Mark Richt will decide his own future, regardless of headlines and sound bytes

Mark Richt is under fire (again) after Georgia’s disappointing performance against Florida, but people calling for his job should remember that their voices are probably falling on deaf ears.

Mark Richt is trending. Mark Richt is on the lips of the talking heads. Mark Richt has become the focus of tirades and rants from so-called fans. There has been column after column penned in the last twelve hours about how Georgia needs to give up on Richt or how he should just give up completely.

It’s getting ugly.

It’s easy to sit down and make a list of reasons why Mark Richt should stay or should go. Either direction, you can make a valid argument. Anyone can grab numbers and statistics and spin them to suit their position. But after 14-plus seasons on the job in Athens, there’s one thing that all of those with pitchforks and torches in their hands seem to forget…

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It’s up to Richt what happens to him now, and anything said about it from any outside party will have no bearing on the outcome of his decision to stay or go.

There was a guy — a winning head coach — in Nebraska, Bo Pelini, who had no filter, and who spoke his mind. His comments were inflammatory and inappropriate at times. The Husker Nation had put up with enough of his antics and 9-to-10 win seasons, and he was subsequently fired after seven years on the job.

The Cornhuskers are now 3-6 and just suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Purdue.

Purdue, ladies and gentlemen. (For those who don’t follow the Big Ten, Purdue has been the worst team in the conference for the last several years, and Nebraska now sits below them).

This isn’t about to turn into one of those “Georgia will fall apart and bottom out if Richt leaves” columns. This was merely to point out what happens when program administrators listen to the ravings of fans and the media. They react swiftly and then throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Thankfully, that’s not the case at the University of Georgia.

Richt has endured this type of caning from fans and journalists before. In 2010, his first (and only) losing season at Georgia, the sky was falling and this kid Aaron Murray was never going to be the great quarterback that Richt thought he was recruiting. He HAD to go, and Georgia was never going to recover.

Two years later Murray was shattering UGA and SEC records and had the Bulldogs a few yards away from a national title game.

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The thing about college football is that it’s always moving, always changing. It’s an amorphous entity that can reshape itself at anytime. Georgia may seem completely hapless right now and ready to jump into the dumpster fire category. Twelve months from now we could be looking at columns talking about the “great comeback” of Mark Richt as a coach.

When a coach stays with a program long enough, some bad seasons are bound to happen. Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno, Bear Bryant and all the other legends suffered through them, and Mark Richt will too.

The powers that be in Athens, Ga. will undoubtedly have a conversation with Richt about his future, but it won’t be a pressure-filled meeting and it won’t contain any ultimatums. They’ll want to know how Richt feels, if he wants to continue and what his heart is telling him.

I don’t pretend to know what’s going to happen with Richt’s future, and it’s not my place (or anyone else who doesn’t sit in a position of authority at UGA) to call for a particular outcome. He might retire, but I doubt it. He might pull a Spurrier and step down now, but that’s not typical of his character. Whatever he does, it’s his decision, and it shouldn’t be any other way.

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My gut feeling tells me that Richt will ignore the headlines and sound bytes and do what he’s always done – coach up the talent he’s got, finish the season, and come back with a renewed purpose next season. Some want him back, some don’t. I’ll let the one guy who matters make that decision. Mark Richt.

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