Mark Richt and Georgia in 2009 – The Real Difference Between the Top 7 Bowl Games and Playing an 8-Team Playoff = Next to No Difference in Scheduling or Days on the Calendar – Only an Idiot Would Take a MEANINGLESS EXHIBITION GAME Over a MEANINGFUL Playoff Game – What President Obama Could Really Do to Impact Health Care Costs in America – Hint: Motivate the American People by Example to Put Down the Ho-Ho’s, Get Off Their ASSES and Exercise!
Mark Richt and Georgia in 2009
Coaches Hot Seat Analysis
One of the most important ways to measure the success of a head college football coach is to put him up against his peers, both current and in the past. To completely understand what Mark Richt has achieved in 8 years as the head coach at the University of Georgia, we will compare Richt’s record to the two coaches that preceded him at Georgia, Jim Donnan and Ray Goff.
Ray Goff, Georgia head coach, 1989 to 1995
46-34-1 (.574)
No SEC titles
Jim Donnan, Georgia head coach, 1996 to 2000
40-19 (.678)
No SEC titles
Record of Goff and Donnan combined, 1989 to 2000
86-53-1 (.614)
No SEC titles
and now Mark Richt’s record at Georgia:
Mark Richt, Georgia head coach, 2001 to 2008
82-22 (.788)
2 SEC titles
4 trips to SEC Championship Game
There really is no comparison between what Richt has accomplished at Georgia to what the two coaches did before him, but to really get an understand of what kind of record Richt is putting up in Athens, let’s compare his record to one of the great head football coaches in SEC history, former Georgia head coach Vince Dooley.
Vince Dooley, Georgia head coach, 1964 to 1988
201-77-10 (.715)
1 National Championship
6 SEC Titles
20 bowl games
Mark Richt, Georgia head coach, 2001 to 2008
82-22 (.788)
2 SEC titles
4 trips to SEC Championship Game
Yes, Mark Richt’s record stands up very well in comparison to Vince Dooley, and Richt even has a better winning percentage and 2 SEC titles in 8 seasons and 4 total trips to the SEC Championship Game which in this day and age of the SEC is almost a Co-SEC Title if the regular season really ended with the last game as it did during Dooley’s coaching career.
Now let’s drill down a little more and compare Richt’s record at Georgia to Vince Dooley’s best run at UGA, which was from 1980 to 1988.
Vince Dooley’s Best Run as Georgia Head Coach, 1980 to 1988, 9 seasons
74-21-4 (.747)
1 National Title
3 SEC Titles
Mark Richt, Georgia head coach, 2001 to 2008
82-22 (.788)
2 SEC titles
4 trips to SEC Championship Game
Even compared to Vince Dooley’s best period at Georgia, 1980 to 1988, Mark Richt still has a better winning percentage and he has 2 SEC Titles and 4 trips to the SEC Championship Game, compared to Dooley’s 1 National Title and 3 SEC Titles.
Yes, Vince Dooley did win a National Title at Georgia, but it came in his SEVENTEENTH season at Georgia, and Richt is just entering his NINTH season in 2009.
By any comparison, whether it be against the two coaches that preceded Mark Richt at Georgia, one in Jim Donnan that is now a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and was a very good football coach at Oklahoma as an assistant under Switzer and at Marshall and Georgia as a head coach, or against the legendary Vince Dooley, Mark Richt has put up a very strong record at Georgia.
Of course, it will be up to Mark Richt to keep the train rolling forward at Georgia and we do see a few storm clouds on the horizon and 2009 should be a great test to see if Richt and his staff can put up wins when they might not have a big talent advantage over many of the teams on the schedule. With 3 very tough non-conference games in ’09 and the tough SEC to get through, Richt and the Bulldogs will probably struggle to get to 10 wins, but if they do it will not be the first time that Richt and Company has proved us wrong.
Coaches Hot Seat Bottom Line
We predict that Mark Richt and Georgia will have an ________ record in 2009. Let’s take a look at Georgia’s 2009 games:
Mark Richt and Georgia in 2009
Would there be a difference between the 7 top bowl games and an 8-team playoff utilizing those same 7 top bowl games? Answer: Next to no difference, except college football would crown a legitimate National Champion for the first time in the history of the game. Yet, that would make way too much sense for these BCS Boys! Calling Forest Gump, Calling Forest Gump, because this BCS is not only Foolish, it is STUPID!
To really understand how absurd the BCS is and the foolishness of the resistance to putting into place a very simple 8-team playoff to determine a legitimate National Champion in college football, let’s just look at the bowl schedule from last season and how an 8-team playoff would easily fit within that schedule and actually turn MEANINGLESS EXHIBTION GAMES into something that not only really means something to the teams playing in the games, but something that would lead to the crowing of a real National Champion in college football. Far from being complicated or even advanced brain surgery as claimed by the folks standing behind the BCS curtain, an 8-team playoff would be very simple to implement with the current bowl calendar without very much trouble at all.
