Photo courtesy of Red & Black- Mark Richt prays with Nick Chubb.
My Facebook page has been extremely populated with anti-Mark Richt comments the past couple of weeks. The Bulldogs lost to Alabama and then to Tennessee, and a vocal contingent of the Bulldog Nation has been calling for his resignation. It doesn’t matter to them what his record is. All that matters is that they want to beat Alabama and win a national championship.
Who doesn’t? I think that the majority of college football fans are tired of mouthy Alabama fans, and is there a fan out there who doesn’t want their team to win a national championship? That’s a fabulous goal. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to win, unless perhaps it defines you.
When we decide to win at all costs, sacrificing integrity, decency and everything else in the way, winning becomes an idol.
Mark Richt is in his fifteenth year of coaching at UGA. His players have an 82% graduation rate, tying with Vanderbilt for number one in the SEC. In a 2014 ESPN article, of the top twenty-five programs in the country, according to the AP and USA Today Coaches Poll, UGA ranked third in the country, in players who graduate, right behind Notre Dame and Stanford. Since less that 4% of players go on to play in the NFL, that’s a big deal.
When the disastrous Tennessee game played out a couple of weeks ago and Nick Chubb was injured, Richt was caught on camera, praying with him. He felt like prayer was that important.
During Saturday night’s game against Missouri, I saw Todd Gurley sitting on the sidelines with Chubb, throughout the game. Gurley is now an NFL star. He certainly had better things he could have done on his week off, yet there he was supporting his injured former teammate. The week before he had tweeted prayers for him.
Praying for each other and supporting one another, isn’t that what those of us who claim to be Christians are called to do? Is there any way we can avoid giving Richt some credit in that friendship?
Richt has been quoted as saying, “My identity is not in being a national championship foot ball coach. My identity is in Christ. Do I want to win one? Yes. Does that define me as a person? No.”
He has also said that he has been asked by moms to help make their son into a man. That’s the sad reality that we live in these days. Richt has tried to rise to the challenge.
So, with all of these thoughts and facts that have swirled in my mind, I have to ask the questions, “As Southerners, who consider ourselves God-fearing Christians, men and women of faith, are we part-time Christians? Are we only Christ-followers on Sundays? Do we put away our faith for Saturday football?”
As Christians, it seems to me that what happens to those young athletes in the years after college should matter to us. Do they deserve to have a productive life after college? Do we pray that they come to know Jesus as their savior? Do we pray that they be able to have a positive impact in their world, (our world), after college?
Are their lives worth more than a national championship? Mark Richt seems to have his eyes focused on the things of God, not the things of man. Can the Bulldog Nation honestly say the same?
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