Probably Time to Give Greg McGarity Some Credit
SAINT SIMONS ISLAND - The last two years have been pretty good for sports at Georgia.
Greg McGarity deserves some praise for that. He deserved criticism for the athletic department struggling before that, and now its time to recognize that things have turned around.
In the last two years UGA has:
Won the Rose Bowl Game
Won the 2017 SEC Football Championship
Won the national title for Women’s Tennis Indoors
Won the national title for Women’s Track and Field Indoors
Won the national title for Men’s Track and Field Outdoors
Become a national force in baseball
Become relevant in Gymnastics again
Finally moved on to a new coach in Men’s Basketball
In all of those accomplishments the biggest move (the one with the most impact for the future) is the move McGarity made from Mark Fox to Tom Crean. It took too long for McGarity to make that call, but too often folks forget that replacing a coach is a two-step process… who you hire after the firing matters.
And while Crean hasn’t done anything yet, if recruiting is any indication (and it always is) Georgia basketball is going to actually matter from here on out.
McGarity shouldn’t be praised for dismissing Fox (that was the easy part because it was time), but for landing Crean, who (with all of his quirks) has jumpstarted the imagination of the Bulldog Nation in basketball. Folks are actually excited about Georgia basketball because of what Tom Crean is doing. Now it is up to Crean to keep the ball rolling.
He needs to be given credit for getting out of the way of Kirby Smart - human tornado that he is. Sometimes good managers understand that getting out of the way and providing what is asked for is the best way to “manage”. He needs to be given credit for sticking with Scott Stricklin, who has UGA poised to be a national seed for the second year in a row and in the NCAAs for a third year in a row for the first time in school history. Its hardly out of the question that UGA could add its second baseball national title this summer.
Also critical: numbers haven’t been released yet, but fundraising has gone from very lukewarm to much more in line to what UGA should be doing each year (we will know more on Friday). Money will never be a “real” problem at UGA, but its all relative, and Georgia needs to continue to fundraise at an appropriate level - and that takes real work and a long time. Again, this is a critical thing that McGarity has done that’s gone unnoticed. There are two major things ADs do - hire and fire coaches; and raise money.
No, I don’t get the impression that McGarity is a visionary athletic director. He’s not a change agent in that way. The next AD at Georgia is probably going to have to have more of that in their DNA. But the next AD will have the opportunity to do that because McGarity has set them up pretty much perfectly - even though getting to this place hasn’t been an entirely smooth ride.
While McGarity was clumsy with the handling of Mark Richt’s firing and with run ins with the NCAA, no AD’s trajectory is all good. Google Joe Alleva and see what a true shit show looks like.
Still, consider the coaches in Athens. Where is the deficiency at Georgia right now in the coaching ranks? Where is the deficiency at Georgia right now in facilities? Tennis? That’s getting upgraded right now ($8 million). Football? How much has been spent on football in the last few years? More than $93 million. That’s going to go over $100 million very, very soon.
When I criticized McGarity and UGA for several things two years ago it was justified because it was reality. Things should have been better. Now, after two years of making pretty much the right moves at all turns, its the right time to praise him for the legacy he’s going to leave here soon.
But continue to fundraise. That’s my advice. These buildings are not going to build themselves.