coach Mark Richt
My father used to say that opinions were like anuses — everybody has one, but they shouldn’t be shown in public.
Of course, he didn’t actually say “anus” but used a very similar word that clearly meant the same thing.
Before I start, I must confess to be perfectly honest, it feels…wrong to speculate about another man’s livelihood.
Nevertheless, I am compelled to ask this question: should the Atlanta Journal-Constitution fire sportswriters Mark Bradley or Jeff Schultz for their failures to perform their job with peak efficiency every day?
Before we make any quick decisions, let’s look at some of the evidence: Mark Bradley has been with the same newspaper for twenty-five years.
But exactly what has he accomplished in all that time?
According to his online biography, Mark Bradley freely admits that he “Has won some awards but lost many more.”
Sorry, but doesn’t that make him a loser? If he’s truly lost more awards than he’s won, his overall record is below .500.
By comparison, Mark Richt’s winning percentage at Georgia is currently .739. His teams are ninety games above .500. Yet curiously enough, it was Mark Bradley who recently suggested it was time for Mark Richt to be fired.
As if to further confirm my belief that it has become time for the AJC to make a move, Bradley put in his own bio that he “Isn’t as smart as you might believe.”
However, Mr. Bradley might be surprised to learn just how smart I don’t believe he is.
And as for Mr. Bradley’s co-defendant to my charge of journalistic malpractice, what should we say about Jeff Schultz?
Comparing Jeff Schultz to Mark Bradley is sort of like comparing the cast of Dumb and Dumber and asking, which one is which?
Really, does it matter?
Consider this little tidbit of information: Mr. Schultz routinely allows his dog to predict the winners of football games. Lilly “chooses” a winner by eating a treat, the results of which Mr. Schultz has chosen to share with the world, as if we need even more useless nonsense than we already get from a daily dose of reality television.
Once upon a time, the dog gimmick might have been funny. Once.
Now, it’s become the really bad joke a talentless comedian repeats over and over, determined to make the audience laugh — by “audience” meaning those remaining few who didn’t walk out a long time ago. As opposed to Mark Bradley, I’m not exactly sure how long Schultz has been with the AJC; perhaps it only seems like forever.
Clearly, it is no wonder that neither of these geniuses have won the “national championship” in sports journalism — the highly coveted Red Smith award. If they haven’t by now, it becomes less likely that they never will. They’ve both had plenty of chances.
Excuses are completely unacceptable. After all, Furman Bisher won the Red Smith award while working for the Atlanta Journal in 1988, so it isn’t impossible — just very difficult. After all, there is only one winner per year.
In fairness, should Bradley or Schultz complain that I have no business speculating about their future when I don’t pay their salaries, I would have to concede that point. It’s by choice. In all honesty, I haven’t subscribed to the AJC in years, mostly because of two clowns posing as sports journalists.
On the other hand, given the fact that both of these incompetent sportswriters have seen fit to call for UGA Coach Mark Richt to lose his job, it would seem that turnabout is fair play.
Had either of these gentlemen been a hungry young sportswriter instead of a tired old hack, he would have recognized the opportunity to distinguish themselves from the national sportswriters. They could have played off each other, offering both perspectives, and explained why it would be foolish to consider a head coaching change at this point in time, especially considering the tremendous momentum that had been building on the recruiting front.
The reason Alabama has won multiple national championships and Georgia has not isn’t terribly difficult to understand — in recent years, Nick Saban’s staff has been able to lure some of the very most talented players in Georgia out of state, to play for Alabama.
Players like Mecole Hardman, Jr., Isaac Nauta, and Kyle Davis have been thought to be leaning heavily toward committing to the “G”, but with the wild speculation in the news causing recent uncertainty, their status has become more questionable.
If this year’s recruiting class falls apart, Mark Bradley and Jeff Schultz will have played a significant role in fomenting the turmoil. They could have helped quell the ugly rumors with only one article that was better (all modesty aside) than either of them seem capable of writing.
Instead, both of these guys threw gasoline on the fire and made a situation that was getting bad considerably worse.
The negative sports opinion “reporting” and especially those in the local media have played a large role in creating this confusion. Rather than differentiating their reports by offering a different take on the subject, Mark Bradley and Jeff Schultz became a mindless echo chamber, offering nothing for an alternate perspective.
The harsh reality is that Georgia would be hard pressed to find a better coach for their football program.
Comparatively speaking, the AJC should have no problem replacing either of their two primary sportswriters with better talent, fresh out of J school. I’d hate for Bradley or Schultz to lose their source of income though…perhaps they could be reassigned.
Perhaps one of them knows something about gardening. Or pet care — basically, they ought to be able to write on any topic about which they might be able to convince the reader they know something.
RIP, Lewis Grizzard. You are sorely missed.
Thank you, John Leonard! These guys are annoying — just like Vern Lundquist and his sidekick — whose name escapes me for obvious reasons.
Excellent! I am sick and tire of the fire Richt nonsense. If it isn’t that, then it is “why don’t the falcons target Roddy? Do they hate him?”
This isn’t the Dawg’s, Jackets and maybe the Falcons year. It might never be, but one thing can be said about the Dawgs the last few years is that they are making moves to get better. A new state of the art IPF going in, better S&C, and the recruiting is looking GREAT! Our defensive coordinator is fantastic along with many of our coaches.
I am hoping Richt gets his….. and our championship. GO DAWGS!
I could not have said it better , but also include all the supposedly bulldog supporters who think they know more about coaching than someone who has been making a living for the past 25 years and has been offered many opportunities to increase his fortunes but stayed more loyal to Uga than the so called bulldog supporters .
