Coaching, Development, Schedule or Recruiting?

[Chief Mac]

Yes Mark Richt is very Nutt like about doing Less with MORE!

I would liken him more to Ken Hatfield.  Great person, decent coach

[GoHogs1091]

To me, here are the percentages as it pertains to the equation.

Recruiting   60%
Coaching    30%
Development   5%
Schedule    5%

Obviously, the Schools that are not meeting that optimal recruiting percentage of 60% are going to have to rely more on development and rely on a weak schedule (primarily a weak non-conference schedule).

[HappyHogFan]

Although his comparison to Nutt is off based, his conclusion isn't far off. Richt has no instate competition in one of the best recruiting hot beds in the nation. This is a clear advantage over almost every other program. When you are unable to win a championship, while having a distinct advantage over almost everyone else, is a pretty big hit on your ability to coach. Les is in the same boat, but he was able to win at least one championship (although it was with Saban's players).

If you're a racecar driver, with a car that has a faster engine then most of the other racers, at almost every race, you are expected to win at least one of those races.

No competition, are you serious?


In today's age of recruiting, EVERY school is competition in EVERY state. At least theoretically.  You certainly can't scream that a coach should keep every highly rated in state kid, no matter how much you wish it were so.

But anyway, let's look at some recruiting numbers.

In 2002 UGA had the #3 ranked class.
In 2003 UGA had the #6 class
In 2004 the #9 class
In 2005 the #10 class
In 2006 the #4 class
In 2007 the #9 class
In 2008 the #7 class
In 2009 the #6 class
In 2010 the #15 class
In 2011 the #5 class
In 2012 the #12 class
In 2013 the #12 class
In 2014 the #7 class

On average he's recruited the #8 class in the nation since being at UGA.

All stats are from

http://sports.yahoo.com/footballrecruiting/football/recruiting/teamrank/2015/all/all

Your results may vary

Now, 2008 is far back as I could find the next data set, but according to this site.

http://www.footballstudyhall.com/2013/9/11/4718442/college-football-state-texas-california-florida

Since 2008, Georgia has produced 950 total recruits, good for fourth place among states.  Let's assume those numbers probably hold true statistically going back to 2002, Richt's first year recruiting.

An interesting side note, Arkansas was 26th best.

Anyway back to Richt. The 4th best recruiting state, and he averaged the 8th best class in the nation.

If you want to call that a recruiting failure, be my guess, but it's just plain silly.

By the way, do you know what Georgia's average final BCS ranking has been since 2002? 8.23 , so they have averaged recruiting the 8th best class in the nation and they have averaged being ranked #8 in the final BCS poll of the year since 2002.

That's not even remotely Nutt like, and is in fact superb.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Seriously, you don't know jack about college football if you don't believe Richt is a very good coach.

I think he is maybe good, but he is not "very good". His teams have stubbed their toe too many times over the years when they could and should have easily achieved more.

In 2006 Georgia went 9-4. They had back to back losses at home to an eventual 9-4 Tennessee team and then the following week to a 4-8 Vanderbilt. That's not real good. Then they lose to a strong Florida team which was understandable, but then again lost the following week to Kentucky. This with recruiting classes that had averaged #7.5 over the previous 4 years.

In 2007 Georgia had a good season going 11-2 but just missed a 12-1 season by losing to a 6-6 S. Carolina team.

In 2008 they had another good season going 10-3 and didn't really lose to anyone that they shouldn't have (Florida and Alabama) with the exception of maybe Georgia Tech to end the regular season. Recruiting classes the previous 4 years averaged #7.5. I can guarantee that GT was not as talented as Georgia was that year.

In 2009 Georgia fell to 8-5 with losses to a 9-4 Oklahoma State, 7-6 Tennessee and 7-6 Kentucky, along with a loss to 13-1 Florida and 9-4 LSU. Again, are we to believe that Georgia had less talent on the field than Okla State, Tennessee and Kentucky? Recruitng rankings on average for the previous 4 years came to #6.5 in the nation.

In 2010 they dropped to 6-7 with the most notable losses being to Colorado (are you kidding me?) and UCF in their bowl game. Their average recruiting classes for the previous 4 years came in at #9.3.

They had a good season in 2011 going 10-4but their opening loss to Boise State was a little embarrassing considering the difference in talent levels. The rest of their losses I can understand, S. Carolina and LSU as well as Mich State in OT in their bowl game.

In 2012 they had a good season and no one can possibly have issues with that except for the finish to the SECCG against Alabama that Georgia should have won.

But in 2013 Georgia fell to 8-5 with losses to three teams that had less talent than they did in Missouri, Vanderbilt and Nebraska. The average recruiting rankings for the previous 4 years was #11.

And, in 2014 they went 10-3 but with a loss to a terrible 7-6 S. Carolina and 7-5 Florida and losing again to a less talented Georgia Tech. The average recruiting rankings for the previous 4 years was #9.

I think Richt is probably a really good man and a pretty good coach, but not a great coach and like I said before, often times when it seems like things are going the way of Georgia, they seem to find some way to underachieve.