Not to be antagonistic but that would, er, require the position that Richt was lying when he said this:
https://www.dawgnation.com/football/team-news/mark-richts-plan-now-im-ready-to-recruit and made several other statements to this effect ever since the Florida loss basically sealed his fate. It even seemed as if Richt was using the top 5 recruiting class that he had put together as leverage, even. Nothing wrong with having leverage and using it, but it just undermines the idea that he is leaving voluntarily.
Richt is 55 years old. Far too young to retire (he has 10 good years in him at least) but too old to start over somewhere else, or at least somewhere else that has a shot at contending. (Plenty of schools who would see going 8-4 every year as great progress would love to have him, but schools who think that they have a shot at getting into the college football playoff within the next 5 years are going to look elsewhere.) So the idea that he was going to step away in order to do nothing in particular - or even worse, to go into administration which is hard work, not a lot of power and doesn't pay a lot unless you are the AD - isn't in Richt's best interests.
It is far more likely that Richt winds up at ESPN or Fox making a million dollars to work a few hours a week for 15 weeks a year.
"There has been a change in CMR over the last 1 1/2 to 2 years. He seemed distant during the Pruitt hire and in all the IPF hullabaloo.
He has had little fire, has done a very poor job of preparing his teams, and has responded vaguely over the course of the season. "
If you think that this has merely been the problem the last 1.5 to 2 years, I have to ask you ... what is the biggest victory of Richt's career? When Richt and UGA knocked off a legit national title contender or even a team that won the SEC later in the year? Richt's teams have had the same problems with preparation, mental errors, turnovers, penalties etc. throughout almost his entire tenure. How else does one explain the rivalry, legitimately going back and forth, with a much less talented South Carolina program? (Even before Spurrier, Lou Holtz's Carolina teams gave Richt a mouthful at times.) Or the losses to Vanderbilt and Kentucky? The blowouts, absolutely embarrassing losses, to Florida and LSU when those teams were really good?
Exhibit A: Georgia went from beating LSU in Baton Rouge to getting annihilated in the SEC title game a few weeks later in 2003 remember?)
Exhibit B: Losing 16-12 at home to 6-6 South Carolina with that loaded team in 2007 (only 12 points with Stafford, A.J. Green and Knowshon Moreno), the loss that kept UGA from winning the SEC East and playing for the SEC and conference title?
Exhibit C: Going 6-7 and failing to score an offensive TD in a bowl game loss to George O'Leary and UCF in 2010.
Exhibit D: opening the 2011 season by getting killed by Boise State and South Carolina ending it with bad losses to LSU and Michigan State.
Exhibit E: going from Knowshon Moreno to Todd Gurley without a single viable tailback
Exhibit F: UGA hasn't had a capable QB since Aaron Murray, and unless Eason is going to be the rare true freshman QB to do well in SEC play, won't in 2016 either.
Exhibit G: not that it has been the entire fault of the QBs and RBs. When was the last time that UGA had an honest to goodness above average offensive line? And despite UGA's long-standing OL problems, why does Richt emphasize WR recruiting instead? And by the way ... despite Richt making WRs his first or second recruiting priority every year, UGA rarely has more than 1 above average guy catching the ball at a time, and sometimes doesn't even have that.
Sorry, but what you are describing has been going on A LOT LONGER than the last 1.5 to 2 years. Instead, it was the very reason why the AD started stepping in to meddle with the football program in the first place.
