Georgia head coach Mark Richt celebrates with fans after derating Missouri 9-6 in an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015, in Athens, Ga.
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“I think Miami is getting a great, great coach”, Georgia linebacker Davin Bellamy said over the phone. InsideMDSports.com reported Monday that Maryland has spoken with former Georgia head coach Mark Richt about the head-coaching vacancy in College Park.McGarity said he was not surprised at the backlash, given the success Richt has had as Georgia’s head coach. Other reports indicate that Richt was chosen over Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen and former Rutgers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano for the job. The person spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been signed and the university has not announced the hiring publicly.
Richt, who played quarterback at Miami from 1979-1982, coached Georgia for 15 seasons starting in 2001 until he was sacked earlier this week. The Hurricanes haven’t won 10 games in a season since joining the ACC in 2004 and haven’t won a bowl game since 2006.
Just because I thought Richt and Georgia needed to part never meant I disliked the man himself. In the less talent-dense Atlantic Coast Conference there would be every expectation that Richt would soon have Miami on the Clemson and Florida State level, competing annually for an ACC title on the road back to national relevance.
Oh, and there’s also this: Miami is Richt’s alma mater.
It is unclear who Richt may hire for assistant coaches. Richt played at Miami as a student athlete but also spent 14 years on staff at FSU.
It is a stunning and sudden turn for Richt, who was reportedly advised by family members to take the year off after his dismissal from Georgia on Sunday, the first time in his 33-year coaching career he was sacked.
Richt is a soft-spoken, famously upstanding Christian leader whose persona doesn’t seem to fit in Coral Gables. He came one play from beating Alabama in the 2012 SEC title game, which would have put the Bulldogs in the national title game against Notre Dame.
Richt was a successful coach at Georgia in a very competitive SEC.
Miami fired Al Golden after more than four seasons. The Terrapins finished the season 3-9, winning one game under interim coach Mike Locksley, the former offensive coordinator who was also considered for the job. Do you know the last time Miami had a 10-win season?
He was a quarterback for the Hurricanes from 1978-82, serving as backup to future Hall of Famer Jim Kelly. There was a time when that might not have been good enough for Miami.
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Names like Butch Davis, Mario Cristobal and others were bandied about due to their past connections to the school, either as a player and a coach.
