Number of NCAA Division I Football Championships for UGA in the last 40 years: 1
Number of NCAA Division I Football Championships for UGA under Mark Richt: 0
I am making an assumption here, one that I think is true for all universities in "major" conferences, which is that the ultimate goal of a team's season is to win a national championship. For some, if not most, Division I schools, a conference chamiponship may be the most that can be hoped for. I see no reason why a school with the annual budget and historical prowess of UGA should settle for anything less than a national title. With that settled, I'll move on to my argument concerning Richt's underperformance.
The Georgia Bulldogs have had a top ten recruiting class each and every year that Richt has been the head coach. Two years ago, they were the preseason #1 team as ranked by Sporting News, led by star quarterback Matthew Stafford (an eventual #1 overall NFL draft pick) and running back Knowshon Moreno. Even with a consistent influx of fresh talent to replace those who run off in search of millions and ESPN highlights, UGA's football team has finished in the top 5 in the nation only twice in this decade. It seems that a ranking in the 10-19 range is a perennial occurrence, which to many is enough to keep Richt off the so-called "hot seat." I am not going to argue with the successful numbers that Richt has posted in his nine-year career; he has kept Georgia on the map and developed a foundation of qualities deemed attractive by many impressionable high school seniors.
I go back to my assumption that the overall goal of a football program like UGA's is a national championship. When Richt was brought in from Florida State in 2001, it was thought that he would be the man to finally bring Georgia back to the pinnacle of college football. Cemented firmly in the heart of the SEC, which is undeniably college football's premier conference, Richt gained access to the top recruits and faced a schedule that would properly test even the best of teams. Perhaps this in and of itself is the primary source of Richt's downfall; while the conference has put out the last four national champions, there is an inescapable toll that the physical play takes out on its players. Nonetheless, I go into every season expecting to have at least two or three "trademark" losses to some combination of Tennessee, LSU, Florida, and Alabama. It merely depends which teams are scheduled that year. At least one of those losses will be by twenty points or more. Even when that loss takes place and I say "I told ya so," I still am wholeheartedly confused as to how this can happen year after year after year. Take a look at the USC of 2003 & 2004, the Florida of 2006 & 2008, and the Alabama of last year. Unexpected and one-sided defeats simply do not happen. What do those teams have in common? They won national championships.
To avoid being long-winded, I'll sum up my argument. Mark Richt has been presented with the top talent in the country over his entire career at UGA. He began the season with the preseason #1 team two years ago. He consistently leads the Bulldogs to either the Outback Bowl, Capital One Bowl, or the Sugar Bowl. UGA's end-of-the-year ranking has ranged from #3 to #19 over the past nine years. Is UGA's football team traditionally in the running for a SEC championship? Yes. Does a top 20 year-end national ranking signify a successful season? For most. Will Mark Richt eventually win a national championship with the University of Georgia? I say no. He has been given enough time to demonstrate his ability to develop talent and put together a truly great season. With household names such as Nick Saban, Pete Carroll, Urban Meyer, and Les Miles showing their coaching prowess in the past decade, I see Georgia slowly falling behind and gradually losing a little bit of its luster. Mediocrity may have kept Richt under the radar and "safe" for the past few years, but there comes a time when certain results are expected. In this case, it's time for a change.
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