After 15 seasons and 145 wins as the Georgia Bulldogs head football coach, Mark Richt was fired on Sunday. Since 2001, Richt has been leading the Georgia program but was never able to lead the Bulldogs to ultimate glory; a national championship. The closest he ever came was with his 2008 team, who at one point ranked number one in the country.
In 15 seasons, Richt only had one sub-.500 year – in 2010. He coached six consensus All-Americans including David Pollack and Jarvis Jones. Coach Richt won the 2002 SEC Coach of the Year award in a season, which resulted in a 26-13 Sugar Bowl win over Florida State University. He led the Bulldogs to 14 bowl games in 15 seasons achieving nine wins. Despite all of the accomplishments and the highly touted recruiting classes, Richt was never able to be the Nick Saban of Alabama to the Bulldog faithful. This ultimately led to his firing at the university.
An interesting wrinkle in this situation is that Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity has said publicly that the school will honor Mark Richt’s new unsigned contract. The unsigned contract calls for a $4.1 million payout as opposed to a $1.6 million payout from his old, signed contract.
In a statement on Sunday, McGarity also said that Coach Richt “has the opportunity to remain on our staff at the University of Georgia, and would be heavily involved with outreach programs for our former football lettermen via PO Network as well as other University and Athletic Association initiatives.”
Richt is only 55 years old and there is an opening at his alma mater, the University of Miami. With big openings such as “The U,” Georgia, South Carolina, and Missouri, the college football head coaching carousel will be in full swing this year.
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