Mark Richt Era To End at Georgia

Reid Park Director of Athletics Greg McGarity announced Richt was stepping down as football coach in a statement issued on Sunday.

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Mark Richt on the sideline during the first half against the Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium.

It was clear how much coaching means to Richt, but then again, he might just take some time off to be with his wife, Katharyn, or turn his focus to faith-based initiatives. He said he expects to have other opportunities to coach, especially since he will not be on the road recruiting as he had planned during the break before bowl practice.

Richt’s connection to Evans will be the key factor if the former Georgia coach comes to College Park.

Georgia announced the move as a “mutual” decision, but it looked like a firing. It sure doesn’t seem like Richt initiated this meeting on Sunday morning. But rumors that he could be fired had been making the rounds all season, although some hoped he would last another year after ending the regular season with a 9-3 record. Now the program heads into the wilderness, where the right coaching hire could finish the job that Richt couldn’t, but the wrong one will make fans yearn for the Richt era. A less than stellar 13-7 victory over a woeful Georgia Tech team yesterday was likely the final straw for Richt. A young fan, he hasn’t been alive for Richt’s whole tenure, but he said he’s surprised the coach was being let go. Herman has displayed all season – on and off the field – what an outstanding leader of a program he can be, and the Cougars domination of Navy on Friday highlights a coaching acumen above what Richt has displayed at Georgia for nearly a decade. But Georgia’s last conference title was in 2005, and its last national title, under Dooley, was in 1980. The Bulldogs lost in the 2011 and 2012 SEC championship games.

A leading candidate in Georgia’s search could be Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, a former Georgia safety and assistant coach under Richt. He also would find it hard to compete in the East division that features Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State.

With that in mind, Richt said he’d be open to returning to his days as an offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach, though another head coaching job certainly is on the table. Even though Georgia won the SEC East six times under Richt, it never played for a national championship. Richt was a star quarterback at Boca Raton High before going to Miami in the early ’80s, serving as a backup to Jim Kelly.

When asked why the decision was made to part ways, McGarity said those decisions “would stay between Mark and I” and refused several times to answer the question directly. At most schools, the combination of such successes would earn a coach a bronze statue on campus. In an industry hardly conducive to longevity, Richt averaged 9.6 wins per season for a decade and a half.