Felton was a sure goner at Georgia, but why now?

Felton in happier days/SI.com

   Last year's stranger-than-fiction sweep to the SEC basketball tournament title delayed the inevitable. Coach Dennis Felton had vacuumed up the dirt left by University of Georgia predecessor Jim Harrick, but he could not bring a shine to the Bulldogs' record.

   Felton, fired Thursday, suffered more from recruiting than on-court losses, though he had way too many. In talent-laden Georgia, one prospect after another fled the state or wound up at the engineering school in Atlanta. Georgia Tech's recent commitment from Derrick Favors, one of the nation's two best big-man prospects, was the final straw.

   The Bulldogs' dreadful season, now registering at 9-11, didn't help. But Favors, even as a one-and-done guy, would have signaled to Georgia's tepid hoops following than Felton could lure the coveted ones to Athens.

   His task-master, buttoned-up ways may play well with moms and dads, but teens usually gravitate more toward the looser coach, personality as well as playing style. In some ways, Harrick-to-Felton was one extreme to another. Now it's time for Georgia to go more mainstream.

   The question begs: Why not wait to dismiss him in six more weeks, when Georgia is eliminated -- for sure this year -- from the SEC tourney? The interim coach is no candidate for permanence, so little is accomplished other than perhaps signal to future recruits that a change is comin'.

   This trend toward midseason firings -- see, also,  Mike Gottfried at Alabama -- seems driven by blogs, talk radio and impatient alumni. Athletics directors should have the decency, whenever possible, to let good men like Felton finish their farewell season.