pruitt D/C....Playing with Grantham's Recruits....A Weak D-Line, A Bad Azz LB Core, And A Depleted Secondary......This Is OUR Georgia Bulldogs....We Are Playing Beyond Ourselves & you have to give Them Credit...If Anything Give the Coaches Credit, They Coached this group to 6-2... Even though a Couple of Offensive Play calls were Really Questionable in S.C. & Fl.... If I was Richt I would Play Ramsey More & Tell Bobo To Loosen the Reins and take some Chances.....Hey We Run the Table. Beat #3 Auburn at home with a (well rested) Gurley then were right back in the Top 10....It only takes 1 Mizzou loss and we are in the SEC Championship !!! We Upset a Top 5 Sec Contender there and we could Sneak into the playoff....Wow Would would the Haterz say then....Only time will tell !!!

Cory could you please ban this Thomas Brown asshole? He has worn his welcome out at every blog on the web. He spews the same drivel over and over again. It is tiresome and quite honestly no one takes him seriously anymore. Love the blog! Thanks!

Done.

Well I feel like its time for a change CMR is a great guy but this is as good as we will ever be we have had National Caliber Teams that have just underachieved like Mike and Mike said on ESPN radio UGA recruits super stars from highschool that are average at UGA then go on to be great in the NFL that all comes down to coaching UGA has put more players in the NFL starting positions in the past 5 years then any other team in the SEC but still can't seem to even win a SEC championship look at Ole Miss and Miss State both bottom feeders in the west till new coaching and it didn't take 14 years Gus Malzon took an Auburn team that had a loosing record the year before he came and took them to a National Championship with a Quarterback that we kicked off out team that CMR and Bobo didn't even see his potential they had him playing Defensive Back that is not being able to see talent and that is bad coaching they red shirted Morenoe his first year when we had no backs and CMR still defends Bobo when its clear he is not the man for the job hid elementary offense is awful.

Folks just read the comments below if you want to know why UGA is a second rate football program! 14 years as a loser of a head coach and these people still think CMR can turn it around. SICK!

Something to consider....it seems to me that CMR is on a 5 year cycle. If the 4 team playoff existed when he became head coach, he would have possibly had teams in 2002, 2007 and 2012 in the playoff to compete for the national championship. I can live with that. However, what I cannot live with are the games where we completely lay an egg (2014 Florida, 2012 South Carolina and 2007 Tennessee immediately come to mind). I am FOR CMR and do not want him gone, but the total lack of having a team ready to play and not even be competitive (especially off a bye week) is mind-blowing and I don't understand how it can happen once or twice EVERY year. I agree that CMR CAN lead us to a national championship, but I never saw THIS year as being "the year", so, in one way, I think that he's done a good job this year, except for the debacle in Jacksonville.

Richt is a good and successful coach. I think his chance of winning a NC is slim to
none. In his 14 years at Georgia he’s
produced some very good teams and has won the East more than once and the
SEC. His teams are good to very good, but not great. Great teams win the games
they are supposed to win and find ways to win some they are not supposed to win. Richt’s teams, for whatever reason, more
often than not, don’t do this. Saturday
was just one example. I’m not saying it
is impossible for Mark Richt to win a National Championship for Georgia, he
could still do it, but he’ll need more luck than a Nick Saban or an Urban Meyer
and if does it probably won’t be with an unbeaten team. He’s had 14 years and that speaks for
itself. Do I want Richt gone, no. He’s a very good coach and hiring another one
which can supersede his record would be difficult, even for the most
sophisticated AD. Georgia football is
what it is, a long way from terrible and tragically, still just shy of great.

There are some ridiculously ignorant statements in here. I can't believe some of these people actually think they know what football is or the issues with it. Richt is awesome. Bobo is awesome. Pruitt, to be determined but I believe in him. People don't like Richt but they sure liked Aaron Murray, Todd Gurley and Jeremy Pruitt. Richt is the reason they came in the first place. He is certainly capable and without a doubt tough enough win it all. The last seven years are different than the first seven because we had seven years of reeling off 10 win seasons and not getting the LUCK to end up without a National Championship. There was bound to be some rebuilding years in the last seven years (see 2009 and 2010). I would like to see Nick Saban's team lose his top two RB's and two of his top four WR's(three out of four for a couple of games) along with all the other injuries we dealt with last year and finish better than 8-5. I would like to see him lose three of his top four RB's and still be without two of his top four WR's like the majority of this season and still have his team at 6-2. People, your all insane that wants to get rid of him. Insane. The dumbest thing I have read is people putting Gus freaking Malzahn ahead of Richt. That's just absurd. What has he done? Blown an 18 point lead in the National title game. He doesn't belong in sane sentence as Richt. Hell, he needed a fluke, lucky play to barely sneak by an 8-5 UGA last year. How lucky was he to beat Bama last year? Old Miss this past week? He's full if LUCK. That luck runs out November 15th.

You okay with 2-12 against Top 10 teams over the last 4 years?

No Nathan!!! The last seven are different because of Nick Saban!!!Whats it gonna take for people like you to wake up!!!

