Georgia football coaching staff overhaul reportedly on the way

The Georgia football program is in complete disarray right now, and Mark Richt’s coaching staff is quickly becoming the scapegoat for a season full of problems.

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Things just keep going from bad to worse in Athens, Georgia this year. No solid quarterback to speak of, an offensive line that is performing far below expectations, a Heisman candidate done for the season with a knee injury, and losses piling up like the national debt.

For the better part of a month, the angry finger of blame has been shaken in Mark Richt’s direction, with many believing that the longtime Georgia head coach had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel in terms of his job.

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But just like the odoriferous, tear-inducing onion that you peel layer by layer, we are starting to find out that there is more than just supposed failings by a head coach that are to blame at Georgia. The newly assembled (within the last two combined years) coaching staff apparently doesn’t work and play well together, and Mark Richt’s loyalty and good nature are being taken advantage of.

Defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt was hired in 2014 to fix a shambles of a defense that had been

coached

babysat by Todd Grantham for four seasons, and with his pedigree of working with national championship teams, it seemed like a great hire.

By all counts, the defense did improve vastly under Pruitt and he seemed to be losing no ground in terms of recruiting either. But the hire wasn’t without cost to the program. At the rumored behest of Pruitt, longtime Georgia strength and conditioning coach and legacy, Joe Tereshinski Jr., stepped down and was replaced by Mark Hocke, an unpopular move among fans.

In 2015, Georgia lost two more longtime coaches in offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and offensive line coach Will Friend, who both left for Colorado State. The replacements – Brian Schottenheimer and Rob Sale, respectively – have been huge disappointments.

All of these ingredients are proving to be a toxic combination for the Georgia football program, and Mark Richt is the one who has to find the antedote, according to a report from USA Today.

The report (all coming from anonymous sources, which always seems to be the case in situations like this) is a damning one and points to major changes that the wheels have been set in motion for already:

"“Georgia athletics director Greg McGarity favored a coaching change after last season but was overruled by president Jere Morehead. Richt was then given a contract extension.Regardless of the ultimate decision on Richt this time, defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt almost certainly will not be back, as his relationship with Richt and Georgia administrators has grown toxic.Georgia does not have one or two mega-boosters with the influence to make the call on Richt, but the displeasure of the Bulldogs’ high-dollar financial supporters has made its way to Morehead’s office.If Richt stays, it will be with a coaching staff that looks very different as first-year offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has also been viewed as a problem.”"

Firing coaches who were recently hired and given big contracts is never a popular move, and in Richt’s case it becomes even more complicated by his forgiving nature and desire to make things work rather than constantly change. But the fact is that these hires are costing the program, and may eventually cost Richt his job.

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The coaches that had been present during Richt’s early success were all part of the Georgia program for many years, some even as players and graduate assistants. The “Georgia Way” that Richt so often refers to is fine, as long as you have people buying into the philosophy.

Outsiders seldom buy into something that isn’t of their own making.

Bobo was a player, grad assistant and worked his way up through the coaching ranks at Georgia. Tereshinski was part of three generations who played and/or coached at the school. Will Friend came to Georgia by way of UAB, after successful stops at smaller schools, as well as an All-SEC career at Alabama. The man who Grantham replaced, Willie Martinez, began as a secondary coach with the program in 2001 and worked his way into the defensive coordinator role.

None of these coaches – among others – were pilfered from other major programs and lured with huge dollar contracts. They were part of the culture and landscape at Georgia or the SEC, and understood what Mark Richt was trying to accomplish. As the “win now” mandate was pushed forward, Richt went outside his comfort zone and found help from unfamiliar places – namely the NFL and programs with less than savory reputations.

In hindsight, moves that seemed to be best for the program have now led to it’s unraveling, and the head coach is where the buck stops.

Richt isn’t done…not yet…he still has a chance to turn this thing around and prove he can captain this program to some championships again, but it’s going to take some ownership of bad decisions on his part – namely, Jeremy Pruitt and Brian Schottenheimer.

Pruitt isn’t necessarily a bad coach, but more a square peg in a round hole at Georgia. Former UGA great and Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton spoke out about Pruitt recently.

“I think [Jeremy Pruitt] has come over and been very boisterous, been very loud,” Tarkenton said. “I think he’s taken advantage of things over there. He personally has hired four of the assistant coaches over there including the weight guy. I’m not a great fan of Jeremy Pruitt. That has not been a good, workable solution.”

Tarkenton isn’t the only one who has noticed the friction between Pruitt and the rest of the staff, as according to DawgNation.com, Pruitt “increasingly has been the source of friction not only within the football office but throughout the athletic department.”

Oct 10, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Greyson Lambert (11) gets instruction from Bulldogs offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer prior to the game against the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

Schottenheimer, on the other hand, was just a bad hire. A mediocre coach with a famous name who brought zero imagination and creativity to an offense that needed just that considering the tools that were there. When an option quarterback, whose strength has always been running the ball, is forced to drop back and pass 33 times against one of the top pass defenses in the nation, you clearly have a coach who just doesn’t get it.

Simply put, Richt needs to cut bait, clean house, and completely revamp his coaching staff with people who know the program, buy into his philosophy and respect each other as well as their head coach.

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That’s what Richt has been charged with (allegedly) by the powers-that-be at Georgia, and if he can’t do that and show progress, then he’ll become a part of those sweeping changes himself.