3 worst head coach hires in Georgia football history
By Josh Yourish
. 1989-95. Ray Goff. Ray Goff. player. 527. . Record: 46-34. Ray Goff. 2
It wasn’t going to be easy for whoever succeeded Vince Dooley in Athens, but in hindsight, Goff, the team’s former quarterback and 1976 SEC Player of the Year, was not the right choice. Goff was an assistant on Dooley’s staff from 1981-88 and took over as the program’s head coach in 1989.
Coasting off Dooley’s fumes, Goff took Georgia to the Peach Bowl in 1989 after a 6-5 regular season record. Then, he was able to build the program up to 9 wins in 1991 and 10 wins in 1992. After winning the Citrus Bowl in 1992, Georgia finished eighth in the AP Poll and it appeared that Goff had built something sustainable, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Over the next three seasons, Goff’s teams went a combined 17-16-1. He was fired at the end of the 1995 season, but the true death knell of his tenure came on October 28 when the Bulldogs hosted Florida and Steve Spurrier’s Gators put up 52 points in a blowout road win over Georgia.
It turns out that Goff is much better at selling chicken than he was at coaching football.