Saban on Richt firing: ‘I don’t know what the world is coming to…’
Count Alabama coach Nick Saban among the critics of Georgia’s decision to fire coach Mark Richt after a 9-3 season.
“I don’t know what the world is coming to in our profession,” Saban said when asked about Richt’s firing Sunday night on an SEC Championship game teleconference. “Mark Richt has been a really good coach and a really positive person in our profession for a long, long time. I think when you win nine games that’s a pretty good season, especially with the body of work he has been able to put together there.”
Alabama will play Florida in the SEC title game Saturday at the Georgia Dome.
Georgia’s Oct. 3 loss to the Crimson Tide in Sanford Stadium began a three-losses-in-four-games stretch that apparently decided Richt’s professional future with his bosses at UGA.
“I hate to see people that have the character and the quality and ability to affect young people in a positive way, like Mark Richt, not be a part of our profession,” Saban said. “And people don’t realize the importance of some of the other things that go into college coaching, whether it’s helping develop young men as people, helping them develop careers off the field by graduating from school.
“We all get it: We know we have to win games. But winning nine games is not bad. And he certainly won a lot of games for a long time, and I hate to see these kinds of things.”
About the Author
Tim Tucker, a long-time AJC sports reporter, often writes about the business side of the games. He also had stints as the AJC's Braves beat writer, UGA beat writer, sports notes columnist and executive sports editor. He was deputy managing editor of America's first all-sports newspaper, The National Sports Daily.
