How Not to Hire an Offensive Coordinator
by T Kyle King
on Oct 19, 2006 2:01 PM EDT
in Football
Doug Gillett is making good sense . . . right up to the point at which he plunges headlong over the cliff.
Doug argues, quite plausibly, that Mark Richt's steely resolve and icy calm were tremendous assets for the 'Dawgs while Brian VanGorder was on hand to provide emotional exhortations to the troops, but, in the absence of the Broyles Award-winning defensive coordinator's passion, Coach Richt's demeanor serves to steady but not to inspire.
Brian VanGorder . . . the Ben Grimm to Mark Richt's Reed Richards.
Such situations certainly are not without their parallels in the annals of Georgia football history. Vince Dooley was cool and collected, while Erk Russell fired up the team. The performance of Coach Dooley's squads dipped slightly once Coach Russell had a Statesboro mailing address and that scenario may be duplicated under Coach Richt now that Coach VanGorder has followed in Erk's footsteps at Georgia Southern. To a lesser extent, the loss of Chris Scelfo had noticeable repercussions for Jim Donnan's final Bulldog squads, as well.
I have full faith in Coach Richt's ability to right the ship. He is, after all, 15-5 without Coach VanGorder and he managed to win an S.E.C. title without his defensive coordinator, David Greene, or David Pollack. Clearly, the man knows what he's doing to an extent not seen in the Classic City since at least the late 1980s and, arguably, earlier.
Nevertheless, Doug makes a fair point that the coaching staff needs someone to fill Coach VanGorder's role, emotionally as well as strategically. Since Willie Martinez clearly is not the proper person to serve that function, Doug has looked to the other side of the ball.
Doug wants Mark Richt to hire Rick Neuheisel to be his new offensive coordinator.
No, seriously.
Doug defends this choice by comparing Coach Neuheisel to Bill Clinton and Steve Spurrier.
No, seriously.
Doug . . . dude . . . that is not the way to convince citizens of Bulldog Nation, who have made Georgia a Red State in more ways than one.
Let us not mince words here. Rick Neuheisel is a weaselly little worm who left not one, but two, storied college programs in an absolute shambles. He utterly wrecked the Washington Huskies and he mishandled the Colorado Buffaloes so badly that Gary Barnett was an upgrade.
Thinking of hiring this man? Alert the N.C.A.A. and put the lawyers on retainer now.
Coach Neuheisel's recruiting decisions ranged between the dubious and the foolhardy and his recruiting methods were, at best, ethically questionable and morally repugnant. He played fast and loose with every rule, blamed everyone but himself for his astoundingly bad judgment calls, imposed no discipline whatsoever, and acted immaturely and irresponsibly while considering his behavior cute and endearing.
Rick Neuheisel is a third-rate con artist with a quick-fix mentality who knows nothing about building a program and whose teams invariably go downhill after the first year or two. He isn't a fairer-haired Steve Spurrier, he's a skinnier Jim Donnan and the last thing in the world we need is for a restored Georgia program to be saddled with the toxic baggage of one of the game's worst ambassadors.
Rick Neuheisel is out of college football. Woe to the program that makes the mistake of bringing him back to the sport that is better off without him. We should bid good riddance to bad rubbish.
The last time Rick Neuheisel set foot in Sanford Stadium, he was playing quarterback for the U.C.L.A. Bruins in the early 1980s. Reportedly, Uga, who had been eating some grass on the field, walked over to Neuheisel during the national anthem and threw up on the golden boy's shoes. Neuheisel, nervous at the prospect of facing what was then the most dominant football program in the country, is alleged to have looked down at America's most famous mascot and said, "I know how you feel."
We all know how Uga felt, Ricky Boy, and I, for one, have every confidence in the University of Georgia mascot to be a good judge of character.
Read the Doug, but heed the Ug.
I appreciate Doug's efforts to come up with helpful ideas, but this is a bad one.
I agree with Uga . . . puke on Rick Neuheisel. The guy's a cancer and we need to stay as far away from this unsavory charlatan as humanly (or doggedly) possible.
Go 'Dawgs!
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I don't know . . . and I'll never have to find out
Mark Richt broke a 20-year conference championship drought, followed it up with another league title three years later, and was the architect of one of the three periods of sustained success in Georgia football history (after the early to mid-1940s and the early 1980s). He ended a period of chronic underachievement during which the Bulldogs were the most talented team not to win a national crown and he did it with class and character.
What would shake my faith in Mark Richt? It'd take a lot more than two losses, that's for sure.
I don't think Coach Richt is infallible, as evidenced by the fact that I said so last Saturday. He has, however, been more successful than any head coach in Georgia football history after this many games. In fact, five and a half years into his tenure, Coach Richt already is the fourth-winningest coach the program has ever had. Only Coach Dooley and the two guys whose names are on the building in which Coach Richt works won more games in their Georgia careers.
