More Richt...

[BilldGopher]

Went to ajc.com to check on what was being written in Hotlanta about the Dawgs and the loss to UF. See for yourself...hot times for Coach Richt down south...borders on brutal...

http://www.ajc.com/sports/uga/

I'm a grad of both UGA and UM...so I'm biased toward thinking positive about UM taking any former UGA coach...which in fact has already happened with Coach Mase (for those that don't recall he was UGA's coach for one week...but that's another story...).

Anyway, you'll see that "coaching" is identified as Georgia's problem at this time..framed in terms of winning the SEC East, SEC Championship, or even the National Championship.

Maybe the "Tubby Hire" analogy is a better fit for Richt than we might imagine. Heck, all we want to do for now is beat the "rivals" to the east and south...

Hey Mark...win us the Pig and/or Axe and/or Jug and/or whatever we come up with for Nebraska...and anything after that is gravy....

Might look attractive after all...

As a Gopher fan...I'd take it compared to what we have now.

Go Gophers! Beat Sparty.

 

[Rosemountian]

I think most if not all rational college football fans would see a Richt hiring as something very positive for the U of M. The problem is, it isn't gonna happen.

 

[Tricks]

I think most if not all rational college football fans would see a Richt hiring as something very positive for the U of M. The problem is, it isn't gonna happen.

About 8 million reasons worth.

 

[howeda7]

About 8 million reasons worth.

Please. If UGa is a close to firing him as it appears, they are not going to hold up his leaving over the buy-out. It may or may not be realistic for him to come to MN, but the buyout will not be the reason why not. I'm guessing Tubby had a rather large buy-out at UK as well, but I don't recall the U paying it.

 

[tjgopher]

Please. If UGa is a close to firing him as it appears, they are not going to hold up his leaving over the buy-out. It may or may not be realistic for him to come to MN, but the buyout will not be the reason why not. I'm guessing Tubby had a rather large buy-out at UK as well, but I don't recall the U paying it.

I think you've got it backwards a little bit here.

If UGA fires Richt, they OWE HIM $7-8 million in a buyout. So, that is where the hold up comes, not the other way around. Richt certainly isn't going to willingly walk away from that potential buyout to take an annual paycut to come coach the Gophers. He currently makes $2.9 million per year. One can also assume he won't walk away from that.

So, either they fire him, pay him, and he's a candidate for our job, or not. It won't be an issue of whether UGA "lets him out" of a buyout to walk away.

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

Everyone should know that coaching contracts are largely worthless. Buyouts can be negotiated down.

 

[howeda7]

I think you've got it backwards a little bit here.

If UGA fires Richt, they OWE HIM $7-8 million in a buyout. So, that is where the hold up comes, not the other way around. Richt certainly isn't going to willingly walk away from that potential buyout to take an annual paycut to come coach the Gophers. He currently makes $2.9 million per year. One can also assume he won't walk away from that.

So, either they fire him, pay him, and he's a candidate for our job, or not. It won't be an issue of whether UGA "lets him out" of a buyout to walk away.

I've seen it indicated the other way, that he has an $8 million buyout if he wants to leave. Either way, he probably owes money if he leaves (probably not $8 million) and they owe him big if they fire him. If they're both unhappy and know it's going to come to a head next year, a deal can be worked out. Tubby was in the exact same spot and I'm sure there was money owed going both ways there as well.

 

[tjgopher]

I've seen it indicated the other way, that he has an $8 million buyout if he wants to leave. Either way, he probably owes money if he leaves (probably not $8 million) and they owe him big if they fire him. If they're both unhappy and know it's going to come to a head next year, a deal can be worked out. Tubby was in the exact same spot and I'm sure there was money owed going both ways there as well.

Tubby's situation was a little different, in that the buyout, etc., was no where near the $7-8 million range. And, Tubby was at the point he was willing to walk away and take a pay cut, which he did. By almost all accounts, Richt is not interested in willingly walking away. He wants to remain in Georgia and remain the coach there. In fact, there were some rumors circulating that his family enjoyed living in Georgia so much that if he got fired, he would consider quitting coaching and doing missionary work.

And, yes, absolutely UGA would let Richt walk away without penalty, but my point is he won't do that. He will earn money by either: 1) continuing to coach there, or 2) getting fired.

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

So how much do you Richt guys think Maturi will pony up with a buy-out clause to get him to come to MN? $1.99??

Richt would have the upper hand with his demands and Maturi would be wasting his time.

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

The 7-8MM buyout was designed to protect UGA from Richt leaving after a national championship season, it wasn't designed to protect Richt or UGA during a mediocre season. I can almost guarantee you that the buyout will be less and less as time goes on. Next year it might be 3-4MM and in 2 years it's 1-2MM. If the chances are great that Richt will be fired in the next year or two then his buyout will be much smaller AND he'll forever have it on his resume that he was fired.

According to wikipedia, Tommy Tuberville resigned from Auburn and STILL got paid $5.1MM as a buyout from the University. If UGA is fed up with Richt he'll be available.

 

[howeda7]

The 7-8MM buyout was designed to protect UGA from Richt leaving after a national championship season, it wasn't designed to protect Richt or UGA during a mediocre season. I can almost guarantee you that the buyout will be less and less as time goes on. Next year it might be 3-4MM and in 2 years it's 1-2MM. If the chances are great that Richt will be fired in the next year or two then his buyout will be much smaller AND he'll forever have it on his resume that he was fired.

According to wikipedia, Tommy Tuberville resigned from Auburn and STILL got paid $5.1MM as a buyout from the University. If UGA is fed up with Richt he'll be available.

I agree. It's possible UGa will not even finish .500 this year. If so, they will probably be more then willing to pay him a good chunk of his buyout to walk away rather then have to fire him a year from now. Whether he's willing to move his family, etc. is an open question. He may not want to come here. But the idea that the buyout either way is the issue is incorrect, IMO.