An Open Letter to Mark Richt, et al...

We want a National Championship.

Do you need me to use bold-face type, italics, or emoticons to drive home that point?

The fan-base of the University of Georgia has stood by, season after season, and watched a parade of A+ talent--both on the field and the sidelines--pass through the school and enjoy all the benefits this great institution has to offer. We've watched you revel in the heady joy of hero worship. You've enjoyed the comforts of beautiful women who, without the incentive of your god-given talents, wouldn't otherwise give you the time of day and would, therefore, be made available to the real students of this university. You (coaches) have enjoyed the prestige of representing one of the finest Universities and storied football programs in the history of the game. You've walked in the shadows of Sinkwich, Trippi, Tarkenton and Walker. You've coached the hallowed grounds walked by the likes of Dooley, "Pop" Warner, and Wally Butts. We've clothed our kids in your numbers, for Christ's sake.

And for what?

So you could do just enough to move on to the next level? So you could play in the NFL and reap millions of dollars for talents that lay dormant until the last day of your senior years? So you could coach a team to 10 wins and no championships, only to explain away the unfulfilling season in platitudes and party-line missives aimed at placating boosters and powers-that-be too old and tired to press you for greater things?

We want a National Championship.

Not 10 or 11 wins. Not an SEC championship. A NATIONAL Championship. If you don't know what this is (and I suspect you do not), visit Alabama, Florida and LSU. Ask them to see their trophy cases. A trophy case is where you showcase your...oh, never mind.

Ask yourselves this question: what makes these schools so successful when Georgia is the perennial "also ran." Do they have better players? The answer is no. Better coaches...no (the train-wreck that was Willie Martinez notwithstanding). Better fan support? Not a chance. Want proof? To a person each of us utilizes Pepto Bismol, Charmin bath tissue and Trojan condoms. None of us has an article of clothing with the aforementioned product endorsements splattered across them. To a one, each of these items has brought us more joy than any team fielded by the University of Georgia, yet it is your shirts, colors and numbers emblazoned across our chests, heads, trucks, cars and newborn children. I know, it makes no sense. Of course, each of those products has performed as advertised. You, sadly, have not.

Now, I've read the snippets and press releases when our anger, ire or simple disappointment reaches your ears and you decide to respond. You disparage us, the entourage of faithful who drop an entire week's or month;s pay just to follow you on your tour of mediocrity, hoping only to see once...only once in our lifetimes, the promise your talent dangles before us like some mythical carrot that is always jerked away before we ever get to savor the sweet flavor of greatness. You tweet about the unfairness of our judgement when we (apparently erroneously) call you out for thugishness and idiocy that brings disgrace to the University of Georgia. (That's what the oval "G" stands for on your uniform. It does not, as you may believe, stand for "original gansta")

We want a National Championship.

Most of us don't have enough of your talent that would qualify us to carry your jocks. We know this. But on the flip side, none of you has shown the strength of character to step up into the arena of greatness such talent demands. Certainly, you have "great" futures or "great" paychecks. I don't doubt that each of you works your ass off in preparation for the season and each game. The problem is that when the whistle blows, greatness gets tucked away and saved for another day, and you replace it by effort that qualifies only as "just good enough". Don't believe me? Check the trophy case. You are the era of "also ran." Good enough to win it all. Just not courageous enough to step up. The oval "G" now stands for "only good."

I'm sure that this will not be read by anyone on the team. Even if it were, I doubt you care. Me? I'm going to love my University until my dying breath. I'm going to watch Georgia sports with the fervor of a madman. Unfortunately, I'm also going to have to get used to disappointment I was sure...SURE this team would finally replace with the joy that only a Tiger, Tide or Gator fan has known of late. I'll still sport the Oval G on my truck. I'll still drop what amounts to a week's pay to watch your pitiful surrender to mediocrity whenever you play your bowl games in Florida. I'll still sport my Georgia colors even though I live surrounded by mullet-wearing, jort-clad slack jaws rocking a Gator logo that, when emblazoned on even the most gorgeous south Florida cutie, still looks like a booger on a super model.

I'll do all this because, although I don't have a smidgeon of the talent any of you possesses, I have something you'll never understand. I have courage.

We want a National Championship.

Without a doubt the best post I have ever seen on this board when it comes to the TRUTH.

This post reminded me of a sentence in GLORY! GLORY!. The coaching staff was discussing goals, and the main goal was to win the SEC. Someone said that to win the SEC, they needed to recruit on a level that would compete for the National Championship. That attitude and foresight not only got them the SEC Championship, it also led to the NC of 1980. Richt might could use the history lesson, but it seems that he and his staff have been recruiting enough talent, save for the O Line. At the same time, it is apparent he cannot get out of them the same level of competition that Spurrier gets with lesser talent, that Saban gets with equal or slightly lesser talent, and that Miles gets with his bunch. I have been a diehard supporter of Richt for his entire tenure, but I,m tired of having to answer to my friends about why they get embarrassed by top 10 teams. While it is true that UGA football is not among the 5 most important things in my life, it is in the top 10, and I hate seeing them so inept every time they run up against a highly-ranked team. Maybe I just need to make them a lower priority, because now I am realizing that as long as Richt is there, and that is up to the administration, he will not have his teams prepared for those high-visibility games. Maybe he lost his fire after his wife was diagnosed with cancer, and that is understandable. But he needs to figure out why he loses the big games.

You know tech fired their d coordinator because they weren't getting the results they wanted. Why is it so hard for us to let Richt go? Our fan base wants national championships not eastern divisional champions, not 10 win seasons. This program has all the talent to be a contender for a national year in and year out, we do not have the coaches. I have supported Richt I have given him plenty of time to prove people wrong, he cannot do it. Want proof? Look at the game in Columbia. Change is needed, Badly

Great post! you speak so much truth, but things will never change. I watched the CMR show, and CMR plainly states that we still have a lot to play for, that USC has a tougher road than us and hopefully they will lose 2. This just ticks me off, we alway want to back into something. We always have to depend on someone else to beat someone else. Why can't we just beat and control our own destiny. We all just have to face the facts that we are and will be a 3rd or 4th place team in the east gong forward. The powers that me love CMR and his christian morals.

OoltewahDawg wrote: But he needs to figure out why he loses the big games.

He thinks he has figured out why they lose big games.

The problem has been diagnosed, and he has known he answer for years: "Gee shucks.. we need to get back and look at more film and get back to work." That's the problem
according to Mr. Richt.

The real problem is he finds losing acceptable. Life has lots of priorities; church, missions, family.. According to Mr. Richt; you can't get all caught up in making winning football games your top priority. You especially can't get all caught up in demanding championships.

The problem with that is that there are at least 4 coaches in the SEC and a smattering more throughout the country who
do make winning football games and championships their top priority. All else is secondary to that.

Two different types of people.. unfortunately only one of those types of people is suitable to run a top level program in the SEC.