Ah, Twitter.  Dumbing down our society 140 characters at a time since 2006.

The boom in Twitter usage and in social media in general has — as you know — led the NCAA to attempt to rewrite its rule book in recent months.  With new forms of electronic communication popping up just about every day, college sports’ governing body has decided it wants to stop monitoring and counting every tweet, text and Facebook post.  Who can blame it?

Coaches like Georgia’s Mark Richt were ahead of the curve on Twitter, in particular, using it as a means to sell their programs one short blast at a time:

“Twitter has gone a little crazy in recruiting.  Direct messages to kids are legal.  And Facebook, there’s still a lot of communication going on through Facebook.  But we just talked the other day — I personally need to get more involved on the direct messaging on Twitter because that’s where a lot of them are solely doing their social media communication…

There’s just so many people communicating that way, and following your program that way.  And it’s the way to put really positive content out on our program, let people have a little bit of an inside feel on what’s going on here at Georgia, and what might be going on in my life or whatever — not that I do a lot of that.”

Richt told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he manages his own account and does not farm it out to someone on his UGA support staff.

Quicky headlines today…

SEC Football

1.  Twitterers react to the SEC’s decision not to suspend Alabama’s Quinton Dial.

2.  Eleven of the 26 players on the FWAA All-America team are from the SEC.

3.  Todd McShay’s latest mock draft for ESPN has 15 SEC players going in the first round of the NFL draft.

4.  A Pac-12 officiating crew will handle the BCS Championship Game between Alabama and Notre Dame.

5.  Arkansas has released the contract information for its new assistants, including new O-line coach Sam Pittman.

6.  Chick-fil-A Bowl officials are hoping for big TV ratings from LSU-Clemson matchup.

7.  Georgia’s Mark Richt is still answering questions about not spiking the ball in the SEC title game.

8.  UGA backup tailback Ken Malcome is “not too happy with (the) situation” at running back.

9.  Kentucky has hired Chad Scott and Vince Marrow as assistant coaches.

10.  Mississippi State fans can take their cowbells to the Gator Bowl.

11.  The Bulldogs are already boning up on Northwestern game tape.

12.  Tennessee has confirmed all its assistant coaching hires but one.

13.  Texas A&M has a number of options when it comes to replacing ex-offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury.

14.  Kevin Sumlin could choose to promote from within for the spot, too.

SEC Basketball

15.  Tennessee knocked off unbeaten, #23 Wichita State last night 69-60 in Knoxville.

16.  LSU will open its road schedule at Boise State tonight in the Taco Bell Arena.

17.  Suspended Tiger point guard Anthony Hickey did make the trip to Idaho, but his status “remains to be seen.”

18.  Ole Miss will host East Tennessee tonight at the Tad Pad.

19.  Florida coach Billy Donovan won’t rule out jumping to the NBA someday.  (Presumably for longer than a week.)

20.  Wimp Sanderson’s son, Scott, will take his Lipscomb team to Kentucky tomorrow, but Papa won’t be in attendance.

21.  Vanderbilt’s Kevin Bright is finally getting used to American hoops after playing in Germany.

Georgia comes in ranked #5 in both polls.  South Carolina is #6.  ESPN’s “College GameDay” is coming to town, too.

So how do you describe Saturday’s rivalry game in Columbia?  In a word… huge.

“It’s a huge game.  We all know it.  Georgia is a very good team.”

– South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier

“It’s a big, big game right now.  When you start playing this deep into the conference season and you’ve got two undefeated, it’s huge.”

– Georgia’s Mark Richt

See?  Huge.

Carolina opened as a 2.5 point favorite but the line is up to 3 at this point.

Hear all 14 SEC coaches discuss their team.

Vanderbilt- James Franklin

Tennessee – Derek Dooley

South Carolina – Steve Spurrier

Mississippi State – Dan Mullen

Ole Miss – Hugh Freeze

LSU – Les Miles

Kentucky – Joker Phillips

Georgia – Mark Richt

Florida -Will Muschamp

Auburn – Gene Chizk

Arkansas – John L. Smith

Alabama – Nick Saban

Texas A&M – Kevin Sumlin

Mizzou – Gary Pinkel

QB Connor Shaw to be gametime decision for South Carolina vs East Carolina
WR Cobi Hamilton expected to start for Arkansas vs Louisiana-Monroe
Georgia’s Mark Richt won’t name RB starter vs Missouri… or say who’s suspended
Tennessee walk-on WR Jacob Carter given scholarship after 1-catch performance vs NC State
Tyrann “Honey Badger” Mathieu officially enrolled as student at LSU, hopes to play in 2013
Keep up with SEC news everyday at MrSEC.com

Finally.  Just one more session to go and that’s with Georgia’s Mark Richt.  Expect questions about Isaiah Crowell, preseason expectations, his job status with a new contract, etc.

