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Can Mark Richt become an elite coach at UM?

FrancisSawyer

FrancisSawyer

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Can Mark Richt draw on his experience as an OC at FSU and HC at UGA and make the jump to be considered an elite head coach at UM? I think it's a valid question given the fact that Richt is now sitting on top what is arguably the richest bed of high school football talent in the nation. It has been said many times that UM with all of the resources it has to offer makes head coaches not the other way around.

If we take a look at two of the most successful HC's in UM history Jimmy Johnson and Dennis Erickson and compare their respective records before and after UM with their records while at UM it is stunningly obvious that JJ and DE had their best years in terms of W/L while coaching UM and it isn't close.

Jimmy Johnson

Oklahoma State 29-25-3
Miami 52-9(1NC)

Dennis Errickson

Wyoming 6-6
Washington St. 12-10-1
Miami 63-9 (2 NC's)
Oregon State 31-17
Idaho 4-8
Arizona State 31-31

Mark Richt

Georgia 145-51
Miami ???????

Many people have made comments regarding Richts inability to win the big game and his head to head record against the likes of Saban, Myer, Miles....Now I'm certainly not trying to deny or spin any of Richts shortcomings or weaknesses. However when you realize that UGA was Richts first shot at being a head coach and guys like Saban, Meyer and Miles had the benefit of having multiple HC gigs under their respective belts, then I'm willing to cut Richt more than a little slack. Then when I see a record of 145-51 in his first go at being an HC at Georgia then I am even more impressed.

My entire point is that if Richt could go 145-51 at UGA in his first head coaching job, is it possible that he could come here and establish himself as an elite championship level coach considering the fact that two of our best HCs in JJ and DE had very mediocre and pedestrian records results before and after leaving UM?

Discuss,
 
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If we are going by the numbers that you posted, this will be the most dominating football program ever...I have no reason to suspect otherwise. We Back.
 
Southbeach44 said:
If we are going by the numbers that you posted, this will be the most dominating football program ever...I have no reason to suspect otherwise. We Back.
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LOL, I wasn't intending to make it look like a no brainer that were back and I'm very much aware that the landscape of college football has changed significantly since the time when Jimmy and Dennis were here. Having said that I do believe that UM still has the necessary resources to fuel a dominant program with the right coach at the helm and an administration that won't get in the way.
 
No doubt. We hit a home run with this hire. I love JJ and Erickson..I love what they did. Richt can do all of that and more because he is in for the long haul. We gonna be good real fast and stay good for a real long time with him at the helm. Finally! We have everything a program needs to dominate CFB for a long, long time.
 
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To me, he doesn't have to TRY to be an elite head coach, he is already one of those in CFB. My only worry is that we are going to think that instantly we will be back in contention for National Championships very soon, Mark Richt has to get these kids, coaches and parents to trust UM again. You forgot we had over a decade of guys who were doing an horrible job of keeping local top talent home. If he can lock down 75% as much of SOFL as he did the whole state of Georgia, we are going to be in contention for winning the ACC consistently very soon.
 
I think that as long as Dabo and Jimbo are at Clemson and FSU, we will never be better than the 3rd best team in ACC. We needed a young energetic coach like Herman, to get this going and try to change things. Was never in the group that thought this hire was best for the program. But, time will tell.
 
Good discussion. A couple of flaws I noticed in the OP: 1. Comparing the UGA gig to Oklahoma State and Washington State doesn't work. Richt did much better than JJ and Erickson did at their pre-UM gigs, but he had a much better job than they did. He should have done better than them. The talent bump won't be anywhere near as significant for Richt as it was for JJ and Pink.;

2. The "it was his first HC gig" argument makes little sense when he was there for 15 years. He's a veteran HC now. If you were looking to use that excuse for him, it would have been valid early in his tenure at UGA not now.

My hope is that he's reenergized and that we see a guy who goes from the world's highest paid cheerleader, which he called himself at UGA, to a guy who gives us an X and O advantage offensively, which is something we haven't had since Pink brought his one-back spread here.

He's going to be a mega recruiter. But he was also a very capable playcaller and QB developer when he did those things early in his career. If he can bring those 2 skills here along with his great recruiting skills the sky should be the limit. I'm not sold on his DC choice, but he hired the best DL coach in the country, so that could do a lot to help Diaz.
 