I have thought since probably 2007 Richt was not an elite coach. He won 2 SEC championships with another coaches players and done nothing since. even with those great teams he would barely scrap by an unranked Colorado team. He consistently finds a way to lose at least a game or two every year we have no business losing...South Carolina and Florida are examples this year. Alabama losses their top talent to NFL every year and still come back strong/competing for it ask every year so don't say they could not withstand the injuries we have bc they do every year. I am tired of people making excuses why he can't get over the hump. "We are young" "we had injuries"etc we have been injuried/rebuilding for the LAST SEVEN YEARS!! You may be satisfied being 8-4 or 9-3 every year with the occasional 10-2 year, but I am tired of it personally.

I tend to agree Cory. I was frustrated with the decision to kick into the crosswind, the inability of the defense to adjust (load the box and take your chances with the quarterback) and most of all the (and I could be wrong here) the lack of energy on the Georgia side. We seemed flat and not ready to play. Florida came out flat too until the fake, the ensuing kickoff and then the great block by the ref. As they gained some mo we just didn't answer. I initially did blame CMR (who I support and don't want to see him go) for that and having calmed down and thought things through I do think--

1)This isn't a championship team yet. With Todd Gurley you did have a shot but there are still holes that we all recognized before the start of the season. I'm not sure anyone could have done a better job with all the losses from the off season that Pruitt had to make up for.

2)The Todd Gurley thing has been a huge distraction. The NCAA's dithering until game week didn't help. I know we rallied against Missouri and Arkansas but having a constant, ongoing distraction is tough emotionally.

3) As good as Chubb has been, losing Gurley has been huge. Take the best player off any other top 10 team and get back to me. Gurley's impact as an emotional leader cannot be overstated either. If Gurley plays last Saturday we do see a different game but such is life.

4) Pruitt got outschemed Saturday. I'm not sure the reason, although I have a couple of theories. I do believe that Pruitt will learn from it and we won't see it happen again.

I do thing Richt can take us there. He's had teams, that with the right break, that should have played for it all -- 2002, 2007 and 2012 in particular. I do think we have a good staff in place.

I honestly could not answer the question yesterday, still pissef from Jacksonville. However if we look back at some of the big games special teams have let us down. We do not have a special teams coach.maybe its something we should consider. Let's be honest a guy who has a face shield is not ur everyday holder for a field goal. Hire a special teams coach. I am a huge supporter of Ritch, bobo and of the university. It is unfair to say let's fire everybody. Bobo has had us set records across the board. This year its unfortunate that we lost the best player in college football. A leader on the field. That is hard to replace. It is hard to come out and play when we have had all of the distractions going on. Let Pruitt get his guys in there and we are gonna be fine. Keep Ritch and long as we can bc I sure as hell don't wanna go back to the Jim donnan days or ray golf. I'm still a dawgs and will always will be

I would like to know who people think we are going to hire if we fired Mark Richt and if they think we will seriously have winning seasons. Sorry, I base this off to Tennessee and everyone else who got greedy and their teams have been in the dump since trying to turn it around.

We AINT Tennessee.They dont have enough talent in that state.WE DO!!Kirby Smart gets the best out of this state.We need to hire him!

Appreciate that sentiment - however, who was Hugh Freeze, Gus Malzahn, or (heck) even Mark Richt before they were at their present schools. Some coaches are home runs, some fizzle out - nothing is guaranteed - and that is why it is a hard question to answer.

Agreed. It's tricky. Don't think it's his time yet especially just getting Pruitt going.

It's going to take a lot more than just getting rid of Richt to get a championship and an average of 2 loss seasons. Sorry, looks like you're going to be frustrated for awhile. Too many pieces in a puzzle and the SEC isn't the same conference as his first 7 years.

Love your blog. Have to say though I completely disagree. Its one thing to not have the players, another to lose a few games. But that performance was embarrassing. It didn't have to be that way. It's just a microcosm of what's wrong with his overall philosophy. Great coaches don't always play the odds and kick a FG instead of hammering a fragile team. He just doesn't get it. Sometimes you have to be discerning to understand Florida was ripe to fold if you jump up 14-0 or 17-0. Instead you elect to kick a FG into 30 mph cross wind and miss it and then you allow them to score on a awake FG and now that fragile team has hope and momentum. Clueless. Same thing happened in the TN game last year. Same with Vandy. Clueless. Its one thing to be undermanned but we weren't against SC and UF and still lost and still were out coached and blown out against UF, just like every year, 9 straight years with a loss of 15 pts or more. We all better hope that Pruitt is THAT good and has the effect needed (like is already happening in recruiting) but this HC will lose one or two games every year he shouldn't because the competition is THAT difficult and isn't getting easier. Richt aint going anywhere so this is what it is but I don't see the makeup in him to demand excellence in himself, his coaches or his players and his interviews are honestly embarrassing. If he cares SO MUCH then why not use the interviews to motivate his players and coaches? SHOW THEM he will do whatever it takes to push every player to compete at the highest levels. No, I just don't see it.

