THE TOUCHDOWN CLUB: Dooley on Richt and dealing with criticism

Mark Richt will be alright. At least according to his former boss.

Former UGA football coach Vince Dooley spoke at the Touchdown Club of Atlanta on Monday and tackled such issues as who he will be cheering for Saturday when his son’s Tennessee squad plays Georgia as well as what his thoughts are on Mark Richt’s tenuous situation in Athens.

Dooley seemed to think that Richt would fight his way out of the mess his program is in. Georgia has lost four consecutive games for the first time since 1990 and will have a chance to lose five in a row Saturday for the first time since 1953. But the ol’ coach thinks his last football hire at UGA will get the ship righted.

“This is the first time he’s been through a tough time and I have confidence that coaches who are good will be able to address the problem, will be able to assess it and make changes and continue on and get through it,” said Dooley about Richt’s predicament. “There’s an old saying that tough times don’t last but tough people do. And I think that Mark Richt is tough enough to do it.”

The Bulldogs have had several problems this season and have not been able to address many of this to this point of the season. Dooley remembers that when he coached, he never really knew what he was getting each year.

“Each year is an adventure into the unknown,” he explained. “You know what you’ve got, but you don’t know what you’ve got compared to what somebody else (has).”

With regard to the criticism and fan frustration that circles college football coaches, Dooley said it is all about how you deal with it. One effective strategy is to wait until it dies down before confronting it.

“These emotions come after the game on Sundays, on Mondays,” said Dooley. “When I had a choice of when I could do my radio show, I’d always have it on Thursdays. But on Sunday night that’s when they want to have their radio shows because that’s when the emotions come out.”

The former head coach and athletics director also mentioned that despite heavy pressure when he was coaching, he never felt any of it. Due to the lack of internet and technology as exists today, there was little of it when he was coaching.

“I never felt pressure because I was oblivious to it,” explained Dooley. “The pressure that I felt was from myself, that I didn’t do a good job. And I’d want to figure out why not. So those were the pressures. I never worried about what was going on out there. If you’re a coach and you worry about what’s going on out there, there’s no way you can address the problems you’ve got ahead of you.”

Richt has to worry about facing a Dooley squad on Saturday when Vince’s son, Derek, and his Tennessee Vols invade Athens in the latest renewal of a heated SEC rivalry. Vince declared that he will be at home rooting for his son’s team. But is it easy rooting for a program that was a long -time rival of his Bulldogs?

“Not really,” he said. “You don’t all of the sudden love that ugly orange.”