On the Richt to aTm Rumors

The Ole Miss Coaching Search

After reading Blutarsky's outstanding headline regarding the Ole Miss search, I did a little early morning reading about candidates for the job.

It's not that Ole Miss has never made a good hire. It's just they can't get out of their own way.

David Cutcliffe was a well tenured offensive coordinator for Tennessee going into the National Title game in 1998 with ties to the Manning family. It was a logical hire that worked until Cutcliffe's recruiting fell apart. Tommy Tuberville was a tenured Defensive Coordinator for Miami with 3 national title rings, and he was a DC at Texas A&M when they went 10-0-1 in 1994. The hire worked for them until a better offer came along.

Ed Orgeron had a national title ring, but he had never even been a coordinator...and he had a checkered past. Houston Nutt was being run out of his last job on a rail. And the other 5 coaches following Vaught's retirement were just bad.

Who will they hire? Athlon has a very comprehensive list which includes everyone except Terry Bowden (Pictured above). My only issue with the Athlon list is that it lists Mike Leech as a riskier hire than coaches at Southern Miss and Florida International.

If I were running their search, my top 3 candidates would be Leach, Malzahn and Rodriguez. Malzahn's resume is closest to their prior successes...a proven coordinator with a national title. Rodriguez was a horrific fit at Michigan, but winning at West Virginia without an in state recruiting base is a major accomplishment. Leach put forth a consistent winner despite major recruiting, facility and logistical drawbacks.

Would Leach help Ole Miss pass Bama and LSU in the West? No. But there's no coach in America who could do that and not leave them for a bigger job. Leach could build a program that would consistently beat MSU, Texas A&M, the non-conference tomato cans OM schedules, Vandy, Kentucky and Missouri. He could also put them on equal footing with South Carolina and Arkansas. That's enough to build a consistent 8 win program which Ole Miss hasn't been since desegregation.

Having said all of that...my real hope is they hire Terry Bowden. The comedic potential is better.

PWD

Georgia and Mississippi - Two Approaches

Dead Career Walking

Imagine for a minute you have a coach that has been the most successful coach since the national championship years at your program.  Imagine your AD fired that coach after his first losing season, just one year after a 10 win season. A 10 win season in which the second best QB in school history, as well as three other standouts that were key contributors at their positions, left.  Oh yeah, imagine part of that firing was due to the coach's refusal to make staff changes mandated by the AD.

Then imagine your school hired Houston Nutt, who was run out of his last job for...you guessed it, not necessarily managing the coach's role within the athletic department's hierarchy.  I'd love to throw some Springdale jokes in here, but let's be honest:  If Gus Malzahn stayed in Arkansas, he'd be the head coach and Nutt would be the coach at Auburn.  Funny how those things turn out.

So, are you happy we have an AD who taken a very measured approach or one that sees a number of losses and says make my changes or else?

Apparently there are Ole Miss alumni tired of the AD and President's management of the the football program.  If you want a strong current example of a fan base really up in arms, that is as far as you have to look.

I don't know if Coach Richt will survive this season.  If the team plays and improves like it has the past two weeks, I think he does and does so on the strength of a strong season.  If it plays like it did against Boise, well let's just say Nutt won't the the only coach facing that particular opposing team for the last time.  I do know absent a Lazarus style get up and walk out of the burial clothes miracle, Nutt is done, possibly by October 2nd.

TD

Quarter Season Review

Ok, not so much a review of the team as a review of...what?  How we feel as a fan base?  How I feel as a fan? 

First, group hug.  No seriously.  All those that want Richt fired and preferably last January and those that are ok with him staying arguably want the same thing: a successful program.  The problem lies in the definition of that. Now, I am not smart enough to try to suss out the definitions and the motivations for that.  I am smart enough not to say it should be one or the other. 

All that is to say that Mark Richt will be our coach at least until the end of the season.  Those that want him gone will only find satisfaction in us winning the rest of the games with no turnovers, no errant passes, no stupid penalties, no ill timed draw plays, no blown coverages, no missed field goals, and preferably 45+ point shutouts.  Those that want him to stay forever will find reasons to keep him, regardless of how ill prepared and under coached the team looks.  Now, Greg McGarity views success for the football program the same way Potter Stewart viewed pornography: He knows it when he sees it.  A lot of him 'seeing' that comes from what the money people tell him and President Adams.