What would shake my faith in Mark Richt? For starters . . . how 'bout some quantifiable evidence that Mark Richt is anything less than the best head football coach the University of Georgia has ever had?
by T Kyle King on
Oct 19, 2006 5:53 PM EDT
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asdf
I don't think anyone can make a reasonable statistical case that Richt has cleared a "cloud" -- this has occured only in the minds of the faithful who disliked Donnan's refusal to kiss alumni butt, and lap up Richt's supposed piety.
As to his success, Richt -- just as Donnan -- has not won a national championship. And this despite the fact that he was handed Donnan's dawgs, whereas Donnan inherited Ray Goff's mess.
Rich is a good coach, but he has obvious flaws, and it's time he starts getting more, rather than less, criticism.
by 34hawk on
Oct 20, 2006 9:31 AM EDT
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I think I offered that criticism last week . . .
However, I'm not going to let one rough month detract from five years of achievement that far exceed anything to have happened in Athens in the preceding two decades.
I gather that you have a fondness for Jim Donnan, who had a losing record against all four major Georgia rivals (Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, and Georgia Tech) and never earned an S.E.C. championship game berth.
No coach in Georgia history consistently accomplished less with more talent than Jim Donnan. Coach Donnan's 'Dawgs are well-represented in the N.F.L., where they are making plays that make a difference . . . yet, somehow, Coach Donnan was never able to get all that Pro Bowl-caliber talent to anything better than an Outback Bowl. As Steve Spurrier once said, something just happened to them at Georgia, I guess.
I was a defender of Coach Donnan while he was on the job, so, no, I do not raise questions about the lack of discipline in the program under his leadership because of any animosity . . . although the fact that he was not ready to lead a major program is attested to by the fact that he never bothered to develop even the slightest degree of P.R. ability. That may not matter at Marshall, but it is an important part of a coach's responsibility at the elite level.
Maybe there are more rumors floating around than confirmed facts, but something happened that made Michael Greer leave the team to which his family had been connected all his life. Something happened to cause Coach Richt to dismiss Jasper Sanks from the team after one too many chances on the eve of the Georgia Tech game when the 'Dawgs had lost three in a row to their in-state rivals. Something impaired Quincy Carter's development . . . and it is a fact that he got into trouble with the N.F.L. for violating its substance abuse policy. Coincidence? Maybe . . . but aren't we better off with a coach whose leadership does not leave us having to wonder about such things?
The bottom line is simple: Jim Donnan won two-thirds of his games and Mark Richt has won four-fifths of his games. Mark Richt wins championships and Jim Donnan didn't. There were questions about Jim Donnan's tenure that simply are no longer raised under Mark Richt's leadership.
Finally, the on-field difference between Mark Richt on the one hand and Ray Goff and Jim Donnan on the other is just as straightforward. In a five-year period, Coach Goff and Coach Donnan would have one 10-win season and four average or sub-par years, but, in a five-year period, Coach Richt will have four 10-win seasons and one average or sub-par year. Maybe it's just me, but I think I'm going with having good years 80 per cent of the time rather than 20 per cent of the time.
Mark Richt is not perfect. He deserves criticism as well as credit and I have offered both where they have been warranted. Between Mark Richt and Jim Donnan, though, there simply is no comparison.
The fact that there is this much griping about a 5-2 start proves how large the gap between the two coaches is. By succeeding so consistently at such a high level, Mark Richt has made a 5-2 start appear disastrous. Under Jim Donnan, a 5-2 start wouldn't have generated so much complaining because, under Jim Donnan, 5-2 would have been par for the course.
by T Kyle King on
Oct 20, 2006 10:10 AM EDT
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contra kyle
"There were questions about Jim Donnan's tenure that simply are no longer raised under Mark Richt's leadership."
Which is exactly the problem. Donnan was challenged, and appropriately so, for his shortcomings. Richt, to date, has not been similarly challenged, although he's certainly had similar problems with player behaviour. And now, he's also having problems with winning games the dawgs should lose.
It is about time that the halo is lifted from Richt, because excellence does not arise from complacency. And to suggest that your criticisms of Richt's staff or of particular players should count as a criticism of Richt is beyond ridiculous.
by 34hawk on
Oct 20, 2006 1:53 PM EDT
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What we have here is a failure to communicate
- There were indications, if only in the form of rumors, regarding some players in the Jim Donnan era while they were at Georgia. What indications did we have about Thurman prior to his N.F.L. career? Perhaps there were some, but, if there were, I was unaware of them while he was wearing a Bulldog uniform.
- Even if there were indications of a problem while Thurman was in Athens, he is just one guy. Otherwise, the player behavioral problems in the Mark Richt era have been of the stupid-things-20-year-old-college-students-do variety (e.g., letting parking tickets turn into suspended licenses or passing out in a restaurant men's room) rather than genuinely troubling misbehavior.
