The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

UGA supporter gets after AD McGarity

Ex-baseball player Minnick tired of underperfo­rmance.

- By Seth Emerson seth.emerson@ajc.com

Carroll Minick was a baseball player at Georgia from 1963-64 and is now a retired stockbroke­r living in Savannah. He wrote the following letter in an email — subject line “UGA Sports and Greg McGarity” — and agreed to let it be published. The posting is not as an endorsemen­t of all issues raised but an on-the-record voice to the concerns that other Georgia fans have expressed behind the scenes.

The letter appears with minor edits:

Four years ago, I along with a fellow UGA baseball letterman, met with (athletic director) Greg McGarity in his office to discuss his expectatio­ns for our baseball coach and program. He said he judged his coaches on overall record, SEC record, SEC championsh­ips and College World Series and postseason championsh­ips. Since that time, our baseball program has had a losing record.

About a month before this baseball season was over, I called McGarity’s office about his having a face-toface meeting with two former baseball captains and me. He refused and said he’d only do a conference call. The three of us talked to Greg for 48 minutes and told him the lettermen were unhappy with the poor performanc­e of baseball and wanted excellence. David Perno, the former coach, had been to the College World Series three times in his tenure and this year we hardly made the SEC Tournament, after finishing 12th out of 14 teams. He listened and none of us have heard anything since.

My involvemen­t with UGA baseball goes back for the past 23 years. I lettered in the 1960s and have known every coach since. My duties have ranged from president of the lettermen’s club, to chairman of a large fundraiser at the governor’s mansion and many other activities. In 2001, Vince Dooley asked me to be on the baseball selection committee, which I did when Perno was selected as coach. Over many years, I’ve met numerous lettermen, both old and young, from all sports and am in contact with many of them.

These relationsh­ips have led to many telephone calls from them about baseball and our entire sports program. Complaints heard were:

Basketball is underperfo­rming with a coach who could recruit better.

Tennis has lost the NCAA tournament and our tennis facilities are behind the times.

Our football facilities are middle of the road, with the new indoor facility an exception. This includes issues with the weight room, player facilities and a stadium not fan-friendly for this era.

The UGA Athletic Board has limited representa­tion from former Georgia athletes.

Women’s basketball is average.

Women’s softball finished last in the SEC. Women’s volleyball is bad. Women’s golf is not good. And to top it off, Vanderbilt beat us in football, baseball and golf. It looks like we need a change in our athletic department and we need profession­al help. I suggest Billy Payne, or someone of his stature, head a search committee to name a new athletic director. Look at Clemson and what its athletic department has done with great leadership and a plan for high success.

We’ve had monumental failures, such as tearing down the Nalley Center after six years. ($15 million ... whoosh, down the drain.) The location at Foley Field was the perfect place for the indoor facility and further football expansion. Space will be needed in the future and football is our cash cow. Kirby Smart needs big help because competitio­n is fierce and will not get any easier.

The state of Georgia is in the top four states in football, basketball and baseball for recruiting. We have no in-state competitio­n other than Georgia Tech. Look at our surroundin­g states and their in-state competitio­n. A few years ago in the MLB draft, we had six Georgia selections in the first round. Basketball has great athletes going everywhere but Athens. The NFL draft had 27 players drafted from the state of Georgia and none played at UGA. None!

I blame all of us for accepting this mediocrity and just sitting there as things seem to get worse. What if football is 9-3, baseball finishes seventh and basketball finally makes another top 64.? What is accomplish­ed? To me, average ... because we need championsh­ips and our main rival, Florida, (5-21 in the last 26 games vs. UGA) is winning at a highest level in all sports.

UGASports.com has given McGarity a 94 percent negative rating. This obviously is a very high negative percentage.

We must reach out to President Jere Morehead and let him know the high level of dissatisfa­ction. The issue is: Do we want to continue to be average or do we want to be at the top and be excellent? I choose excellent and close with a quote by Midge Decter, who is a writer and thinker: “You have to join the side you’re on.”

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