If you’re the parent of a Georgia football player these days – at least the mother of Bulldogs place-kicker Marshall Morgan – you’re fighting hard to help embattled coach Mark Richt save his job.
And that’s as it should be. Parents theoretically hand their young men over to adults such as Richt in hopes that the coach will make responsible citizens of them by the time their playing careers are done.
So with seemingly much of the rest of Bulldog Nation barking to rid the program of its 15-year head coach in the wake of last weekend’s 27-3 loss to Florida – as well as last month’s 38-10 home loss to Alabama and 38-31 road loss at Tennessee following a blown 24-3 lead – Dana Morgan-Murphy took to Facebook to defend Richt.
“As a parent of a player and going to several recruiting visits at other colleges, there was no question after meeting Coach (John) Lilly and Coach Richt that our youngest son would be in the best hands possible,” she posted. “These two men walk their talk. Coach Richt took the time recently to make sure Marshall knew he loved him no matter what happened when he went in to kick a game-winning field goal a few weeks ago. That mattered to me and my husband more than a national championship.”
This has always been the fall-back argument regarding Richt. He’s a great person. A father figure to a lot of players who lacked an honorable one growing up. And if Richt weren’t already making $4 million a year to produce championship seasons, that might be reason enough to protect him for another year or two.