A Coach Scorned

I think I may have figured it out. When Mark Richt was in high school, he was one of the best QBs in the nation. He was All-Region, All-State, All-this, All-that, heck, he was going to do it all. He signed with The U.  When he got there though, he never really played much. He was stuck behind not one, but two future NFLers that went on to have wonderful pro careers. Even with this, he evidently was still good enough to get a shot in the NFL himself, coming out of college basically as a back-up. Then, he was stuck behind a pretty good QB in John Elway. I think there's a pattern forming here. As a player, he was good. Just not quite good enough. And when you're a 17-18 year old kid and you're being told that you are the best of the best, and it just doesn't pan out that way, well, that's got to be a little disappointing.
I'm pretty convinced all of this has something to do with the way he handles the QB position now, at UGA.
He(being Mark Richt) WAS Aaron Murray. Or even Joe Cox, for that matter. Don't forget that Cox, like Murray, came out of high school with all kinds of records, along with winning state titles. Both are a little short of being 6' tall, just like Mark Richt. I know, I know, they're 'on paper' as being 6-1, but we all know what that really means. Yes, I just had to throw that in there, but that's not what this is really about. It's about the fact that Mark Richt must have told himself somewhere down the line that if he were ever in position to have a player that almost identically reminded him of himself, that he would be sure to give them EVERY chance possible to make it. And this, I think, is the reason he seems to stick with a QB when its fairly obvious that a change needs to be made.
Aaron Murray was a great high school QB. He's a fairly decent college QB. He's setting some records at UGA. Good for him. I've got a feeling that if Hutson Mason were the QB for the last two years, those same records would be in his name, if not more. Murray would make the perfect back-up. Just like Richt was. Now, this article is not to knock on Aaron Murray(as there should be plently of that to come in just a few short months, I'm sure). It's just trying to get to the bottom of why Coach Richt makes the decisions he does. Oh, and don't get me wrong, I like having him as a coach. I hope he stays here a long time.
I'll also have another write-up as to why Coach Bobo does what he does(and there's a reason for that too).

So, whatchathink?

What Would You Do?

If you were the AD of a major university in America, and your head coach pulled the same thing that Bobby Petrino has done, what would you do? Now, when I say "pulled the same thing", what I mean by that is, the lies that he told you straight to your face, then looked into the camera and told all of your supporters. Never mind what the man was doing on his personal time. To me, that's his business. Well, his and his wifes. And I guess in this case, his girlfriends. I'm not going to sit here and judge the man for that. But when asked if he was the only person involved in the crash, and he says "yep, just  me". Then we find out 2 days later that he wasn't truthful with his answers. Hmmm.

So, do you take into consideration that he's one of the best college football coaches in the land, and has taken your university to places you haven't been in a very long time. Let alone, the possibility of leading you to the NC. Do you simply say, "Even though we looked into Houston Nutts phone records to see who he was talking too at all hours of the night, Coach Petrino made a small mistake and has learned from it. Now lets go win some more football games".



Oh yeah, don't forget all of the antics he pulled while at Louisville and Atlanta.

Whatchathink?

More Braves Talk

I'm going to break this final record thing down a bit. Month by month.
April-13-10
May-13-16
June-13-13
July-15-10
August-16-13
Sept/Oct-16-14
For a total of 86-76. Again, missing the playoffs. Even the new one game playoff. The Braves are, and always will be with their current ownership, be a team that is just above .500, but not quite the team they were during their 14 year dominance. And every once in a while, say every 5-7 years, they'll break thru for a pretty good season making the playoffs and maybe even making a run at a title. To a lot of casual fans, this will be extremely frustrating. Especially those who joined in on the bandwagon during the 90's, but those of us who've followed the Bravos during the late 70's and 80's(and before), we can deal with it a little bit easier. You see, in baseball, you've got 3 types of teams. First, the NY Yankee type teams that don't mind spending money to get the big time players. Those teams include the BoSox, the silly Phillies, the Metropolitans and maybe one or two other teams. Then you have the exact opposite. The teams like the Pirates, the A's and the Royals etc..They simply don't have the money to go out and sign the big boys, so they hope that every once in a while that they strike gold. Kind of like the Rays have done in recent years. They have a nice base of young talent that has come together and play baseball the way it was meant to be played. Once these guys contracts come up, they'll sign with the Yankees and Red Sox. Then you have the guys in the middle of the road. The Braves are a prime example. They'll have some big contracts, but then they'll hope they can fill some holes with some young talent, and hope they get the perfect combination of vets and young guns. And it really makes sense to do it this way. I personally would put the defending champion Cardinals in this category. As frustrating as it can be, you've still got a chance to get it done. Anyway, with that said, let's look a little more at my beloved Braves. Lets play a little game called over/under. I'll give you a name and stat, and you tell me if he'll go over or under...

Tommy Hanson-15 wins? I say under.
Chipper Jones-95 games played? I say under.
Dan Uggla-30 HR's? I say over.
Jason Heyward-19 HR's? I say under.
Craig Kimbrel-38 saves? under.
Martin Prado-.300 avg? under.
Brian McCann-23 HR's? over.
Freddie Freeman-.290 avg? over.
Jair Jurrjens-14 wins? over.
Brandon Beachy-12 wins? under.
Mike Minor-10 wins? over.
Tim Hudson-14 wins? under.

Whatchathink?