NOTE: This is excerpted from the lead of the story I just filed for Saturday's paper, and here's the full story:

ATHENS - The quarterly meeting of the UGA athletic association board was ending on Friday afternoon. School president Michael Adams, presiding over the meeting, asked if anyone else had any thoughts.

Tommy Lawhorne, a board member from Columbus, spoke up, and looked at athletic director Greg McGarity, who was sitting next to Adams.

"There are many of us who are really concerned about the status of the football program,” Lawhorne said. “Yet we have confidence in Greg McGarity to get us to where we want to be."

Board member Bob Bishop then chimed in.

“I’ll echo that,” he said.

McGarity responded with a polite smile and slight nod.

***

Asked about it later, McGarity, just starting his second year on the job, said he has received a mix of feedback from fans.

"You get a lot of comments both ways. So it runs the gambit on good, bad, we're with you, we're pulling out,” McGarity said. “It's the normal emotions that people have, whether you're winning or lose. When you're winning, people are always patting you on the back and things of that nature. But really I think it's been all over the map.”

Adams basically echoed that sentiment.

"You know what my life's like,” Adams said. “I get multiple opinions on every side of the issue. And I think you'd be better off asking people who made statements today (the board members) why they did what they did."