As long as McGarity is the AD and there are no serious issues with a team revolt, Richt will coach the team until the Georgia Tech game.  My personal feeling is that he'll be here longer than that, but honestly, I can see the team reverting to last year's barrel of fail and him being gone.  The next few weeks will be far more important than the last three were, in that regard.

Hopefully, Georgia wins this week, which I think we will.  If not, Nutt will become the second coach in two seasons to get one of his few wins in his firing season against Georgia.  That guy is as fired as Damon Evans on July 1, 2010.

Richt's Support

Just noticed the poll that InsiderAdvantage/Morris News Service did on the fan support of Coach Richt.  65% support him.  Not at all surprised that his weakest support is from the younger crowd, specifically those that are most recently out of college.  Read: gives fewer dollars than those that have been out longer. 

That is the crux of why Mark Richt might not be on the way out.  The administration will support whomever the money supports. 

That makes the release of comments from the athletic board meeting Friday particularly interesting.  Normally, you don't hear much more than what was discussed or decided.  Releasing specific statements from specific members about their concern about the direction of the football program is not a good sign for Coach Richt.  Or the program.  This is probably as close as we'll see the the 'vote of confidence' quote from McGarity or Adams.

There is a reason those comments were made public. It wasn't accidental. If the majority of the board feels this way, that means there is plenty of money out there that is expressing the same concerns privately.  

Oh, and don't think there aren't plenty of coaches on the recruiting trail saying the same thing.

TD

Chuck Heater Needs Work

Until Jan. 2nd, Chuck Heater was the co-defensive coordinator for the Florida Gators with specific position coaching responsibilities for safeties. He joined Florida from Utah along with Coach Meyer in 2005 as recruiting coordinator and cornerbacks coach.

At age 57, he's served on coaching staffs that have won two SEC titles and two national titles at UF, a national title at Notre Dame, an undefeated season at Utah, a Rose Bowl and Pac 10 title at Washington, a Big Ten title at Ohio State, and an 11-1 record at Colorado.

He's a winner.

As a recruiting coordinator for the Gators under Meyer, they built a recruiting machine with few peers. Also under Meyer and Heater, the Gators produced defensive back fields with devastating speed and toughness with kids who were coached well enough to begin contributing their freshmen year. He's a tough as nails coach with high expectations for his kids.

Yet, Will Muschamp isn't keeping him. So, he's looking at his options.

Hiring a guy with a resume like Heater's would strengthen our horrific DB production and give us another recruiter strong enough to further diversify our almost unhealthy reliance on Rodney Garner.

So...is UGA talking to him about replacing Scott Lakatos as defensive backs coach? It doesn't appear so. Well...there's something to be said for stability with complete disregard for merit I guess.

Am I suggesting that Richt should immediately fire Lakatos and hire Heater? Actually, no; although, the resumes of the two men aren't from the same planet. I'm suggesting that a move that bold wouldn't even be considered right now. And that's depressing as hell to me.

PWD

My honest take on Urban Meyer's Departure

As I said on Twitter yesterday, I"m having a lot of trouble getting excited about Meyer's departure from Florida. My reasoning is pretty simple. Florida isn't Georgia's biggest obstacle to success right now.

Georgia's biggest obstacle to success at this point is Georgia. We absolutely must get our own house in order, or we won't take advantage of Meyer's departure. I still believe now as I did last off season, that our problems are:

1. Sense of Urgency
2. Lack of a Meritocracy - Which I would extend to the hiring process
3. Personnel Utilization Issues

I'm glad Meyer's gone because he's an excellent coach, but I'm more interested in what Mark Richt and Greg McGarity are doing in Athens than what Jeremy Foley is doing in Gainesville.

PWD

Agent misrepresented himself to AJ Green

Image by Hipple
ESPN is reporting that the agent who bought the jersey for $1,000 approached AJ Green via Facebook. The agent told AJ that he was a financial adviser and memorabilia collector.

AJ still shouldn't have sold the guy the jersey, and that's an NCAA violation. But it's an entirely different thing to sell a jersey to a random dude vs. an agent. In the agent scenario, he would essentially be laundering you money. In the laundering money scenario, it would have made more sense for AJ to just sell the guy a pack of toilet paper for $1,000. Why bother with the jersey?

I can't fathom how the suspension can stand at four games upon repeal. But this is the NCAA we're dealing with.

PWD

The Next UGA Athletic Director

There's never a good time to undergo a change like Damon Evans' departure from UGA. However, we have to look at the bright side. The athletic department is in rare air when it comes to its income statement, its competitive positioning and the compensation package.

