Mark Richt

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**Mark Richt**
School as a player
Date of birth	February 18, 1960 (age 47)
Place of birth	Omaha, Nebraska
Sport	Football
College	Georgia
Title	Head Coach
Record with Team	61-17
Overall Record	61-17
Bowl Record	4-2
Championships won	2002, 2005 SEC Championship
Coaching Stats	College Football DataWarehouse
1979-82	Miami (FL)
Position	QB
Coaching positions
2001-present 1990-2000 1989 1985-1989	Georgia Florida State (Off. coordinator/QBs coach) East Carolina (Offensive coordinator) Florida State (Grad./Vol. assistant)

Mark Richt (born February 18, 1960 in Omaha, Nebraska) is the current head coach of the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team.

1 Playing career
2 Coaching career
3 Personal life
4 Media
5 Related Pages
6 Sources

[edit] Playing career

Richt graduated from Boca Raton High School in Boca Raton, Florida, where he was a star quarterback. He played for the University of Miami in the early 1980s, graduating in 1982. He served as backup quarterback to future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly, although an injury to Kelly early in the 1982 season put Richt in the starting role for most of the season.

[edit] Coaching career

Richt was hired as head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs before the 2001 season, replacing Jim Donnan. He was formerly the offensive coordinator for the Florida State Seminoles (FSU), serving under Bobby Bowden. While at Florida State, he coached two Heisman Trophy winners at quarterback in Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke and was part of two national championships (1993 and 1999) as an assistant coach.

In his first six seasons at Georgia, Richt's teams have netted two Southeastern Conference Championships (2002 and 2005) and three SEC Eastern Division titles (2002, 2003, and 2005), along with four consecutive AP Poll top ten finishes from 2002-2005.

Richt's first season of 2001 was an up-and-down one for himself as well as the team. After a disappointing early-season home loss to South Carolina, the Bulldogs would rebound a month later to shock Tennessee in Knoxville 26-24 on a touchdown pass from David Greene to Verron Haynes with only five seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. The play, known in Georgia lore as the "Hobnail Boot" (a reference coined by legendary Georgia football announcer Larry Munson following the play) was one of the most memorable in school history, and the win began to endear Richt to Georgia fans. The team would also go on to defeat in-state rival Georgia Tech for the first time since 1997, however close losses to Auburn and Boston College late in the season in which Richt's questionable clock managment late in games potentially cost his team the chance to win put a damper on Richt's rookie campaign.

Whatever skeptics Richt had following his first season began to believe in the coach in 2002. After winning several close games early in the season, the Bulldogs steadily climbed towards the top the SEC standings and national polls. Entering their annual showdown with SEC rival Florida, the Bulldogs were 8-0 and ranked No. 4 in the country, with a chance to clinch the SEC East title. However, missed opportunites in the second half of the game marred Georgia's chances, and they went on to suffer a devastating loss that virtually ended any chances of a national title. The Bulldogs would rebound the next week by easily defeating Ole Miss, setting up a matchup on the road against Auburn with the division championship on the line. Georgia trailed for most of the game, but pulled to within 21-17 late in the fourth quarter. After getting inside the Tigers' red-zone late in the game, Georgia's final drive stalled, and they were left with a 4th and 14 situation on Auburn's 19 yard-line and little more than a minute remaining. With their SEC championship hopes down to a flicker, Greene completed a miraculous touchdown pass to Michael Johnson, giving Georgia a 24-21 lead that they would hold on to. With the SEC East title in hand, the Bulldogs played with a newfound confidence to end the season. They drubbed Georgia Tech 51-7 in Athens, the most lopsided win in the history of the series, and then crushed Arkansas 30-3 in the SEC Championship game, giving the school its first SEC crown since 1982. Richt would go on to defeat his mentor, Bowden and Florida State, 26-13 in the Sugar Bowl, giving Georgia a 13-1 record and No. 3 national ranking in both polls.

Richt's team earned the chance to defend their SEC title in 2003 following a 10-2 regular season that included a 30-0 shutout win at Clemson, a 41-14 thrashing of Tennessee in Knoxville, as well as a third consecutive win over Georgia Tech. However, the Bulldogs were no match in the SEC title game for LSU, a team that defeated Georgia earlier 17-10 in a memorable September showdown. The Tigers defeated Georgia 34-13 the second go-round, the worst defeat in Richt's career at Georgia. Richt and the Bulldogs rebounded and defeated Purdue in the Capital One Bowl 34-27 in overtime, despite surrendering a 24-0 first half lead. It was another solid season for Richt, as his team finished with an 11-3 record and a No. 7 finish in the AP Poll.

Going into 2004, the Bulldogs were a consensus pick to win the SEC, and entered the season ranked No. 4 in the country. After a come-from-behind road win over South Carolina and a 45-16 thumping of a top-10 LSU team, it appeared Georgia was well on their way to achieving all of their lofty goals. However, a shocking 19-14 loss to Tennessee in early October ended any dreams of a national title, and also put Georgia in a deep hole behind the Volunteers in the SEC East. While they would go on to post a 10-2 record that included the school's first win over Florida since 1997, the year was considered a disappointment by many Bulldog fans, as the team failed to reach the SEC title game for the first time in three years.

