Mark Richt Retires

Mark Richt has produced more draft picks than any coach since 2002 (his 1st class at Georgia).

Mark Richt (99)
Nick Saban (96)
Les Miles (91)
Bob Stoops (80)

The above has been a lot of the problem(s) with Mark Richt while at UGA. Player "talent" is not and has not been the reason for lack of a higher degree of success.

Absolutely Buc.... Actual visual of doing less with more ....



Go Dawgs

This was a good read

www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id...announces-retirement

As easily as the Miami fan base embraced him, it turned just as quickly, and the vitriol about his offense and the direction of the program grew far too great for Richt to want to continue on.

A lot of us here at dawgs.com mentioned this upon the Richt hire at UM. From the outset, there was no way the Miami fanbase was going to be as loyal and as patient as was the fanbase in Athens. Miami is a tough town, and very similar to NYC in its lack of patience, decorum, and restraint for a coach who is clearly underperforming. I mentioned earlier this season that I was talking with a friend of mine back home who is an alum and very close to the program who told me there were big arse problems brewing between the players, boosters, and Richt over Jon. He assured me that after this season, ultimatums were going to be issued over an ever-growing dysfunctional situation. While I take Mark's decision at face value, it doesn't come as a huge surprise to me. As Wart said, his fire was extinguished years ago and I always felt that the immediate jump to Miami following his abrupt dismissal in Athens was an opportunist and face-saving move.

The article mentions "papering over" deficiencies. That's a proper description of what the last seven years of Mark's head coaching tenure has been. I would love to know where, when, and why Mark lost the fire because at one time, he was one of college's most promising head coaching futures in football.

I'm not prepared to sit here and trash Mark, because I've done plenty of that over the years. None of it has been personal, it has been purely business. I hope that I've made that clear in all my postings here.

I am also not prepared to say that Mark is gone for good. At 58, he has plenty of time left to return to the game after a few years away from it which he desperately needs. He may decide to jump into broadcasting for a few years and make a few appearances on college game day to keep his name out there and prop the door open. In a few years, I expect that the combination of questioning his decision to leave Miami (which he admitted was a "terribly difficult one" for him) and the emergence of a bigger-named program which is dire need of the spark of a big name head coach to come in and breathe some life back into its program and fanbase could be too much for him to ignore. In other words, this may or may not be the last rodeo for Mark.

Whatever it is, I wish him and his family the best and thank him for the contributions he made to the Georgia program. Pouty has written an article canonizing St. Mark as a better coach and one that produced more results than Kirby has at this point in his tenure, and that is purely laughable. But I figured you'd enjoy the laugh, so here's the article:

www.dawgnation.com/football/team-news/ma...-retirement-at-miami

Buc wrote: Mark Richt did the right thing. Wonder if Diaz regrets taking the Temple job? Might he change his mind . . . .

At this point, hoping that Coach Coley does not enter into the Miami head coaching search . . . . Would not surprise me.

www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-hurric...-20181230-story.html

Manny Diaz did not want to leave Miami, recruiting South Florida just got a bit harder for every university.

Fully expect Mark Richt to spend a lot of time on ESPN.

SouthernDawg, know that you are close enough to the South Florida happenings to relate as you did above. There were serious questions about Mark hiring his son Jon. What many fail to realize about Richt's hirings is the simple fact that he does not hire for the "absolute" betterment of the university football team and number one, the FAN base. Smoke and mirrors often came/come into play with Richt.

Pouty . . . . another case of someone that should be "removed from his perch". Read that in the link you posted, written by Pouty himself. Thought twice before saying this, however "Pouty" forced me again to speak out. At Coach Jim Chaney's press conference all was going well then Pouty as is his standard chose to ask about Justin Fields. Coach Chaney gave him a direct "get lost" sort of answer and quickly moved on. Our coaching staff led by Smart know/knew that Pouty was heavily in Richt's camp before taking over in Athens. Pouty . . . . advice given freely by Judge Judy . . . . two ears, one mouth.

If I had to guess I would imagine Richt really started checking out in 2013. After they lost the SEC Championship game in 2012 they followed up with an 8-5 year. According to some I know high up in the booster chain, that is when some serious grumbling really got started and Richt really resented it thinking he had earned enough credits in the past to excuse him from such things.

I think the stuff with his son Jon played a huge role in his departure. Miami was going to demand Richt make a change there and the money he left on the table wasn't worth it to him compared to having to fire his son. More than just firing his son though, it might also have been the fact that he was having staff decisions made for him. If we look back on his career here the chip on his shoulder grew to boulder size about the time he was forced to fire his buddy Willy Martinez. Facing pressure to make a QB change, I think he purposely threw an unprepared young man into the fire and let him go down in flames just to spite those who dared to force his hand.

At this point in his career, I don't think he was going to accept having his hand forced... especially when it involved his son. I think Jon might have been the upcoming "fire" that had left his belly.