Georgia’s Richt is done after 15 seasons

Mark Richt remains interested in another coaching job and said Monday he will listen “to anybody who has interest in me” as he prepares for his final game as Georgia’s coach.

“Coach Richt and I met this morning to discuss the status of our football program”, McGarity said in a release, “and we mutually agreed that he would step down as head coach and would have the opportunity to accept other duties and responsibilities at UGA following the bowl game”.

Richt said he would consider being an offensive coordinator or even a quarterbacks coach again, because he missed working hands-on with players and missed calling plays during a game. Finishing behind Missouri twice and not taking advantage of the long slumber Tennessee seem to be in just doesn’t cut it, even if Georgia think of themselves as bigger than they actually are.

“I’ve actually had a relationship with Coach Richt since that season”, said Josh Mallard. With a statement half the length, McGarity delivered a rehearsed thank you to Richt, emphasizing the difficulty of the decision. Our fans are passionate. Dooley said. “I think Mark Richt would be a good start”.

PRO … Winning. Richt won 145 games at Georgia in fifteen seasons – averaging 9.7 wins per season. Smart, an All-SEC safety at Georgia from 1995-98, won the Broyles Award as the country’s top assistant coach in 2009.

His father, Tony, told DawgNation shortly before Richt was sacked that his son needed to have a backup plan.

“There may be more opportunities that come in the next few hours, 24 to 48 hours, that type of thing”, Richt said. Richt, a two-time SEC Coach of the Year, fell victim to the lofty expectations that come with the territory of being an SEC head football coach in this day and age. Soon after, Georgia announced the news that Richt was out as coach. “Coach Richt is a man of God, a Christian man”. Win the SEC and hopefully go beyond that, and that is the standard here. Georgia closed the regular season with four straight wins, but that was not enough to make up for failing to land a spot in the title game. “I am going to continue to be as obedient as I can be, to the Lord, to God, and see where he has Katherine [Richt’s wife] and I, and we’re both at peace”.

McGarity had generous praise for Richt, who ranks second in all-time coaching wins at the school.

In Monday’s news conference, Richt and McGarity talked about his tenure and the future.

Maryland would be an attractive program for Richt because of the recruiting footprint on the eastern seaboard, facilities and the Big Ten East could be the toughest division in college football with Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State.

Other possible candidates include Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen and Colorado State coach Mike Bobo. The 55-year-old Richt does have previous ties to Maryland Senior Associate Athletics Director Damon Evans, who served as Georgia’s Athletic Director from 2004 to 2010.