The Mark Richt Victory Watch
by T Kyle King
on Aug 30, 2008 4:52 PM EDT
in Football
At the time of Mark Richt’s hiring, I was one of the co-hosts of a local cable television program called "The Dawg Show," which was devoted to the subject you think it was. On the day he was named the head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs, Coach Richt was 40 years old.
Due to the new coach’s youth, I did a little quick math and realized that, if he averaged eight wins a year and coached until he was 65, that would get him to 200 wins. The school record, of course, is Vince Dooley’s 201 victories with the Red and Black.
Then and there, I decided to adopt Coach Richt’s infectious optimism. Beginning with the first triumph of the 2001 campaign, I began counting down each successive conquest along the path to what appears increasingly to be Mark Richt’s inevitable march to the all-time Georgia wins record. We called it then, and I continue to call it now, the Mark Richt Victory Watch.
The Mark Richt Victory Watch now stands at 73. Coach Richt needs 128 more wins to tie Coach Dooley for the lead in program history.
At 73-19, Mark Richt has the best record ever by a Georgia head football coach after 92 games. Only three of his predecessors lasted that long on the Sanford Stadium sideline, and all of them were in his wake: Harry Mehre (56-32-4), Wally Butts (66-24-2), and Vince Dooley (62-26-4) all trailed Mark Richt at the same point in their respective careers.
Go ‘Dawgs!
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Well, Kyle, I join with you....
…in applauding Coach Richt’s fine record. But there are victories, and then there are victories. I do not know if you ever bother with reading Civil war history, and I recollect a title earlier this decade: “Chickamauga: Barren Victory”. Chickamauga was, of course, the first full-blown battle on Georgia soil in September 1863: a Confederate victory which drove a demoralized Union Army from the field and should have resulted in a lot more than it did. Likewise, I have to think of today as a barren victory, chiefly because of the team that our Athletic Dept signed to play us (NOT that it was their choice, I STRONGLY suspect) and also because of the loss of our stalwart leader on D, Jeff Owens, who appears to be out for the year.
Do we REALLY have to play georgia southern every 4 years because once upon a time, generations ago, a beloved UGA Coach went down to Statesboro and founded a winning program? Or is it because of fat, hog-jowled legislators from South Georgia who expect this on a quadrennial basis in exchange for consideration of the University’s appropriations every year? Even a 9 year old child knows how politics and CFB intersect in our State. We should NOT play these dirtbags EVER again until (1) Tech plays them forst, or (2) they at least upgradeto Div 1. I’m just SICK of our program wasting its time with them, why couldn’yt we have opened with NC State or UVA? Wouldn’t have been any harder and Lord knows, our guys would have gooten more credit for it.
Just getting this off my chest, because today could have been better but it had to do with whom our guys were stuck playing.
by Vindexdawg on Aug 30, 2008 11:00 PM EDT 0 recs
You're preaching to the choir
I don’t believe any elite Division I-A team should ever schedule a Division I-AA team. It’s only marginally excusable in situations such as 2002, when Georgia had to scramble to replace Tulane after the Green Wave pulled out of the contract at the last minute and could only find Northwestern State; it should never be done deliberately.
I wish Georgia Southern well, but the Eagles should never set foot between the hedges ever again.
I also didn’t care for the “G.A.T.A.” T-shirts I saw the G.S.U. fans wearing. Hey, Erk formulated that phrase while he was at Georgia and because he was at Georgia; he was inspired by the Yellow Jacket student manager wearing a shirt that said “G.T.A.A.,” for “Georgia Tech Athletic Association.” Georgia Southern fans can wear “G.A.T.A.” T-shirts against anyone else, but not us.
Speaking of Georgia Tech, I’m afraid they’re going to wind up with Georgia State as their recurring Division I-AA opponent. The Ramblin’ Wreck and the Panthers share a city and Bill Curry has coached both. In fact, given Georgia Tech’s recent N.C.A.A. run-in, perhaps a Georgia Tech-Georgia State game could inspire Coach Curry to repeat his “bring the cheaters to their knees!” line against his alma mater, which deserves it a lot more than we did after a lawsuit and a scandal that produced exactly zero N.C.A.A. sanctions.
Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on
Aug 30, 2008 11:16 PM EDT
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