I was so pissed yesterday with the whole Kirby Smart situation that I was wondering just what good the interwebs were for my blood pressure and overall mental state. And my beloved college football, my religion as a member of the Church of Uga, was riding in a very close second for things I was going to give up for a few weeks. And then Lane Kiffen, Uga bless his heart, gives me reason to smile and something he never had: perspective.

I got a text from my buddy at 2112: “Lane Kiffin just took the SC job.” My first reaction was simply, “What??????? I though Mariucci was taking it.” Then, remembering my dance with the devil just yesterday, I reminded him, “Don’t believe it until the presser. Like we did with Kirby.” And I went back to what I was doing. Then I got done and fired up the evil, demon interwebs and found this as breaking news on Yahoo. And the message boards, they were a burnin’.

So it turns out that, really, honestly, Kiffykins is headed back to where it started. ESPN reported it, so I tended to believe it (more than say, Rivals and footballcoachscoop.com and Pollack’s Twitter feed). And then came this (h/t: BusterSports.com). Wait, did he just zing Fulmer on his way OUT THE DOOR with that “leaving here 14 months later with a lot better team than we were 14 months ago” comment? Wow, first you took the man’s job and now you’re saying that in 14 whole months you made that much improvement? Dude, you went 7-6 and got it handed to you in the Chick-Fil-A bowl.

I’ve just got to wonder if it had something to do with the NCAA sanctions. Not the minor violations he’s managed to rack up at UT, along with the hostesses that he “didn’t have knowledge of” and one of his prize recruits just pleading guilty to attempted robbery. No, what I’m saying is that in 14 months at UT that wasn’t good enough for Lane “Sanction Express” Kiffin. He needs a school with a foundation and tradition in that particular area.

Oh, just so nobody’s worried about the Kiffykins Crew, Daddy and Orgeron are packing up to. And like the hotel guest that takes a towel or two, they’re going to try to sneak a few amenities out in their luggage. Like all 8 recruits that enrolled early and are were set to start classes tomorrow. Well, that’s ballsy for sure. I’m not sure if that’s smart considering this happened (NSFW pics in the link). But that’s all water under the dam, right? Right??

Well Vol Nation, even though we (for the most part) cordially detest each other I’m not here to rub it in. I didn’t get any real grief from you guys on the Kirby thing, except for that one goober, so I’m going to give you insight into this Dawg fanatic’s mind. I’m going to tell you how to scare the Silver Britches off of the collective Bulldawg Nation: Hire the right guy this time. I’m not being flippant. Last year’s shellacking aside, I was never really worried about UT as long as Lane and his reanimated DC Daddy were at the helm. Your program was being run by an entire pack of blind squirrels. At least you didn’t have to wait 3 years for the problem to get rectified (ahem).

I know a lot of names are already being thrown around for the vacancy and that time is SO of the essence, what with National Signing Day right around the bend. Your need has finally taken over the spotlight in the SEC, so I thank you.

• I know a lot of folks want Muschamp, but I think it’s a pipe dream – his gig is too sweet down at the other UT.
• I’ve heard Mike Leach – WTF-ever. Yeah, the only thing to counter the drama and crazy you just had is with MORE crazy….
• Gruden – not likely. He’s got ties to the program, but those were a long time ago. He’s an NFL guy now. Your chances of getting him are about as good as us getting our now-NFL guy, Van Gorder.
• Patterson – DECENT chance, but the timetable is too short for you. He might like to come to a AQ school, though. If you weren’t concerned with trying to keep or replace those 8 guys following Pied-Orgeron’s flute it might be worth a shot.
• Calhoun from Air Force – I believe he was a finalist when you hired the last guy. I think the time table works against you again. And he wouldn’t scare me much.

Here’s an idea that would scare me to death: Look to your tree and get a guy who’s come home several times. A guy with SEC ties and a successful track record as a HC in the conference. A guy who coached up your golden calf and his brother. He’s a head coach in the basketball conference (ACC) right now. Some guy named Cutcliffe.

