Fran Tarkenton rips Georgia coaching staff, calls QB Bauta 'just awful'

Fran Tarkenton has had enough.

The Hall of Famer and former Georgia quarterback blamed the coaching staff for his alma mater's recent woes in an appearance on 680 The Fan in Atlanta on Tuesday.

"This staff that is over there today - and I am going to be very kind about it - it is not functioning properly. I think the culture there of the staff is not functioning properly," Tarkenton said. "As we all know, Mark Richt is a good, fine, wonderful person. I think there are things going on inside of his staff that are unsavory.

"If you don't have your whole staff and your whole organization of respect and understanding the roles of everybody, things happen badly. … We've got troubles in our program over there that needs to be fixed. It's not about play-calling, it's not about a defense-calling. It's about a culture that has the right culture of love, respect, together."

While Tarkenton said he supports Richt and spared him any direct blame, he did not offer the same vote of confidence for defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt.

"I think he has come over and been very boisterous, been very loud. I think he's taken advantage of things over there. He personally has hired four of the assistant coaches over there including the weight guy. I'm not a great fan of Jeremy Pruitt. That has not been a good, workable solution."

Tarkenton called Georgia's 27-3 loss to Florida a "total disgrace," and took aim at quarterback Faton Bauta.

"He's just awful," Tarkenton said. "He's in an uncomfortable position. When you have three quarterbacks that have proven they can't play, you've got to alternate them and hope one of them during the game can come up and play."

Tarkenton enjoyed a storied career with the Bulldogs from 1958-60, including an SEC championship in 1959. Today's Bulldogs are far from the SEC championship, though, and are just 5-3 on the season.