An 8-team postseason in college football would involve 8 teams and 7 games, the 4 quarterfinal games, the 2 semifinal games and 1 National Championship Game. For this 8-team playoff we are going to use the Gator Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Rose Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the BCS National Championship Game.
From the 2008-09 Bowl Schedule
Gator Bowl – January 1, 2009
Rose Bowl – January 1, 2009
Orange Bowl – January 1, 2009
Cotton Bowl – January 2, 2009
Sugar Bowl – January 2, 2009
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl – January 5, 2009
BCS National Championship Game – January 8, 2009
Now an 8-team playoff would need 3 weeks of game for the 3 rounds, the quarterfinal, semifinal and championship rounds and looking back at the December 2008 calendar the conference championship games were played on Saturday, December 6 and thus the 8-team postseason playoff, using the above 7 bowl games would start on Saturday, December 27, 2008 with the four quarterfinal games. Just for the sake of argument we will use the Final Coaches Hot Seat Power Playoff Poll of 2008 and we will seed the 8-team tournament with the top 8 teams in the final poll (We would recommend that a committee actually pick the 8 teams that would participate in the playoff, just as the NCAA basketball tournament does to pick its teams).
Using the Final Coaches Hot Seat Power Playoff Poll, below are the 8-team playoff matchups in the assigned Bowl Games in the Quarterfinal Round.
December 27, 2008, Saturday
Gator Bowl – Oklahoma vs. Boise State
Rose Bowl – Texas vs. Penn State
Orange Bowl – Florida vs. Utah
Cotton Bowl – USC vs. Alabama
Next we would move to the Semifinal Round of the 8-team playoff, and below are our predicted matchups for the next round in the Bowl Games in the Semifinal Round.
January 3, 2009, Saturday
Sugar Bowl – Oklahoma vs. USC
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl – Texas vs. Florida
January 10, 2009, Saturday
BCS National Championship Game – USC vs. Florida
Now we would love for someone with the BCS Boys or anyone else in America to explain to us here at Coaches Hot Seat why the above 8-team playoff using the 7 top bowl games would somehow be hard to implement, because not only does the above system almost practically lay over the current bowl dates with no more than a 3 day difference, the above games would ACTUALLY MEAN SOMETHING! What we really cannot understand is that there would be a bowl executive anywhere that would possibly argue against a postseason playoff system that would actually pair teams against each other in very meaningful games that would lead towards a legitimate National Championship Game. Who could possibly be against the above scenario, because the bowl games are still used and the schedule is not changed more than 3 days, and that is mainly because we play the playoff games on Saturdays, which is the day of the week that college football games should be played. One of the most stupid things that the BCS does is play some of their bowl games on weeknights, because there is a reason that the Super Bowl is played on a Sunday, and that is because Americans can gather around the TV together to watch the game, something that is rarely done on weeknights when people have to both get the kids to bed and have work in mind for the next day, and that is something which should never be mixed together on a weeknight with any championship game in college football.
If you rotate the above bowl games each year with the bowls rotating through the first two quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, which would lead to every one of these bowls getting a shot to have some very significant games in their bowls compared to the MEANGINLESS EXHIBITION GAMES they now get to host. Why would any bowl executive choose to host two teams to play in a MEANINGLESS EXHIBTION GAME compared to a game that would help determine the National Champion? If there is a bowl executive that would take two teams to play in a MEANINGLESS GAME, over the type of games above between great teams ACTUALLY PLAYING FOR SOMETHING REAL then that bowl executive is very stupid person.
The rest of the college football bowl season could go on as it has in the past, with 27 additional bowl games (Can you believe that number? 27 bowl games, in addition to the 7 bowl games listed above? That is madness, but if mediocre must be celebrated, then celebrate it, but don’t call us when these football players figure out one day that mediocrity doesn’t cut it in the real world), but how about the BCS Boys and college football coming together to institute an 8-team playoff over the top of the current bowl system to determine a legitimate National Champion. Why would that be hard to do, as the BCS Boys claim? Answer: It would be very simple to do and we have no doubt that not only would fans follow their teams to these additional 3 games, one would not be able to buy tickets to these games and the TV ratings, can you imagine the TV ratings if college football actually crowned a legitimate National Champion? Can you say HUGE! Why yes we can, because the TV ratings for a college football postseason playoff would be HUGE and what a great culmination to the college football season where the traditional bowl games would be used to crown the National Champion, especially when contrasted with these MEANINGLESS EXHIBTION GAMES! Please, someone get Forrest Gump on the phone, because if these BCS Boys cannot figure this out, THEY ARE VERY STUPID!
Is there really an American citizen that could possibly argue with the above 8-team playoff scenario using the current top 7 bowl games? If there is, then our educational system has failed us all!
One thing we are very confident about, is that ESPN would do a great job covering the above 8-team playoff and it would be great fun in those 3 weeks to be a college football fan, especially compared to the BOGUS AND MEANINGLESS EXHIBITION GAMES that are now played that everyone with an IQ over the pressure in your car tires knows that this entire BCS thing is a bogus as a 3 Dollar Bill!
