(This subject was touched on a bit during the piece this morning on Greg McGarity's first year as athletics director. But I wanted to delve a bit more into it.)

ATHENS - Last fall, as the Georgia football program was seemingly mired in an arrest problem, McGarity requested a meeting with the police chiefs at UGA and Clarke County. The idea, according to both sides, was for the law enforcement agencies to tell McGarity what the athletics department and the football team could do to stem the problems.

The meeting included McGarity and some other athletics department staff members, but no coaches. UGA police chief Jimmy Williamson and Clarke County police chief Joseph H. Lumpkin were also in attendance.

"I told him from my perspective that they weren't doing what other students weren't doing," Williamson said. "His response was, I appreciate all that, but any arrest is not a good arrest for the athletic association."

Williamson pointed out that the majority of the player arrests were due to traffic offenses, and suspended licenses, things that could be avoided.

The football program had already undertaken to make sure players had driver's licenses up to date, paid traffic tickets on time, and that kind of thing.

But other measures came up, such as keeping closer tabs on the players. Williamson compared it to when the Navy was in Athens, and servicemen were monitored by their peers and bosses to make sure they weren't staying out too late or getting into trouble.

A mentoring program was also begun between players and members of the community. Bryant Gantt, a former player now working for the athletics department in a mentoring role, was credited by McGarity for his efforts.

Perhaps as a result of all these measures, perhaps just coincidentally, there have been no known arrests of players in the Athens area since last October.

"I've always said you could be in the ditch in five minutes, so that's why we don't talk about it a lot," McGarity said. "The way it is with 600 student-athletes - in a perfect world nobody would get in trouble - but we know the law of averages something is gonna happen. So what you want to do is react to that."

But Williamson thinks there has been a positive effect.

"It's obvious they've done a good job of making sure players driver's license are current," Williamson said. "I know the other day a player was cited for not having his seat belt on. He was cited for that, but that was it. I know in years past that may not have been the case, he might have had something else that came up when the officer ran his record.

"They definitely should be applauded for the efforts that they've made."

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There were a few other items from the McGarity interview that didn't make it into the story. Here are a few: 

- There is now an annual plan for the department as a whole, with more than 50 individual items graded on a pass-fail measure. There are eight points to it, each with their own sub-measurements: Academics, business/finance, compliance, customer service, IT technology, staff experience, performance (winning and losing), facilities.

“There’s so many other things that go on that perhaps people aren’t aware of in the general public that are very important to us internally,” McGarity said.

- Treating fans well is a big emphasis for McGarity. He brought representatives from Chick-fil-A – not the game, the company – to speak to staff members. That means little things being done over and above; McGarity used an example he heard from Fenway Park, where ushers invited a family with young children onto the field.

“It might be kind of corny. But to us it’s a pretty big deal,” McGarity said.

- They’re also looking at fundraising, having promoted former Mercer men’s basketball head coach Mark Slonaker to run the Bulldog Club. That would help fund athletic scholarships and free up money for projects.

- Georgia has finished 20th in the Director’s Cup, which measures performance in all sports, the past two years. McGarity made clear he wasn’t happy about that.

“It’s our hope that’s where we bottom out,” McGarity said. “I think every sport knows that they can’t really take any time off.”

- Finally, McGarity also spent several minutes praising school president Michael Adams, specifically for his communication.

“I think sometimes he doesn’t get enough credit. He’s been president for 15 years now. That is a long, long lifespan for a president. And I’m hoping that he’s gonna be here throughout my career here as an A.D.”