Mark Fox said the other day that he is “sick of hearing about ‘Catlanta,’” which often is the unfortunate byproduct of two events this time of year: 1) spring break at Georgia, prompting students to flee to beaches; 2) the SEC basketball tournament, prompting Kentucky residents to flee to Atlanta because they like college hoops and, let’s face it, you really don’t need a good reason to leave Kentucky.
But there is something much bigger at stake than how many Georgia fans show up at the Georgia Dome, beginning with the Bulldogs’ first game Friday night. This is less about a needed pep rally or a season-ticket push for next season than it is about what it means for Fox’s program in the big picture.
Fox would rather his players not think that way. Coaches like players to focus on little pictures, not panoramic landscapes. A coach’s mindset is, if you tell players, “Make a right turn, then a left, then a right, then walk a mile, and you’ll find the NCAA tournament,” they’ll start out making a left, then they’ll drop through a manhole.
So it follows that when Fox was asked if this week can be a launching point for his program, he said, “What’s important for us is that we make this the one game that it is and focus on how to win it. And if we do that, then we can focus on the second one. This group has to stay in the moment.”
He has a special feeling about this team. He should. Talk all you want about how horrible the SEC is this season. It doesn’t dismiss the fact that Georgia was 12-6 in the conference and tied Kentucky for the second-best record after being picked to finish 11th.
Fox has done a remarkable job. He held this team together after a miserable start that included non-conference losses to Davidson, Temple and George Washington. He won more SEC games than any Georgia team since 1990 (13-5), despite lacking a collection of Parade All-Americans or giving AAU coaches so much as a free cookie. And AAU coaches like cookies. And favors. And jobs.
Consider Billy Donovan’s alternate universe at Florida: He won SEC coach-of-the-year honors, but it helped that he had two players on the all-SEC first-team, one on the second, the conference player of the year, the sixth man of the year and the defensive player of the year.
“Coach has been great. He’s been like a father figure for us,” guard Charles Mann said. “He gives us our toughness and our leadership. I’m happy I came here. I wanted to play for him, and we wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for him. Even when we had our rough start, he always had our back, no matter what.”
It seems a foregone conclusion now that Fox will be back and his contract, which currently runs for two more seasons, will be extended. Athletic director Greg McGarity has declined to address Fox’s status until after the season, but in a radio interview this week lauded the coach and players for the way they responded to the early adversity.
Fox also doesn’t want to look ahead, not even beyond Friday night’s game.
“It’s just the way I think,” he said. “The way I look at it is we still have more games to win. Coaches are addicted to the next game. And when that one’s up, you get addicted to the next one.”
His father died in January. It wasn’t a normal mourning period. Fox rushed from city to city, game to practice to a memorial service in Kansas, then to Missouri for a game, where Georgia upset the Tigers in overtime. Fox got emotional after the game.
Forward Brandon Morris said, “To see your coach go through that adversity, and overcome it and win that game, it was definitely a huge bonding moment for everybody.”
Georgia was 6-6 and coming off an 18-point loss to George Washington going into the Missouri game. It’s 12-6 since that loss. Fox said he hasn’t “had a chance to exhale,” and he’s OK with that.
“I was telling my wife that since my dad died, I haven’t taken a day away to really just be myself,” he said. “That’s probably been really good medicine for me. It’s just, you’ve got another game to get ready for and you always have something to do. You don’t have time to reflect on anything.”
This is opportunity week. It’s believed the Dogs must win at least two games and reach the SEC tournament finals to have a chance to get an NCAA bid. A strong showing, against the backdrop of some recruiting misses, presumably would get the attention of more high school talent in the state.
It would affirm to Fox’s shrinking pool of critics what everybody else already knows: The man can coach.
“What I appreciate about this team is they have had total trust in the process we needed to go through,” he said. “We haven’t had any issues where guys got off the bus. They’ve been totally engaged.”
Maybe it’s time everybody starts paying attention.
