GA News: OnlineAthens - UGA fires Mark Richt after 145 wins in 15 seasons

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From OnlineAthens.com
November 29th, 2015 12:33 PM

Georgia on Sunday fired football coach Mark Richt, who took the program to its greatest heights since the heyday of Herschel Walker and Vince Dooley in the 1980s but last won an SEC title 10 years ago and never reached the national championship game.
After the Bulldogs ended a 9-3 regular season with their fourth straight win Saturday against Georgia Tech, Richt said he planned to take to the road to recruit for 2016.
A statement released by Georgia framed the parting in softer terms.
"Coach Richt and I met Sunday morning to discuss the status of our football program 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," athletic director Greg McGarity said in a statement.
Over 15 seasons, Richt won a higher percentage of games of any coach in program history, but the Bulldogs’ best seasons in 2002 and 2005 (when it won SEC titles), 2007 (when it won the Sugar Bowl) and 2012 (when it was five yards away from reaching the BCS title game) still left Georgia short of winning it all.
"I appreciate the opportunity of serving the University as well as
considering any other options that may present themselves in the future," Richt said.
The Bulldogs failed to win the SEC East the last three years with SEC newcomer Missouri going twice and Florida once with a first-year coach.
Richt received a contract extension and an $800,000 raise last January, but his job security became shaky again in October when he lost 38-10 to Alabama, 27-3 to Florida and blew a 21-point lead in a loss at Tennessee. The Bulldogs were ranked No. 9 in the preseason but have been unranked in the AP poll since mid-October.
The offense dropped off considerably under first-year offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer with the quarterback play inconsistent and the loss of star running back Nick Chubb to a season-ending knee injury costly.
Georgia would owe Richt, 55, a buyout of $4.1 million under a contract extension agreed to in January if he left the school. That deal hasn’t been signed, but McGarity has said the school will honor the arrangement.
Richt will leave the coaching sidelines with memorable moments that fans will long remember including the “Hobnail Boot” win at Tennessee in 2001 and 4th-and-15 touchdown pass at Auburn in 2002 that led to Georgia winning its first SEC championship in 20 years.
The Bulldogs would win another in 2005 and made five trips to the SEC championship game in all, but while others in the SEC won national titles, Georgia was on the outside looking in at it all.
Richt was 145-51 at Georgia, a .7398 winning percentage that is the best ever for a Bulldogs football coach.


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