The discussion of the Bulldogs' new athletic director already has begun, with Greg McGarity and Carla Williams being the leading candidates in the conversation.
While I prefer McGarity, I would be pleased with Williams, albeit with one caveat: Williams's experience in athletic administration has come at Vanderbilt and at Georgia during a period of decline. McGarity has spent the last eighteen years working closely with Jeremy Foley in the building of championship programs in all sports at Florida. Personally, I'd prefer to keep Williams where she is, using the financial and managerial skills she has developed while working with Evans, and make McGarity athletic director, enabling him to implement the championship-winning approach he learned from Foley.
There are, of course, reasons for preferring Williams to McGarity, and I do not fault those who would rather see Williams promoted from within (or made interim athletic director until a full search can be conducted, thereby giving her an extended audition for the position). However, Mark Bradley expressed an idiotic sentiment when he called McGarity "a Dooley loyalist."
What does it mean to be a Vince Dooley loyalist in 2010? Coach Dooley has been gone for six years, he appears to be enjoying retirement and has shown no signs lately of wanting to exercise any influence in Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall, and he has indicated that his focus this autumn will be on the Tennessee squad coached by his son.
Bradley may as well have called McGarity a Joel Eaves loyalist or a Wally Butts loyalist for all the real-world significance that label has today. Reasonable Georgia fans can and do prefer Williams to McGarity, but, as usual, Bradley has identified the dumbest reason for taking a reasonable position.
Go 'Dawgs!