On the flip side, the job won't be without its challenges, and that's what makes the hire so incredibly important.

Here's a partial list of some of the things the new AD will likely have to deal with in the next 5-6 years (in no particular order):

• Replacing the baseball coach - David Perno has dug himself an enormous hole, and it's possible that he'll pull himself out of it. However, making himself (a former utility infielder) as the pitching coach isn't the most confidence inspiring move this off season. To me, it would be like Mark Richt solving his problems with Willie Martinez by making himself the Defensive Coordinator.
  
  
• Retaining or Replacing Mark Fox - Mark Fox's timing in this transition is exceptional. He'll have a loaded team next year capable of making a helluva first impression on his new boss. In 100+ years of athletics, UGA has only lost two coaches to other programs that we wanted to keep -- Tubby Smith and Ron Polk. The new AD will likely see what Damon saw. The best/fastest opportunity to build a legacy at UGA is via basketball because Richt will get all the credit for football. Retaining Fox (or replacing him if he flames out) will be a major part of the new AD's job over the next 5 years. Luckily, the checks for Stegeman renovation were all written before Damon walked out.
  
  
• Replacing Andy Landers -- Landers turns 58 in October. It's not unreasonable to think that he'll be doing something other than coaching hoops when he's 64 years old. UGA has only had one full-time women's basketball coach in its history.
  
  
• Replacing the Gymnastics Coach - I don't want to poop on Jay. He had a solid first year, but almost nobody survives replacing a legend in their sport like Wooden or Bryant. That's what Suzanne was. Can he survive the next 5-6 years? Sure. Would I bet on him to make it? History says "no."
  
  
• Conference Realignment - It's highly unlikely that the conference landscape will stay the same over the next six years. How will UGA be positioned from a TV, Revenue, and Divisional Alignment standpoint?
  
  
• A new university president - Mike Adams is about 62 years old now. He won't be here much past 65. We'll need a strong leader to help us navigate that change.
  
  
• Replacing Jack Bauerle - Jack is also about 58 years old. Will he be here in 6 years? Probably...because that's just how he rolls. But how much longer beyond that?

And that's just a partial list of big personnel issues out there. There's also marketing opportunities to be unlocked, new media to be leveraged, facilities to be expanded and debt to be managed. All while getting many of our women's sports (other than softball) out of the ditch. Oh...and the football team could make this search a lot easier with a fast start in September of this year.

This is an absolutely enormous hire, and it's a tremendous part of Adams legacy. That's why I've got more confidence in his role in this search than many others. He knows how big a job this is, and what leaving us with a mess would do to his "place in history." Am I resting easy with Adams running the ship on this? No. But, I'm a lot more optimistic than others because the job offers so much.

PWD

Paul Hewitt turns down St. Johns

Paul Hewitt is staying in Atlanta. If Gani Lawal joins Derrick Favors in declaring to go pro as expected, you have to love our chances of winning at the McNerd Dome next season.

PWD

Paul Hewitt to St. John's?

The AJC now reports that St. John's University has formally asked for permission to speak with Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt. The New York Daily News quotes Hewitt gushing about the St. John's job opening saying:

"Do you remember what it was like in New York when the Yankees finally won the World Series again in 1996, the way it electrified the city? St. John's could definitely do the same thing," said Hewitt, who grew up in Queens and Long Island. "I remember going to the building they call Carnesecca (Arena) and seeing huge crowds embrace the team. I remember going to the Garden and seeing it full. And I remember the winning.

"The right coach could do all that again and it would be a sight."

For those who struggle with nuance, let me translate..."Get me the hell out of Atlanta." (ht - Mark Bradley)

If SJU were to hire Tech, it would be the equivalent of a $7 million bailout for the future of their basketball program. The upside for Georgia...if Tech were to hire poorly or at least a weaker recruiter than Hewitt (who is exceptional in that area), it could help us in state for 2011 recruits and beyond.

The downside...many high quality candidates will see the Tech job for what it is...a program with the potential to be Top 3 in the ACC almost every year on the court due to the recruiting base. However, it lacks the financial clout to invest in the facilities or coaching salaries to match that potentially elite status. In other words, an enigma of a job. But one with tremendous upside. It's also unlikely that Tech will hire a worse floor coach than Hewitt.

