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September 21, 2006

About the Pending Richt to Miami Idiocy

In order to address any rumors that might pop up. Here's a reminder and some info.

Richt has an $8-10 million buyout clause in his contract. Scout.com's Dean Legge has confirmed that there is no exemption for FSU or Miami in Richt's buyout clause. By comparison, Bobby Petrino has a $1 million buyout clause.

UPDATE: The AJC has reviewed the 26 page contract, and they have confirmed that there is no out for Miami or any other school.

Additionally, Coker's buyout if Miami fires him will be $2-4 million.

If Miami hires a top tier coach like Petrino, Rodriguez or Tuberville, they will have to pay around $3 million/year. With all that in mind, Miami's athletic department loses around $1 million per year. By comparison, UGA's athletic department posts a $24 million profit. Miami isn't a school that can pay $13-17 million to fire Coker and hire a guy like Richt. That is fiscally far, far, far beyond their financial reach.

But more important than all of that. Richt has moved more than 30 family members to Athens. With that in mind, we repost this article about Richt's family moving to Athens. (Original Publish Date: July 20, 2006)
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Mark Richt to Move Entire City of Tallahassee to Athens


"Dadgumit, will the last person leaving Tally please turn off the lights"

Today, Brad Johnson, Mark Richt's brother-in-law, and Richt's sister announced that they are moving to Athens. This is roughly the 30th person that Richt has moved to Athens from Tally. Leaving the question remaining of...who is stuck down there still?

All non-sense aside, this should be (but it won't be because some people are stupid) the last nail in the "Richt to FSU" worry wart festival of doom.

Richt has been working since he arrived in 2001 to convince the media, rival fans and the Bulldawg Nation that he's not leaving for FSU or Miami when/if Coker or Bowden step down.

Many of the hints were apparently too subtle for the masses.
  • In 2001, when he asked Coach Van Halengar to relocate his family to Athens from Tallahassee, it was the first sign. Why would Coach Van move only to move right back? The money was basically the same.

  • In 2001, when he moved his brother-in-law to Athens and hired him as the new full-time team chaplain. It was another statement of "Athens is my home."

  • When he worked out a deal after the 2002 season to create the largest two-way buyout in college football history at $9.9 million at its peak. Some folks still said he'd leave. Although, virtually no program would touch a buyout that large.

  • When he moved his father and his new mother-in-law to Athens. Still many remained convinced that he would leave.

  • In 2005 UGA reported a $23.9 million profit in athletics. By comparison in 2005 FSU posted a profit of $164,185, and Miami LOST $1.5 million the year that they won the National Title in 2001. Yet some folks think they could STILL outspend us and take on Richt's $10 million buyout.

  • Today, the Tallahassee newspaper reports that Richt's sister and brother-in-law, NFL QB Brad Johnson, are selling their $3.8 million home in Tallahassee to move to Athens.

  • The article also announces that Mark Richt's mother AND Brad Johnson's mother are moving to Athens in the near future. And Richt has a new contract extension which pays him $2 million per year through 2013. (If the buyout clause is structured like the last one, it now stands at closer to $12-14 million).
So please for the love of all that is decent and holy. Can UGA fans please stop worrying about this?

All coaches talk about staying put. But nobody moves 30-40 friends and family members including almost two dozen school age kids to Athens just to uproot them again when Bowden retires or Coker gets canned. That's not the way decent people deal with other decent people. Especially not family.


Paul Westerdawg
Georgia Sports Blog

16 comments:

Unknown said...

Richt isn't leaving because as you've already mentioned the schools who want him most can't afford him. This scenario would be pretty interesting one IMHO though it is a longshot.

Anonymous said...

The lying, cheatin' Tech assclowns start this shit everytime a major college coach gets on the hot seat. I'll bet they've called every in-state recruit today to try and get a strong verbal. This is such BS and to hear that 680am "The Fan"- yeah, Tech Fan- is spreading this Miami-out-clause garbage is just nauseating. Pardon me while I puke. Why can't they just gloat over having Chan Gailey and Reggie Ball? I know I do!

