word "hate" has been far overused in our daily lives, much like the word "suck."   But, I digress.  Watching the Knoxville fiasco__from hiring to abandoning to rioting__I am reminded how fortunate UGA is to have Mark Richt as its coach.  You all know I have never voiced the opinion that Richt is a super football coach, but I have always maintained that he is a super human being.  I am grateful for that.  Having enjoyed modest success with my post season drills prediction of a 6-6 record in the regular season this year, I now predict BEFORE the hiring of a DC and before the selection of a starting QB (my money is on Murray) that Georgia will represent the SEC East in the SEC championship game next year.  You heard it here first.  I have confidence that the disappointments of the last two seasons will be made right in 2010.  By the way, my wife and I have reservations at the Briar Rose B&B in Boulder for Oct 1 and 2.  Nice looking from website and apparently 10-15 minute walk from stadium and from major eateries.  Aloha!

1.  Has ANY living, breathing human being APPLIED to be UGA's defensive coordinator?

2.  If the answer to number 1 is "yes", who was/were the applicant{s*?

There are a lot more, such as what criteria were used in deciding to "go after" the two or three or four or more that have been "gone after" unsuccessfully; or, why did it take UF and FSU fewer than 10 days to hire a DC and we seem to be on square 1 still after more than a month/

Call Sylvester Croom__yes I know he has coached  offense a lot, but he also coached linebackers at Bama years ago.  He also has some qualities and attributes  that NO ONE who has been interviewed thus far possesses nor will ever possess.  The Garner issue would be less of an issue with Croom and might not even cost us Garner's presence.  The younger guys haven't been very receptive, and, while he is older, he is early to mid 50's I think.  On another note, ya think Donnan and Goff are having a chuckle or two.  Lastly, I have no quarrel with the way Smart handled the situation nor do I have a quarrel with his decision.  It was the best decision for him AND for his family.

What does it say about the UGA program if  we cannot lure an alum back to Athens at twice his current salary?  It doesn't matter if he can do the job or not, failure to convince him to take the job now that it has been offered would make us the laughing stock of the SEC if not the entire college football world.  I never have been a big Smart booster, but it's now getting to the point of face saving.

And the first freeze for Boulder in 2009 was October 2, 2009.  It seems that it is often very cold in Boulder at the first of October with the first snowfall occurring about mid October and as early as mid September.  That alone should make for an interesting trip.  My wife and I are looking forward to spending a week in that area to coincide with the Dawgs visit.  We made the trip to Tempe in 2008 and spent a week in Arizona, the best part being in the Flagstaff area.  I surely hope we schedule more "big time"__I guess Colorado and Arizona State can be considered "big time"__games on the road in the future.  

Apparently, the Georgia DC job is just not as attractive as we fans would like to think it is.  What makes us think that someone, or anyone for that matter, who for the past several years has been  in the top 25 schools in terms of defensive statistics would consider coming to UGA as DC with such a young head coach?  From that list, it would have to be someone who did not want to be a HC__ever.    Heck, even the Gators could not lure someone away from Ole Miss!  It would appear to me that the likelihood that Nutt would be moving along as he has in the past perhaps weighed in on that decision, particularly since Urban says he will be in Gainesville as long as they will have him. 

T. Kyle, as a lawyer, you have probably run into situations involving employment contracts involving "covenants not to compete" in various areas such as physicians, salesmen, researchers, etc.  Are such "covenants" used in coaching contracts, particularly assistant coaches? And, if not, why not?  It would seem as reasonable in this area as in the area of doctors, for example.  In Georgia, I think such restrictions are valid if reasonable in terms of area, duration, duties, etc.  In other words, you cannot keep a doctor from practicing throughout the state of Georgia if he practiced only in Macon for the practice seeking to prohibit him/her from competing with his old job.  Why not keep an assistant from recruiting in the area he was designated for College X if he bots to College Y__at least for a few years?  And, why not keep an assistant from coaching in the same division of the SEC for a period of 2 years or so?  These things may be done now.  I just don't know.

Does anyone have a list of salaries currently being paid to DC's in the SEC?  A VERY cursory search on google shows that Willie got $235,000 in 2007 or 2008 plus "bonuses" depending on bowl game; an article in 2008 shows Smart got a raise to $325,000 for 2009 and Strong was getting $310,000 according to the Orlando Sentinel either this year or last.  Somebody better get off his pocketbook, methinks.

Strong information has it that there is at least one embarassing, at best, matter in the Bama DC's past that hopefully will not surface wherever he is, although it is a indirect incident not of his own making.  UGA does not need to be the place of his employment if and when the matter surfaces.  Hopefully, it will not since he was definitely an innocent bystander, but the spillover on him would be not be good.  Let sleeping Dogs lie__and best wishes to Kirby in Tuscaloosa.

When is the announcement of Willie's firing or demotion coming?  Many posts on this site assured us that his demise was a "done deal," even if the defense showed improvement over the final three regular season games.  Notre Dame dropped her bomb, and FSU apparently dropped its bomb on Bobby, albeit just a little napalm__retire or come back with fewer responsibilities, particularly with respect to coaching staff decisions.  Is that deafening silence I hear from the Classic City?

is one I wish to mention at this point.  I am truly thankful for Damon Evans:  (1)  He said "No" to moving the Cocktail Party out of Jacksonville even for just one year out of every three; and (2) He said "No uniform changes__we're sticking with red shirts and white shirts and red helmets and silver britches."  He has already done two very important things right this football season.   Thanks, Mr. A. D., you're a damn good Dawg.

