October 29, 2007
Athens - Georgia coach Mark Richt wanted to fire up his Bulldogs in their game with Florida by telling his team he wanted them to celebrate their first touchdown against the Gators to the point they got penalized for an excessive celebration.
It fired up his Bulldogs to the point where they crused the Gators but it also has fired up the Southeastern Conference.
And not in a good way.
Mark Richt on Monday apologized to SEC commissioner Mike Slive over the telephone and in a letter that was released to the media. Richt explained in the letter why he wanted his team to intentionally draw a penalty for successive celebration and that at the time he wanted just the 11 players on the field to celebrate.
Richt admitted his actions were inappropriate and that the entire Georgia team running onto the field in Jacksonville could have started an altercation.
Richt says his only intention was to create enthusiasm and that he will never ask his team to do anything like that again.
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