Anonymous said...

I think right now it's easier to win the SEC East than the ACC, so even for competitive reasons Richt shouldn't leave. Until UF, UT, or SC show an ability to wuit shooting themselves in the foot, Richt has it pretty easy at Georgia.

Anonymous said...

Yes Anonymous you are right and Frodo is real so is Darth vader. Idiot what games have you been watching this year.

Unknown said...

"I think right now it's easier to win the SEC East than the ACC,"

I think you've been watching too many Acc vs. Sun Belt games this year. Heck, they're 2-4 aginst the Big East and the only two wins came from Wake Forest. And those two Wake Forest games are the only wins an ACC team has against a school from another BCS conference. The ACC is cover your eyes awful so far this year.

Anonymous said...

This is just dumb. Richt is not going anywhere, especially Miami. Miami does not fit him anymore- huge city, not his style at all. Athens is the smaller town-raise your kids type of place that fits his personality much better.

We've won more than 50 games and 2 SEC titles in the last five years, something that does not look like it's going to end anytime soon, and he can recruit just as well here. He's got a great thing going, and there is no way there is a "Miami-only" clause is even in his contract.

I worried about him going back to FSU until he signed a contract with such a huge buyout. When Bobby retires they'll call him, and he'll either say no or FSU will tell him the buyout is too big and they don't want him.

I think he's in it for the long haul at GA.

Anonymous said...

Dear Anonymous 2:25 pm:

step away from the Zima.

The SEC East is easier to win than the ACC this year? Say what? Not since Beano Cook confidently awarded two Heismans to that memorable ND QB, Ron Powlus, have I seen such a profoundly stupid statement made in public.

Yeah, the ACC is a real powerhouse this year. Let's look at the teams the ACC has picked up to top load their power rating: Miami? Sucks. BC? Average at best. VaTech? They're a few notches below the Ron Mexico years, another decent but average team. None of them would be likely to finish in the top 2 of the SEC East.

Now let's look at the "traditional ACC powers," otherwise known as FSU. They suck. Not in comparison to the rest of the ACC so much, but they got blown out last week by Clemson. You may recall UGA beat Clemson 30-0 a couple of years ago. At Clemson. With about half our starting team on suspension.

Finally, let's look at the other 7 ACC Dwarfs. UNC? bwahahahahaah. NC State? Lost to AKRON, for God's sake. At home. Duke? Please. Duke's basketball team has a better chance of beating an SEC football team in football. Wake Forest? Well, they're better than Duke. UVA? Horrrrrrrrrrrrrrrible. Maryland? Horrrrrrrrrrrrrible times two. The Fridge is shedding his genius label a lot faster than he's shedding weight. That leaves us with the spindly nerds from Georgia Tech University, where everyone takes 6 semester of calculus, but their starting QB cant count to four. Last time I looked, they'd lost 5 in a row to us.

Now look at the SEC East. Florida is a top 10 team. UGA is a top 10 team. UT is a top 25 team. Spurrier coaches at S Carolina. Plus, playing a rotation out of the west from among LSU, Auburn, and Alabama isn't exactly a cakewalk.

I doubt anyone besides VaTech could come close to winning the East this year. The ACC has been exposed as the MAC South, or the Mountain West East.

Anonymous said...

I think that worrying about Richt leaving is dumb like most of you, but for different reasons. UM's athletic department may not be wallowing in cash, but their alumni base is one of the wealthiest in the country outside of the Ivy League. If they want it to happen bad enough, money wouldn't be a problem. That said, I can not envision CMR wanting to go. 1) He's put a lot of time in here building a program that is just getting to where he would like to be. He'd have to start over at UM. 2) He has said that he wants his family in one place, and that Athens is that place more often than Coke has claimed that it's the Real Thing. A move would make no sense. 3) Miami could buy him out, but he really wouldn't have any career advancement; how much of a raise could he get and what would it be worth?