Thank you!
Although I am a Gamecock, I have always thought Richt is a real class act. He is an honor to Dooley’s legacy and should make Georgia’s fans proud. Schultz recently wrote in the AJC that some 8 and 5 teams should be considered no better than a 5 and 8 team at schools where expectations are high. 5 and 8? How can a college team be 5 and 8? Think about it, ’cause Jeff Schultz obviously didn’t.
Gamecock Fan-he was making a point that you obviously missed. Your “correction” was the equivalent of internet grammar correction.
Expectations are higher at Georgia than what has been achieved this year. #9 preseason ranking and HEAVY preseason SEC East favorites. People are pointing that out.
For those that want Richt replaced the argument that UGA could end up worse off doesn’t hold water when Florida just blew past them in their head coach’s first year. People are pointing that out.
McGarrity makes a ton of money. It’s his job to find someone that can get them to the next level.
They are just as big a ‘dawgs fans as those that are satisfied with Richt, just have different opinions on what UGA can/should be doing.
All that said, I believe he is the coach until he decides that he doesn’t want to be, no matter how bad ‘bama or the Gators beat them in a given year.
Here’s an interesting question, and I’m not asking this in a sarcastic or even confrontational tone AT ALL:
What would have to happen to change your mind about Mark Richt? What would make you think “it’s time for him to move on”?
I would be very interested in reading an article in which you point out what it would take for you to finally throw in the towel on Richt. Looking forward to it.
I’ve been hating on those two for about a decade, about when blogging took a foothold. I ‘ve written posts, comments, and encouraged people to just not go to the AJC, nor support it in any way. It’s amazing the AJC can’t get a decent reporter, and/or a reporter that at least somewhat likes UGA.
Bradley and Schultz are click baiting clowns, who exist only to write inflammatory titles to get attention, and provide no actual insight, reporting, original takes, and certainly no analysis. And they are wrong, a lot. What also stinks is they have no accountability. They can write and say whatever, with no oversight, and no one to hold up a mirror to their crazed writing.
Did I mention I don’t like them?
Great article, well done.
An article won’t be necessary, Thriller — I can answer your question in just a few sentences.
My criteria for deciding the merits of making a coaching change are pretty simple: who will be the replacement, and what are the odds that the team will get better and not worse? Until Jeremy Pruitt was hired, I’ve always said that our problem is predominantly on the defensive side of the ball. To be honest, if Pruitt leaves after this year as has been speculated, then I’ll start thinking maybe we should make a clean sweep because both sides of the ball must excel to win a national championship.
That said, I’m far less concerned about Richt’s ability to fix the offense than I am recruiting and for the defense to keep improving.
Not mutually exclusive. Fire all three.
Atlanta sports fans who grew up reading Furman Bisher deserve better than Snide and Sarcastic, the AJC’s amateur Sports writers. Let’s hope their petty, predictable and negative columns get moved to the Vent and the Metro section soon.
Just saw your response, John, so that’s why it’s taking so long for me to respond.
After the debacle that was the Georgia Southern game, I am left to wonder if you really believe Richt can fix the offense. If he could, why not put up 50 against the Eagles? Lack of talent? Who is responsible for that? BTW – I don’t think it’s lack of talent. It’s something else. That would be lack of COACHING.
I was just as much a Richt sycophant as you, only a year ago. I truly believed that he was a great college football coach. That’s because I thought he had us set up for years with QB talent that would follow up behind Aaron Murray. I made the EXACT SAME lame excuses for every inexplicable loss.
So I will use YOUR criteria for “cleaning house”.
Who will be the replacement? Right NOW, there are probably more GREAT candidates to take a head coaching job (at any school) than ever. My number one candidate for the job is Tom Herman at Houston. You want the offense fixed? Consider it DONE. Another candidate would be Justin Fuente. Maybe a little of the shine may SEEM to have come off the apple from a few losses, but remember WHERE HE IS COACHING. That’s OVER producing. Another candidate of course would be Kirby Smart, even though I’m not convinced he would make a great head coach. He certainly deserves a shot. Another candidate would be Greg Pruitt himself. I look at the incredible job he has done so far and think HE should have a shot somewhere too. Then there is Chris Petersen – overachiever. He won at Boise State with less talent. Matt Rhule would be another excellent candidate – producing more with less.
But maybe YOU only like “BIG” names at established schools. I like Gary Patterson and believe the 3rd most profitable school in the NCAA could lure him away. Another would be Art Briles. Same thing – big name coach at a lesser school – we could have him.
But if you want YOUTH, and RESULTS and OVERACHIEVEMENT, then I say you get all of those things in Tom Herman. Recent losses mean less than overall direction of the program (according to YOU), so any one of those coaches qualifies.
You really only mentioned one “criteria” for what would change your mind, and I have addressed it. However, I’ll go further. Obviously, a losing season deserves a consequence, and he has only produced one of those. But what else qualifies as “failure”? To me, consistent underachieving. Ask LSU about that. They have a higher standard than we do. Miles is about to get fired. You see, his most recent National Championship was way back in 2007 – what has he done for LSU lately? At LSU, the only thing that matters is WINNING. I wish that were true at UGA. When was Richt’s last National Championship? Conference Championship?
Unfortunately, John – YOU could never convince me Richt needs to stay. Only HE could do that. And he has been failing for a LONG time.
Thanks though.
Exactly what have Bradley and Schultz done in the last 15 years for the AJC? What awards have they received? You two better close down your blogs shortly after you write an article. I will do everything within my first amendment right to see that both of you get the same treatment. You can count on it!