A new video of the postgame meeting between James Franklin and Mark Richt sheds some light on what led to the brouhaha after Georgia’s 33-28 win at Vanderbilt on Saturday night.
Yesterday afternoon, WSMV-TV in Nashville posted video of the two head coaches chatting at midfield. The website SportsByBrooks.com then looped the video and posted it. That’s the clip you see below:
Franklin can be heard telling Richt about the actions of Georgia junior Shawn Williams and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham:
“Yeah, rubbin’ our face in it right after the game. And then your coach, when I tell him about it, then he goes after me and the fight starts.”
Richt then says, “That’s what I thought happened, I apologize.” It’s also been suggested that if you listen closely you can hear Richt say, “He’s a dumbass,” while Franklin is describing Williams’ taunts.
Remarkably, the anti-Richt crowd in Georgia is already complaining that Richt should not have backed down, should have acted more like Grantham, etc, etc.
That’s nonsense, of course. Richt showed class as he usually does. Subtract the “cl” and you have what Grantham showed. There’s a reason UGA athletic director Greg McGarity said yesterday that Grantham would “do some things differently” if given a second chance.
It’s believed the SEC could rule on the matter sometime today, but we would be surprised if Grantham (or anyone else) received more than a stern warning not to repeat the actions of Saturday night.
Hopefully we can put this story in the rearview soon.
