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“I think he has come over and been very boisterous, been very loud,” UGA and NFL Hall of Famer 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. That has not been a good, workable solution.” Tarkenton made it clear he is no fan of defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt.”
Athens, GA -- Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, quarterback of Georgia’s 1959 SEC championship team, isn’t shy about sharing his views. That was the case again Tuesday when he made an appearance on a radio sports talk show in Atlanta and was highly critical of the atmosphere inside Georgia’s football coaching staff and a program he said “is in trouble.”
Coach Mark Richt’s job security has been questioned with his team losing three of the last four games, including blowout losses to Alabama and Florida.
“This staff that is over there today — and I am going to be very kind about it — it is not functioning properly,” Tarkenton said on WCNN 680 The Fan’s Chuck and Chernoff show. “I think the culture there of the staff is not functioning properly. As we all know Mark Richt is a good, fine, wonderful person. I think there are things going on inside of his staff that are unsavory. If you don’t have your whole staff and your whole organization of respect and understanding the roles of everybody, things happen badly. …We’ve got troubles in our program over there that needs to be fixed. It’s not about play-calling, it’s not about a defense-calling. It’s about a culture that has the right culture of love, respect, together.”
Richt was asked Tuesday if he had to deal with disharmony or dissension on his staff.
“Not really,” he said. “You know, everything — there's always things that happen in the heat of the battle and all that in every game. I think if you put a microphone on every — if you've got a play caller upstairs and you're calling a game and every word was recorded, you know, there would be like people get hot about this, that or the other, but it's just typical game-day type stuff. But we've had no issue there."
Tarkenton was the first former Bulldog letterman to commit to a six-figure contribution to raise funds for Georgia’s $30 million indoor football practice facility. He said he is close to the school and UGA president Jere Morehead. He made it clear he is no fan of defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt.
Tarkenton said Pruitt won’t be a head coach at Georgia or anywhere else ever.
“I think he 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 called the loss to Florida a “total disgrace.”
He was critical of starting seldom-used quarterback Faton Bauta in that game.
“Bauta is just awful,” he said. “He’s in an uncomfortable position. When you have three quarterbacks that have proven they can’t play, you’ve got to alternate them and hope one of them during the game can come up and play.”
Tarkenton said “as long as Mark Richt is the coach, I support Mark Richt, but I think there are discussions going on.”
He said athletic director Greg McGarity knows best and will make the proper decision.
“People are evaluating things, I imagine Mark is evaluating things,” Tarkenton said, “but this is not a good situation, it’s a bad situation at my alma mater.”
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Jeremy Pruitt is not a good dude; that Coordinator is doing to UGA what Mark Whipple was doing to Shannon in their sinking ship era.
Actually Mark Richt is being evaluated. Perhaps, perhaps Mark Richt is done.