Miami AD on Mark Richt's impact: I went from hated to loved
Posted by: Chris Vannini on Monday May 09, 2016
Miami (FL) athletic director Blake James says he’s a pretty popular guy in south Florida right now, and it’s a big change from eight months ago.
The decision to dismiss Al Golden and the ability to hire Mark Richt has completely changed the feeling of the Hurricane fanbase.
How much so? James says Miami has seen a record 86 percent renewal rate for season tickets, and new season tickets sold total around 9,000. You've seen plenty of photos of an empty Miami stadium, but James says they're already nearing 40,000 season tickets, before the busy sell summer. The booster club has also grown.
“I went from being one of the least popular guys to one of the most popular guys,” James told SiriusXM College Sports Nation. “It’s the world we live in. Whether it’s current students, former students, program alumni, anyone following the program wasn’t happy with the situation.
“To have someone with Mark’s pedigree as our head coach, given his ties to the university has been a home run for us in so many different ways. The fanbase has embraced that. For us as a program, it’s well-documented that ticket sales have been a challenge. We’re down to less than 2,000 seats left in the lower bowl. We’re going to have more season tickets than we’ve ever sold as a program. I’ve confident of that. The response has been overwhelmingly positive.”
When James dismissed Golden in December, it came one day after James said there wouldn’t be a change yet.
But when he decided to make that change, James says Richt was at the top of the list — if he would become available. James contacted Richt's agent after Golden was let go, but Richt turned down interest. When Richt became available after the season, Miami was ready to court him. Richt wanted to be more hands-on and have control of the offense, and James was on board.
“It’s difficult any time you tell someone their position is ending, whether that’s a football coach, development person or in any business. You hate to do that,” James said. “At the same time, you always have to make decisions based on what’s best for the institution and program, and that’s the decision I made.
“As soon as I make decisions, we looked forward. Mark, given his tremendous history as a head coach and offensive coordinator at Florida State and his ties to our program was at the top of my list right away. At the same time, he was the head coach of Georgia, and I wasn’t sure that was going to work out. As we worked on our progress, we made our change midseason, but I wasn’t looking to make a (hire) until after the season. The day after the season ended, Mark was available. Within two days, we had him as our head coach.”
Richt’s first three games as Miami coach in September will be against Florida A&M, Florida Atlantic and at Appalachian State.
