American philosopher George Santayana is famous for saying those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.
Georgia coach Mark Richt may not have known that what was going on in Baton Rouge at the turn of the century was going to be his fate a decade later, but he should have.
In 1995 LSU hired Gerry DiNardo to resurrect a program that was in shambles after the debacle that was the Curley Hallman era.
DiNardo came in and immediately had the Tigers going in the right direction. His first year saw the Tigers go 6-4-1 in the regular season and earn a berth in the Independence Bowl.
They would end up defeating Michigan State and its coach, Nick Saban, to finish the season with seven wins for the first time since 1988.
After that season, stickers and signs began to float around Baton Rouge that read, “Dinardeaux: Bring back the Magic.”
After the second year of the DiNardo reign, it appeared that he was just the wizard for the job. The Tigers won 10 games and beat Clemson, 10-7, in the Peach Bowl.
The team saw in 1997 a decrease in wins from 10 to nine, but also saw LSU defeat a No. 1-ranked team in Tiger Stadium for the first time in school history when it defeated Florida, 28-21.
The fans stormed the field and ripped up the goalposts that October night. But more than that, they thought the man in charge had led LSU back to glory for good.
They were dead wrong.
DiNardo’s next two teams won a total of seven games, one of which came after DiNardo’s firing.
His problem wasn’t a lack of talent — after he was fired, the roster still had players such as Bradie James, Josh Reed, Rohan Davey, Trev Faulk and others. DiNardo’s downfall was an inability to keep good assistant coaches and an unwillingness to fire the bad ones.
Most notable on that list was defensive coordinator Lou Tepper.
Tepper’s defense gave up 29.7 points per game in 1998. Fans and boosters called for his head, but DiNardo balked at the idea and kept his coordinator.
The next season saw the Tepper Swiss cheese defense surrender 24.9 points per game before being relieved of his duties prior to the season finale against Arkansas.
Richt is at the exact same crossroads where DiNardo found himself in 1998 and made the same, possibly career-threatening decision by refusing to fire offensive coordinator Mike Bobo.
Richt took over a struggling Georgia team coached by Jim Donnan in 2001.
During his first season at the helm, he led the Bulldogs to eight wins and a Music City Bowl berth.
His second year saw a Southeastern Conference Championship and Sugar Bowl win Between the Hedges.
He’d win the SEC again in 2004.
But after 10 wins in 2008, the wheels slowly began to fall off the wagon.
The Bulldogs won eight games in 2009, six in 2010 and are currently 0-2 after losing to Boise State and South Carolina.
Georgia’s struggles have largely been placed on the shoulders of the offense and Bobo. A quick Google search for “Fire Mike Bobo” returns 18,800 results.
Bobo was named offensive coordinator in 2006. Since then, Georgia has not made the SEC Championship Game.
Bulldog fans have urged Richt for a couple seasons now to heal the team’s bo-bos and fire Bobo.
But, much like DiNardo more than a decade ago, Richt is being loyal and stubborn.
After being proclaimed the savior of Georgia football, Richt’s stubbornness will most likely end up costing him his job. Just like DiNardo more than a decade ago.