Richt on ‘hot seat’ talk; recruit Fields not admitted; more from SEC meetings (UPDATED)

2:31 pm June 1, 2010, by Tim Tucker
DESTIN, Fla. – Quickly, some news, notes and quotes from Mark Richt at the SEC meetings:
  • It didn’t take long for a reporter to ask Richt what he thinks when his name appears on media lists of coaches supposedly on the hot seat. Replied Richt with a smile: “I didn’t know it had. Is that true?”
  • Earlier in a chat with reporters, Richt discussed his approach to the job: “My mindset has always been, let’s do what I think we need to do to succeed and try not to be influenced by anything other than the people who are closest to the program. And quite frankly my goal has always been to try to conduct myself in a way so that the university would be proud and my Lord and Savior would be proud too. So I’m trying to do things . . . with a lot of integrity and a lot of character. And hopefully we’re winning games and we’re still educating young men. . . . Of course you want to win. Absolutely. But also we still want these guys to get their degrees; we want these guys to be preparing for life after football. We think you can have it all.”
  • Richt said he doesn’t buy into the notion espoused by some that it’s hard for coaches to have success in the same job for more than 10-12 years: “I came from Florida State. I was with Coach Bowden, who had been there forever. And that was sort of the model that I saw and that I really aspired to have.”
  • Dalton defensive end Jalen Fields, a member of Georgia’s 2010 signing class, apparently will not qualify academically. Richt said Fields has not been admitted to Georgia yet, adding that he doesn’t expect him to enroll this year. Richt said he doesn’t know where Fields will go to school this fall, whether Georgia Military College or elsewhere. All other UGA signees except WR Lonnie Outlaw, who was known to be GMC-bound, have qualified, Richt said.
  • Richt confirmed that cornerback Vance Cuff was, indeed, timed at 4.24 seconds in the 40-yard dash this spring, the fastest ever by a Georgia football player. More on that is here.
  • On the “Dream Team” concept that Georgia coaches are pitching in recruiting the 2011 class, Richt said: “I think some [recruits] think it is pretty cool.”
  • Richt expects much chatter this week about conference expansion but doesn’t expect anything to come of it, at least not soon.
  • Richt reiterated Georgia’s QB situation entering preseason. Logan Gray is the No. 2 QB even though Gray will work more at WR than QB. Freshman Hutson Mason will work more than Gray at QB but won’t be considered No. 2 until he proves himself. And Richt said again that Aaron Murray would have been the No.1 QB at end of spring practice regardless of the Zach Mettenberger situation.
  • Scratch the rumors about CB Sanders Commings and WR Israel Troupe possibly playing baseball for a local amateur team, the Athens Pirates, this summer. They won’t, Richt said.
Richt on ‘hot seat’ talk; recruit Fields not admitted; more from SEC meetings (UPDATED) | UGA sports blog