Hey folks - as a member of the DawgNation community, please remember to abide by simple rules of civil engagement with other members:
- Please no inappropriate usernames (remember that there may be youngsters in the room)
- Personal attacks on other community members are unacceptable, practice the good manners your mama taught you when engaging with fellow Dawg fans
- Use common sense and respect personal differences in the community: sexual and other inappropriate language or imagery, political rants and belittling the opinions of others will get your posts deleted and result in warnings and/ or banning from the forum
- 3/17/19 UPDATE -- We've updated the permissions for our "Football" and "Commit to the G" recruiting message boards. We aim to be the best free board out there and that has not changed. We do now ask that all of you good people register as a member of our forum in order to see the sugar that is falling from our skies, so to speak.
- Please no inappropriate usernames (remember that there may be youngsters in the room)
- Personal attacks on other community members are unacceptable, practice the good manners your mama taught you when engaging with fellow Dawg fans
- Use common sense and respect personal differences in the community: sexual and other inappropriate language or imagery, political rants and belittling the opinions of others will get your posts deleted and result in warnings and/ or banning from the forum
- 3/17/19 UPDATE -- We've updated the permissions for our "Football" and "Commit to the G" recruiting message boards. We aim to be the best free board out there and that has not changed. We do now ask that all of you good people register as a member of our forum in order to see the sugar that is falling from our skies, so to speak.
Options
Comments
I could not have loved Coach Richt as our representative more! I would like to share this story with you all.
My son and future daughter in law were drum majors/members of the Redcoat band at UGA from 2008-2012. During that time, for two seasons, they moved the band to the East end zone. I will never forget the first home game i attended that season (season ticket holder) and, when the game was over, to watch Coach Richt walk all the way over to that end zone, after thanking the students in their section (which, at the time was on the way out of the stadium), and to give props to the band for their contribution during the game.
According to my son, he had always done that, but until the band was relocated, I had not noticed it.
What a wonderful gesture to include the band (and all students) in this post game tribute and to honor them for the huge sacrifice that these band members make to be a part of the game day tradition! To let them know that they mattered! How it must have affected many of their lives!
I had been a Coach Richt fan before, but after witnessing this for myself, I could never entertain any negativity about the kind of man and coach that Coach Richt personified!
And has been said here already, our program would not be as respected as it is today without the foundation laid by Coach Richt!
All respect and admiration for Coach Richt and my prayers are with him and his family!
"west end Zone"
Being a great man and being the right guy for the job at the right time are two totally different things. I would rather be considered the former.
CMR, by all accounts, is a great man with his priorities lined up properly. Did his tenure run its complete course at UGA? Maybe. Did he leave the place better than he found it? Absolutely. Did he leave a lot of young men better than he found them? Absolutely.
I am pretty sure CMR would argue the things he has done away from a football field are far more important than what he has done on one. Any any adversity he faces moving forward will not define him.
My wife worked out with a group of girls at our local gym several years ago. One of them was Chelsea Oliver. I knew she was married to Paul but didn't think much of it until Paul committed suicide.
We went to Paul's funeral at Burnt Hickory Baptist and I heard his high school coach, NFL coach, and others tell of his legacy. Then CMR got up to speak. Emotion poured from that man. I cried hearing him speak. He talked about hearing of Paul's death and literally it immobilized him. CMR cared about players in a different way. CMR came to the funeral even though his position coach didn't (nothing against Willie Martinez, but he was at the same position at Tennessee at the time and let's say didn't have the same time constraints someone like Coach Richt had).
I also grew up watching CKS play. I remember being impressed as a kid in middle school seeing a football player academically honored. I love CKS.
CMR was different. Praying for him through the parkinsons.
Erik knew he was close to retiring himself and didn’t want to leave GSU that late in his career. He was asked and declined because of what I said previously.
Erk didn’t want the job that late in his career.
Goff inherited some talent and a team not far removed from national prominence. But he also got the Jan Kemp fallout and was doing the job with one hand behind his back so to speak. That is often overlooked and the true impact it had on the program was huge. But Goff, great player and DGD and great guy, was not a great coach. At least for UGA/SEC championship level standards. The overall attitude of the program changed and continued under Donnan. Richt immediately changed the programs culture and built on a lot of talent left behind by Donnan. In the end, each coach influenced where UGA is today.
Can’t control what people say. Personally, I’ve always thought the world of CMR. I hold Goff and Dooley in extremely high regard. I believe Donnan’s level of morality and charisma fall short of all the aforementioned coaches. But, none of them have embarrassed the University. Pruitt, Grantham and Shottenheimer hold that front down.
Now probably ain't a bad time to just remind ourselves to always err on the side of kindness and understanding, because you really never know what someone's got going on.
Great post. I'm a bit of a cynic when it comes to coaches talking about their faith. To me it seems like Dabo Swinney uses his more as a recruiting tool and team motivator than something true and pure. CMR never comes across as working an angle when he talks about his beliefs, I always sense his motives as pure and loving. As far as walking the walk, few if any do it better than Mark Richt, I love the man.
“How would CMR have done with college football’s largest recruiting budget, one of the largest support staffs and world class facilities?”
We will never know, and the reason is that CMR didn’t know how to ask. Kirby drew out the structure of the support staff he needed and presented it to the AD. Richt only pleaded for an indoor facility. The biggest difference between CMR and Kirby might be that Kirby has focused on building an entire organization versus Coach Richt only built a team.
Exactly. You could tell it was important to him in a genuine way rather than the fake way it often comes off as. Maybe that’s my bias, but it was how I perceived it. When it comes to character, Richt is like Saban…the GOAT.
Love Coach Richt for everything he did FOR THE STATE OF GEORGIA and for setting things up on a Tee for Kirby to EVENTUALLY knock it out of the park, and for just being a great DUDE OVERALL and may the Good Lord bless he and his family for evermore. Just can't say enough good things about the guy. Sincerely yours.
Yeah from Vince Dooley, Ray Goff, Donnan to Richt to our current HC Kirby Smart, I'm very fund of ALL of our HCs and its an absolute blast being a Georgia Bulldog fan and largely because of men like that DGDs all of them, I'll always be a Georgia Bulldog fan and admittedly as a born and bred Georgian, I am more than a bit biased. @thetruth.
I am not a big booster myself, but I did meet Donnan at a wedding (for a big booster's son) in 1999. He and Vince were both there. Dooley was gracious and grinning; Donnan was like talking to a brick wall. I can very much see that his lack of bedside manner was not helping him build relationships regardless of his prowess in X's and O's.
I thing about Jim Donnan though is he was a great recruiter. I think Tech kind of owned him there at the end and if I'm not mistaken, he loss to Tech 3 years in a row and Ta'da enter Mark Richt.
If you wanted to be running the flex bone in the SEC, sure. Personally, I'm not sure Erk and Paul Johnson could have made that work here.
Count me as another who admires his character. Would I have wanted him as a a major figure in the life of one of my sons at 18-22? Absolutely!
I had posted about attending CMR's eulogy of Paul Oliver on this thread. This is a much more joyfuly version of that in his eulogy of Bobby Bowden. Heard the same story of Pablo Lopez at Paul's funeral too.
Donnan had a great eye for talent, especially defensive talent. Not all of those great players came in as blue chippers, I wouldn't mind him being on payroll now as an evaluator of recruits.
underrated aspect of winning the national title?
Getting Richt off the hook. Now that we have one Richt can be a true ambassador for the team without anyone saying something snarky. It's pretty great.
Best post I've seen today... anything or anyone paying tribute to Coach Richt is alright by me!!!!
Go Dawgs!