Four people who could be the next Georgia Bulldogs football coach

SO, WHO'S NEXT?

Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity fired football coach Mark Richt on Sunday morning. Richt is tentatively scheduled to remain with the Bulldogs through their bowl game, but here are four potential candidates to succeed him in Athens:

KIRBY SMART

* Go for it: Alabama's defensive coordinator is in his ninth season under Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa and his seventh overseeing the defense. Smart was a defensive back for the Bulldogs, leading them with six interceptions in 1997 and five more in 1998, and he was the running backs coach on Georgia's last Southeastern Conference championship team in 2005. He has been reportedly courted by South Carolina, but the standout recruiter could begin his head coaching career at his alma mater. Smart also could potentially retain Jeremy Pruitt as the defensive coordinator given their time together with the Crimson Tide.

* Tap the brakes: The early fan favorite has never been a head coach before, and the track record of Saban disciples venturing out into the SEC East isn't grand. Derek Dooley was fired before he could finish three seasons at Tennessee, while Will Muschamp didn't quite make it through four seasons at Florida.

DAN MULLEN

* Go for it: Mullen just wrapped up his seventh regular season as Mississippi State's head coach, finishing with an 8-4 record for a program projected to finish last in the SEC West. He has taken the Bulldogs to consistent levels of success never before seen in Starkville, with last year's team winning 10 games and earning an Orange Bowl invitation. Mullen was Florida's offensive coordinator in 2006 and '08, when the Gators won national championships, and McGarity was the right-hand man of Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley during that time. Mullen is 54-35 at Mississippi State but could be looking for a change of scenery with the impending departure of quarterback Dak Prescott.

* Tap the brakes: For whatever reason, Mullen was never in the picture when Foley hired Will Muschamp to coach the Gators after the 2010 season or when he hired Jim McElwain after last season.

TOM HERMAN

* Go for it: Herman is currently the sport's shining young star. He was Ohio State's offensive coordinator last season, capping his time with the Buckeyes by helping orchestrate a 42-35 defeat of Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinals and a 42-20 drubbing of Oregon in the title game. Before those two wins, Herman had parlayed his regular-season success into becoming head coach at the University of Houston. He is 11-1 in his first year with the Cougars, which includes a 34-0 thrashing of Vanderbilt, the most lopsided loss the Commodores have suffered all season. It was reported last week that Herman wasn't interested in South Carolina. Might he be holding out for Georgia?

* Tap the brakes: The 40-year-old was born in California, played in California and made previous coaching stops at Sam Houston State, Texas State, Rice and Iowa State. In other words, he hasn't worked in the Deep South, but he was the Big Ten recruiter of the year in 2013.

MIKE BOBO

* Go for it: Bobo wasn't always appreciated as Richt's offensive coordinator in Athens, even though his offenses set program records in each of his final three seasons. When he left last December to become Colorado State's head coach, nobody could have projected such a steep decline in Georgia's offensive productivity. Has absence actually made the heart grow fonder for Bobo? He was very tight with Pruitt, and his first season with the Rams turned out better than expected. They lost early-season overtime games to Minnesota and Colorado and were 3-5 entering November before winning their final four games.

* Tap the brakes: One season as a head coach may not be enough for McGarity, though it's one more than Smart possesses and equal to Herman. Bobo won national recruiting honors during his time with the Bulldogs to go along with the offensive success he provided.