On Sunday, Georgia announced that it would be parting ways with its longtime head coach, officially calling it a mutual decision, although it’s hard to view the move as anything but a firing.
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Richt was sacked Sunday morning following a meeting with athletic director Greg McGarity.
McGarity said in a statement released by the school the two “mutually agreed that he would step down as head coach and would have the opportunity to accept other duties and responsibilities at UGA following the bowl game”.
Another name that could get some traction is Houston coach Tom Herman, who was the primary recruiter for the Atlanta area when he was Ohio State’s offensive coordinator.
Now, his future as Georgia’s coach will include only one game. He returned Georgia football to a level of prominence, winning two SEC championships in his first five seasons at a school that hadn’t won a conference title in two decades. At least one coordinator from the Saban tree has panned out thus far, with Florida head coach Jim McElwain winning the SEC East in his first year on the job. Then there was the embarrassing 38-20 loss to rival Florida last season, a Gators squad that eventually fired its head coach, Will Muschamp. He’s won ten games nine times, eleven games four times, twelve games twice and thirteen games once. Richt chose to play his inexperienced third-string QB Faton Bauta the entire game and the result was four interceptions and a Halloween loss that perhaps sealed Richt’s fate.
After the same number of games, Coach Dooley’s career ledger stood at 133-57-6 after a 1981 victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks, giving the winningest head football coach in Red and Black history a career.
Richt came to Georgia in 2001 after serving as quarterbacks coach at Florida State under Bobby Bowden. He went 15 years without playing for the national championship, although he came just short of doing so in 2012. Obviously, McGarity felt that Richt had reached a point of no return, a place where the program had settled into an uncomfortable groove and would no longer be competing for conference championships and national titles.
The coaching carousel in college football started Sunday and is already in high gear across the United States.
Richt held his players to a higher standard than even that of the University of Georgia.
According to McGarity, Richt will have the opportunity to remain on the staff at Georgia where he would be heavily involved with outreach programs for former Bulldog lettermen via the Paul Oliver Network and Athletic Association initiatives. Smart, 39, is a former Georgia defensive back who has been at Alabama since 2007, and in his current position as defensive coordinator since 2008. Soon after, Georgia announced the news that Richt was out as coach.
“It ain’t right. There ain’t no Georgia football without coach Richt”, Jenkins said.
The SEC’s seven-year run of national titles and the massive amount of money paid to these coaches kicked expectations into overdrive.
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“I look forward to hopefully working closely with him as we advance our capital campaign at the University of Georgia”, Morehead said.
