Posts tagged Muckraking
When You Put it That Way
May 16th
Despite Paul Finebaum’s best efforts Mark Richt is not, nor ever has been, on any sort of hot seat. Chris Low can pile on all he wants. The AJC’s dynamic duo can reach for it, but the thermostat to Mark Richt’s chair is under the firm control of the Georgia faithful.
We have spoke often regarding the muckrakers’ motivation. Mark Richt is a year long threat to their interests. On the football field and the recruiting trail, Mark Richt must be neutralized for the sake of Alabama and Tennessee. Seriously. How else do you explain the pass given to Carolina’s ball coach?
Despite all of the ink and bandwidth invested in bringing about Richt’s demise he still enjoys broad and strong support.
David Paschall is on the Bulldog beat for the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Chattanooga has the Mocs, Tennessee the Vols, thus the Free Press doesn’t spare Paschall much space for his Bulldog coverage. Today was different.
From just across our northern border comes a solid, reasoned piece that explains why Richt has been unharmed by the muckrakers.
In a league that boasts Nick Saban and Urban Meyer, coaches who have won two national championships apiece, Richt often is viewed as an upper-echelon SEC coach but no better than third.
There also is the stout perception that Saban and Meyer manage to find a 25th hour each day and that the 50-year-old Richt prefers a more balanced approach. A devout Christian since 1986, Richt speaks at churches and FCA functions, aided in the 2006 faith-based film "Facing the Giants" and went on summer mission trips to Honduras in 2007 and ’08, taking several Bulldogs players the second time.
He visited U.S. troops in Kuwait in the spring of 2008 and tries to make time during the season to watch Division II Mars Hill (N.C.) College, where his oldest son, Jon, is the quarterback.
"I’ve got to be who I am," Richt said. "I think everybody has certain personalities, and one thing might work for one guy and one thing might work another way for another guy. I’m real comfortable that I work extremely hard and that I work hard enough to get the job done.
"We’re always looking for ways to do things better and win more games and all that, and we’re not going to shy away from that, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with staying in contact with your wife and kids, so I’m not going to apologize for being a good husband and a good father."
For Finebaum, the ill-fated blackout against Bama in 2008 defines Mark Richt. Low carries the hob-nailed sting of a crush face.
We, those that bleed Red and Black, define Richt by all that he is and all he has done for us. Finebaum and, to a lesser extent, Low would have the world believe we are nervous and on a downward trend the likes of which killed the SEC careers of Fulmer and Tubberville. The truth is, few if any teams’ fan bases would be this excited coming off their coaches worst season ever.
till next time
Evans Choice Looking Better and Better
Mar 16th
This time last year, the Georgia Bulldogs, led by Damon Evans, were searching for a basketball coach. Georgia was not alone, Alabama and their AD, Mal Moore, were also in the market for a new basketball coach. The two schools could not have been more different in their methodology towards the hire.
Anthony Grant was the young, up-and-comer, in the coaching ranks. He had been a part of building Florida’s basketball program into a back-to-back title winner. On his own he was very accomplished at Virginia Commonwealth. Everybody wanted him, myself included.
Mal Moore was the first to interview Anthony Grant. Mr. Moore did not allow any other schools an opportunity. $2 million and a stare down from Nick Saban was all it took. Alabama had its man.
Meanwhile, there was a lot off hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing going on in the Bulldog Nation. Damn Evans was being questioned publicly, most notably by the AJC’s muckrakers. Dawg blogs and message boards were ablaze with rumors and complaints. Alabama had Grant, Evans appeared to be suffering from paralysis from analysis.
While Damon Evans was being methodical and deliberate, many of us fans were ready to settle for Oliver Purnell, Leonard Hamilton, or Mike Davis. Mike Anderson had rebuffed us according to the media. I was speculating on Sam Mitchell. This was getting embarrassing.
Finally word came, Damon Evans had found his man and he was Mark Fox. Mark Fox? Who the hell is that?
It turns out Mark Fox is one helluva a basketball coach. Mark Fox is a man that paid his dues, believes in fundamentals, and actually teaches the game of basketball. He took a moribund basketball team and began the process of rebuilding.
Rebuilding began with the basics, hard work and fundamentals. An assist should also be credited to Pitt’s Jamie Dixon, who coached Trey Thompkins on the USA Under-19 summer team. But make no mistake, Coach Fox re-made this team physically and mentally.
On the floor results, in terms of wins and losses, may not fully support my claim that Georgia has a men’s basketball program once more, but work ethic and knowledge of the game is often hard to quantify.
Mark Fox and Georgia would go on to beat Anthony Grant and his Alabama squad. Who knows what would have happened if the game would have been played in Tuscaloosa? Setting aside that game and both teams win-loss records, which coach provided their program the bigger boost?
I will refer to the most un-scientific of barometers, the muckrakers. The AJC’s talented duo of Mark Bradley and Jeff Schultz have yet to find/create anything negative to print about Coach Mark Fox. Anthony Grant…. meet Mr. Paul Finebaum.
However, the Tide (17-15) was snubbed by the NIT, although many area fans late to the party were still impressed with the $2 million-a-year man. Count me among those who were underwhelmed.
The excuse heard by some Tide fans about the lackluster season concerned depth and lack of top-flight players. That always happens in a transition year when the previous coach is fired. However, what bugged me most was the lack of buzz around the program and the lack of effort by Grant to create any.….. snip …..
Unlike football, basketball is a personalized sport. You can reach out and touch the coach. In Grant’s case, he seemed to be going through the motions, immune to the faceless crowd cheering him on.
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Perhaps that’s the rub with Grant. Perhaps he looks miserable all the time because he realizes he took the wrong job. Perhaps he doesn’t care about interacting with the public because he realizes this place is even more football crazy than he was led to believe. And he was warned. However, $2 mil a year and low expectations were tough to turn down.
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My concern about Grant is that he appears to be biding time, hoping to get the Tide on an uptick before immediately fleeing for a better job in a more desirable locale.
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I just wish that once in awhile, Anthony Grant would act like he really wants to be here.
Obviously, Finebaum’s job is to stir crap up. Normally, however, Finebaum directs his fire away from Tuscaloosa, preferring to pick on Auburn or attack those deemed to be a challenge to the all-mighty Tide.
For what it is worth, I think Coach Mark Fox is very happy to be in Athens!
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