And let me say this to: Look up the opponents success rate on fake FGs and fake punts. Pathetic. I am serious, look it up. Its THAT bad. It is so competitive now, to win titles you have to be tight in every phase of the game and our special teams is still a joke. Improved, slightly yes, but when you consistently give up fakes that change the momentum of games, you won't win a playoff or not even likely get there.

Atticus, thank you for the comments. Believe me when I say I completely understand where you're coming from. It is definitely HOW we've lost as of late that has many of us - understandably so - just pissed. I feel like with the changes we have in place, it will pay dividends. Again, I don't KNOW, I just hope.

I hope too, believe me!

It's hard to believe we're even asking this question when three weeks ago Richt held together a shattered team that had just lost 3 players, including someone who represented 33% of Georgia's offensive production.

Face it people, this is not a great team. It wasn't a great team in August and it isn't one today. Now if you want to blame Richt for allowing our defense to get this bare or Bobo for not having another Aaron Murray in the wings then you may having something to whine about, but it's not like UGA is the only down power in the SEC East. Look at the implosion in Columbia SC or across the country in places like Ann Arbor Michigan, Miami Florida et. al, who are wallowing in cess at the moment.

We've got to give Pruitt 3 years to turn this D around, before we can start banging the replace Richt drums.

That's the problem. It's always the team is not quite there yet. "If we just had___" but if the team doesn't have players that is still his fault bc ultimately he is in charge of recruiting. How long will we hide behind and accept the excuses? Maybe we fire him and the team gets worse. It could happen bc he is a good coach, but he loses too many games he should win and allows to many opponents to keep it close that he should blow out.

Yep I don't disagree. The Pruitt effect will have to play out. But not many HCs are given the opportunity to hire 4 DCs after 3 others failed so hopefully he will be THAT good. But the issues are SO much more than just the defense.

The difference in his first 7 years and his last 7 years is the easiest thing in the world to see. Its Defense, and thats all. For the majority of his first 7 years we had VanGorder, then the next 7 were the Willie and Grantham debacles. Now we finally have a D Coordinator who I believe in and who happens to be one of the best recruiters in the country. With the lack of experience, talent, and depth we have on defense its somewhat impressive (to me anyway) that we are 6-2 right now even after being without the best RB in the nation for 3 games. Lets give JP a year or two to actually recruit some talent to work with on D and then make some judgements in 2016-2017. Anybody who truly thought this team was a national title contender this year drank waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much kool aid. Thank you Cory, love your blog.

Do what happens when it doesn't happen in 2016-2017? Blame Pruitt and keep marching forward with yet another coordinator and Richt? He has had his chance and been given multiple opportunities with coordinators. Everything we are saying about Pruitt now we said about Grantham in the beginning. So how many more years of excuses? You know the common thread through the last 7 years? The head coach so blaming the defensive coordinator if far fetched.

Great article. I'd love to see you continue to ask questions about whether or not it's fair to judge Richt when he's not operating with a loaded gun. Because a new HC will have to deal with the same thing. We have a governance problem, see Harvey-Clemsons and Tray Matthews as the latest a examples. We also have a major facilities problem, coaches pay problem and recruiting problem. Frank Crumley, the man who was in charge of the money, gives his girlfriend raises and gives BMac, the best recruiter in the nation, a $15K raise? When Auburn has a major recruiting weekend, they have 15 new escalades lined up outside the football facility, but our coaches are questioned and have to justify renting 1 Yukon from Heyward Allen. Every other "winning championships" program has a jet to be as effective as possible in recruiting, we don't. Our head coach is having to spend time trying to justify why we need an indoor and that it should be located where all the other football facilities are. Then he's told he'll have to raise dollar for dollar to build it. You think they deal with that at Bama, Aub, LSU? So why is this? Because we have a virtually non-existent athletic board full of professors? Is it designed that way? Who is watching McGarity and how he spends $ and sets policy? Moorhead? He doesn't know the first thing about athletics and has never been anywhere else to compare. Who is asking why we do what we do? Or don't do? Who has a sharp skeptical eye asking tough questions about policies and comparing them to other schools? Is there any accountability? The fish stinks from the head down.

Now that makes sense, stop the money and things will change. The Disney Dawgs that are okay with winning 9 games a year are the problem.

Well said!!!

I'm all in also. I mean we're only in year 14 of the rebuilding plan... it takes time.

I mean, I get what you're saying, but, at the same time, college football is cyclical. Everyone is going to have a downturn. But, again, I understand.

Sorry, you're NOT right.Richt never will as long as Saban and Malzahn are in this league.Hell even Spurrier owns him.C'mon dude, WAKE UP!!!

Dacula, I definitely appreciate your sentiment and understand. However, please remember, this is my opinion. I'm not throwing records or facts out there - because, based on yesterday's article, you can definitely make the argument otherwise. I just am, again, stating my opinion.

I totally agree...we need to keep supporting him and the team. I am proud of him and the team!

Can't help but feel like I've read this same article before !

You mean, like every year?