Georgia announced that head football coach Mark Richt was stepping down as coach, but a source told ESPN that Richt had been fired.
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The University of Georgia and head football coach Mark Richt are parting ways, following the Bulldogs 13-7 defeat of in-state rival Georgia Tech on Saturday.
Richt was 145-51 at Georgia, a 73.98 winning percentage that is the best ever for a Bulldogs football coach.
CON … Ceiling. Richt never won a national championship, and he hasn’t won an SEC title in a decade.
Richt will coach Georgia in its postseason bowl game. According to Georgia Athletics director Greg McGarity, Richt has been offered a chance to stay with the school working football alumni department. I know all UGA alumni and supporters will look forward to celebrating the successful conclusion of his coaching career at UGA in a bowl game later this year. Vince Dooley is No. 1 at UGA with 201 victories.
Richt took over the Bulldogs in 2001 after serving about 10 years as offensive assistant at Florida State.
From playing at the University of Miami to Bobby Bowden’s coordinator at FSU, Richt was hired at Georgia to bring some stability to the program and to win. It was clear following the game Richt had no plans to step down.
Richt had only a short statement in the announcement released by Georgia.
Now, his future as Georgia’s coach will include only one game. He’s won ten games nine times, eleven games four times, twelve games twice and thirteen games once. In the past seven seasons, Georgia has just a 5-15 record against ranked opponents.
The tipping point for many in the Georgia program, as well as the fan base and boosters, was a 27-3 thumping to Florida, in which Richt and the Georgia coaching staff chose to start third-string quarterback Faton Bauta instead of Greyson Lambert. Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban has become the measuring stick, and Richt clearly has not even been in the same ballpark as Saban in terms of achievements since Saban took over in Tuscaloosa in 2007.
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Georgia will hold a press conference Monday. In a period of dominance by the SEC, LSU also won a pair of national titles, and then nearby Alabama and Auburn won every championship from 2009-12.
