SEC football media days: Georgia coach Mark Richt, Auburn coach Chizik face tough questions

HOOVER, Ala. -- Georgia and Auburn are coming off remarkably different seasons.

The Bulldogs went 6-7 for its first losing season in more than a decade, while the Tigers went undefeated and won the Bowl Championship Series national championship.

But both head coaches faced tough questions at SEC media days Thursday.

Many in the national media have said that Georgia coach Mark Richt heads the list of coaches that enter the 2011 season on the hot seat.

Richt said he doesn’t think about his job security.

“I don’t, I don’t,” he said. “I know if you walk into the Butts-Mehre Building, there’s not one sense of doom or gloom. There’s only excitement, only guys that are so thankful that we’ve got a new season and a clean slate. The expectations are just as high as they’ve ever been going into any season.

“I don’t worry about all that. I worry about the future. I worry about enjoying the ride. We’re in good shape.”

Meanwhile, the questions that kept coming at Auburn coach Gene Chizik didn’t have to do with job security but the ongoing NCAA investigation into the recruitment of Cam Newton, the Tigers’ quarterback from last season.

The NCAA found during last season that Newton’s dad solicited a payment from Mississippi State.

Last week, The New York Times reported that an NCAA official told Chizik in May that the investigation into Auburn had not yet concluded.

“The question I get asked in the frustration part,” Chizik said. “You know I don’t operate on rumors and innuendos, anything of that nature.

“ All those different things, whether it be NCAA related or otherwise, is just not a big part of what I concern myself with.”

This story was originally published July 22, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "SEC football media days: Georgia coach Mark Richt, Auburn coach Chizik face tough questions."