ATHENS – Mark Richt is not the jealous type. In fact, he works very hard every day to avoid the “seven deadlies.” But even Georgia’s gracious former coach has to admit to feeling some pangs of envy when eyeing the Bulldogs’ growing football empire.
Since Richt was fired as Georgia’s coach in December 2015, UGA has added $175 million of new construction projects for football. That has provided current coach Kirby Smart with an indoor practice facility, a locker room and recruiting lounge at Sanford Stadium and an $80 million football operations building that is just months being completed.
Richt actually has toured all the facilities at one time or another on his frequent visits to the Butts-Mehre complex and UGA’s campus the past couple of years. He’s now a part-time Athens-area resident and has numerous friends and acquaintances who are still employed by the university and its athletic association, Smart himself chief among them.
“Well, it just didn’t happen in my time,” Richt said with a chuckle Wednesday. “But I’ve gotten a chance to see most of it, and it’s pretty spectacular, I can say that. It certainly helps in recruiting and people’s impression of how serious is Georgia when it comes to being great to being the best. You can see it.”
You can see it in facilities and recruiting budget, and you can see it on the football field as well. The No. 1-ranked Bulldogs (8-0, 6-0 SEC) will look to extend their win streak to 13 games when they play host to Missouri (4-4, 1-3) on Saturday at Sanford Stadium (ESPN, noon).
Richt and his family will be among the 92,746 in attendance. This weekend has long been circled by Georgia as the one in which it plans to honor its former coach. He will be recognized for his impressive 15-year tenure as the Bulldogs’ coach, which included three SEC championships, five SEC Championship game appearances and an average of almost 10 wins per year over 15 seasons.
Georgia finished second once (2007) and third another time (2002) under Richt, but never got a chance to play for a national championship.
“We love Georgia; we always have,” Richt said. “We poured our lives into it. I think the fans at least respect the job we did and how we did it. They know we cared about Athens and cared about the university and cared about the players. And we won a bunch of games. We just didn’t win enough, or we didn’t win the national championship, to be specific.”
There’s no denying that. Georgia hadn’t won an outright SEC championship in 20 years until Richt’s second team did in 2002. So far, Smart has won one, also in his second season in 2017, while playing for it three times.
The 2021 Bulldogs have earned a place in this year’s title game by tying the SEC record for a division clinch in Week 8, which they did Saturday.
“He certainly made this a really good job from the way he built things and the things he did during the time he was here,” Smart said after practice Tuesday night. “... He has meant so much to so many. When you talk to his former players, all the guys who played for him and so many alumni and players, they come back to events and they just rave about their relationship. You see guys like Terrence Edwards and Ben Watson and these great players that just respect Coach Richt and the things he did for this university. I feel the same way and couldn’t be prouder to be honoring him.”
Richt is among those who believe even greater things are ahead for Smart’s sixth Georgia team. While he is immersed in ACC football coverage as an analyst for ACC Network, Richt said he “keeps a TV on Georgia” every Saturday so he can follow the Bulldogs’ games as closely as possible.
And, of course, he is exposed to Georgia talk every day at home in Watkinsville. Most of Richt’s family still lives in the area. He leads a Wednesday morning men’s group that includes former players such as David Pollack as well as a few local residents.
They’re studying the Book of Romans at present, but their daily discussions rarely leave out what’s happening with the Bulldogs.
“I mostly see highlights and read about the team, but it’s obvious that the defense is squeezing the life out of everybody they play,” Richt said. “They remind me of the great Miami defenses in the 1990s when I coached at Florida State as the offensive coordinator. It’s a deal where their front four is so dominating that they can stop the run without rolling a safety in the box and they force you to play coverage and hold the ball without having to blitz a bunch. That’s ideal. But they’re producing some offensive highlights, too.”
While ACC Network is planning to do “a hit or two” with Richt in Athens on Saturday, he basically is getting the day off. But other than that and a book signing at the UGA Bookstore from 3-5 p.m. Friday, Richt said he’s looking forward kicking back and watching some Georgia football and reminiscing with old friends about good times.
“We’re definitely cheering for Georgia,” Richt said. “Of course, we’ve known Kirby for a long time. He was on our staff for a minute (2005 season) and he’s been a good friend. We know the Hartley’s (tight ends coach Todd Hartley) real well, and you’ve got Bryant Gantt and Ann Hunt and Claude Felton and a bunch of other people on staff that I’ve known a long time. So we’d be thrilled to see Georgia get it done.”
In the meantime, Richt has bigger battles of his own to fight. He was open in sharing publicly about his diagnosis with Parkinson’s Disease earlier this year. Richt said he’s feeling relatively well, and he has been receiving cutting-edge medical treatment.
“It’s no big deal,” said Richt, who was on his way to Houston for treatment Tuesday with his sister Nikki and brother-in-law Kevin “Chappy” Hynes. “I’m getting some stuff done and being well taken care of.”
As for the Saturday’s ceremony, Richt said he and his wife, Katharyn, were humbled by the gesture. It was actually supposed to happen last year but was postponed because of the pandemic. At one point it was suggested to do it in 2022 to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the 2002 SEC championship team. But UGA settled on 2021 after Richt’s diagnosis.
“I’m excited about it,” Richt said. “I’m afraid everybody’s going to be waiting in line to get a Chick-fil-A sandwich. Hopefully, there’ll still be some fans in the stands at halftime.”
For Richt, most Georgia fans still stay in their seats.