Also expect Richt to be laid-back as ever…

* Richt called it a “blessing” to be going into his 12th season at Georgia.

* Richt said the fact that so many veterans looked at the NFL and then chose to come back speaks well for the type of leadership his team can have this year.

* Asked if he’d rather play seven games at home or pay a big non-conference foe on the road, the coach said long road trips really “take a lot out of you.”  He said, “I’d like to have 12 home games if I could.”  What’s a coach going to say to that question?

* “I hope the media’s right” in their picks “this time,” Richt said.  He also said his team hasn’t done a thing yet.

* Richt was asked about new LSU quarterback and ex-UGA QB Zach Mettenberger and said he’s known him since he was a little “peanut.”  He said he hopes he wins every game he plays unless he’s up against Georgia.  Classy comments.  He also said Mettenberger would be competing for the starting job if not starting if he were still in Athens.  (Richt dismissed Mettenberger after an off-field incident.)

* The coach said that he thinks UGA is capable of winning the East Division each year.  He also said after Year One he felt that way which was a small bone tossed to Jim Donnan.

* Just got another “we” remark from a “media” member.

* Asked about UGA’s drug policy and if he’s lobbied for a uniform policy in the SEC, Richt said no.  He said he feels it’s up to the institution.  “I do think we’re doing the right thing for Georgia” he said of the Dawgs’ strict policy.

* Asked about interviewing at Missouri years ago, he said he didn’t turn down Mizzou and that the Tigers picked Gary Pinkel as the best man for that job… and they were “obviously correct.”  Can this guy give a non-classy answer?

* Richt said he wouldn’t have a problem with a commissioner being able to fire a coach.  (Yeah, but 99.9% of fans would.)

* The coach says Malcolm Mitchell will start out as a defensive player and then play more offense as the season goes on.  Richt said he went back and looked at Champ Bailey’s two-way stats while he was at UGA and found that he played more than 100 snaps per game after the first three games in a season.  He doesn’t know i

* Richt said he won’t update anything on suspensions today.

* Richt says quarterback Aaron Murray loves preparing for games as much as enjoys playing.

* Short and sweet.  Not a lot of questions for UGA’s coach.  Just 20 minutes.  Couldn’t be that folks are already leaving Hoover and headed home could it?  Nah.

Our overall grade of Richt’s “performance” based on comfort, friendliness, openness… we’ll give him a 5.  (Either we were easy this year or folks were much better.)  Richt answers what you throw at him and always seems to take even tough questions in stride.  He’s Ward Cleaver, Jim Anderson, Mike Brady, Cliff Huxtable.  If you had to pick a neighbor, deacon, or dad, Richt would be high on the list.

LSU fullback JC Copeland has fired a shot toward the Auburn football program that you can bet has fans of the Plainsmen riled up today.  The 280-pound bruiser remembers his Tigers 45-10 win over AU’s Tigers for the hits he didn’t have to dole out:


“The most memorable game I’ve had this year, I’ve got to say, was Auburn, because after the first couple of hits, everybody (on AU’s defense) was just backing up.  They didn’t want to hit at all. … Before I got to them, they just fell down and just laid on the ground.

I actually said, ‘C’mon man, you’re better than that.  C’mon, hit me.  That was like the only game I went home and had no nicks and bruises at all.”


Yikes. 

Makes you wonder if Georgia’s Mark Richt was referring to Auburn’s D when he said pre-SEC title game: “I’ve seen people just start jumping out of the way of this guy, literally.”

One thing you can be sure of is this… you can bet that Gene Chizik will post Copeland’s comments all over Auburn’s football complex in the week running up to next year’s LSU game.

With so many coaching moves — and rumored moves — today, this post will serve as our PM Headlines post.  And since we’re in the middle of doing radio shows from Tennessee to Arkansas to Kentucky to Alabama to Georgia… with CSS’ “SportsNite” coming up at 6pm ET, we’ll just cut to the nitty gritty.

1.  It’s being reported in Chapel Hill that Southern Miss head coach Larry Fedora has been offered the same job at North Carolina.  Fedora is in New York along with UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham and a deal could be struck today.  However, Texas A&M officials are in NYC, too.