If I were ranking recruiters and UGA and Tech over the past 30 years, it would go something like this:

1. Paul Hewitt
2. Bobby Cremins
3. Hugh Durham
4. Ron Jirsa (Ezra, DA and Jumanie were big timers)
5. Tubby Smith (inherited great talent. Recruited average at best)
6. Dennis Felton (maybe higher than Tubby. Just couldn't retain his best)
7. Jim Harrick (worst recruiter I've ever seen unless you count transfers)
TBD Mark Fox

If I were to rank floor coaches over that period, I'd go:

1. Jim Harrick (and it's not even close)
2. Tubby Smith
3. Bobby Cremins
4. Hugh Durham (early in his career he was great, but not the end)
5. Dennis Felton
6. Paul Hewitt (Yes. Hewitt is a worse floor coach than Felton)
7. Ron Jirsa (Totally inept)
TBD Mark Fox

It would be difficult for a competent Athletic Director like Tech's DRad to do worse than Hewitt on the court. But surpassing him on the recruiting trail will be very, very tough. This is an interesting development to watch for UGA fans. Tech could be losing a coach that had a losing record (4-6) against UGA despite us spending 7 of those 10 years navigating some of the worst seasons in UGA basketball since the late 1970s.

See Also:
-- Please don't go! - DawgSports

PWD

Basketball Schedule Rumors

Looks like UGA is looking for as many as two more BCS caliber home games and two more BCS caliber road games for the upcoming 2010-2011 season. This is according to a message board post by our director of football operation on Basketball Travelers, a site where coaches and assistant athletic directors can exchange scheduling opportunities with each other.

"We are looking for H & H series for 2010-2011 with BCS schools. Looking for 2 @ home and 2 on the road."

The site is one of several craigstlist.org type sites for arranging b-ball rendezvous.

The basketball schedule as of now for 2010-2011 includes:

Neutral:
Old Spice Classic (3 Games) - Participants include BC, Cal, Notre Dame, Temple, Wisconsin, Texas A&M, UGA, and Manhattan.

Home:
UAB
Hawaii (tentative)

Away:
Georgia Tech
Saint Louis

If you add four more BCS-level games to the mix, that would really look impressive. While we're asking for 4 games (2 home and 2 away), I'd wager that we'd settle for three (2 home and 1 away). I'm also guessing...and it's just a guess...that we wouldn't go back to Gwinnett next season IF we could land the other games being asked for.

That's the schedule for a team that doesn't just want to make the NCAA Tourney. It's the schedule for a team that wants a great seed. If Trey bails on us, I'd expect to see that schedule soften up.

Then again...all BCS teams aren't created equal. If we ended up with Nebraska, DePaul, Penn State and Iowa as the four teams, it wouldn't exactly terrify anyone.

PWD

(Ht - bigtuck31)

About the new LB Coach Warren Belin

Yesterday, Georgia added Warren Belin to the coaching staff as a linebackers coach. He joins us from Vanderbilt where he was linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator. David Hale has a great write up on his resume, but it's this reaction from a Vandy blogger that intrigues me more.

Belin was with Bobby Johnson for the past eight years and helped develop linebackers Hunter Hillenmeyer, Marcus Buggs, Moses Osemwegie, Jonathan Goff, Patrick Benoist and now Chris Marve. If you're a Georgia fan and don't recognize those names, let's just say that all those guys were two-star recruits who developed into All-SEC players under Coach Belin's tutelage. Most of those guys are playing or will play in the NFL...

...Imagine what Belin can do with four- and five-star talent, if those guys are willing to learn and achieve their potential.

A very solid hire as a recruiter with ties to Atlanta and North Georgia, and a good teacher of the game.

PWD

Clay Travis blasts Lane Kiffin

This is a fun read about Kiffin's tenure in Knoxville. Good times.

PWD

Lakatos Hired as DB Coach

David Hale has the press conference notes from the Scott Lakatos hire. My overall reaction is mixed. He's qualified for the gig, and that's no small thing. Plus, Grantham knows/trusts the guy. Both of those things are huge in building a staff.

However, the lack of deep Southeastern / Georgia recruiting ties isn't ideal. The good news...not having in state recruiting ties isn't the worst thing (in small doses on the staff).

Georgia Football isn't like Georgia Basketball. Area high school football coaches will give you the time of day simply because of who you represent. Building the relationships from there..it's up to him. In other words, I'm not worried about the lack of southern connections as long as the guy is a lights out position coach AND he can build those relationships over time.

There is still one open position on the coaching staff. It will either be a full-time special teams coach, which I'm totally against due to a parade of reasons too long to get into tonight. Or it will be an outside linebackers coach with the staff sharing special teams responsibilities.

