LSU needed a defensive backs coach, and assistant coach Will Muschamp recommended Smart, who had been a player at Georgia when Muschamp was starting his coaching career.
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Richt will be introduced as Miami coach at a 10 a.m. news conference on Friday. He will be replaced at Georgia by Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart.Richt was asked about the possibility of coaching his alma mater earlier this year, but dismissed the idea then.
“If and when I do coach again, I’m looking forward to coaching again in terms of being more hands-on”, Richt said at his farewell news conference from Georgia, where he won 145 games.
Mark Richt on Monday said he welcomed the opportunity to coach Georgia for one last game in a bowl. A source of Bruce Feldman’s said that the school could pay up to $4 million to its head coach, but how much it’ll pay Richt isn’t yet known.
He coached the last 15 season at Georgia, where he went 9-3 in his final season before he was dismissed on Sunday. “We had gone through a couple years of hiring a secondary coach who’d be there for a year, I don’t know if it was because I was a secondary coach or what, but they’d be gone after a year, mostly to the NFL”.
With the news of his hire, it is unclear whether he will coach in the Bulldogs’ upcoming bowl game.
“I think Miami is getting a great, great coach”, Georgia linebacker Davin Bellamy said over the phone.
While his accomplishments and successes at the University of Georgia are well documented, here are some lesser known fun facts about Richt.
The onus will be on Richt to own the Miami area in recruiting, to soon see UM on the Clemson/Florida State echelon in the ACC, and shepherd the program to a point its first national championship since 2001 becomes realistic.
Richt will inherit Miami’s two sophomore sensations in quarterback Brad Kaaya and running back Joseph Yearby. He has gone head-to-head with the biggest coaches in college football and grabbed top players year-in and year-out.
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While it is not official yet, Richt wants to be more involved in the offense and perhaps taking charge in play-calling. Names that have been brought up as potential candidates are Dan Mullen, the current head coach at Mississippi State, Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Sanford, Golden, and former Texas head coach Mack Brown.
