Christmas has come three weeks early for some Georgia fans as the school has announced the dismissal of three assistant coaches, including a coordinator who has been the target of much (most?) of UGA Nation’s scorn.
According to a press release issued by the school this afternoon, the contracts of defensive coordinator and secondary coach Willie Martinez, defensive co-coordinator and linebacker coach John Jancek, and defensive ends coach Jon Fabris have not been renewed for 2010.
Martinez and Fabris were members of head coach Mark Richt‘s original staff that camein 2001, while Jancek joined the Georgia staff in 2005. Jancek had been promoted to co-defensive coordinator one day after turning down an offer to become defensive coordinator at South Florida this past March.
“I cannot express enough my thanks to all three for their contributions to our program,” said Richt in a statement. “However, in the final analysis I’m charged with providing the leadership and direction for the Georgia program and sometimes that means making difficult decisions. This was one of them.”
The move away from Martinez is not much of a surprise, and comes on the heels of a 2008 season that was filled with rumors of his impending departure.
UGA was ranked 31st and 22nd in total defense the past two seasons, which put them in the top 25 percent of the country. When it came to scoring defense in 2008 and 2009, however, it was a different story.
Martinez was promoted to coordinator in 2005, and his squads ranked T8th, 20 and 18th in scoring defense. The last two seasons, however, those rankings plummeted to 59th (2008) and 71st (2009).
Those failures to keep opposing offenses out of the end zone brought the wrath of UGA fans, and ultimately brought an end to his nine-year run as a Georgia assistant.
Just another case of white on white crime.