Update -- You guys in the comments asked why I'm against a full-time special teams coach. Several coaches have an area of responsibility in special teams currently. For instance, Searels handles field goals and extra points, Coach Ball (pretty sure) handles kickoff returns, and Fabris handled punt returns and kickoff coverage. Not sure who handled punting in general. All of our special teams are NOT broken. Kickoff returns coverage were badly broken and the coverage of fake punts were broken, and we fired Fabris who ran all of that.

The solution there isn't hire a new special teams coach to manage all special teams. The solution is hire someone better than Fabris. The solution is also to put better athletes on special teams which UGA started doing mid-2009, and the solution is to spend more time on special teams in practice.

Spending more time on special teams in practice is tricky. It's not an issue of coaching staff bandwidth. The problem is that the same players who are doing offense or defense drills are the same ones needed (except kickers) to do special teams drills. So, let say we're spending 20% or even 30% of our time in practice sessions on special teams. That means we're could be paying a special teams coach to spend 70-80% of his time either A. Standing with his finger in his ear. or B. Talking to the kickers. The kickers clearly are not the problem. So why hire a dedicated special teams coach to do nothing during most of practice?

In my opinion...if we have a dedicated special teams coach, then his name should be Mark Richt.

PWD

great take on the Grantham hire

Good read.

http://blutarsky.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/four-thoughts-on-the-grantham-hire/

Offline for a few days. Go Dawgs.

It's Grantham

Update: GeorgiaDogs.com has confirmed the hiring. They are doing a conference call with the media this evening.

From Grantham:

"I would like to thank Coach Mark Richt and Damon Evans for the opportunity for myself and my family to be part of the University of Georgia community," said Grantham. "I'm very excited about being part of a staff that will work tremendously hard to return Georgia football to one of the premier teams in the SEC. To the fans and boosters of the University of Georgia, I understand the passion and standard of excellence expected. I look forward to developing an aggressive, physical, attacking style defense that offenses will not look forward to playing against." (emphasis added)

From Richt

"I'm excited the search is over, we have our man, and look forward to what Todd will bring to our defense, our team, and our University," said Richt. "I think it is particularly valuable that he has a wealth of experience on the defensive side of the ball at both the NFL and collegiate levels. Now we look forward to moving ahead with the home stretch of recruiting, finishing out the defensive staff, and getting ready for spring practice."

The hire has been growing on me the past few days. Especially as it comes out that he was recommended for the job by Frank Beamer and Nick Saban. He's good enough that Saban heavily pursued him to be DC for the Dolphins. Those are directionally good signs.

During his career Grantham has worked under several successful head coaches and defensive coordinators on both the pro and college levels including Frank Beamer and Bud Foster at Virginia Tech, Nick Saban at Michigan State, Romeo Crennel at Cleveland, Dom Capers at Houston, and Wade Phillips at Dallas.

More later. In meetings all day.

BTW -- Don't rejoice over the Cutcliffe rejection notice for UT. If the rumors I'm hearing are true, the Vols could end up with someone better than Cutcliffe (Duke), Calhoun (Air Force) or Kiffin. We'll see how this all shakes out. Hopefully, it ends badly for them.

In 1989, Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry (among others) turned down the UGA job, and we ended up with Ray Goff. That's the scenario we want for the Vols. Not the 2001 scenario where the conversations don't work out with Chan Gailey so we ended up with Mark Richt. You never know how these coaching searches will turn out.

Update -- I was asked in the comments to elaborate on what we were hearing re: UT...multiple sources are now saying that Kyle Whittingham was the runner-up for the UT hire behind Derek Dooley who got the job. The Whittingham rumor was the one we heard from multiple sources yesterday, and that was the one that worried me a little. I am certainly not worried about Derek Dooley. More on that later.

PWD

I have no problem with Kirby Smart staying at Bama

Quinton and I both said numerous times throughout this search that we thought it was unlikely that Kirby Smart would come here. Not because of any mythical rift between Richt and Smart, but because it just made more sense for him to stay in Tuscaloosa. That's why, I don't have an issue with his decision to stay at Alabama.

What I most certainly do have an issue with is the way this was handled by Kirby. The job had been open since Dec. 2nd, and Kirby has known since at least Dec. 15th that Georgia was interested...if he was interested. That's the magic phrase in all of this.

