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Despite Loss, Coach Makes Georgia Proud

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By JOE HENDERSON

jhenderson@tampatrib.com

Published: March 13, 2009

TAMPA - Less than a minute remained, but the game was really over and everyone inside the Forum knew the season was over for the Georgia men's basketball team, too. In this case though, much more than a season was ending.

So Bulldogs coach Pete Herrmann went down the line of Georgia's bench, hugging each player and saying goodbye. When the buzzer sounded a few seconds later on Mississippi State's 79-60 victory in the opening round of the SEC Tournament, Herrmann's coaching career - at least in Athens - was over, too.

"I'll keep coaching," Herrmann said a few minutes later, but it won't be at Georgia. He was an assistant on the Bulldogs' staff just six weeks ago, but he was elevated to the top chair when Dennis Felton was fired after a 9-11 start that culminated with a 26-point loss at Florida.

He did the best he could, as did his players, but they had no chance. Georgia won three of the 12 games Herrmann coached - although one of those was against Florida, which was extra sweet. The school will look for a fresh start with a well-known name. Some of the players will be back, but Herrmann moves on.

"I thought it was a very tough day when I took over for Dennis," Herrmann said. "We had been on the court together 11 straight years, every practice, every game. And I thought that was tough.

"But this was tough because I had a lot of belief in the integrity of these players and what they went through for six weeks. They kept pushing forward. They had some tremendous wins. They had some dark times when they didn't play very well, but they always hung in there."

Couldn't Repeat Magic

Georgia was set to fire Felton last year before the Bulldogs shocked everyone and won the SEC Tournament. Herrmann mentioned four times in his interview session before this game that the Bulldogs were defending SEC champions, as if repeating that often enough could make it happen again.

There was no such magic this time, though.

Well, I shouldn't say that - not exactly.

Early in the second half Wednesday, the Bulldogs cut a 15-point deficit to five points with 15:13 remaining in the game. They had everyone in the Forum wondering if it could happen again.

About 21/2 minutes later, they had their answer. The lead was 15 again. It would reach 21 points before the scrubs finished out the game. The buzzer sounded as Georgia missed the last of five shots under the basket in the final seconds, a futile attempt to make the margin two points closer. It seemed an apt ending for a season that never had a chance.

"It was definitely a tough season; you can't deny that," Georgia guard Corey Butler said. "But I think it was one of the greatest growing experiences any collegiate athlete could have. I mean, you're not going to experience this. Not too many players are going to experience this.

"You can be in North Carolina and make it all the way to the national championship and win, and you're not going to have a season quite like what we have. You're not going to have a learning experience and growing experience quite like what we had this year."

A moment later, Butler left the interview room for the final time. Before he did, though, he looked at Herrmann and said simply, "It has been tremendous, and I love you, Coach."

Business Grinds On

Georgia will find another coach as it keeps trying to rebuild a program still reeling from the disastrous reign of Jim Harrick, who was fired in 2003 amid one of the all-time whopper scandals. The Bulldogs will get it right eventually.

But there was something noble about this team and its coach that went beyond a record that most Bulldogs fans will want to forget. They beat the Gators. They went to Rupp Arena last week and beat Kentucky on senior night. They gave it their best shot against a much-better Mississippi State team.

Afterward, Pete Herrmann - a basketball lifer, with 28 years in the business from high school to Division I - thanked everyone for the ride. He even thanked the sports writers for treating him fairly. And now he is off to look for another job. It's a tough business sometimes, but the Georgia Bulldogs and their coach just proved there is a right way to handle things like this.

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