It wasn’t a matter of whether or not Miami wanted Richt, but rather did Richt want to come back home again?
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At about the same time Rick Catlett landed at the Atlanta airport Thursday afternoon, the University of Miami announced it was poised to introduce its new football coach the next day. Vince Dooley, Ray Goff and Richt were assistants when named Georgia’s head coach.
The former Georgia coach and Miami quarterback would return to his alma mater.
The University of Miami has officially announced former Georgia coach, and former Miami quarterback, Mark Richt as the 24th coach of the Hurricanes.
Richt’s face brightened when he spoke Monday about having one more game with his Georgia players. UM, which has the 19th-rated recruiting class according to 247Sports, can send Richt on the road as soon as he is cleared by its compliance office. Richt made $4.1 million a year ago at Georgia, ranking 12th nationally. Knighton, a redshirt sophomore, returned to the field this season after a near-death experience with heat stroke.
With Richt out as a the coach in a bowl game, assistant head coach/wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon will take over on an interim basis and guide the Bulldogs through the postseason. The quarterback position at Georgia lately had become a sore spot. Look at Texas where Charlie Strong is two years into the rebuild in Austin and has 10 wins to show for it and next year may not result in a bowl game.
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“I know he’s going to be a great role model for my boy, for our kids, he’s going to be a great person and a great teacher”, Vinny Testaverde said. He responded nicely from there, winning 10 games per year, but it still wasn’t enough for Georgia’s expectations, even though Richt was arguably the most successful coach in school history. He is a South Florida native and played for Howard Schnellenberger at Miami, graduating in 1982 when the Hurricanes were just becoming the program that would win five national championships in a 19-season span. Before that, Richt met with players in Athens, where he went 145-51 and won two SEC championships. And obviously, as a head coach, he has been successful, although not successful enough at Georgia to win the SEC, which was his downfall. Sources said UM also interviewed former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano, Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen – who was a finalist in 2010 before the Hurricanes hired Al Golden – and former UM coach Butch Davis. The 37-year-old served as Florida’s interim head coach last year and led the Gators to the Birmingham Bowl, where Florida beat East Carolina.