Well, BCS Boys either institute an 8-team playoff or one will be forced upon you. Your choice, but that choice will not exist forever, and the bowls might not even be involved in the end if we have to go down that path, and that should really give the bowl executives a lot to think about….
The most disappointing thing about President Obama is something he could be doing that could directly impact the cost of health care in America – Getting America to put down the Ho-Ho’s, getting off the couch and out into the real world exercising each and every day
As President Obama has pushed his proposal to reform our health care system and health insurance we have heard a lot of Democrats talking about the idea that if we could get everyone to carry health insurance we could do a lot more preventive care and that would then drive down the cost of health care. We have some news for the people making the claim that more preventive care would lower the cost of health care costs in America, because in fact the exact opposite is actually true. If millions of more people are added to the insurance rolls, whether it be on a plan run by the federal government or via private health insurance plans, that insurance will be used as people will flood doctor’s offices for the health care they have not been able to access in the past. As more and more people visit their doctors and more preventive care is done there will be millions more tests and procedures done that are not being done today and that will drastically drive up the costs of health care and in the short to medium term “preventive care” will clearly drive up the cost of health care for the government and for private health insurance plans. Now, when one thinks on a long-term basis, probably 10-plus years out, the more people that got preventive care earlier in their life or earlier in the cycle of when they first start feeling bad, then preventive care might very well bring down the cost of health care in America, but we believe that would be way off in the future.
Therein lies the real problem with our healthcare system, is that Americans utilize the medical system far too much, and if we ever hope to get the out-of-control costs associated with our healthcare system under control then not only will Americans have to fundamentally alter how often and in what way they use the medical system, but Americans must all get off their asses and get out and exercise. This is where President Obama comes into the picture.
It is obvious to us that President Obama must work out a good bit and watch his diet as well, because he looks to be in pretty good shape for a guy heading towards 50 years of age and Obama’s good health is something that the President must put up as an example for all Americans, because an American President is someone that can impact how people go about their daily lives. Clearly if one looks around each day as one goes about his/her daily business, there are plenty of people walking around in our country that are both out of shape and way overweight. If President Obama really wants to impact the cost of health care in American, one of the best things he could do is to get the American people off their lazy asses and out in the real world doing exercise each and every day.
We like to think that we have a kick-ass flag-football team here at Coaches Hot Seat (or rather a flag-football team that kicks ass! It is really quite a sight to see the Coaches Hot Seat flag-football team arrive at the field as we bring a first-aid kit with plenty of gauze and Neosporin, often with a nurse to bandage us up, and of course a Boom-Box that has Eagles Live – CD 1 with Hotel California ready to play. When someone on the opposing flag-football team sees us setting up on the sidelines and we have this huge first-aid kit, they often ask why we need all that gauze to play flag-football, then they see us start Hotel California and start to warm-up and then they realize why we brought the first aid kit and gauze, which usually leads to us winning the “flag-football” game big!) and if you are going to have a kick-ass flag-football team then one has to have people that are in at least decent shape. Several of us here at Coaches Hot Seat have a rule for ourselves that we exercise everyday, and we mean everyday of the year, for at least 45 minutes and up to 2 hours if possible, and that if we are on foot either running, jogging or walking we hope to cover 5 miles at a minimum and if on a bicycle we like to cover at least 10 miles during each exercise event. If you just get out each day and walk 45 minutes you will be in much better shape in only a few months and with better shape will come better health and with better health will come lower health care costs.
This is where President Obama enters the picture again, because it would be very helpful to the country if we could get Americans off the couch and out in the real world to exercise everyday if possible, but at least 5 days a week for 45 minutes at a time. President Obama is already in very good shape for his age, but his PR folks need to put together a program that utilizes The President’s Challenge and/or the fitness standards at the President’s Council on Physical Education and Sports, which was a program that many of us here at Coaches Hot Seat were involved in when we were in school. Of course, we not only need to get our kids off their butts and doing exercise each day, but we really need to get all Americans up and about and exercising each day, even if it is only taking a 30 minute walk.
The United States of America has a whole array of challenges that face us right now, but if we are unhealthy as a people and we are not getting out each day and getting exercise we will have a very difficult time even getting to the real problems and that is why President Obama needs to get some people on his staff to put together some PR events that showcase the President working out and setting a good example for the American people by getting out and exercising every day if possible. Several of us here at Coaches Hot Seat remember that the first President Bush utilized Arnold Schwarzenegger to promote fitness and President Obama should find some celebrities and famous fitness folks that can help the President in getting the American people off their asses.
Yes, if President Obama and the folks in Washington really want to impact health care costs, then let’s get the American people up and moving about each day and getting some exercise and President Obama can lead this revolution in getting America back into shape, but only if he promotes it and sets a good example for country.
Put down that Ho-Ho America, get off the couch and get out and exercise!
President Obama, seriously this is spot, in getting the American people out exercising, where you can have a BIG impact on people living healthier lives and in helping to drive down health care costs in our country
With the Coaches Hot Seat Flag-Football team in mind, we of course have in mind the following song:
Hotel California Live