Look, the man can coach. Period. He took a pretty rank Ole Miss squad and did some pretty good things. In 6 seasons, he had 5 winning seasons and never had a losing record until his last. He was 4-1 in bowl games (counting his first when he took over when TTubbs ran to Auburn), including a Cotton Bowl win in 2003 when he tied for a share of the West with eventual BCS champs LSU. And it’s not like he left that team in shambles – Houston Nutt brought his heavy run offense to the table and took them to the Cotton Bowl the following year.

His next, and current, HC gig took him to Durham. They’re not awful. In his first year Duke won the same number of games as they did in the last 4 years COMBINED. They improved another win last year, against a pretty tough schedule. I’d bet that he takes them to a bowl in the upcoming season. The man can flat out coach. Oh, don’t forget about the last SEC guy that took Duke from the crapper, whipped them into respectability, then came back to the SEC. Here’s a hint –

So maybe Cutcliffe isn’t the second coming of Darth Visor. Maybe we have that already in Meyer and Saban. Maybe I’m pulling your collective Rocky Top chains. Maybe I just wanted an excuse to post a pic of Erin Andrews (that would be a good guess if I actually NEEDED an excuse). All I’m saying is that Cutcliffe would make UT, in my silly little mind, relevant in the SEC East discussion.

I’m going to preface this whole post with two things: 1) If you couldn’t tell by the title, I’m pissed. I promised I wouldn’t post an emotional, pissed off entry at my usual haunt and 2) I’m pissed, so you can do your own research on this one. It’s my site and I pay the bills, so I can post emotional and pissed off posts and not provide links for a change.

Anybody who pay attention to college football in general, or Georgia football in particular, knows the drama. A quick synopsis for the unwashed – Mark Richt gave most of the Bulldawg Nation an early Christmas present by deciding not to rehire Willie Martinez as Defensive Coordinator next year. This was good. Then the drama started. We offered Bud Foster of Va Tech – he stayed for a 5-year annuity worth $1M. Then the word, which I’m still not sure whether or not to believe, is that Vic Koenning of Kansas State turned us down to go be Ron Zook’s coordinator at Illinois. Then former Tennessee DC John Chavis parlayed our offer into a healthy raise to stay at LSU right around New Year’s. Then things got QUIET. The only names seriously mentioned were Todd Grantham, a line coach for the Cowboys and Kirby Smart, the DC for Alabama.

The lull was understandable – the Cowboys were prepping for their Wild Card game against the Eagles and the Tide were prepping for their MNC game against Texas. Another name sort of surfaced in the lull – Travis Jones, who is a line coach for the Saints, who are also preparing for the playoffs. Anyway, it’s a lull – things happen when a fanbase has time to let their imaginations wander. So, during the pre-MNC pressers, Kirby states that he’s happy with Alabama and has no desire to leave. Okay, I can live with that – it’s honest and doesn’t waste anyone’s time. Attention is turned to Grantham and, hedging bets, Jones.

Then the MNC goes to the Tide. Kirby’s got his Broyles Award (top assistant coach in all of college football) and an MNC as DC. But lots of folks (Tide fans ESPECIALLY) are saying that it’s Saban’s defense and that all Kirby does is call the plays within the scheme Saban sets up. Hmmmm. Kirby even gets mentioned as a candidate for the recently vacated Texas Tech position by Brent Musberger during the broadcast. Hmmmm. Then the TT prez, who was in attendance at the MNC game, says “Nope. Sorry. Purely coincidental.” And hires Tommy Tuberville a few days later. So, Kirby’s still the DC at Bama making not quite $400k a year.

Then something happens right after the MNC – Kirby says that he hasn’t talked to Mark Richt “in weeks” which leads my silly mind to believe that he would have had to have talked to him weeks ago. I doubt Richt was asking a 34-year-old fresh DC for recommendations for applicants. Well, maybe Richt was asking for an extra donation from the alumni to help pay for the new guy. Then, this Saturday, news (and rumors) start flooding the web.

