Matthew Brown: Is no job title safe?

Jun. 2—In an announcement that didn't seem to be a surprise in the Georgia Bulldog Nation, Scott Stricklin was relieved of his duties as the university's head baseball coach after 10 seasons.

No, wait, that's not right. Stricklin was relieved of his duties as the Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach at the University of Georgia.

Yes, the job title comes with an honorary name. The action — not to mention the task of finding the replacement — was taken by, not athletic director Josh Brooks, but the J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Josh Brooks.

The insanity doesn't stop there. On Kirby Smart's football staff is the Fain and Billy Slaughter Defensive Coordinator Glenn Schumann.

Academic buildings. Stadiums. Arenas. Playing Fields. Courts. Press Boxes. Radio Booths. Practice Facilities. Training Rooms. Bathroom Stalls. They all get a name tagged to them, except the latter on the list, but I shouldn't give them any ideas. Maybe you can think of some job titles that should be renamed — and whose name that should be. If you have one, let me know.

Getting back to the latest job opening at UGA. Yes, Stricklin's future was a topic of conversation on the airwaves. No regional invitation in 2023, a quick exit from the SEC Tournament, and a regular season full of head-scratching results.

If Georgia was playing at Foley Field in conference, the results were usually good except for a sweep at the hands of South Carolina. But the Bulldogs follow that up at home sweeping Arkansas and taking two out of three from Tennessee, both nationally ranked.

Then they go and get swept at Missouri, which didn't make the SEC tourney. No, not everyone gets to go to Hoover like in basketball.

On the rare occasion one of their games could be picked up in Milledgeville on the radio (93.1 FM) with Jeff Dantzler leading the broadcast, sometimes that turned out to be a good game. There was a Sunday walk-off loss at Ole Miss 8-7. At home May 18, UGA shook off 12 strikeouts in 7 innings by LSU's Paul Skeens — who will be the first pitcher drafted this summer probably after one of his teammates goes No. 1 — and took the highly-ranked Tigers to extra innings before falling 8-5.

Really, though, Stricklin's tenure suffered a serious setback by that little thing I keep bringing up time and again. In 2019, Georgia went 46-17 and hosted a regional (lost to Florida State). The Bulldogs are rolling to a 14-4 record (even with consecutive losses to Georgia Southern) and No. 3 ranking in 2020. But instead of opening SEC play at No. 1 Florida on March 13, the remainder of the season is cancelled (guess why).

Not Stricklin's fault.

It always seems to me that, in collegiate athletics at the Division I level, once you get past football and maybe men's basketball, someone with a head coaching job should feel a good bit of job security. Just show some competency and don't do anything outrageous on or off campus.

Some exceptions would include trying to follow the legend of Pat Summitt in Tennessee women's basketball (they've had two in the 11 seasons post-Pat, both with winning records but no nationals). The aforementioned LSU coach might also feel added pressure after Skip Bertman's five College World Series titles. They are on their third coach in 22 years with one title in 2009.

In Georgia's history of 'minor sports,' there are some real legends with long tenures. Jack Bauerle coached seven national championship swimming teams on the women's side in 42 years. Suzanne Yoculan coached 10 team and 31 individual NCAA champions in women's gymnastics in 26 seasons. Not all reached the top of the mountain, but Andy Landers — the best UGA coach to have as a guest speaker hands down — won 866 games in women's basketball in 36 seasons.

They did it all just being a head coach.

Georgia also knows how to win in tennis and golf, putting what I believe was a record number of players from one school in this year's Masters.

So where does UGA go now with the baseball program? The first thought would have to be looking for an experienced and successful head coach in the Division I level. I look at the national rankings and I see programs not far from this state that can't have near the resources one would find in Athens.

First, forget Gary Gilmore, national championship winner (2016) at Coastal Carolina. He's retiring this time next summer.

If Brooks thinks knowledge of the SEC is also important, East Carolina has that guy in 45-year-old Cliff Godwin. He was an LSU assistant for three years prior to that 2009 season, director of operations at Vanderbilt two years before that, and recruiting coordinator at Ole Miss three years before taking the ECU job (just head coach) in 2014.

All three of those are national championship winners.

How can I say UGA would have better resources? Well, East Carolina is top 15 in a few polls, and 16 schools get national seeds and the right to host regionals. The Pirates are not one of them, for they are at Virginia. Neither is another top 15 club from the Carolinas: Campbell.

But the way things usually work, the coaches of these schools are signing 10-year extensions — and maybe even getting a title sponsor — as I write.