Georgia Bulldogs Football – Content To Be Good

Anyone that knows me knows that I love the Georgia Bulldogs. I live in Tallahassee, Florida where it’s almost unheard of to be a Georgia Fan. Heck, I know people born in Georgia that are Florida and Florida State fans. You have no idea how much that bothers me. I really do consider those people traitors to their state but I digress. This isn’t about them. It’s about my beloved football team. Before I go any further…let me also say, I think Mark Richt is a great coach. With that being said…leggo!!!!!
I’m 45 years old so my cognizant time of being a Georgia Bulldog fan comes during Vince Dooley’s tenure as head coach. Man I loved me some Hershel Walker. Seeing him bowl over people as he ran for first downs and touchdowns was enough to lock me into playing football for the rest of my life (I’m still playing competitive flag football at the age of…45). On Sunday morning during the “Vince Dooley Show” I would have my football in one hand while stiff arming the furniture with the other hand (I’m an only child). Those are memories I cherish to this day. The Bulldogs were winners. Coach Dooley was 201-77-10 as a head coach. He won six SEC Championships and a National Title in 1980. Then Coach Dooley left after the 1988 season and mediocrity settled into Athens, Georgia.
When Dooley left, Ray Goff took over as Head Coach. His record from 1989 to 1995 was 46-34-1. His teams were 0–5 against Tennessee, 1–6 against Florida, 2–4–1 against Auburn, 5–2 against Georgia Tech and won no conference titles. During his time at Georgia, Goff was often derisively referred to as Ray “Goof”, a nickname given to him by former Florida and current South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier
Next up we had Jim Donnan, who took over as head coach in 1996 and coached the Bulldogs until 2000, posting a 40–19–0 record (.678 winning percentage). Donnan’s teams produced no conference titles and were 1–4 against Tennessee, 2–3 against Auburn, 1–4 against Florida and 2–3 against Georgia Tech. The Bulldogs lost to all four of these rivals in 1999 and only posted a win against Tennessee in 2000. Donnan had a 4–0 bowl record. If you’re not getting the drift by now…I can tell you that I got tired of losing to Steve Spurrier (the epitome of a sore winner if I ever saw one) and Peyton Manning and damn near any other quarterback that chose to put on a Tennessee uniform. It was horrible.
Then enter Mark Richt in 2001, the former Offensive Coordinator for Florida State. Living in Tallahassee I was too thrilled. Richt’s offensive schemes had seen FSU play for 4 National Championships while winning 2. If anyone could restore the shine back to those “Silver Britches” it was Richt…and you know what, he’s done exactly that. His record, as of January 2, 2013, is 118–40–0. Under his watch, Georgia has won the SEC Championship twice and has played in 6 SEC Championships…and all of that is good but is that all we want in Georgia…to be good?
That was the good, now here’s the ugly. In 2003…Coach Nick Saban and the LSU Tigers blitzed the Bulldogs out of the SEC Championship and won a National Title. Mind you; he had been at LSU since 1999. Nevertheless, Saban left after 2004 to coach the Miami Dolphins. In 2005, enter Urban Meyer. Well all he does is win National Championships with Florida in 2006 and 2008. After Saban left for the National Football League, Les Miles took over as Head Coach for the LSU Tigers and won a National Championship in 2007. In January of 2007, Nick Saban returns to College Football as the Head Coach at Alabama. What does he do? He goes out and wins a National Title in 2009. In 2008, Auburn hires Gene Chizik as their Head Coach and this guy has to be the symbol of a one hit wonder in College Football as he (along with the assistance of Cam Newton) claimed a National Title in 2010. He was promptly fired after the 2011 season. Oh did I mention Nick Saban…he’s also won National Championships at Alabama in 2011 and 2012 and for those of you who aren’t taking his notice, he’s got Alabama poised to win another title this year.
Arguably from 1992 to 2011, Georgia is in the top 10 when it comes to producing talent for the National Football League. For sure until last year, Mark Richt had never had a 3 year starter let alone a 4 year starter under center until Aaron Murray came along. There’s an even bigger argument though that his teams have flat out underperformed. Why…I have no idea. To see Alabama not be able to throw against Georgia but basically run the Bulldogs out of the Georgia Dome during the 2013 SEC Championship game was absolutely embarrassing.
Here’s the thing, since Vince Dooley left and before Mark Richt, Georgia fans have had to settle for mediocrity at best. Those Georgia teams between Dooley and Richt were either flat out bad or barely average. Under Richt, our Georgia teams are good. Under Dooley they were great…under Richt…good. Between the two men…that’s twelve long years to get used to not being very good. After awhile, you don’t want to but you start to settle. Then a coach comes along and gives you some semblance of success and you take it. Who can blame you? You certainly don’t want to go back to the twelve years of suffering but don’t you want better? Don’t you want to be the best? Don’t we deserve to have a National Championship as well? Some may think I’m being hard but under Richt’s tenure at Georgia, four different SEC Schools…Alabama, LSU, Florida and Auburn have won National Titles. That’s four different schools and four different coaches…one of whom, (Gene Chizik) I would argue isn’t even on the same level of coaching when it comes to Mark Richt. The other guy, Nick Saban has won 3 National Titles. That being said, do I think Richt should be fired? No. What I do think is that like us as Georgia fans, he shouldn’t be content to be…just good. I’m out.