I know, right. In the past, I have been very critical of our Dawgs under various coaches, but it was always, I think, after a coach had proven he could not succeed or if I saw something wrong with the coach's system. I never thought Jirsa was up to the task, and the same went for Felton. Felton was in his 6th year when we pulled the trigger on his firing. I had high hopes for Fox; I was at the press conference when he and his staff were introduced to boosters. But, over time, he had systemic issues, personality issues and recruiting issues.
Let me tell a little story about Fox. One year, fairly early in his tenure, he took the team on a summer trip to Italy. I was a couple of years removed from prostate cancer surgery, and I had always wanted to do some European traveling. There was a company that was putting together travel packages revolving around seeing the team play its games in Italy. I signed up for it, but the trip fell through because not enough fans signed up to make it financially viable. Well, I decided to use their itinerary to plan my own trip, with some other stuff thrown in. I went over on my own. To my knowledge, I was the only UGA fan who was not affiliated with the team who went; I saw no one else. I missed the first 2 games, one outside of Venice that I just couldn't get to, and one in a little town called Montecito. I went to Montecito but could not find the game. No one there knew anything about it, so I missed it. I had bumped into the team both in Florence, as they were coming out of a museum that I was going into (where Michelangelo's sculpture of David is located) and in Cortona, where UGA actually has a program, which was cool. I finally caught up to the team in Rome and went to their game at a little out of the way gym. I took a taxi to the game but could not get a taxi out there to pick me up. Fox graciously agreed to give me a ride back to Rome, but he didn't look happy about it. But I had a great trip.
Flash forward 4 years.... The team was taking another overseas trip, this time to Spain. I had gone to Spain and Portugal the year before on a vacation, but I decided to go back to see the team play. I happened to stay at the same hotel as the team in Madrid, and I bumped into Fox on the elevator. Again, I was the only fan to make the trip over, although there were a couple of fans already in Spain who went to a game. Fox basically said "Hi" but not much else. The players would play cards in the lobby a lot, and I would bump into them and watch their games and just chit chat with them. Later that day or the next, Fox had one of the assistants come over to me and tell me that Fox didn't want me to have any interaction with the players, as if I would violate some kind of NCAA rule just by talking to them, even though I knew several of the players personally. Now, I don't know about you or how you would react, but I wasn't very happy with Fox about that. I undertook a major effort and expense twice, and Fox showed absolutely no appreciation for it. I was already convinced by that time that Fox would not succeed at UGA, and he was fired a year or two later. That's my Fox story.
Let me tell a little story about Fox. One year, fairly early in his tenure, he took the team on a summer trip to Italy. I was a couple of years removed from prostate cancer surgery, and I had always wanted to do some European traveling. There was a company that was putting together travel packages revolving around seeing the team play its games in Italy. I signed up for it, but the trip fell through because not enough fans signed up to make it financially viable. Well, I decided to use their itinerary to plan my own trip, with some other stuff thrown in. I went over on my own. To my knowledge, I was the only UGA fan who was not affiliated with the team who went; I saw no one else. I missed the first 2 games, one outside of Venice that I just couldn't get to, and one in a little town called Montecito. I went to Montecito but could not find the game. No one there knew anything about it, so I missed it. I had bumped into the team both in Florence, as they were coming out of a museum that I was going into (where Michelangelo's sculpture of David is located) and in Cortona, where UGA actually has a program, which was cool. I finally caught up to the team in Rome and went to their game at a little out of the way gym. I took a taxi to the game but could not get a taxi out there to pick me up. Fox graciously agreed to give me a ride back to Rome, but he didn't look happy about it. But I had a great trip.
Flash forward 4 years.... The team was taking another overseas trip, this time to Spain. I had gone to Spain and Portugal the year before on a vacation, but I decided to go back to see the team play. I happened to stay at the same hotel as the team in Madrid, and I bumped into Fox on the elevator. Again, I was the only fan to make the trip over, although there were a couple of fans already in Spain who went to a game. Fox basically said "Hi" but not much else. The players would play cards in the lobby a lot, and I would bump into them and watch their games and just chit chat with them. Later that day or the next, Fox had one of the assistants come over to me and tell me that Fox didn't want me to have any interaction with the players, as if I would violate some kind of NCAA rule just by talking to them, even though I knew several of the players personally. Now, I don't know about you or how you would react, but I wasn't very happy with Fox about that. I undertook a major effort and expense twice, and Fox showed absolutely no appreciation for it. I was already convinced by that time that Fox would not succeed at UGA, and he was fired a year or two later. That's my Fox story.