It's time for Georgia to hit reset button

Have you ever had a major life decision and just knew, deep down in your heart, the timing was right? Things do usually happen for a reason and usually do work out perfectly in the grand scheme of things. That's why it certainly seems to be the right time for a change to be made in Athens.

It's just time. Fifteen years has been long enough for head coach Mark Richt. The last half of his tenure has not been as good as the first half. Richt's signature wins are a distant memory. He now has a reputation of not being able to win big games.

This season has turned into a hot mess. There are plenty of reasons, plenty of blame to pass around. But it all goes back to Richt, who is supposed to be better than this. His program is supposed to be better than this. But instead, Georgia is not even in the top half of the 14 teams in the SEC. Georgia can't even compete with the top teams in the conference.

Hiring Brian Schottenheimer was a huge mistake. He was not a huge success in the NFL, riding his dad's coattails. But Richt hired Schottenheimer as the offensive coordinator to replace Mike Bobo, a man who was unfairly criticized but never had the issues this Georgia team is having. There was occasional unhappiness with Bobo, but it was more about a certain play than a team not scoring a touchdown in two games.

Jeremy Pruitt is reportedly not happy. He's the defensive coordinator who came in two years ago with fire, ready to make changes. And he has, as Richt has allowed Pruitt to put his stamp on the program. But something is not working, and for the second straight year, the rumors of discontent are too loud to ignore.

We can't see Richt fire two more coordinators and be allowed to have the excuse that it will take more time to get new coaches acclimated with the system. How many times will Richt hire new scapegoats? This is the time to simply push reset and start over. It's time to clean house.

Richt's decision to start third-string quarterback Faton Bauta on Saturday was a sign of desperation. We knew coming into the season the quarterback situation was bad, but that's Richt's fault. He's a coach known for his work with quarterbacks, so how could he let this situation get out of hand?

Richt and Schottenheimer had two weeks to prepare to start a running quarterback against the Florida Gators, who have one of the best defenses in the SEC. But Bauta barely ran the ball, which made no sense. There is no excuse for that. It was simply poor coaching.

But the list of reasons for why Richt needs to go is much longer than just one start at one position in the biggest game of the season. That was bad, for sure, but what about the lack of player development in the offensive line? What about the lack of depth at receiver? What about the continuing special teams issues? What about the lingering problems on defense that have been going on all the way back to when Willie Martinez was in charge and then continued when Todd Grantham took over?

Richt struggles to beat Georgia's biggest rival (Florida, a team 10-5 against Richt). He struggles to beat ranked opponents (14-23 since 2008). He couldn't win the division the past two years when the SEC has been down. He can't get this team back to a BCS bowl game. And the thought of this coach getting Georgia into the football playoff is silly.

How long are Georgia fans supposed to wait? And forget about any defense about Jacob Eason, the savior of the program currently still in 12th grade out in Washington. The fact that a teenager could hold this program hostage is ridiculous. This is about prospects committing to the "G," not the "R-I-C-H-T."

Richt has had a solid run, but he's not a Supreme Court justice. He has no right to have a lifetime contract. What has he done to deserve that or the notion that Georgia will never find anyone better? That is just preposterous. They can't find a coach who will beat the four main SEC rivals (South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida and Auburn) better than 59 percent of the time?

It's time to at least try to find someone better. It might take awhile, but something has to be better than what we saw last Saturday.

Legendary Georgia place-kicker Kevin Butler said Sunday on his Atlanta radio show, "Everybody loves to win. You have to hate to lose in order to make a change." Well, while Georgia fans love what Richt has brought to the program with his integrity and honor, they are sick of losing.

And that's why Georgia needs to push the reset button.

Listen to "The Bill Shanks Show" from 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WPLA Fox Sports 1670 AM in Macon and online at www.foxsports1670.com/. Follow Bill at twitter.com/BillShanks and email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 6:29 PM with the headline "It's time for Georgia to hit reset button ."