Marcus Spears: Georgia handled Mark Richt's firing 'the right way'

Greg McGarity has a former SEC standout turned commentator in his corner.

While at least one portion of the Georgia fan base was unhappy with McGarity firing previous head coach Mark Richt, former LSU and longtime Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Marcus Spears came to the athletics director's defense.

Part of the reason is because Spears' Tigers went through a long, drawn-out ordeal when it came to the future of head coach Les Miles, who was eventually retained. Spears believes LSU should take a cue from Georgia when it comes to deciding whether to dismiss a coach or not.

"Georgia fired Mark Richt and nobody’s happy about it. But Georgia handled it the right way," said Spears, who now works as an analyst for the SEC Network. "They hushed the crowd, they hushed the madness early. They let the season play out and then they made a decision. One of the realities of what we deal with in college football is that coaches are going to get fired. It’s going to be a group of people that don’t like it and there’s going to be a group of people that’s been waiting for the change."

Richt, now the head coach at Miami, was fired the morning after Georgia’s 13-7 win over Georgia Tech. A week later, the Bulldogs hired Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart to replace him.

Once questions about Richt’s job security came to the forefront following a 27-3 loss to Florida, McGarity declined the comment. While questions of Richt's future existed, no reports surfaced until the day he was let go.

On LSU’s side, reports on Miles’ potential firing existed before athletics director Joe Alleva announced he would be retained after the program's regular-season finale win over Texas A&M. The way it played out did not sit well with Spears.

"I thought it was handled poorly," Spears said. "I’ve been on record saying that a few times. I don’t think you let a coach float out there and have to answer questions about his job when he’s preparing to play a game. I think the administration should step in and take a stand and say, 'Look, we’ll make a decision on his job after the season is over.' But the fact he had to go out there and call a press conference and field questions about it, in the midst of trying to win a game that went a long ways to him still keeping his job -- I just thought it was handled poorly."

This story was originally published December 9, 2015 at 10:55 AM with the headline "Marcus Spears: Georgia handled Mark Richt's firing 'the right way'."