| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1955-07-10)July 10, 1955 (age 70) Moultrie, Georgia, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1974–1976 | Georgia |
| Position | Quarterback |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1979–1980 | South Carolina (assistant) |
| 1981–1988 | Georgia (assistant) |
| 1989–1995 | Georgia |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 46–34–1 |
| Bowls | 2–2 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Awards | |
| |
James Rayford Goff Jr.[1] (born July 10, 1955) is an American formercollege football player and coach. He served as the head coach at theUniversity of Georgia from 1989 to 1995, compiling a record of 46–34–1.
Goff attended theUniversity of Georgia, where he playedquarterback from 1974–1976, leading the team to 19 wins over his final two seasons under coachVince Dooley. As a player, he was namedSoutheastern Conference player of the year in 1976 when the team he captained won the SEC title. He was a three-yearletterman at Georgia.
Goff served as an assistant coach for theSouth Carolina Gamecocks before returning to Georgia as an assistant in 1981. While an assistant at Georgia from 1981 to 1988, he held the positions of recruiting coordinator,tight ends coach, andrunning backs coach, and earned a reputation as an excellent recruiter. When Dooley, the winningest coach in Georgia history, retired after the 1988 season, Goff — then a 33-year-old running backs coach — was the surprise choice to succeed him.
Goff's tenure got off to a slow start, with just ten wins in his first two seasons, before reeling off nine wins in 1991 and ten in 1992; the latter campaign finished with Georgia ranked eighth by theCoaches Poll. Over the next three years, Goff's teams never again posted as many as seven wins, and he was fired in 1995. His teams only made brief appearances in the Coaches Poll in 1993, 1994 and 1995, reaching #13 in the 1993 preseason polls. This would prove to be one of the final straws in Goff's tenure at Georgia. He was fired at the end of the year after a 6–6 record.[2]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia Bulldogs(Southeastern Conference)(1989–1995) | |||||||||
| 1989 | Georgia | 6–6 | 4–3 | 4th | LPeach | ||||
| 1990 | Georgia | 4–7 | 2–5 | 7th | |||||
| 1991 | Georgia | 9–3 | 4–3 | 4th | WIndependence | 19 | 17 | ||
| 1992 | Georgia | 10–2 | 6–2 | T–1st(Eastern) | WFlorida Citrus | 8 | 8 | ||
| 1993 | Georgia | 5–6 | 2–6 | 4th(Eastern) | |||||
| 1994 | Georgia | 6–4–1 | 3–4–1 | 4th(Eastern) | |||||
| 1995 | Georgia | 6–6 | 3–5 | 3rd(Eastern) | LPeach | ||||
| Georgia: | 46–34–1 | 24–28–1 | |||||||
| Total: | 46–34–1 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| |||||||||
They've gone out on a limb, there's no doubt about it.
— Goff, after his hiring in 1989[3]
We never had a more effective option runner than Ray Goff. He appeared slow because of his size, but he was really pretty fast. He was a swivel-hipped runner with great leg strength.
— Vince Dooley,Georgia Bulldogs football head coach during Ray Goff's collegiate career.[4]