Mark Richt is one of the most successful coaches in Georgia Bulldog history, which is pretty impressive for a program that has won 5 NCAA National Championships and 12 SEC Championships. Richt's winning percentage of .738 (96-34) at Georgia is the highest among coaches who have coached for more than three seasons at the school. Richt's 96 wins are only behind Vince Dooley and Wally Butts for the most in program history but he has a better winning percentage than both of those legendary coaches. Richt has coached 11 All-Americans including Knowshon Moreno and David Pollack and 9 first round NFL draft picks including Matthew Stafford, AJ Green, and Benjamin Watson.
Despite all of this, Richt and his Georgia Bulldogs have not had any sniff of recent success. In a conference that is as competitive as the SEC, the demand for all coaches in the conference, especially at a big time school like Georgia, is to win and win now. Although Richt has been a very good coach at Georgia for a long time, if his Bulldogs don't put something big together this season, he may be looking for a new job after the season.
If you look at Georgia's year-by-year record since Mark Richt took over in 2001, they are on a steady decline. Richt's first few years at Georgia began with a bang. Georgia won the SEC in 2002 and 2005 and finished number 3 in both the AP and coaches' poll in 2002. The Bulldogs also finished in the top 7 of both the AP and coaches' poll in 2003 and 2004. Richt's last great season came in 2007 when the Bulldogs beat Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl and finished as high as number 2 in the AP rankings.
Ever since the 2007 season, the Bulldogs have just been a flat out disappointment. If you look at the Bulldogs record in 2008, you may not think it was a bad season. They finished 10-3 with a 6-2 record in the SEC, which was good enough for a 2nd place finish in the SEC East, and they finished the season ranked number 13 in the AP poll. However, with all of the talent that Georgia had on its football team that year, the record didn't meet expectations. Georgia began the 2008 season as the preseason number 1 for the first time in school history. Star quarterback Matthew Stafford was returning for his third season, SEC Freshman of the Year Knowshon Moreno was back for his sophomore year at the running back position, and All-SEC linebacker Dannell Ellerbe was back to lead the Georgia defense. The Bulldogs were also adding a top 5 recruiting class highlighted by top 5 recruit, wide receiver A.J. Green. Therefore, the season was a big disappointment for Bulldogs fans that were hoping that Richt would finally bring a National Championship back to Athens. The Bulldogs lost to Florida by 39 points on a neutral field, which to this day is the largest margin of defeat in Richt' coaching career at Georgia, and they even fell to Georgia Tech for the first time in 8 years since 2000.
Despite losing some big play guys on the offense side of the ball, SEC Freshman of the Year A.J. Green was returning to school and the Bulldogs had the majority of their best defense players coming back for the 2009 season. Therefore, the Bulldogs were in the preseason top 15 at number 13 but they didn't remain there for long. Georgia began the season with a 4-4 record and finished the year with a pedestrian 4-4 conference record. They finished the season ranked outside the AP top 25 for the first time in 13 years since Jim Donnnan's first year at Georgia in 1996.
Last year was just a miserable season for the Bulldogs. They began the season ranked once again in the preseason top 25 as high as number 21 in the coaches' poll but they once again fell out of the rankings very quickly. The Bulldogs began the season 1-4 and never recovered. They finished the year with a sub .500 record at 6-7 and were a woeful 3-5 in the SEC. The Bulldogs didn't even score a touchdown in their bowl game loss to Central Florida. It was the first time since 1996 that the Bulldogs finished under .500 in both their overall record and their conference record. For two seasons in a row, The Bulldogs were not above .500 in the SEC. The last time the same coach led Georgia to two seasons where the team was not above .500 in either one was Ray Goff. In 1994 with Goff at the helm the Bulldogs were 3-4-1 in conference games and in 1995 they were not above .500 again when they were 3-5. After the 1995 season, Georgia fired Goff. Obviously, Richt has not done enough in the last few years to help his job security.
A combination of the fact that Georgia has really struggled the last few years and that other teams in the SEC have shined, are really hurting Richt's chances of continuing to be Georgia's coach beyond this year. There is no question that the SEC is the best conference in college football. The last 5 National Champions have all come out of the SEC but none of them have been Georgia. Florida has won two National Championships (2006 and 2008) and LSU (2007), Alabama (2009), and Auburn (2010) have each won one title in the last five years. With all of the other top SEC teams winning National Championships and Georgia struggling to make a simple bowl game, Richt is deservingly taking a lot of heat. In 2009 and 2010 Richt's overall record with Georgia was 14-12. That is pretty unimpressive for the Bulldogs considering that in 2009 and 2010 Alabama was 24-3, Auburn was 22-5, Florida was 21-6, LSU was 20-6, Arkansas was 18-8, and South Carolina was 16-11. When Georgia began their 2010 season 1-4, they lost more games than Alabama did in all of 2009 and 2010.
With all of this in consideration, the Bulldogs will have to at least win the SEC East and make the SEC Championship game in order for Richt to retain his job as the head ball coach in Athens. Anything less than a title game appearance will likely mean the end of an era for Georgia. Richt definitely has a good enough team to win the East this season, so if he can't pull it off, it will be an easier decision for Georgia AD Greg McGarity to pull the plug on him. Although the Bulldogs began the season poorly with a 35-21 loss to Boise St. at the Georgia Dome, the Bulldogs should still be focused on the goal of winning the SEC East. It will be key that the loss to the Broncos doesn't have a lasting effect on the Bulldogs because they have a huge game in week 2 in Athens when South Carolina comes to visit in a gigantic SEC East battle. Aaron Murray will have to move on from his disappointing game yesterday, where he was sacked 6 times and was thoroughly outplayed by Kellen Moore. The sophomore, whose 3,049 passing yards last season was a Georgia freshman record and second all-time by an SEC freshman, will have the opportunity to open up a South Carolina defense that allowed 37 points and 260 passing yards to an ECU team in week 1. Luckily for Richt, the schedule is a favorable one for Georgia this season, so even if his Bulldogs do fall to the Gamecocks, they still have a chance to win the East. It just so happens that the only three SEC teams that Georgia doesn't play this season are #2 Alabama, #4 LSU, and #15 Arkansas, while Florida has a stretch in the middle of the season where they have to play #2 Alabama, #4 LSU on the road, #23 Auburn on the road, and then play SEC East foe #19 Georgia. It's a make or break year for Mark Richt down in Athens.
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