IMO, he's staying unless MA, in a fit of megalomania, decides to fire him.

Astronaut Mike Dexter said...

Anonymous 2:19 hit it right on the freakin' head. The Richt-is-leaving rumor has popped up numerous times over the last few years, and I bet you could trace every single one back to a desperate Techie.

Repeat after me, gnats: Na. Ga. Happen.

And yes, the ACC blows homeless goats this year. Basically you've got one potentially elite team (VT), three perfect fits for the Gator Bowl (Clemson, BC, GT), two former powerhouses now embarrassing themselves every time they take the field . . . and six bottom-feeders that would probably get clapped up by Kentucky this year.

Anonymous said...

You SEC guys crack me up. Do you actually read anything about football that's published by an independant source, or do you get all your info from Athens rags and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Pre-season this year collegefootballnews.com did a statistical study of all the conferences over the past 2 seasons, since the ACC grew. It was far and away the best conference. Most players in the NFL. Most players going in the first round of the NFL draft. Toughest out of conference schedule. Best out of conference record. Most bowl games. Most ranked teams at the end of the season.

Look, I live in Big 12 country, so I recognize when a formally strong conference has lost a step. The Big 12 used to be the best, now it's Texas and 11 other teams. The SEC isn't that bad, but they are definitely down. The big LSU-Auburn game was ugly. Not a defensive struggle--it was 2 teams with shitty offenses missing open passes all night long. It was just as pathetic as Miami-FSU. Tennessee struggled to get past Air Force. UGA struggled with Western Kentucky!! And nobody plays a tough out of conference game except Florida, unless you want to count Georgia Tech, and I guess you should since they've beat Auburn twice in the past 3 years.... Oh, wait...there's also the annual beat down that Clemson puts on South Carolina.

Miami got it handed to them by LSU last year, but don't forget that UGA couldn't beat West Virginia in a bowl game, Auburn lost to freaking Wisconsin, SC lost to Mizzou, Florida squeaked on out over Iowa, and the SEC couldn't even fill their bowl obligations 'cause they couldn't get enough teams eligible!

But you keep telling yourself you have a strong conference...I'm sure Nebraska and Oklahoma still pretend to have national title aspirations, too....

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 10:59 PM:

Your anonymous status does not surprise me, given the full compliment of bold statements and hollow B.S. you just spouted off as 'fact'. I present a point-by-point counter-analysis to your asinine post.

You ask if 'we SEC fans' do any reading outside of our local publications. You then go on to cite numbers that all pertain to NFL standards. Hello.. we are talking about college ball here. This is the SEC, where the talent actually performs at top-level while still in college, as opposed to the ACC where talent goes to waste due to coaching incompetence (UVA, GT), gross collegiate mismanagement (MD, UNC), or unfocused collective objectives (UM, FSU).

You then go on to make the common bold error that LSU and Auburn have "shitty offenses". Really? Let's see how that bold statement of yours plays out over the rest of the season. My guess is that LSU and Auburn run roughshod over everyone on their schedule not named Georgia, Florida, Alabama, or Tennessee.

It is your own fault that you fail to appreciate good defensive football when you see it. Some of us actually put our best athletes on the other side of the ball. Welcome to hell.

You also claim that Georgia struggled to beat WKU. What part of 48-12 don't you understand?

I propose the next time you choose to publicly expose your ass, you at least let us know your name.

Anonymous said...

Hobnail, I would also point out that this guy compares a three point loss to WVU (which was and is ranked in the top ten) to a 37 point prison rape of Miami by LSU. ACC boy says that LSU/AU is just like Miami/FSU while ignoring that both LSU and AU completely waxed BCS competition from the Pac-10, while Miami got shellacked by Louisville and FSU nearly lost to Troy and did lose to the Sons of Clem.

And that's your best ACC boy.

Unknown said...

"Do you actually read anything about football that's published by an independant source, or do you get all your info from Athens rags and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution."

