Miami releases “Welcome Home” video for Mark Richt

Richt hails from the University of Georgia, where he was the football program’s head coach for 15 years.

Miami has officially announced Mark Richt as the new coach of the Hurricanes.

And one of the first things he said at his introductory press conference was that he intends to stay at Miami and finish his coaching career in South Florida. Richt went 145-51 during his 15 seasons at UGA, including 9 10-win seasons.

Richt interviewed with the Hurricanes on Tuesday and was immediately considered the frontrunner for the job after parting ways with Georgia last Sunday. “His passion for the game of football and for his student-athletes is evident in everything he does and we could not be more excited to welcome Mark and Katharyn and their family to Coral Gables”. He was a teammate of fellow quarterbacks Jim Kelly and Vinny Testaverde with the Hurricanes in the early 1980s, just before Miami would win the first of what became five national championships in a 19-season span.

“I can’t wait to get started”, Richt said.

Replacing Richt at Georgia will be Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, who is expected to be announced by the Bulldogs following Saturday’s SEC Championship between Alabama and Florida. It’s yet to be decided how many, if any, current members of Miami’s staff or the assistants who worked with Richt at Georgia will be with him in 2016.

Also unclear: If Richt, as had been expected, will coach Georgia in its bowl game.

“We are blessed to have the opportunity to come to a world-class institution and world-renowned city and play a role in the life of the campus and community”, Richt said.

He’ll have a big-time quarterback to work with at Miami, where sophomore Brad Kaaya is already among the school’s all-time leaders in plenty of categories.