Last week, a fellow red and black fan from the great Dawg nation wrote a letter to coach Mark Richt. In that letter, he called for the coach to bench Joe Cox, fire Willie Martinez, and send coach Bobo back to coaching the quarterbacks instead of running the offense.
A level-headed few of us took to the web to say "be patient, have faith, and keep cool." We felt that the season was not yet done even though we were out of the top 25 for the first time in three seasons—the last time was December 3, 2006.
Well today the cat is officially out of the bag and this author is finally at the point where she can say that some sure-fire changes need to be made NOW. Not later. Now!
Of course, the level-headed analyst in me says that firing coaches at this stage in the season can only bring more problems. The first of which will be who do we replace those guys with if we do?
Assistant coaches Rodney Garner and John Jancek are both chomping at the bit for their shot at the defensive coordinator position. Neither would be too happy to find themselves passed over for an outside hire.
Last season Jancek turned down the University of South Florida Bulls (USF) who flat out offered their defensive coordinator job to him—Garner turned down his Alma Mater for a similar job with new coach GeneChizik.
That said, if Willie goes and we don't hire either of them, will both bolt?
Say what you want about "cleaning" house, we don't want to lose Garner—he's the reason for such great recruiting returns. His haul last season included Branden Smith, Montez Robinson, and Chris Burnette—in all he was responsible for five recruits rated four-star or better.
We cannot afford to keep coach Martinez at the helm but if we give him his walking papers, we need to be sure we have a plan in place for both Jancek and Garner that doesn't involve either of them being shafted or feeling cheated by the man who many feel is the classiest guy in the SEC—MarkRicht.
It's understandable that the Bulldawg Nation is feeling raw right now. The feeling is mutual because the Tennessee game was brutal.
Seriously, it seemed as if we didn't even show up to play.
Tennessee came into that game with a respectable ground attack and a strong defense but an unreliable passing game. Enter Georgia who did their best impression of a dying dog by letting Jonathan Crompton—a guy who prior to that game had been monumentally ineffective—look like he was Heisman material.
Crompton picked the Georgia secondary apart and made our defensive backs look like imbeciles play after play. Add to that the ground game by Montario Hardesty and you have a tandem that waltzed all over the Dawgs for 468 yards!
Tennessee scored 38-points in the second and third quarters of the game.
Crompton completed 74 percent of his passes. 74 percent! He hadn't been that effective since the Vols played Western Kentucky in week one.
That's not disturbing...that's pathetic.
Is it all coaching? it's hard to be sure but if our guys are undisciplined, unfocused, and unmotivated, well...that is all about coaching.
When Brian Van Gorder was here, we had guys who were disciplinary problems but they still managed to show up and play tough on gameday—case in point, Odell Thurman. Remember him? He was oft in trouble and even got kicked out of the NFL for his lack of discipline.
That said, when Odell showed up in the red and black uni, he was a player. Period.
The Dawgs are reeling right now and the coaching staff is in the spotlight yet again for the same exact things that have plagued this team since week one: predictable offensive play calling, ineffectiveness in the run game, poor coverage in the secondary, and questions about the offensive line.
How many different ways can any respectable Dawg fan say "they'll turn it around " or "give it time"?
It doesn't matter how much intelligence you bring to the table, the writing on the wall becomes harder to ignore as the weeks go by and today seemed to bring forth a chorus so loud that none of us could ignore it any longer.
The title of that chorus' song was: "We Are Headed In The Wrong Direction."
It's time for coach Richt to let go of his loyalty to Willie Martinez. All of his defensive "leadership" has led us down a road of mediocrity that has so far culminated in one of th
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