Subpar Season Ends in First-Round Disaster for Gym Dogs
by T Kyle King on Apr 10, 2010 10:50 PM EDT
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PrintOn Saturday, Athens hosted the G-Day game in Sanford Stadium and the Diamond Dogs’ second series meeting with Ole Miss at Foley Field, but the Gym Dogs were in action in Columbia, Mo., in the NCAA Regionals. Astonishingly, the five-time defending national champions were eliminated in the first round.
The Red and Black claimed second place in the vault with a 49.15 score that trailed only Missouri’s 49.3, but the Athenians finished fifth on the bars with a 48.75 mark that exceeded only North Carolina’s 48.475. The latter performance prevented Georgia’s first-place tally on the beam (49.175) and second-place total on the floor (49.2) from enabling the Bulldogs to finish higher than tied for second place with a 196.275 score that equaled Oregon State’s and trailed Missouri’s 196.5.
The 2010 Women’s Gymnastics Championships Handbook states: "In the team competition (regionals), ties for second place will be broken by counting six scores per event." If the discarded low scores from each event are added back into both teams’ totals, Oregon State outpolls Georgia by a 235.2-234.8 margin.
Cassidy McComb ended up tied for ninth in the all-around with 39.025, while Courtney McCool tied for first place in the floor exercise and claimed the top spot all to herself on the balance beam with 9.9 marks in both events.
When we learned which regional site the Gym Dogs had drawn, I was unequivocal in stating that a finish below second place would constitute a major upset and that I would consider the season a failure if Georgia didn’t make it out of the regional and would be concerned if the Red and Black didn’t win it outright. Well, for just the second time in the last thirteen years, Georgia did not finish first in its regional, and the Gym Dogs did not advance to the championship round. There is no way to regard the 2010 gymnastics season as anything other than an absolute failure for the Red and Black.
Go ‘Dawgs!
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I kept looking for the official Georgia athletics story . . .
. . . and, despite the time-stamp, this story was not visible at GeorgiaDogs.com at the point at which I posted the foregoing; I’m glad to know my math and my reading of the rules were correct, though.
According to the Georgia website, the five Gym Dog seniors finished with a career record of 107-13-2 after this year’s 13-8-1 campaign. Think about that . . . this year’s seniors lost five times combined in their first three years, but lost eight times in their last year. Ooof, indeed, RedCrake.
Go 'Dawgs!
For your further depressive pleasure:
Years 1-3: .940 Winning Percentage
Year 4: .590 Winning Percentage
I take absolutely no joy in saying that I told you so...
… but I have been predicting a disastrous end to the season, and this undeniably qualifies. Georgia has failed to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 27 years, and will fail to make the Super Six for the first time since the Super Six format was introduced in 1986. (Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything else… anything… that has happened consistently every year since 1986.)
Jay Clark seems like a great guy and a good coach, and I hope he eventually goes down in history as a worthy successor to Suzanne Yoculan, and that the Gym Dogs return to their rightful place in the Super Six in 2011. For the record, however, I made the prediction months ago that Clark will be remembered as the Johnny Griffith of the Georgia gymnastics program.
In fact, I don’t think this year can even be considered “just a blip.” This is analogous to what it would be like if Nick Saban retired and his replacement couldn’t even lead Alabama to a bowl game the next season. That’s not a blip… that’s an unmitigated failure of epic proportions. This is Georgia, not some middling gymnastics program that can afford to have up-and-down years where they reek one year and truly compete the next. If the Gym Dogs don’t return to the Super Six next year, his employment as head coach must be reconsidered.
Agreed
I considered ending the above posting by asking whether anyone had ever seen Jay Clark and Willie Martinez in the same place. I resisted the temptation successfully, but I thought about it.
Suzanne Yoculan left behind what was unquestionably the premiere gymnastics program in the country. Aside from Sarah Patterson, every women’s gymnastics coach in the NCAA would have been on the next plane to Athens if Damon Evans had called and offered the job; the Gym Dogs unquestionably could have hired away a proven coach from an established program rather than promoting from within. We aimed too low, and it’s looking like we hit the target at which we aimed.
Go 'Dawgs!
Re: replacement from within
It seems like we did something like this once before, replacing a legendary coach with one of the coach’s trusted assistants. Is it too early to ask whether Jay Clark is in danger of becoming the Ray Goff of Georgia gymnastics?
hold on ...
I’m not so sure that’s a fair comparison. Let’s not forget Clark is a highly qualified and well-respected recruiter. And unlike his predecessor, he actually graduated from UGA, so he’s one of our own.
Wait, what?
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