https://www.redandblack.com/gday/g-day-scrimmage-brings-in-strong-crowd-of-georgia-fans/article_645a12ca-45c6-11e8-9fc8-6f89bb042c22.html

HC Kirby Smart: "What an awesome atmosphere. I mean, I think we say that every year, but I certainly think that was an incredible atmosphere. I can't tell you how many recruits are out there going 'Oh my gosh, I can't believe this. I just can't get over it. But it's the norm here. It's the way it should be."

ILB Monty Rice: "If I'm a recruit, I'm like 'Dang, this is a spring game? I wonder what a [regular] game is like. That crowd is crazy."

AirForceDawg said:

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UGA is quickly becoming the "it" team. Everything is coming together.

PGJ said:

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AirForceDawg said:

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UGA is quickly becoming the "it" team. Everything is coming together.

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Yes it is and I expect it to continue considering Kirby's work ethic, recruiting chops, and emphasis on competitiveness.

AirForceDawg said:

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PGJ said:

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AirForceDawg said:

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UGA is quickly becoming the "it" team. Everything is coming together.

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Yes it is and I expect it to continue considering Kirby's work ethic, recruiting chops, and emphasis on competitiveness.

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I expected Richts early success to continue too. And then we lost VanGorder. And then Richt made the fatal decision to promote Willie. I keep those things in perspective. We're just a key assistants departure away from potentially coming apart.

StalkinDawg said:

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AirForceDawg said:

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PGJ said:

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AirForceDawg said:

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UGA is quickly becoming the "it" team. Everything is coming together.

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Yes it is and I expect it to continue considering Kirby's work ethic, recruiting chops, and emphasis on competitiveness.

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I expected Richts early success to continue too. And then we lost VanGorder. And then Richt made the fatal decision to promote Willie. I keep those things in perspective. We're just a key assistants departure away from potentially coming apart.

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StalkinDawg, you're right that Coach Richt made a critical error in promoting Martinez as DC on 10 January 2005 after VanGorder departed for the NFL. However, I'd also like to note that the downturn in UGA Football fortunes began on 30 June 2004 when President Adams fired AD Vince Dooley (despite the athletics program ranking #1 in the SEC and #5 in the country) and hired Damon Evans to replace him. Shortly thereafter on 22 September 2004, Evans informed Richt that the UGA Athletics Association couldn't afford an IPF, yet was declared "national financial champs" on 16 April 2006 after turning a $24M profit over the preceding fiscal year. Three months later Adams and Evans convinced UGA's Athletics Association to begin donating its profits ($81.7M over 10 years) to the university to support academics, services, diversity, and experiential learning initiatives. Thus for the remainder of Richt's tenure at UGA, the AD clamped down on football expenses (e.g., UGA employed the SEC's lowest paid Director of Strength & Conditioning and was only staffed at 3.5 out of the 5 allowable S&C coaches; coaches on recruiting trips were made to take budget rental cars where competitors were pulling up in luxury vehicles to impress recruits and their families; when Richt asked the AD for a custom golf cart to ferry prospects and their families across campus, he was rebuffed). Fwiw, it's been speculated for more than a decade that Richt was squeezed by the administration after Chappy made critical comments re: Don Leeburn and Suzanne Yoculan's relationship and Mark didn't fire his team chaplain for cause.

I know, I was a CMR supporter. My best thread on the DP was titled "Stay the Course" in support of CMR. But he was fallible. So is Kirby. The difference (I hope) is in the level of recruit that Kirby is bringing in. CMR was a great recruiter. But lack of admin support and not great roster management usually put us right on the edge of either greatness or failure. Not much room for error. Kirby is an elite recruiter. As talent rich as we are now I think were set up to better handle a key assistants departure. Time will tell I guess.

StalkinDawg said:

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I know, I was a CMR supporter. My best thread on the DP was titled "Stay the Course" in support of CMR. But he was fallible. So is Kirby. The difference (I hope) is in the level of recruit that Kirby is bringing in. CMR was a great recruiter. But lack of admin support and not great roster management usually put us right on the edge of either greatness or failure. Not much room for error. Kirby is an elite recruiter. As talent rich as we are now I think were set up to better handle a key assistants departure. Time will tell I guess.

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Fwiw, some of Richt's roster management issues stemmed from President Adams and AD McGarity forbidding Richt from oversigning (thus UGA Football had to deal w/ inevitable attrition [SEC average this century is 40%] post-NSD):

- 18 February 2011: AD McGarity asserts that UGA's Football program won't oversign

- 3 June 2011: President Adams teams w/ UF's President Bernie Machen to push for measures against oversigning in college football, starting w/ reducing SEC Football signees from 28 to 25 per year

Moreover, UGA didn't start building its $30.2M IPF until ~6 weeks after Richt was fired. The UGA Athletics Association has also increased the football program's budget by 40% (i.e., from $26.1M to $36.4M) since Kirby was hired (not counting capital improvements such as the current $63M West End Zone project that's going to further enhance recruiting). While I think Kirby will do great things at UGA, his predecessor was asked to do more with less.