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BY DAVID CHING - dching@ledger-enquirer.com --


ATHENS, Ga. --

Mark Richt might let it all hang out more frequently these days, but he's still no Mike Leach .

The Texas Tech coach was fined $10,000 by the Big 12 Conference this week after he questioned the integrity of the officials in last Saturday's 59-43 loss to Texas, calling their work "a complete travesty."
After a first half last weekend against Auburn where he disagreed with many of the officials' calls and let them know about it, Richt said he left the officials alone in the second half.
"It really didn't do me very much good," Richt said of his first-half prodding. "So I never said a word to them in the second half. I just started praying."
Expect to see more of that Richt going forward, starting Saturday when 22nd-ranked Kentucky (7-3, 3-3 SEC) take on his eighth-ranked Bulldogs (8-2, 5-2) at Sanford Stadium.
He won't say publicly that he believes the recent direct approach with the officials was influencing their calls against Georgia, but Richt seems to want to remove even the possibility.
"Since I've kinda cut loose a little bit in some areas, I cut loose a little bit in that area," Richt said. "I probably went a little overboard on that, so I've just been convicted that I don't need to do that anymore. So I will be strictly polite and gentlemanly from here on out."

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