Just read online at the Athens Banner Herald website that Richt "doubts Rambo will play" and that  A.J is also doubtful.  That, especially Rambo, seals the loss.  The defense simply cannot play well enough to offset the automatic 10 points that Evans gives up.  Missing Green is not as devasting since there are receivers available that have the ability to adequately fill in.   Also heard through the rumor mill that 12 of the largest $$$ donors to the athletic program have had a summit and are passing along the word to Evans that "No changes in staff = not one red cent from those 12." 

It is now painfully apparent to me:
1. That UGA has an ACC caliber coaching staff trying to make it in the SEC.
2. That this staff does the worst job of developing and maximizing talent once it gets to Athens__see, e.g., Matthew Stafford.
3. That this staff is the absolute worst at gameday coaching__if you can’t motivate a team to “finish the drill” with a two touchdown lead against a clearly inferior team, then you certainly never will beat Fla, Alabama, LSU, or a Paul JOhnson Ga Tech team on a consistent basis.
4. That the decision to redshirt Aaron Murray ranks higher on the dumbass list than the decision to reshirt Knowshon Moreno.
5. That if T. Kyle in this week’s SEC power poll has Georgia ahead of ANYBODY other than 12. Vandy, 11. Mississippi State, 10. South Carolina, then he is either dreaming or smoking some good stuff or both.

A third tier SEC team 14 months after being expected to challenge for the national championship. Disgusting and Disgraceful. But wait, 6-6 was my preseason prediction for this bunch. Why am I complaining?

Much has been made of the need for changing the defensive coordinator (at the very least) in order for the Dawgs to regain SEC East competitiveness and even challenge for a national championship.  Assuming that change is necessary, examine your respective hearts and decide the following:  Would you rather UGA lose 2 of the 3 remaining games and be virtually assured of getting rid of Willie OR win all three and be virtually assured of Willie remaining as DC?

Las Vegas has the Dawgs giving AU 4.5 points Saturday.  Maybe they don't know the history of the series where the home team always seems to lose or at least did for a while.  Maybe they don't know Tennessee Tech isn't a combination of Tennessee's defense and Georgia Tech's offense?  Maybe they don't know Willie M.  is still at Georgia?  Or, maybe, just maybe, could they be right?

While dining on French toast (ugh!) at The Brady Inn in Madison, Georgia, before departing for Athens yesterday, a revelation came upon me!  If Charlie Weis is fired, who will the Catholics turn to?  At the time of Weis's firing, the Gators will have likely completed their third national championship season under the Visorless Evil Genius, who, it seems was a member of Bob Davies' staff at Notre Dame as was Charlie Strong (I think I remember this right.).  So I decided to pull for Navy yesterday and announced it to the others sitting in the dining room of the aforementioned B & B, ALL of whom, it turns out, are devout Catholics and immediately pummeled me with the remainder of their fruit plates (ugh!) which accompanied the aforementioned French toast.  But, I said, if Navy wins, Weis is closer to being fired, and Urban is the logical choice.  There are few jobs better than the Florida job, but Notre Dame is the apex of college coaching, even if they haven't won in a while, AND, it turns out, Urban is a devout Catholic!!! (At least according to the FSU fan there who lives in Jacksonville.)  At this point, the Jacksonville lass immediately switched to being on my side, for, as you know, being an FSU fan, she would like to see Urban gone from the Sunshine State PLUS it would give her religion's school a boost.  Win-Win (Gad, I hate that expression.) for her.  Although I really never needed a reason to hope Notre Dame did not win a game in any given season, I now hope they don't win again until Urban relocates there to succeed where Weis cannot.  I know this is probably not an original thought, but one can dream, can't he?

that the current talent level is up to par.  I can't see anyone starting right now for Georgia on offense that could start for anyone else in the SEC other than AJ Green.    And Evans at safety, he couldn't play for Vandy.  Truth is that Donnan could outrecruit Richt 10 times over.  I once worried about Garner leaving, but I don't believe it could get any worse.   I don't expect to win SEC championships every year nor even every two years, but I do expect a talented, well coached, well disciplined group on the field wearing RED, not black.  I plan to go to homecoming next weekend, but that's it.  I'm done after 53 years of going to Athens to back the Dogs.  You younger guys pull them through.  Aloha.

a,  42,1__The number of times play by play men / sideline girlies / color commentators / analysts and their cohorts, led by Mark May,  will use the term "trickeration" .  Wouldn't "trickery" be more correct, at least outside the inner cities?

b.  57.1__The number of times play by play men / sideline girlies / color commentators / analysts and their cohorts, led by Craig James, will use the phrase "pin their/his ears back."  Wouldn't that REALLY hurt?

c.  1899.1__The number of times play by play men / sideline girlies / color commentators / analysts and their cohorts, without any leadership, will use the word "wild" followed by a word like "cat", "hog", "rebel", etc. in describing a formation in which someone other than the starting quarterback for a team will take a direct snap from the center.

You will have to excuse me now for I have to go to the coffee shop to "conversate" with some friends before the games.  Aloha.