I object to calling Coach Richt a piece of "ex...", and I also wouldn't lay the blame for the thuggery on him. As far as the football culture is concerned, Georgia has had a thuggish culture going back probably as long as I can remember, which for college football, that's the mid '70s. Most schools with the bulldog as their mascot (think the Citadel, Yale, or Miss. State) portray the mascot as a noble creature, whereas the Georgia bulldog was always a junkyard dog kind of animal. This is reflected in the UGA style of play as well as in the nature of much of the fan base. After leaving the '78 game with a helmet spear to the back, Eddie Lee Ivery entered the game again only to have his knee messed up by some cheap play. He was never the same again, and it probably contributed to his short career in the NFL. Things only got worse after Georgia won the championship in '80. Herschel and many of the players were class acts, but the fan base quickly turned into one of the most classless in victory I've ever seen. And they've only gotten worse since.
If you listen to their choice of music at games, or see the way some of their fans dress, it's all very dark. Every home game is like halloween. Not even Coach Richt's presence there seemed to change the tide, and I believe because of the deteriorating level of the culture surrounding UGA football, it was one of the reasons he was run out of Athens. He wasn't their type of man. No one can fault him for wanting to go back to his alma mater. But Miami has its own thuggish culture to deal with as well. Al Golden had the unenviable job of coming in there and trying to make it work. And to his credit, he did change the culture in the locker room a great deal. He just couldn't win. But to lay the blame for bad fan and player behavior at either school on Coach Richt is a bit much, considering the long histories both schools have for thuggish behavior.[/QUOT