Georgia sports for Thursday, December 13th

The Atlanta Falcons are moving ahead from the sudden departure of their head coach. One of the assistants on the staff, Emmitt Thomas, will serve as interim head coach for the Falcons' final three games of the season. The team has been hit hard all season long. The punches have included star quarterback Michael Vick landing in prison for a dogfighting conviction, and then the abrupt resignation of coach Bobby Petrino Tuesday night. The Falcons are 3-10.

From the ice, the Atlanta Thrashers suffered the 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins in action from Atlanta Wednesday night. The Thrashers fell to a record of 14-15.

West Georgia has hired Daryl Dickey as its new head football coach. Dickey comes to Carrollton via Florida State's program, where he served as quarterbacks coach for six seasons. He replaces Mike Ledford, who resigned in November.

Falcons' brass vent over Petrino resignation

One day after their head coach abruptly quit the team after only 13 games, top officials with the Atlanta Falcons vented their anger over the situation.

Team owner Arthur Blank used the words "betrayed", "let-down", and "abused" to describe how he felt in the wake of Bobby Petrino’s sudden departure late Tuesday afternoon. By late last night, Petrino had been introduced as head coach at the University of Arkansas.

Over the weekend, Petrino gave Blank some issues of concern with the team. On Monday afternoon, the two were joined by general manager Rich McKay to hash-out the issues. Blank said it appeared there was resolution of Petrino's concerns. At the end of the meeting, Petrino shook Blank’s hand and said "I’m your coach". Monday night the Falcons lost at home to New Orleans to fall to a record of 3-10 on the season.

Petrino quit 24 hours later.

Blank today spoke of broken commitments.

"My issue is not that he elected to go back to coaching in college. That is not my issue. My issue is timing, my issue is responsibility, my issue is commitment that was made to this organization, and made to everyone connected to this organization. That is my issue".

The Falcons’ season has been marred by star quarterback Michael Vick’s conviction and resulting prison sentence for dogfighting.

The team’s defensive backs coach, Emmitt Thomas, will serve as interim head coach the final three games.