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He's a great coach, he's the best thing that's happened to this program since Vince Dooley. We've just gotta go out there and play ball this year. We've still got goals we want to achieve. We want to go to the SEC, I mean we went last year but we want to win. We want to go to Miami, for the national championship.

It kind of reminds me of a former Georgia player who I think it was during the [Vince] Dooley era, I was told, he went home six times and Coach Dooley sent an assistant coach to get him six different times [and] bring him back. He ended up being an All-American and played in a Super Bowl. I'm not gonna name names, but there's a lot of that. That kind of stuff's been going on for years, but nowadays that kind of thing gets more scrutinized than in the past.

Going into his 10th season, some folks are wondering how much time is left for him in Athens. I personally am wondering if that is more a reflection of his record (unlikely) or just the fact that we're not used to SEC coaches sticking around for that long.

The assumption in both cases is that there's actually something to the "Richt on the hot seat" meme – that he was feeling some kind of pressure from Evans himself or his bosses, who Evans was somehow able to keep at bay – which still defies public statements from UGA power brokers and common sense. What was Evans supposed to be protecting Richt from? Criticism of his pace to become the winningest coach in Georgia history? Antsy boosters looking to grill him over four straight top-10 finishes, or two SEC championships in four years after a 20-year drought since Herschel Walker's final season? The unlikely late-season run to No. 2 in the final polls in 2007?

Despite Bradley's optimistic take, the conventional wisdom is that new athletic directors are a threat to coaches: Personalities may clash, and if the record suffers at all, the new boss has no incentive to remain loyal when he can bring in "his guy." But as Bradley also notes, Richt wasn't Evans' guy; he was hired by Evans' predecessor, Vince Dooley. Whatever the internal impatience with Richt, Evans was certainly aware of them; for all we know, he originated them. But unless someone high up the chain is specifically looking for a hatchet man who'll have Richt's head at the first opportunity, whoever inherits the AD's chair won't have any more reason to put Richt in his crosshairs than Evans did.

An utter disaster of a season could change that equation. If there are high-placed Richt skeptics, the end of the Bulldogs' 12-year bowl streak could conceivable force a heavy hand or two to try to sweep him out. Short of that kind of wholesale collapse, though, Richt shouldn't need any buffers or friends in the short term beyond his own resumé.

Beginning with Oklahoma's out-of-nowhere BCS championship run in 2000, three teams in the last decade – the 2000 Sooners, Ohio State in 2002 and LSU in 2003 – have rebounded from unranked, five-loss seasons to win the BCS championship, all with expectations of far more modest improvement. Two others, Washington in 2000 and Auburn in 2004, came off five-loss seasons to finish within very plausible striking distance of a BCS title shot, and Alabama surged from 7-6 in 2007 to within half a quarter of a BCS championship bid following a 12-0 regular season in 2008.

Coach (Vince) Dooley here at UT-UGA final four tennis match. No worries, he's decked out in red and black.

However, the group never cheered louder than when Dooley introduced his mother, Barbara, in orange.

"There is no way I can come into this state without my mother finding me," Dooley said. "I never knew how good she looked in orange. All these years she's been wearing the wrong color."

Former Georgia football coach Vince Dooley said he does not want to be a distraction. That’s why he declared Friday morning while participating in the 24th annual Quail Unlimited Celebrity Quail Hunt in Albany that he’s not attending the Bulldogs’ Oct. 9 home game against Tennessee, which now is coached by his son, Derek.

Vince, who coached the Bulldogs to six Southeastern Conference titles and the 1980 national championship, told The Herald that instead, he plans to watch the game from inside his house.

"I’ve really decided now that I will sit home and watch the game," said the legendary Bulldogs coach who coached Georgia to a record of 201-77-10 in 25 seasons. "I think that I’ll be a little bit of a distraction going to the game, so I’ll watch it at home on TV. (My wife Barbara) will go, there ain’t no question about it."

After being asked if she would wear orange to the Tennessee-Georgia game, Vince replied, "I don’t know what she’ll do, but I will stay at home."

Pressed further on whether he would wear orange when he visits other Tennessee games his son coaches, Dooley replied, "I’m sure (Barbara) will. I may wear something a little more subtle — if orange can be subtle. I certainly won’t wear any in Georgia. But on the proper occasion, I might wear a little spot of orange."

Never let it be said that Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton isn't a man of principle. If he wants a radically underqualified coach whose main asset is his daddy's reputation, by God, Tennessee will have a radically underqualified coach whose main asset is his daddy's reputation. Derek's father happens to be Vince Dooley.

I had my family before I came to Georgia. It will be a quiet pulling for my son. But I’m glad we have we do have the private box; my wife will be more vocal. . . .

I wish it was not at a school so close and competitive, but Derek would remind me that I left Auburn and came across the Chattahoochee to Georgia.