
Just how much does a southern accent matter to Georgia Southern Football fans? Apparently, when it comes to head coaches, a heck of a lot.
Yesterday the University confirmed that star transfer QB Antonio Henton had left the team and the University to pursue other opportunities. This is unfortunately the latest and greatest of what has become a real pattern of attrition within the GSU athletic program. It started with Mike Sewak, and players skipping class, not studying, and flunking out. It continued with Brian Van Gorder, whose ham-handed way of dealing with everything that he touched, drove away many of Sewak's players, as well as a few of his own recruits(those who weren't arrested). Now, despite his promises to right this sinking ship and end the APR woes that had plagued the program under the former regimes, it is fast becoming clear that head Coach Chris Hatcher is no better at retaining players than the last two guys. All one has to do to confirm that assertion is take a look at the number of players and recruits who have quit the team since 2007. It's not like these are all Sewak or BVG holdovers either. These are Hacther's guys who are leaving. Antonio Henton is just the highest profile of the defectors, but he is also the latest in a long line.
When these things happened under BVG, all hell broke loose. Messageboards went crazy, the media wondered aloud what was going on in Statesboro, and fans got downright ugly toward BVG and even his family. Now that these similar events are taking place under Coach Hatcher, I have to wonder why he seems to be immune from the same type of public criticism that was levied at Van Gorder, and even sewak to a certain extent. It's not as if Hatcher didn't leave himself open for such criticism either, with his latest bitter-sounding comments about Henton leaving. When Hatcher was asked how Henton leaving would effect the 2009 outlook, he answered, "It won’t affect us one bit. Chapple was our starter coming out (end of season), and he was going to be our starter going in. Last year was a transition year from doing what we had to do our first year here with Jayson Foster to what I was hired to do".
Really, Coach? We just lost last year's leading rusher and leading passer, and it's not going to effect us one bit? Wow. That must be one amazing rabbit you're about to pull out of your visor in 2009. I sincerely hope that you can do it, but your record here at GSU so far doesn't indicate that as a high probability.
The Great Contradiction of 2009
Fans, the fact of the matter is that this latest sour grapes statement about Henton directly contradicts what Hatcher himself has been telling us since the end of last season about the starting QB situation. That is, that Henton and Chapple would once again be in competition for the starting job, along with Billy Lowe and Kyle Collins. Amazingly, nobody in the local media has picked up on this 180 degree turn on a dime, by Hatcher. If they have, they've refused to cover it. I personally find it hard to fathom that because Antonio Henton quit, Hatcher would choose that particular moment to reveal the secret that, all along, Chapple was his guy. It's a load of crap. Anyone who believes Chris Hatcher when he says, before Henton left, his mind was already made up about next year's starting QB needs his head examined. In my opinion, Hatcher's statement is simply an emotional reaction to his personal frustration with Henton. Once again, the young coach shows his green under belly, but this time we're not going for 2 point conversions in overtime. Talking about Henton in the aforementioned manner is unprofessional, and it can only damage us with future recruits. Not to mention, is that the way Lee Chapple wanted to win this starting job? I highly doubt it.
Lastly, just for arguments sake, let's assume that Hatcher is indeed telling the truth when he says that Lee won the 2009 job vs. Furman(or WCU) last year. If that is true, then is he telling us that he lied to us about the 2009 QB competition being open? Even worse, was he lying to the participants in that competition when he told them it was an open battle? If so, then what does that say for his future credibility with the team, or new recruits? I hate to bring up the dreaded BVG again, but this point bears making. If BVG had pulled this kind of thing after a player quit, he would have been accused of "throwing the player under the bus". Chris Hatcher, on the other hand, DRIVES the bus directly over a former player, and a friend, and he gets away with it Scot free in the media, and on most GSU messageboards and blogs. I don't get it. Is Chris Hatcher's aw-shucks attitude and southern drawl that appealing to the GSU fan? And if so, is that personality appealing enough to put up with 7-4 seasons, and player attrition rates that are through the roof? Something's got to give, and soon.
- Joe