Expectations were lower going into 2005, as the Bulldogs were picked by the media to finish just 3rd in the SEC East. But behind senior quarterback D.J. Shockley and a veteran defense, Georgia got off to a fast 7-0 start that included a 27-14 win over Tennessee which gave the team control of the division. Georgia would lose two straight heartbreakers to Florida (without the services of Shockley, who was injured in the previous game versus Arkansas) and Auburn before wrapping up the SEC East with an easy win over Kentucky. Another win over Georgia Tech gave Georgia a 9-2 regular season finish. Playing in their third SEC Championship game in four years, the Bulldogs ambushed 3rd-ranked LSU, jumping out to a quick 14-0 lead and from there cruising to an easy 34-14 win, giving Richt his second SEC title at Georgia. However, the season ended on a sour note for Georgia, as they couldn't overcome a 28-0 defecit to West Virginia in the Sugar Bowl, falling 38-35.

2006 was Richt's most trying season at the school. Although the team started 5-0, close wins over Colorado and Ole Miss raised cause for concern. Those concerns proved to be justified, as Georgia, hampered by turnovers and a slump from their typically dominant defense, would go on to lose four of their next five, including an embarrasing home defeat to lowly Vanderbilt. At 6-4, it appeared Georgia was on the verge of a meltdown, however Richt and his team hung tough, as they went on to defeat three consecutive ranked opponents in Auburn, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech to close the season. While Georgia failed to reach ten wins or finish in the top-10 of the polls for the first time since 2001, the strong finish provided optimism heading into the 2007 season.

On September 12, 2006, General Mills began featuring Richt and the Bulldog football program on the cover of Wheaties cereal boxes. The side of the box states this:

Tradition is defined as "the handing down of beliefs, legends, and customs from generation to generation," and over the past century, Georgia has built a profound legacy around college football, putting its stake in the ground for generations to come. University of Georgia teams have been recognized as national champions five times (1927, 1942, 1946, 1968 and 1980) throughout history. In addition, the Bulldogs have earned the sixth-most bowl invitations in the history of college football and boast two Heisman Trophy winners.

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl	Coaches^#	AP^°
Mark Richt (SEC) (1991 — present)
2001	Georgia	8-4	5-3	2 (East)	L Music City Bowl	25	22
2002	Georgia	13-1	7-1	1 (East)	W Sugar Bowl †	3	3
2003	Georgia	11-3	6-2	1 (East)	W Capital One Bowl	6	7
2004	Georgia	10-2	6-2	2 (East)	W Outback Bowl	6	7
2005	Georgia	10-3	6-2	1 (East)	L Sugar Bowl †	10	10
2006	Georgia	9-4	4-4	3 (East)	W Chick-fil-A Bowl	NR	23
Mark Richt:		61-17	36-14
Total:		61-17
National Championship Conference Title
^†Indicates BCS bowl game. ^#Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season. ^°Rankings from final AP Poll of the season.

[edit] Personal life

Richt is married to the former Katharyn Francis of Tallahassee, Florida. The couple have four children: Jonathan (born March 11, 1990), David (born December 1, 1994), and two adopted children from the Ukraine, Zach (born May 15, 1996), and Anya (born February 13, 1997). Jonathan Richt, a high school quarterback, has verbally accepted a scholarship to play college football at Clemson University beginning in 2008. [1]

[edit] Media

Richt appeared as himself in the movie Facing the Giants. The movie featured a coach of a ficticious Christian high school in Georgia who was a former Bulldog. [2]

[edit] Related Pages

[edit] Sources

Georgia biographies: Mark Richt (English) (HTML). georgiadogs.com (2006). Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
Football Through the Years (English) (HTML). Georgia Bulldogs 2006 Media Guide. georgiadogs.com (2006). Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
Former Head Coaches (English) (HTML). Georgia Bulldogs 2006 Media Guide. georgiadogs.com (2006). Retrieved on 2007-01-04.
College Football SEC Standings (English) (HTML). espn.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-04.

Preceded by Jim Donnan	Georgia Bulldogs Head Football Coach 2001–present	Succeeded by Current

Current Head Football Coaches of the Southeastern Conference
Rich Brooks (Kentucky) \| Sylvester Croom (Mississippi State) \| Phillip Fulmer (Tennessee) \| Bobby Johnson (Vanderbilt) \| Urban Meyer (Florida) \| Les Miles (LSU) \| Houston Nutt (Arkansas) \| Ed Orgeron (Ole Miss) \| Mark Richt (Georgia) \| Nick Saban (Alabama) \| Steve Spurrier (South Carolina) \| Tommy Tuberville (Auburn) \|