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Monday, January 5, 2009

Garner Staying Put

UDPATE: If you haven't checked it out already, Chip Towers has the details from Rodney Garner, himself.

From UGA Athletics:

University of Georgia defensive line coach Rodney Garner, the first assistant coach hired by Mark Richt at UGA, will remain with the Bulldog coaching staff after considering an offer from the University of Tennessee to coach on the offensive side of the ball.

"Certainly I'm flattered and am sincerely appreciative of the interest shown by Tennessee," said Garner. "But in the final analysis the positives at Georgia were the determining factors. My heart is coaching on the defensive side of the ball. I enjoy working with Coach Richt and the rest of the staff and our family loves being a part of the Athens community. And we have some really good defensive linemen returning next year along with some outstanding newcomers. Our family felt that we wanted to continue with the goals we had set when Coach Richt came in December of 2000 of helping build the Georgia program."

"Rodney has been an integral part of the success we've enjoyed over the past eight years," said Richt. "He's produced some outstanding defensive linemen and is nationally known as one of the country's very best recruiters. But he also has been instrumental in many areas of our football program in addition to coaching on the field and recruiting. He's done an outstanding job in all areas of his responsibility and we're excited about moving forward with Rodney, Kim and their daughters as part of our coaching family."

A native of Leeds, Alabama, and All-SEC offensive lineman at Auburn, Garner served as defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator on Richt's first staff and added the title of Assistant Head Coach in 2005. He participated in the inaugural Minority Coaches Forum in 2006 and was selected one of ten coaches from throughout the country to participate in the 2004 NCAA Expert Coaching Academy in Indianapolis. Garner was also chosen in 2004 as one of 20 coaches selected for the NCAA Advanced Coaching Academy.

Prior to joining Richt's staff, Garner served two years with former Bulldog coach Jim Donnan after assistant coaching tenures at Auburn and Tennessee. Since coming to Georgia he has coached four NFL first round draft choices--Richard Seymour, Marcus Stroud, Charles Grant, and Jonathan Sullivan.

3 comments:

Bernie said...

Another sign that Tennessee eats boogers...

Anonymous said...

Is this the kind of behavior we can expect from the orange sherbert now-attack everywhere you can on and off the field, nothing is off limits? What those clowns have done with salaries has effectively created turmoil in the SEC and out. I'm well aware of the $$$ coming from the new tv contract but come on, does everyone have to spend it the same way just cause baby kif says so? What do you think David, was this just a legitimate try for a great recruiter, or was it a toss to cause problems no matter how it fell out?

David Hale said...

Well, check out the last question from the transcript of today's teleconf and I think you'll get the idea that this isn't going to be the friendliest of rivalries.

To tell you the truth, I think it's some smart gamesmanship on the part of UT. You try to get a great recruiter, stir the pot quite a bit, and get people talking about your program in a way that probably has to interest recruits. It's not entirely seemly, but it's a good play if you aren't too interested in the ethical side of things.

Moreover, Kiffin's biggest problem is his lack of experience, and so spending all that money on assistants makes up for that weakness, which is another smart move. The ripple effects? Well, as UT sees it, that's someone else's problem.

The bottom line, however, is that money doesn't necessarily win games. We've seen that in every sport at every level. Look at the Sugar Bowl. So if UT struggles again this year, it won't matter what Lane is spending or who he's trying to steal from other staffs.