Mark Richt to be Miami's next head coach

Georgia football coach Mark Richt, who will not be retained after the bowl game, speaks during a news conference Monday as athletic director Greg McGarity looks on.
Georgia football coach Mark Richt, who will not be retained after the bowl game, speaks during a news conference Monday as athletic director Greg McGarity looks on.

Mark Richt was fired Sunday as Georgia's football coach.

He discussed being open to future possibilities in a news conference Monday morning and said Monday night that he already had been contacted by about five schools.

Richt's whirlwind of a week continued Tuesday with a visit to Miami to discuss the vacancy at his alma mater, and late Wednesday afternoon, he had reportedly agreed to coach the Hurricanes. ESPN and Fox Sports were among the national outlets confirming Richt's hire, though Miami had not sent out a release as of Wednesday evening.

The Hurricanes fired Al Golden seven games into the season after a 58-0 home loss to Clemson. Larry Scott took over on an interim basis and led Miami to four wins in five games to complete an 8-4 regular season.

Miami routed Georgia Tech 38-21 the week before the Bulldogs clipped the Yellow Jackets 13-7 this past Saturday, which could wind up being Richt's last game. Richt said Monday that he appreciated and looked forward to the opportunity of coaching Georgia one more time in a bowl, but that is up in the air at this point.

"Now that I'm not recruiting these next two weeks, there's nothing on my calendar," Richt said Monday in Athens. "Even that bit of time will allow me to decompress a little bit and just prayerfully consider what's next. There may be more opportunities that come in the next few hours, the next 24 or 48 hours and that type of thing.

"I'm going to listen to anyone that has interest in me coaching or not, in any area or any arena that's a possibility."

Richt, who has guided the Bulldogs to a 145-51 record in 15 seasons, is a 1982 University of Miami graduate. He was a backup quarterback to Jim Kelly, who went on to an NFL Hall of Fame career with the Buffalo Bills, and was also in the Hurricanes program with Vinny Testaverde and Bernie Kosar.

Stay with the Times Free Press for more details on the hire and read the full story in tomorrow's paper.

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

Upcoming Events