-Did keep him from winning a title?
Definitely not. There are a handful of reasons we didn't win it all but richt's personality is not one of them.
Can you summarize these reasons?
Oh and thank you for taking the time to chat us up. Your insight is greatly appreciated.
Also who are some of the ex-Canes players that stand out to you? Do you have one in particular that you really enjoyed watching? Maybe Ed Reed for example?? Haha
Reasons why Richt didn't win a title....well I guess you can look at a few things here.
-2002 may have been our best shot but we had the complete gaffe against florida. 2007 was a great shot but we lost 2 early games we had no business losing, win either of those and we play OSU in the national title (we would have beat lsu in the seccg). 12 we were 5 seconds away and just messed up at the end. These are specific years/games but I guess overall in more of a broad sense you can look at a few things:
-Lack of elite play on the lines. There are exceptions of course, but most natinoal title winners win the battle on the LOS handily. We've only had 3 or 4 truly great OLs under Richt. We've had some stellar DLs but doesn't seem like we've had many of late. You also need championship depth on the lines which we didn't have.
-Competent coordinators at hte same time. Aside from 01-04 when Richt was OC and Vangorder was DC, we've never got both sides of the ball humming at the same time. 05-08 we were very good offensively but had willie martinez as DC which wasn't that great. 9 and 10 we just weren't very good. 11-13 we had Aaron Murray at QB and Bobo calling plays and our offense was a machine. We were shattering school records on offense, but grantham had the defense on life support. Then pruitt comes in and our defense is a strength of the team again, but the offense blew.
-AD support. Part of this is our former pres michael adams, some is past AD evans, some is current ad mcgarity, there's plenty of blame to go around. But fact is that for a big time football school like UGA richt was handcuffed badly compared to our peers. The school (so, Richt/football have ZERO input here since it is a UGA policy) mandates certain punishments for athletes. 1st FAiled drug test is 1/2 games. 2nd failed drug test is 4 games. Heck there are plenty of schools where a 3rd or 4th drug test failure doesn't even make the paper. Alcohol arrest? Automatic 1 game. He was not working with a great situatino when it came to his players being suspended, definitely not a level playing field. In addition to this, our ADs have been indescribably cheap. I alreayd mentioned Richt paid his assistants out of his own pocket when they were refused a raise. We haven't had an IPF until now where it's just being built. Even vanderbilt has one. Our ADs are so cheap they would make the team take a 90 minute bus ride to Atlanta to board flights for away games instead of using the airport that is 3 miles from campus all to save money. I can go on and on but you get the pictures.
-Recruiting. You're going to think I'm crazy on this one but think about it. Richt typically brought in a top 10 class. Really good right!? Well, until you realize that 3 or 4 of those teams ahead of us were in our same league. If you're bringing in a
[URL=https://www.canesinsight.com/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=1]#1 0[/URL] class and your SEC rivals are bringing in the
#1 , 2, 4, and 5 class...well you're not really going to get ahead.
-I saved this one for last because it's the most eye-roll worthy, but it does have merit....unless you're 95 nebraska you don't win a title without SOME good grace from the football gods. Notice I didn't say "luck" because people think I'm a poor sport, but I mean it's true. You need a couple of fortuitous ball bounces going your way. Heck just in recent memory, let me count the ways for some title winning teams:
-96 UF, lost finale to FSU. played them again for title
-03 LSU, lost to pedestrian UF team at home. played for title
-06 UF, lost to auburn. played for title
-07 LSU, lost to kentucky and arkansas (in the regular season finale). Needed absolute miracle of
#1 and
#2 losing on last weekend to jump from 7 to 2 in the BCS and play for title.
-08 UF, lost at home to ole miss. played for title
-11 AL, lost at home to LSU. got a rematch in the title game despite not winning their division
-12 AL, lost at home to texas am, played for title
-13 AU, lost to LSU. played for title
-14 OSU, lost to unranked VT. played for title
-15 AL, lost to ole miss. played for title
All of those teams lost a game (or 2!) and still won a national title. 02 UGA (13-1), 07 UGA (11-2), and 12 UGA (12-2) were mighty fine teams that were easily capable of winning a title. In 12 we faced the title winner in the SECCG and lost on teh last play, so there are zero excuses there. In 07 we lost to 2 average teams which LSU did as well, but our last loss was early october while they lost their last game. Only reason they got the nod and we didn't is because they won their division (hence, playing for the SECCG) and we didn't. At the end of 07 there was no better team than us. And in 02, we just got the incredible misfortune of UM and OSU going undefeated. Taht 02 team was as good as anyone but didn't get the good fortune the other teams I listed did.
I guess to sum up....Richt as a person and as a coach is perfectly capable of winning a title. He just never did in Athens. But he is capable I fully believe that.
As for your last question, I'm 30 so I wasn't watching during the late 80s during the heyday. I didn't really pay attention to miami until probably the late 90s/early 2000s whenever they would have the classic showdowns wiht FSU, and then of course the incredible 01 season. And I was pulling for UM so, so bad in 02 because I despise OSU. As far as specific players, heck all the big names from about 01-04 stand out.
