Richt on taxi incident: ‘I hope in the future people just reserve their opinions’
9:25 pm April 6, 2010, by Tim Tucker
ATHENS — At his post-practice meeting with reporters Tuesday night, Georgia coach Mark Richt reacted at length to Monday’s statement by Athens-Clarke County police that UGA football players were not involved in an alleged March 28 attack on a married couple in an Athens taxi van. Police said the only UGA player in the cab acted as a peacemaker.
Richt’s reaction:
“I’m just glad that it all came out and that none of our guys were a problem. . . . The thing that is hard to take is just all the time and all the speculation and everybody just assuming it was our guys and assuming they would do these things.
“That’s just the thing about the Internet and police reports and all that kind of thing. It’s hard for anybody to really know what the reality is, but your mind starts racing and you start assuming things that may or may not be true. . . .
“That [why] the first time [reporters] asked me about it, I was, like, ‘I don’t want to underreact, I don’t want to overreact, because I really don’t know.’ Even me as a coach, I could assume that thing is true and get all bent out of shape and make myself crazy. But then on the other hand you don’t want to act like there’s not a possibility it could be. You don’t want to underreact or overreact. . . .
“I’m just thankful the news came out the way it did. . . . Let’s say it had taken another week or two. Who knows how much longer people would be forming their opinions on our guys when, in fact, they weren’t involved in this? That’s just kind of the way it goes. . . .
“I just hope that as much time as everybody spent reporting that, I hope they spend as much time reporting it was not our guys. If anything, somebody [the player who police said acted as a peacemaker] was trying to help out some people who needed help. . . . I hope in the future people just reserve their opinions and their posts and whatever they may have and just wait until you find all the information before you start throwing stones, you know.”
I have thought about this interview with Coach Richt for a couple of days now. Watched the taped interview and read the above.
Glad that it turned out that the only football player associated with the case came away with clean hands. Very glad, it could have had serious implications/complications on our program if the reverse had been true.
Much is to be said for biting ones tongue, showing patience and maybe some maturity. With the game of football being as popular as it is, pee wee, high school, college and pro, the public involvement has exploded. Much of this explosion can be directly or maybe 95% placed at the feet of many.
First off most of us are looking for that breaking story about our football team(s) each and every day. We can't get enough football talk and all that it encompasses. I might be the maniac in the crowd, being retired and totally into football at all stages with maybe too much time on my hands. My favorite team, UGA. Look everywhere that I know of to find any bit of information on the Dawgs, consumes much time each day, or most days.
I try to be patient, sometimes have to be coached by sadlerdawg, but I do fail as most of us do at one point or another.
One of the reasons that I copied Coach Richt's interview was this . . .
Many of us on this board from time to time have had a hard time with the actions by some of the players on the team. Some of the charges have been serious, not childs play, serious crimes that could land a young adult in a place that is much tougher than football practice.
I understand that Coach Richt would love to recruit a young player, have him for four years, see him go on to be all pro. I have that dream also. I do however have to be true to myself. If Coach Richt wants the above to play out in real life, then he is in charge of the program as he has told us on more than one occasion, and at some point I feel he has to get a tighter grip on the program, much as he finally did on the change of coaches on the defense. It all begins with the head coach, owner of the company, parents and teachers, churches and friends.
I have seen some things that have happened over the past few years that I questioned, but did not speak out as maybe I should have.
What I am trying to say is this . . . while nothing is 100%, we should try and get as close to that number as we can. There have been some problems this year already, prior of course to what happened to Montez. It is only human nature to get a gullet full and lash out a bit. I am sure Coach Richt realizes that. Wonder where our defensive program would be right now if so many had not spoke out about WM. Just wondering. I pull for our program and do want to say this . . . Billy Payne, head of the Masters, one time great football player and student at UGA, THANK YOU for your remarks on Wednesday. Good guys win another one.
I think we all have to coach and be coached at some point on the board, Buc. Good post--my \"reader's digest\" take on it:
