Mark Richt gave two chief reasons Friday as to why he jumped back into college football coaching so quickly.
Georgia and Miami.
Richt was introduced as the 24th Hurricanes coach during a news conference on the Coral Gables campus that was streamed live on ESPN3. The 55-year-old cited his alma mater and all that it offers as a big factor he chose to remain in the profession but not before sharing the influence a multitude of Bulldogs provided.
"The outpouring of former players wishing me well and thanking me for me being a positive influence in their lives was just incredible," Richt said. "Text messages. Phone calls - even guys I had dismissed from the team just thanking me for loving them enough to discipline them and to change the bad course they were going on.
"That was big, to know in this position you have an opportunity to affect lives in a very positive way, and that's a big part of why I coach. So that got me."
Friday's news conference continued a week for Richt that began with him waking up Sunday after Georgia's 13-7 victory at Georgia Tech that capped a 9-3 regular season and improved his 15-year record with the Bulldogs to 145-51. Within hours, however, Richt had been fired by athletic director Greg McGarity but accepted the opportunity to coach the Bulldogs one more time in a bowl game.
Richt expressed excitement about coaching in the bowl during a Monday news conference in Athens, but he met with Miami athletic director Blake James on Tuesday and accepted the offer to coach the Hurricanes on Wednesday.
"Coach Richt embodies the competitiveness, the integrity, the passion, the abilities and the experience to lead our young men to ACC and national championships and help them become men of character and success long after," James said. "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."
Georgia went 19-3 against Atlantic Coast Conference teams during Richt's run in Athens, which included a 13-2 record against rival Georgia Tech and a win over Florida State in the Sugar Bowl after the 2002 season. At Miami, he will face the Yellow Jackets and the Seminoles on an annual basis.
The Hurricanes once dominated the college football landscape, winning four national championships from 1983 to 1991. They won a fifth title in 2001 with one of the most talented teams ever assembled, but Miami has yet to win even a Coastal Division title since the ACC adopted a championship game in 2005.
James fired Al Golden, who went 32-25 and 17-18 in league play, following a 58-0 home loss to Clemson in October and replaced him with assistant Larry Scott on an interim basis. The Hurricanes won four of five under Scott and will take an 8-4 record into their undetermined bowl locale.
"When you coach, you want to go to a place where you can do big things," Richt said. "By virtue of the fact it's been done here before, that's a good indicator."
Richt said Monday that he might "decompress" and take a year off from coaching. When reminded of that statement Friday, he said, "I knew this job wouldn't be open next year."
Miami reached out to Richt immediately after firing Golden to gauge any interest he might have. Richt declined and reiterated his stance that he and his family wanted to remain at Georgia for as long as they were wanted.
The Hurricanes reached out again following "the mutual agreement," an expression Richt intentionally used Friday to mock the way McGarity described his dismissal in last Sunday's release.
Richt did not make any promises in terms of wins, losses and championships for the Hurricanes, and he pledged to work hard recruiting the greater Miami area, which long has been one of the most fertile talent hotbeds in the country. He was asked whether he would go after several prospects he was targeting for Georgia and said, "Recruiting is not over until it's over."
Assisting former Hurricanes with their post-playing lives is something else Richt pledged, which is what he began in Athens following the September 2013 suicide of former Bulldogs and San Diego Chargers cornerback Paul Oliver.
Richt met with Miami's players for the first time Friday morning, and he had to explain in the news conference why it's taken so long for him to visit his alma mater. Richt was a backup quarterback for the Hurricanes from 1978 to '82 and turned to coaching in 1985, when he became a graduate assistant at Florida State.
"The biggest reason is that I became a Seminole," Richt said, "and when you're a Seminole, you're really not welcome around here, and I understand that. So those first 15 years that I coached, it wasn't like I'd be a great guy to have at a lettermen's event."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.