David Pollack gave me the first hint by saying that UGA made a SMART decision for their DC on his Twitter feed. Then Rivals.com reports that Georgia has formally offered the DC job to Kirby. A small charter jet leaves from Dekalb-Peachtree airport (Ben Epps in Athens was apparently closed) and heads to Tuscaloosa, stays for an hour, then returns Saturday night. The speculation builds. Pollack reiterates his stance all Sunday on Twitter. Interesting.

Monday morning rolls around. Footballcoachscoop.com reports that Smart has accepted the offer to become Georgia’s next DC. Rivals.com shortly reports the same thing. A small charter plane leaves Ben Epps airport in Athens, bound for Tuscaloosa, at about 0830. Holy crap, this might actually be happening!! The plane stays all day. Through lunch. Excitement and rampant speculation abound. Talk begins that Smart will actually get Jones to come onboard as part of the staff. Speculation about the contract says that it’s 3 or 4 years, worth $700k or $800k per year. Then IT happens.

Tide coach Nick Saban, at a press conference with one of his (former) players announcing his intention to turn pro, announces that Kirby is staying put. Shortly after, a statement is released by Smart himself, saying how happy he is in Tuscaloosa, how he has a great mentor in Saban, how Georgia holds a special place in his and his wife’s heart (she’s an alum, too), etc. And the collective blog and other internet pundits of the Bulldawg Nation (after picking their collective chins up) go to their corners.

I was a part of this. A huge part. In honesty, I was at the head of the charge of the cavalcade of crazy. I watched the private flight information on the web. I even setup an email alert for flight plans and advisories for the plane that flew down this morning. I engaged every source, real and imagined, that I had for information. I had my hopes set SO high for this hire, and the upcoming season. So, yeah, it’s personal. And in case you couldn’t tell yet, I’m firmly entrenched in the camp of “Kirby Smart has lost his Athens privileges FOREVER” and object to his being hung by the neck from a Sanford Stadium goal post until dead, dead, dead in only the most pedestrian fashion. And here’s why:

First, those of you who are taking his side by saying you can’t fault his decision to stay with a proven winner, etc only AFTER he turned us down are placating suckers. I’ll get to why, in this case, the medium is the message in a minute. Those of you who are suddenly saying that you weren’t that sold on him as a good candidate only AFTER he turned us down are either fence-sitters who didn’t say a word throughout this whole drama or, at worst, hypocrites – you were just as geeked up about this (potential) hire as I was. And being that I’ve never let tact or other people’s feelings get in the way of saying what’s on my mind……

There are myriad reasons why he could have decided to stay, but first let me get to why he could have said YES to his Alma Mater. First of all, it’s his Alma Mater. The place that traded his better-than-average skills as a defensive back for an undergraduate degree. The place that gave him a job in the football program not once, but twice. The place that needed him right now. Then there’s the whole “living in Saban’s shadow” thing. Richt offered him full control of the defense – play calling, scheme, assistants, EVERYTHING. A place he could really make his mark if he turned the defense around – not a terribly difficult task considering his predecessor. And then there’s the money – basically doubling your salary to work closer to home, at your Alma Mater, with full control. Pretty heady stuff, I’d think.

But that wasn’t good enough. Maybe, by staying, he’s saying that he doesn’t think HE’S good enough. I can actually get on board with that, schadenfreude-free. He’s a young guy, and he’s certainly riding Saban’s coattails to some degree, learning how to be a great coach. Had he said this last week, or even turned the job down without further comment, I would bear no ill will. But he’s known for at least THREE DAMN WEEKS that this was coming. And he did nothing to dispell the rumors. He embraced it. According to Pollack, he even signed a “term sheet” and then backed out.

So here’s the PERCEPTION of the thing, which in this day and age, is the REALITY: Smart used his Alma Mater, and the drama surrounding his potential hiring, to extort his current employer. How else can he spin it now? He’s getting a huge raise, which almost certainly deserved after this season, after a long dance with another school (have I mention that it’s his Alma Mater?), after reportedly coming to a gentleman’s agreement to work there. He’s put his Alma Mater’s fanbase in a huge tizzy, only to let them down. He’s made his Alma Mater look bad in front of the nation: He had a deal that would have made him the third-highest paid assistant in college football and, for some reason hidden behind his canned quotes, turned it down.

The only thing worse, after all of that, than him staying for a big payday is NOT getting a big payday. If his new contract at Bama is less than $600k per year for multiple years, that says to me that Georgia’s so effed up that it didn’t even take 50% to keep him away from the job. Now, any of the above would have been fine if he had just come out and said so earlier. Now he’s made his Alma Mater the schmucks of the college football world and left us STILL looking for that elusive DC hire. What about the guys we’re going to try to sell this job to (and that’s the point we’ve reached)?? Won’t they be wondering “What’s Wrong With Georgia” now that you got to H-hour and spit in our collective Dawg faces? Maybe he’s been working for Saban too long – I think he’s gone mercenary on us.

Well, I can tell you this much Kirby: One day, many years from now, you may come back to Sanford Stadium to celebrate the anniversary of one of the teams you were on, and MOST of the fans who have been the unwitting cast of this soap opera will cheer you for what you did as a player – me included. But know that from now until that day, when you step Between The Hedges you’ll be the enemy. I don’t care if you’re Bama’s DC or head coach, or a coach at the Armpit State School for Girl’s Basket Weaving, we’ll remember. And when Mark Richt retires? Forget it. Anyone who suggests you for the position will suffer hatred reserved only for Michael Adams. You took sides against the family. You’re nothing to us now. Not a brother, a friend, an alumnus, a potential coaching candidate. And no longer a DGD.

For my part, I’m going to be a huge Vikings and Cardinals fan this weekend. Maybe, just maybe, we can save some face and finally hire our DC. But somewhere, deep down, I’m rooting for another Van Gorder to be found. At a considerably cheaper rate than what we offered you. And I hope that your buddy Mike Bobo takes this personally and lights you up all the way until the triple zeroes show EVERY TIME you play us. I want to see you every year in Atlanta and I want to crush you and your SEC Championship dreams. And then I want to take you fishing, a la Fredo Corleone. You never take sides against the family. Ever.

Folks, I have just received some sad news. It is the end of a tremendous era in Georgia Football today. Larry Munson, the man who has been the “Legendary Voice of the Georgia Bulldogs” for 42 years has decided to retire. I’m not much of one for reporting the news, so you can read about it on Rivals.com, the Rivals page on Yahoo!, and from the hometown Athens Banner-Herald.

Basically, after consulting with family, friends and his doctors, Larry Munson decided to hang up the microphone today. His abrupt retirement caught everyone, I dare say, off guard. Since he cut out road games last year, everyone knew that this day would come sooner rather than later. One might think that he could have waited until after the season, or at least not decide to retire during the week of a pivotal home game against Alabama (with a Black Out on). Well, I say this: The man has given over 40 years to the Bulldog Nation, become a stanchion of the Georgia football, and he’s earned the right to retire whenever he damn well pleases. read this entry »

The By God University of Georgia Dawgs football team opened the season with atop the college football polls (both the AP and USA Today). This is as much a reflection of the team they’re returning as the monkey-stomping they put on the LAST undefeated team last season, Hawaii, on New Year’s Day in the Sugar Bowl. It was also something of an apology to A) the Bulldog Nation for leaving us out of the National Championship Game and B) the rest of the college football world for sticking us with 2 wholly uncompelling matchups in the Rose and Sugar Bowls.

Let me address something right up front – I don’t think that, under the ShopVac abortion that is the BCS System, Georgia belonged in the National Championship game. They didn’t even win their division, let alone the BEST conference in all of college athletics. But they were no doubt one of the 4 best teams in the country at bowl time (National Champion LSU, the Buffalo Bills of college football – Ohio State, and Southern Cal) being the others. This wasn’t supposed to turn into another BCS rant, but to hell with it – might as well start now. read this entry »