By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Coaching turnover in college and professional athletics occurs about as often as The Fast and the Furious movies are released.

So, when Mark Fox was relieved of his duty as Georgia’s head basketball coach, you can understand why I was a little stunned to realize he had been at the helm for nine years.

In fact, entering this past season only Andy Kennedy (12 yrs), and John Calipari (signed his contract 4 days before Fox) had a longer tenure at their respective schools than the former Bulldog coach.

How, with all the rampant turnover in coaching did Fox, a coach with a .551 winning percentage, two NCAA Tournament appearances with no wins, and zero SEC conference or even divisional titles, last as long as he did?

The first thing that popped in my mind was that Georgia- Athletic Director, Greg McGarity in particular- was giving Fox a legitimate chance to succeed, when so many of his counterparts aren’t given that same opportunity.

I mean, nine years is more than enough time to gauge whether or not you need to make a change. I’m not sure how much truth there is within that scenario, but the optimist in me wants to believe it had to have played a little part.

The second thing was something my brother had said to me a few years ago; “When it comes to work, mediocrity is king.” If you’re completely inept at your job, it will be fairly obvious and you won’t last very long. If you are extremely successful, then you’ll be given more responsibilities and the expectations placed upon you will continue to increase. If you’re simply middle of the road and not causing any trouble, than you’ll fly under the radar and last longer in that position than most. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not encouraging mediocrity, but it does kind of make sense, right.

In the case of Fox, he wasn’t horrible, winning between 18-21 games a season over the last five years. And because he never won anything of any significance, he never had a high bar that he needed to live up to. When you think about it, he really is the living embodiment of my brother’s philosophy.

The third reason I thought of, which goes along with being mediocre and probably has more to do with Fox’s longevity than anything, is that UGA fans feel the same way about basketball that Duke fans feel about football; just don’t be an embarrassment and we’ll get along fine.

I don’t mean that as an insult, just being honest.

When Georgia football, or Duke basketball, loses a game it’s as if the apocalypse is upon us. Whenever UGA’s basketball team makes the tournament, or Duke football makes a Bowl game, the season is deemed a success.

If you need another example, look no further than this publication, The Southern Sports Edition. Over the course of the college basketball season we’ve probably written more articles on Georgia football’s incoming recruiting class alone than we have on the basketball team and it’s not on accident.

We write about topics people want to read and trust me, as far as I know we’re not being inundated with emails complaining about the lack of basketball coverage.

I guess what it all comes down to is this: If misery loves company, then in the case of Mark Fox and Georgia basketball, apparently so does mediocrity. How else can you explain his tenure lasting as long as it did?