- Mark Richt quite clearly has imposed a discipline that Jim Donnan never did. He essentially ran Quincy Carter off immediately after being hired. He kicked Jasper Sanks off of the team right before a crucial game. He has mandated character education classes for incoming freshman players. He has imposed order, enforced rules, and suspended players for big games, as evidenced by his willingness to sit two offensive linemen for the South Carolina game. Virtually in every instance of a noteworthy off-the-field incident, he has handed down punishment within 48 hours of its having been brought to his attention. Jim Donnan appeared as lax as Barry Switzer, under whom he coached, while Mark Richt has taken reasonable, swift, and appropriate action. If there are problems in the Mark Richt era that are comparable to those from the Jim Donnan era, fine; at least Coach Richt is attempting to address them. Coach Donnan never did in any systematic or reliable way.
"[T]o suggest that your criticisms of Richt's staff or of particular players should count as a criticism of Richt is beyond ridiculous."
In that case, 34hawk, we shall simply have to disagree on what constitutes ridiculousness and, by extension, reasonableness.
My criticisms were as follows:
- Mark Richt, who decides which quarterback will start, needs to stop swapping quarterbacks and make a firm decision to give Matthew Stafford every meaningful snap for the remainder of the 2006 season.
- Mark Richt, who calls the offensive plays, needs to relinquish that duty, hire a full-time offensive coordinator, and concentrate solely on the responsibilities of being a head coach while delegating the play-calling responsibilities to others, just as such successful S.E.C. head coaches as Phillip Fulmer and Tommy Tuberville do.
- Mark Richt, who determines which assistants will be hired for and fired from which positions, needs to acknowledge that he made a poorer choice of defensive coordinators the second time than he did the first time and he needs to rectify that error by firing and replacing Willie Martinez.
- Coach Richt, unlike Coach Donnan, has compiled a record of achievement which entitles him to the benefit of the doubt.
- Simply ripping into the guy without regard to his prior successes is both rude and unrealistic.
- You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
If it "is beyond ridiculous" for me to claim that this "should count as a criticism of Richt," you and I simply disagree on the definitions of too many words for me to believe that any further statements on my part, no matter how measured or well-supported, would succeed in communicating anything you would find persuasive or correct.
Nevertheless, Bulldog Nation is a vast and varied place in which there is room for much diversity of opinion and I thank you for the opportunity to exchange ideas with you, despite our apparent singular lack of success in so doing.
I wish you well. Go 'Dawgs!
by T Kyle King on
Oct 20, 2006 2:48 PM EDT
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What we have here....
As before, I challenge anyone to take a detailed look at the quantity and quality of discipline problems with Donnan as compared to the problems under Richt and find a significant difference.
The only real difference is one of perception. And that perception is colored by the stained glass windows of Christianity that Richt wears so conspicuosly on his sleeve. To be clear, my problem is not with Richt's religion, but with the exemption his supposed piety has given him from a clear examination of discipline and "character" issues that persist under his leadership.
While Richt claims to recruit for character and values that are consistent with his vision for Georgia football the results, in terms of problem behaviour, are no different than before.
And if we are sacrificing athleticism for character -- and if that character proves no better than before -- perhaps it's time to reemphasize athletic ability.
Would Mark Richt have recruited Odell Thurman? (And can he win without someone so athletically gifted?) He did recruit Dannell Ellerbe who apparently has an Odell Thurman mentality but considerably less football talent.
As to your criticisms of Richt, they are mild, indirect, and as you admit, surrounded by phrases of ingratiating obeisance. I know -- you have full faith in Richt to right the ship. Faith is one thing -- and I too have faith in Richt -- but a good kick in the seat of the pants is sometimes required for that faith to be matched with good results.
The most obvious of Coach Richt's flaws are his time management skills. We've been familiar with these problems since Richt's first season, and the problems still haven't been eliminated. You, predictably, minimizethe problem and defend Richt.
Of course we should weigh both the stengths and weaknesses of Richt. And on balance the available evidence, as you say, clearly indicates he's a very good coach. That in no way suggests we shouldn't criticize him -- in a very direct, and even rude manner if necessary --when obvious flaws persist. The pursuit of excellence demands it.
by 34hawk on
Oct 20, 2006 5:05 PM EDT
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All right, fair enough
It has never been my intention to view Mark Richt through rose-colored glasses or to be an apologist on his behalf. I try to call 'em like I see 'em within the boundaries of civility, but I understand how that could come across to a reasonable neutral observer as unwarranted genuflecting and I shall endeavor to be fair in my constructive criticisms without pulling my punches.
I appreciate your most recent reply, 34hawk, I really do. It genuinely helped to promote mutual understanding and to clear the air. Much obliged.
by T Kyle King on
Oct 20, 2006 7:12 PM EDT
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Slick Rick?
Hiring Rick as an OC would certainly shake my faith in Richt and Damon Evans. Neuheisel does have an amazing ability to fail at his job and get promoted.
My guess is that Barry Switzer was Doug's first choice as OC, but he decided the "bootlegger's boy" was too old.
by dawgengineer on Oct 19, 2006 5:38 PM EDT 0 recs
As I wrote at Doug's place
Here's the link:
by LD on Oct 19, 2006 11:38 PM EDT 0 recs
I thought I remembered that . . .
by T Kyle King on Oct 19, 2006 11:53 PM EDT 0 recs
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