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Yep. Just like some programs (such as Alabama) don't necessarily need great QBs to win championships, just competent ones, Miami only needs competent coaching. And no one can deny that Richt is at the very least competent. But why limit the comparison to JJ and DE? You can make a similar case for all the successful Miami coaches: HS, JJ, DE, BD, and let's throw in LC for his first couple seasons. Other than JJ and what he did at Dallas, if you omit their stints at UM would any of them be considered great coaches?
 
Idk about you but Mark richt should be considered as an elite coach. You don't win 145 games in 15 seasons which is the 3rd most ever in that time frame being good or an average coach... Have things not fallen his way in some games? Sure..
 
Coach Richt will do great things here. We had 3 horrible coaches in a row. The Hurricanes have been a sleepng giant and are now awake.
 
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I think he's the most proven coach Miami has ever hired. The obvious is that so much talent has been flowing out of Miami for so long it's going to take some wins and a few years to slow it down. Not just high school talent, but up and coming coaches will want to come here and build a name for themselves. Start winning and building that pipeline to the NFL and the brand will sell itself again. Get it right at Miami and you write your own ticket. He has the tools to absolutely become an elite coach.
 
orangegreenwhite said:
Yep. Just like some programs (such as Alabama) don't necessarily need great QBs to win championships, just competent ones, Miami only needs competent coaching. And no one can deny that Richt is at the very least competent. But why limit the comparison to JJ and DE? You can make a similar case for all the successful Miami coaches: HS, JJ, DE, BD, and let's throw in LC for his first couple seasons. Other than JJ and what he did at Dallas, if you omit their stints at UM would any of them be considered great coaches?
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If you don't look at what Howard Schnelly did outside of UM and consider it some great accomplishments I don't know what to say.
 
Richt might be the most known commodity we've ever hired. I would consider him on the cusp of elite, because of no national championships. He's never even played in one yet. But as the last 15 years have proven he can be a consistent winner. It has to be a snowball effect starting this year, needing to win 9 to 10 games minimum. Year two goal should be ACC championship. Year three should be playoffs or bust. Coaches don't hang around major programs 4 or 5 years without major improvements. The goal at Miami is still to win national championships if Richt can't get is close after 3 to 4 seasons than he's not the guy.
 
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If Richt can have an Herman like affect and put points on the board with an explosive offense we will be in good hands. If our offense starts to click we will be a dangerous team. IMO, the D will be better,but they will still give up plays here and there.
 
Plzwork4 said:
orangegreenwhite said:
Yep. Just like some programs (such as Alabama) don't necessarily need great QBs to win championships, just competent ones, Miami only needs competent coaching. And no one can deny that Richt is at the very least competent. But why limit the comparison to JJ and DE? You can make a similar case for all the successful Miami coaches: HS, JJ, DE, BD, and let's throw in LC for his first couple seasons. Other than JJ and what he did at Dallas, if you omit their stints at UM would any of them be considered great coaches?
Click to expand...

If you don't look at what Howard Schnelly did outside of UM and consider it some great accomplishments I don't know what to say.
Click to expand...

Howard who? You mean the guy who left Miami for a job that never existed, did mediocre at Louiville, layed a rotten egg at Oklahoma, became a failed bond salesman and then got a little job at FAU that no one will remember. That Howard?
 
MovingZen said:
I think he's the most proven coach Miami has ever hired. The obvious is that so much talent has been flowing out of Miami for so long it's going to take some wins and a few years to slow it down. Not just high school talent, but up and coming coaches will want to come here and build a name for themselves. Start winning and building that pipeline to the NFL and the brand will sell itself again. Get it right at Miami and you write your own ticket. He has the tools to absolutely become an elite coach.
Click to expand...
Agree 100% with this post, and just to add something..While we langered with Larry, Randy and Al the rest of college football passed us on innovation toward playing the game...We had the advantage in the 80's-2002 with team speed a superior players but hasn't anyone noticed that's been gone for 15 years?
 
Richt isn't an elite coach and won't ever be one. Doesn't mean he can't win a championship here though.
 
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