UGA started the search process with Bud Foster and John Chavis because (A) they are more qualified for the job than Kirby, and (B) Kirby would be tied up until at least Jan. 7th. When the Foster and Chavis deals never materialized, Richt made his pitch to Kirby because he had reason to believe Kirby was legitimately receptive to the pitch.

If Kirby wanted to stay in Tuscaloosa, that would've been fine by everyone. He could've quietly and respectfully told Richt to move ahead with his search without him. There was positively no reason to wait 3-4 days to make up his mind when he had a month to ponder this scenario. Making Richt wait weakened the search process and took more shine off the position.

Bear Bryant was famously asked why he left Texas A&M for Alabama, and he responded, "Mama Called." Well, mama called, and as T. Kyle King said, "Kirby hung up." Georgia needed Kirby because of the timing and because of the prior rejects, and we went out on a limb for him. We were willing to make a 34 year old guy with only one year of defensive coordinator experience the third highest paid assistant in the country. In that scenario, you don't make us wait for almost four days to make up your mind.

So it's not the decision that pisses me off. It's the process and timing.

I respect his decision to stay with Saban. Professionally, I think it was the right move for him. It's lower risk, and as close to a frictionless path to a head coaching gig as you can find in college football. But he should also respect the anger and backlash that UGA boosters feel towards the way he handled this.

It's not just business when it's your alma mater. Not if you ever want to come back.

Where do we go from here?
The search was never about hiring Kirby Smart. The search was about finding someone better than Willie Martinez. That's the minimum threshold for success. And as I've stated before, the process from our end worries me less than the outcome. We can still hire someone terrific. Particularly, if we're willing to offer another viable candidate as much as $790,000 over three to four years.

Kirby wasn't Richt's soul mate for this job. There's more than one person that will work. We just need to move quickly to find them.

By the way....can we please stop with the "Damon won't pay anyone good" meme. The offer that UGA made to Kirby given his resume was wildly out of step with the broader marketplace. It was an incredibly generous offer.

Oh...and one last thought. Maybe it's Todd Grantham now. Maybe not. But what has Todd Grantham ever done to make you or I think he's the answer except have Pollack and Donnan throw out his name often enough to have Anthony Dasher start calling his agent?

If it's him, I'll be open minded, but I don't get the love.

PWD

Where to, Kirby? (Or Maybe, How Much, Kirby?)

Per the Tuscaloosa News, Kirby Smart has been offered the position of defensive coordinator at UGA.  So, Kirby must decide to either come back to his alma mater and make a boatload of money or he can stay on the staff of one of the best coaches in college football as his loyal DC after winning a national championship and rework his contract to get a boatload of money from Bama.  It's nice to be Kirby Smart right now.  Either way, he's about to get PAID.  I doubt Bama lets him go without a counteroffer.

The AJC says no announcement is imminent, according to Claude Felton.

Developing ...

Quinton

Evil Genius or Harmless Genius?

As we tirelessly continue to document, Steve Spurrier's march up the list of Longest Tenured Coaches without a BCS Bowl Bid at their current school has reached a new high water mark. With the termination of Mike Leach (the former co-leader with a 2001 hire date) and the retirement of Rich Brooks, the head ball coach moves to 8th on the list.

The latest Top 10:

1.(T) Greg Schiano (Rutgers) - 2001
1.(T) Gary Pinkel (Missouri) - 2001
3.(T) Bobby Johnson (Vandy) - 2002
3.(T) Jeff Tedford (Cal) - 2002
5. Mike Riley (Oregon State) - 2003
6.(T) Randy Edsall (UConn) - 2004 Joined Big East
6.(T) Mike Stoops (Arizona) - 2004
8.(T) Steve Spurrier (South Carolina) - 2005
8.(T) Jim Leavitt (USF) - 2005 Joined Big East
8.(T) Mike Gundy (Ok State) - 2005
8.(T) Dave Wannstedt (Pitt) - 2005

In theory, Spurrier has a quality core of talent returning for the 2010 season. They return 9 starters on offense and 8 on defense (pending NFL departures). However, Garcia is still his quarterback, and this is the same core group that collapsed at the end of last season going 2-5 to close out the campaign. It's not like they were improving as they got older.

As for the Ray Goff comparison I continually make between Spurrier's tenure at Carolina and Ray's disastrous stint with the Dawgs...Spurrier needs 6 wins to surpass Goff's win total during his first six years in Athens. However, he'll need to go at least 11-2 to surpass Ray's winning percentage over the same number of years...by only .00079 percentage points.

All the Evil is gone. He's just a Harmless Genius now.

PWD