May you live in interesting times. Certainly Georgia football fans find themselves wrestling with that ancient Chinese proverb.
No matter which side of the keep Richt/fire Richt divide that Bulldogs supporters come down on, there are two inarguable facts:
-- Richt is done as Georgia football coach.
-- Athletic director Greg McGarity will hire the next coach.
At this point it is futile arguing the whys and hows that surrounded Richt’s demise -- and there are many, including everything from pure statistics (including Richt’s record vs. ranked teams), a 10-year SEC championship drought, to even the ridiculous discussions surrounding the coach’s sideline demeanor.
For the moment, however, Georgia fans would do well to avoid the debates on Richt and perhaps instead engage in discussion about the man who will anoint the next coach.
This decision -- certainly the most high-visibility search in Athens since Jim Donnan was fired following the 2000 season -- will define the legacy of McGarity.
The news coming down on Monday morning that the University of Southern California had named Clay Helton its permanent head coach makes the opening in Athens the top coaching vacancy in the nation -- based on the availability of talent within the state’s borders, position within the Southeastern Conference, facilities (both current and those on schedule), tradition and monetary capabilities.
That said, perfect hires do not simply fall into any program’s lap.
Alabama may be the juggernaut of the collegiate gridiron, and it would seem it has always been thus. But anyone that cares to remember back to the 2006 season will remember a program in turmoil, one that had produced a seeming revolving door of coaches unable to harness the Tide’s legacy of collegiate dominance -- coaches such as Dennis Franchione, Mike Shula and Mike Price (who never even coached a game in Tuscaloosa). Then Alabama went out and got Nick Saban. The rest, as they say...
That brings us back to McGarity. Is Georgia’s athletic director about to set in motion the next great hire of collegiate athletics?
Or is he set to employ the next Mike Price?
While it is too much to ask that the Dogs employ the next Saban, certainly the stakes have been laid down. Georgia wants a championship -- otherwise why release the man that did virtually everything except win one?
Yet McGarity’s track record in Athens could give Bulldogs’ fans pause. Himself hired in 2010, McGarity has hired coaches in seven of the school’s 16 competitive programs. Of those hires few have taken their respective squads to new heights or even put them among the best in the SEC.
Now, without a doubt, there are no fool-proof methods to hiring a coach -- and plenty of great hires start off looking more like duds. But their performances so far don't inspire great confidence. And McGarity has finally pushed through some much-needed upgrades to certain facilities on campus.
Then you have the interesting approaches taken to public relations. The way the athletic department handled the 2014 Todd Gurley suspension, and the way that Richt’s own future was dangled so publicly following the final game of the 2014 regular season -- when coaches are hitting the road and trying to nail down future players -- both left observers scratching their heads.
And there was Monday morning’s press conference.
Richt and McGarity shared the podium and took questions from reporters -- Richt doing so with impressive dignity and class, while McGarity added little other than to praise the coach that he no longer wants leading his football team. When asked why he opted to remove Richt, he replied that the reasoning would stay between himself and the former coach.
It would have been interesting to hear McGarity’s reasoning on the move -- perhaps the answer could even have assuaged some of the more angered parts of the fanbase. Instead there were no concrete answers and little substance from the man in charge.
Give this to McGarity, he had the guts to make an eye-opening move. Now the watching eyes of the Bulldog faithful -- and history -- get to see how he handles the rest of it.
-- Morgan Lee is sports editor for AccessWDUN
