Josh Brooks commends Georgia students for following court-storm rules, saving Bulldogs money

As Georgia put the finishing touches on Wednesday night’s 88-83 win over Florida, UGA athletics director Josh Brooks turned into a body guard. He stopped the student section from storming the court and, therefore, kept the Bulldogs from receiving a $100,000 fine from the SEC.

Instead, the students waited 90 seconds to take the court and celebrate the victory. Brooks commended those in attendance for being patient and helping avoid the financial penalty.

Brooks and Georgia football coach Kirby Smart were leading the charge by keeping students in the stands. Under SEC rules, schools receive a $100,000 fine for field or court incursions. However, by waiting 90 seconds, schools don’t receive a punishment.

“We still have not, knock on wood, have had any field or court incursions,” Brooks said Thursday on The Paul Finebaum Show. “That would’ve been $100,000. We’ve had two instances this year where we were able to keep the students off the court. We upset Kentucky early in January. I think they were Top-10 at the time. At that point, we didn’t have the amended rule, so we were able to tell the students, look, let’s not rush the court. Let’s save the money. And we had our student-athletes, after the game, they actually went into the stands and celebrated with the students in the stands. So that was kind of a cool tradition we had going.

“But once this new idea came up – and I’m a little superstitious, don’t want to jinx anything. So I waited until the right moment late in the game against Florida, and I started going to each student section and letting them know that they would be able to rush the court if they waited 90 seconds. So we did the countdown clock. They were so excited when I told them that they’d be able to rush the court, and kudos to them. They were patient, they waited and they got the moment they wanted. Maybe, hopefully, we found a new method in basketball that will work for most schools.”

Multiple solutions have been floated as solutions to stop court-storming. The issue came to the forefront after former Iowa star Caitlin Clark got hit by a fan after the Hawkeyes got upset by Ohio State, and former Duke star Kyle Filipowski also got hit as Wake Forest fans took the floor last year.

Alabama AD Greg Byrne recently mentioned his previous suggestion for forfeits if fans storm the court. But Josh Brooks said he hopes the idea of waiting 90 seconds helps avert any injuries – and financial punishments.

“Look, if it’s a game that comes down to a last-second shot that wins the game, that obviously going to be more difficult,” Brooks said. “But in these situations where you’ve got a little bit of a lead and you’ve got some timeouts, you have time to pull some of these levers.”