"[Atlanta] is our home away from home."
-- Sean Bailey
It wasn't that long ago that all of this seemed out of reach. On Dec. 4, 2000, Georgia president Mike Adams announced the firing of head coach Jim Donnan.
Almost five years to the day later, the entire Southeastern Conference looks different.
Five years ago, Georgia was coming off a three game losing streak to Tech (losses which were later vacated). Five years ago, UGA had only beaten the Vols once in 12 years. Five years ago, the Dawgs hadn't seen the inside of the Georgia Dome for an event not involving Peaches. Five years ago, we were 19 very long years removed from our last SEC Championship.
Things weren't exactly
But bullets were dodged, and Georgia made its best hire since the mid-1960s when it announced Mark Richt as Head Coach. Since hiring Richt, we now lead the SEC in overall and SEC wins since 2001. We have beaten Georgia Tech five in a row. We have beaten the Vols four of the past five, and most importantly we have celebrated 2 SEC Championships.
Unreal.
[Photo: Tim Jennings celebrates *another* SEC Championship]
The most amazing part of all of this...every year except 2002 the Dawgs have been labeled as being in a rebuilding year pre-season. We keep losing players to the NFL by the truckload, but we keep finding a way to reload and achieve great things.
52-12. That's Richt's record since he arrived at Georgia. It's the second best five year run in Georgia history, and the best period not involving the greatest college football player of the 20th Century.
And not to get ahead of ourselves, but things look excellent for the future. Florida and LSU have both downgraded head coaches versus Spurrier and Saban. The Vols are coming off their worst season in 25 years, and Bama is still digging out from under probation (where will they be once Brodie leaves?). And we are continuing to recruit at terrific levels.
Georgia and Auburn are the two SEC schools best positioned for the next 5-10 years. Who could have predicted this for us five years ago?
I couldn't be more thrilled. Kudos to the coaches and players. I love college football. I love Georgia. And I love winning. It's great to be a Georgia Bulldog.
For some similar thoughts about the future of Georgia Football, check out Kyle on Football. As he says to well, "The 80s are Over."
For a recap of the game, check out I'm a Realist.
Photo from SI.com.
3 comments:
I swear, after reading that FANTASTIC article on Mark Richt and what he's built at Georgia, and then turning right around and reading this great article, I can't be happier than I am right now.
That being said, can we please stop all of the "Richt to FSU once Bowden leaves" talk and get that man a raise and a contract extension?
I'm waiting for the press release.
If I could recite all that word for word I would.
I agree with you when you say that Richt wanted his roots in Athens and he's looking for a place we he can become a Vince Dooly or Bobby Bowden and I think he realizes Georgia is that place.
However, if I had a dollar for every person that "heard through the grapevine" that FSU or even (HA!) Miami was going to hire Richt, I'd have a lot more $$$ to play online poker.
I hope the guy stays as long as the UGA faithful stays loyal to him. We will have seaons where we don't win 10 games. Hell, we might have seasons where we don't win but 7 (this could easily be next year), but taking all that into account, I think the Bulldog Faithful will stick by our guy.
I still want that press release though. There's no sense in the aforementioned Al Groh making more than Richt.
I'm expecting the press release before Christmas. I'm sure Damon and Adams didn't want to talk about money with Richt until after the SECC game.
The last thing he or we wanted was a distraction. And contract renegotiations are exactly that.
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