2.  The Aggies interviewed Fedora yesterday.  Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart is also believed to have interviewed with A&M brass.  Kevin Sumlin continues to be mentioned in connection with that job, too.

This morning, AggieYell.com — the Rivals site covering A&M — reported that Dan Mullen and Dabo Swinney had expressed interest in the job.  Now that site is reporting that Kyle Whittingham might be a player in the mix as well.

The site also shot down rumors that Georgia’s Mark Richt is a candidate in College Station.  (Uh, no kidding.)

3.  Reports from KFSM-TV in Fayetteville/Fort Smith claim that Arkansas defensive coordinator Willy Robinson has been dismissed.  Robinson was absent from a team meeting last night.  The station reports that former Arizona head coach Mike Stoops and current Green Bay Packers assistant Joe Whitt Jr. — who worked with Petrino at Louisville — will be candidates for the job.

Bobby Petrino has the Razorbacks rolling on offense.  That likely won’t change anytime soon.  If he can land the right mind to improve his team’s defense… look out.  UA has had back-to-back 10-win seasons in the SEC with so-so defenses.  If they can just go from so-so to good — not even great — they could compete for titles for years to come.  (Of course, they’ll also need to start recruiting a bit better on that side of the ball.)

4.  Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn is still being mentioned as a potential head coaching candidate — along with many, many others — at Kansas.  Malzahn, however, has told sources close to him that he expects to be back on The Plains at Auburn next year.

Speculation has also tied ex-SEC coaches Phillip Fulmer and Houston Nutt to the Jayhawks’ job.

5.  Alabama offensive coordinator Jim McElwain has been linked to the head coaching vacancies at both Fresno State and Memphis.  McElwain served as the offensive coordinator at FSU under the recently fired Pat Hill for one season in 2007… before Nick Saban hired him at Alabama.

6.  Steve Spurrier had only good things to say about running backs coach Jay Graham who is leaving South Carolina for the same position at Tennessee.  “Coach Graham did an excellent job here for the past three years.  He told me that coaching at his alma mater is something he wanted to do.  He’s a very good coach and an outstanding person.  We wish him the best in his coaching career.”

Spoken like a man who once left Duke to go coach at his alma mater, Florida.

Heading into the 2010 season, LSU’s Les Miles sat on the hottest seat in the SEC West.  His program had lost nine games in a two-year span and with his salary, Louisiana’s depth of talent, and the success LSU had enjoyed in previous seasons, fans were talking dismissal.

Heading to the 2010 season, Georgia’s Mark Richt sat on the warmest seat in the SEC East.  His Dawgs finished 2008 with five losses… his worst mark to date in Athens.  A year prior they have failed to live up to preseason #1 expectations.  And the coach continued to lose to Florida.

In 2010, both coaches had their struggles.  Miles was the butt of jokes — and the target of fans’ anger — after his team nearly blew a home game to hapless Tennessee through game-management issues.  Richt saw his team get off to an 1-4 start en route to a 6-7 finish.

But from 2009 to now, both coaches have silenced many (if not all) of the critics demanding their ousters.  As Mike Herndon of The Mobile Press-Register writes:

“Yet, here they are two years later, preparing for the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta on Saturday.  One with a shot at a second national title and the other with his first division title in four years. Patience may be a virtue after all, even in the win-now world of college football…

LSU and Georgia could have gotten antsy a couple of years ago.  They are being rewarded for their patience this week.”

Patience.  It’s an interesting idea considering Kansas and Memphis both fired coaches after two short seasons and, inside the SEC, many fans at Kentucky and Tennessee would like to see their coaches dismissed after just two years, too.

The 2011 football season has had one focus in the state of Georgia — Mark Richt’s job status.  And while UGA AD Greg McGarity has said any contract change for Richt would be handled after the season, there’s growing speculation that the top Dawg will return next season complete with a contract extension.  (So long as he beats Kentucky and reaches the SEC title game, of course.)

There’s talk that defensive coordinator Todd Grantham might receive an extension to keep him in Athens for a longer run.  Grantham’s agent let it be known that he’s already “gotten inquiries” from NFL clubs interested in hiring his client as a D-coordinator.  And he says he’s “gotten feelers” from representatives of colleges regarding Grantham’s possible interest in a head coaching job. 

Regardless of the situation involving Grantham it certainly appears that Richt has saved his job with what’s currently an eight-game win streak and a likely East Division title.

So let’s send out this long-distance dedication to the SEC’s dean of coaches: