BY JOE JOE WRIGHT
joejoe.wright@cordeledispatch.com

Sometimes I wonder is it worth it. Americans especially have this unique characteristic it is “the what have you done for me lately,” syndrome. Lets take football for instance and take only the facts. Since 2001 The University of Georgia football record is 140-49 ( .741). Alabama is 113-49(.697) note Alabama had wins vacated in 05 and 06, South Carolina 111-70 (.613), Florida 131-52(.715), Auburn 127-58 (.686),FSU 136-53(.719), Tennesse 104-77(.574), LSU 147-41(.781), Texas 138-48(.741),Ohio State 143-32(.817).I could go on and on but among FBS schools only 2 have a higher winning percentage and that is just barely. Even the mighty Alabama is behind us.
In that stretch of time all of the above teams have won national titles except Georgia, South Carolina and Tennesse. Now the real reason for this article is to examine what it takes to win a national title.
1. Great recruits Check. 2. Good coaching Check 3. Lots and lots of money UGA check, check check 4.Getting a break hmmmmm doesn’t happen all the time.
We as fans can sit and argue all day long the ins and outs of Georgia always losing the big one. Simply not true since Mark Richt has been head coach at Georgia I have watched him win the SEC Crown twice and to quote Nick Saban “ I always thought that was a pretty big deal.” I have seen some coulda shoulda woulda seasons as well. Bottom line to win a championship no matter at what level of ball you have to catch a break there are no exceptions to this rule. I challenge anyone anywhere to name a champ that didn’t catch a break at some point.Georgia has not caught the break they need yet but I am certain they will.
Let’s examine another scenario of the naysayers that want Richts head.  Everyone of  them says the same thing  “he is a nice guy,” but that don’t win titles. Mack Brown Head Coach of the University of Texas, who by the way turned down the Georgia job when Jim Donnan was hired to go to Texas, won a national title and two Big 12 titles. From 2005 when Browns Texas Longhorns beat USC he had a bad year and 4 years of mediocrity 8-5 ,9-4 ,8-5 then bang! your fired. In comes Charlie Strong good coach, good man but can’t get the Texas Longhorns on a winning track ( 7-11 in two seasons so far) they just lost 50-7 to TCU I mean really man come on. My point here is; BULLDOG NATION careful what you ask for.
That is just one example there are many others Michigan and oh yes Tennesse by all means go do some research please BULLDOG NATION. It just seems to me that all the head hunters in our group focus on one thing the National Championship. Oh my heavenly father please I want one to but not at all cost. I for one would rather have a God fearing Christian man with strong ethics and a desire and ability to produce the very best product in young men for our society than all the National titles that Saban, Les Miles, Urban Meyer and Bear Bryant have combined.
A survey done last year among all the division 1 schools head coaches asked the question who do you trust the most to coach your son. Who do you think they chose, they chose their peer Mark Richt hmmmmmmm. I love football more than anyone out there including Harvey Updyke but no! not at all cost.
Mark Richt is qualified and is the best man anywhere for the University of Georgia. It took Vince Dooley and Bear Bryant 17 seasons to get a national title. Took Lou Holtz 20 seasons and there are countless examples of great coaches and the elusive national title. The problem is the grass will be greener mentality of all the naysayers out there. It reminds me of the story about a man giving away free ice cream in his town of 1000 people. Three hundred didn’t get any ice cream why,because they was mad all he served was chocolate. Looking forward to hearing from you. E-mail me.