Home / Hotline Reports / Vince Dooley Show - Feb. 3, 2000
Vince Dooley Show - Feb. 3, 2000
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Fans aren’t any more passionate about recruiting now than before (they were back then, too), but more fans get passionate now, thanks to modern technology.
The ramifications of early departures on recruiting were also discussed; that is a worse problem in basketball but also cropped up in football on occasion.
A possible early signing day is again under study by the NCAA. Vince reminded a caller about the old early signing day in the SEC.
About shortening football games, what about restarting clock when play clock starts? Vince says all possibilities are being considered. Coaches are opposed to having plays taken out of the game, though.
A caller asked Dooley about the internet and message boards, and suggested we needed to better utilize the net as a recruiting tool. Dooley talked briefly about improvements made to the Athletic Dept. site, and added that the NCAA will soon rule that communications by e-mail will be treated the same as phone contacts with a prospective student-athlete. VD does not think message board comments are a big factor in recruiting. (Again, VD thinks our problems this year have more to do with stockpiled young talent from the last two classes.)
Dooley told a caller that WSB has been very supportive of UGA athletics - his show is evidence of that. The greatest pressure put on coaches is generally from and by themselves, not by fans or administrators. JD realizes this is a big year for him, as it is the year he has built towards. Being realistic, we had a young team in 1999. Dooley added that JD is an optimistic person by nature - more so than VD. Plus, JD expresses it more than VD ever did.
One of our loyal Dawgs who lives in enemy territory reports that the UT spin on Respert is that we pulled our scholarship offer because we figured UT had him anyway. Dooley says that is false. There is an action plan for such circumstances - the coach and AD discuss the matter. Dooley says there was really no discussion here, since JD told him we were pulling out.
What about what happened on Respert’s visit to UF? Dooley says that problem could exist anytime on a college visit. That said, the charges are very serious. We do hope Respert is cleared but have to act based only on the allegations at hand.
Lots of concern about the defense (last in the SEC in ’99). Dooley just said that JD understood that and would come up with a plan. VD figures that will be soon since spring practice is not far off.
What about the offense? VD had to remind the caller he is not the coach. Maybe the offense doesn’t look like a caller thinks it should, but it did finish #1 in total offense despite a running game not as strong as we’d like. It looks to get better next year.
OG was a very solid player here - played very well as a backup in ’97, then came on the second half of 1998. VD thinks OG sees the field as well as any back he has seen at UGA.
In reply to a call about women’s soccer - Dooley noted Coach Barker did have some success at UGA (one NCAA Sweet 16), but Dooley is also excited about the new coach, who took Minnesota to 4 NCAA tournaments. They just signed three very good players yesterday and hope to add one more.
Why do women’s hoops teams travel so much, at least early in the year? Isn’t that really expensive? Dooley was more concerned that the women may be letting down a bit since they are back home after a strong performance on the road in recent weeks (UGA was trailing UF by 9 early in the second half at the time of the question.)
Baseball - they had 1,000 for the pre-season banquet, which featured author John Grisham. Grisham knew Coach Polk from his days at Mississippi State. In fact, Grisham called Polk after Polk took the job here, and offered to speak at a pre-season event. Grisham wanted to talk more about college baseball than his books, and flew his private jet in at his own expense. Very nice gesture.
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