I actually got my clarification on my ACC info from Ivan Meisel at ESPN. Meisel is from Stanford according to his bio. He's not even an SEC guy and has no ties to the AJC that I'm aware of.

"It was far and away the best conference. Most players in the NFL. Most players going in the first round of the NFL draft. Toughest out of conference schedule. Best out of conference record. Most bowl games. Most ranked teams at the end of the season."

I tried searching for your story at teh listed website but couldn't find it. Do you have a link for those claims? I've shown you mine. Are you able to show me yours? I imagine some of the "facts" you spout are correct given the proper qualifiers but I have a feeling the statistical analysis won't be as much a slam dunk as you claim.

Anonymous said...

Even the cartoon-character Lee Corso said on 680 The Fan that "the SEC plays the highest-quality football by far. BY FAR". If you believe otherwise, you are kidding yourself. Why do you think FSU declined to join the SEC back in the early 90s? Because dadgummit, the Noles didn't want to play the likes of Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida back-to-back. You think they would have had all the top 5 finishes and the conference championships with that kind of schedule? Hell no! Easier to win the ACC than the SEC East?! LMAO- "I broke my chair, a metal steel chair"

Anonymous said...

I love how SSB Charley repeatedly called me ACC Boy after my other post. Do they teach reading in Athens? My post clearly said I'm in Big 12 country. I'm a Texas alum, so thanks for trying. I have no reason to favor the ACC or SEC, unlike the rest of you guys. Feel free to talk shit about Texas all you want, but I already admitted the Big 12 is the 3rd best conference now (behind ACC and then SEC), and we have our national championship either way.

Hobnail, did you actually just try to say that the talent performed in college in the SEC? Yeah...I remember Terrell Davis lighting it up for GA...oh wait, he didn't. But Olandis Gary did...oh, no...he was better in the NFL, too. Duce Staley...no, he sucked at Carolina.

And of course Auburn will run over the schedule...that's what happens when you schedule "tough" games like Wazu, Buffalo, Tulane, and Ark St. And what about LSU? Tulane, again. LA-Lafayette. Arizona. Fresno St. Do teams in the SEC even attempt to schedule ranked out of conference foes, or are they to scared of losing like Tenn vs Notre Dame last year...or Auburn vs Georgia Tech.

Seriously, did you even watch that LSU-Auburn game? How can you say it was good defense? It was players missing WIDE OPEN PASSES all night long!! That's like watching a college basketball game and calling it a defensive struggle when guys can't knock down open jumpers...oh, wait...does UGA have a basketball team?

You guys are good for laughs. I'm sure you'll still be pounding your chests in January when the SEC is not in the national title picture once again. Or when you fail to get 6 teams bowl eligible, again.

Anonymous said...

My post clearly said I'm in Big 12 country.

Sorry, given the ridiculous props you were attempting to give the ACC, one might deduce that you were an ACC homer.

To answer your other question, yes, they do teach reading in Athens. Given your posts, I question whether they teach logic or writing at UT. By your logic, living in Big 12 country means that you went to a Big 12 school. Does this occur for all conferences? Do my degrees from Georgia suddenly convert to IU or Purdue degrees now that I live in Indiana? Or do I just get to say I have a Big Ten degree because I live in Big Ten country? I'll hang up and listen to your answer.

Regardless, the ACC is a crap conference, just as the Big 12 is this year. The SEC has a very strong top and a very weak bottom. No question, the conference is simply the best in football.

No question the ACC had a lot of talent last year. Talent that grossly underperformed at the college level. No question that Terrell Davis and Olandis Gary performed better at the pro level. Of course, Davis was injured much of his time at Georgia (don't forget Patrick Pass either) and Gary transferred from Marshall and got to sit behind Pass and Robert Edwards. Despite that, all Edwards, Gary and Pass all played on teams that average 9 wins a season. Can't say that about the talent coming from places like NCSU and Maryland.

 
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