University of Georgia Athletics
Dooley Hires Mark Richt As Head Football Coach
December 26, 2000 | Football
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Opening Statement:
"The first thing I want to do is thank President Adams, Coach Dooley, and the Athletic Board for giving me this opportunity. My family and I are humbled by this opportunity. We're very excited about the chance to coach here and raise our family here in Athens. (My wife) Kathryn and I have for years talked about the possibility that we might have to leave Tallahassee one day. Tallahassee is a place that means an awful lot to us. We've got an awful lot of family there and the quality of life in Tallahassee has been outstanding. We've had a chance to be on championship teams and coach Heisman Trophy winners and anything a coach could ever ask for. So we've been very slow and particular about ever wanting to leave and making sure if we ever did leave it would be a place that we feel we could spend the rest of our lives. We've had some opportunities over the years, but when I found out that I was a possible candidate for this job, it was the very first time that I got really excited and eager about the possibility of making a move. As I told the Board and I told Coach Dooley not to long ago that I never picked up the phone and called an athletic director, I've never asked Coach Bowden to recommend me for a job. There's a gentleman named Grant Taft who I got to know about 10 years ago and I felt like he would help me one day if I needed help in an opportunity to become a head coach. I've never called on him or asked him to do that at any time before, but when this Georgia situation came open, I called Coach Dooley, I asked Coach Bowden to call him, and I asked Coach Taft to make a recommendation for me because we really felt like this is a place that we would want to be. It's a place where we feel like, not only is it going to be a perfect place to raise our family, but we think it's a place that we can win at the very highest level and a place that's very committed to being a great football progam and is a great football program. We're just excited and humbled by the opportunity and we're really looking forward to this challenge."
On stepping out from under Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden and becoming a head coach:
"Working for Coach Bowden over the last 15 years has been a great experience. I talked to him last night about the fact that I was going to take this position. He was very happy but on the other hand he knows that they'll be some changes that have to be made. He's a great man. I'm excited about the chance to try to build something very similar to what he's built and hopefully I learned well from him."
About how far the Georgia program is from winning a national title:
"It's hard to say how far the program is from that, but that is the goal for certain. I know there's talent on this football team. I've seen that. I watched the (Oahu Bowl) game the other night. The national championship is not necessarily something you can guarantee year in and year out if you have the very best players. It takes a little bit of luck. I think we will know what it takes to put the work into it and to prepare for it. I think it won't be long before we have a chance at taking a run at it."
On coaching/calling plays:
"I've thought alot about that. I plan on calling the plays, I plan on coaching the quarterbacks. There's a possibilty that I will bring in a quarterbacks coach or even a graduate assistant that can handle some of the field work that needs to be done. I don't know if I'm ready to give up that job, it's the greatest job in the world to coach quarterbacks. It's something that I've always enjoyed and I think it's important when we first get started that it gets done the way I want it to get done. I plan on calling the plays. I do plan on hiring and naming on offensive coordinator, someone who can communicate well with the players and can organize the staff and can have a good rapport with the media."
On involvement with Georgia prior to the Orange Bowl game:
"Tonight we're flying back to Tallahassee. There's a charter leaving at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow to Miami, I'll be on that flight with my family. We schedule our bowl practices really early in the morning. We're usually done with our practices by noon, maybe as late as one or two. So there will be some time in the evenings where I'll be able to get on the phone with the recruits and be able to talk to possible staff members and things of that nature. I want the focus to be winning the national championship. I want the players to know and I want the coaching staff at Florida State to know that I'm going to carry out my obligations to the best of my ability and I really believe that winning that game is in the very best interest of Florida State University and the University of Georgia."
On Georgia's current coaching staff:
"I think when I finish this meeting here, I'll be meeting with Coach Garner to speak about the recruiting situation. I have not had a chance to speak to anyone on staff yet. I hope to do so. If I can't meet with them face to face because of this bowl situation, I may have to speak with them on the telephone to let them know where they stand so they can make plans if they need to. We'll definitely get a good plan on the recruiting immediately with Coach Garner."
On player's loyalty to coaching staff:
"I think it's good that they are loyal to the coaching staff that's here. These are the men that have been with them on a day-to-day basis and working them and preparing them to succeed. I can understand their feelings because it's a special relationship between coaches and players, but I would hope that they realize that a change has been made and that I will have the best interest in each and every one of them. I'm going to want them to succeed on the field and off the field in the classroom and just in life in general. I think once they realize my sincerity towards their success, that will be what it takes to get us together as one unit.
On Quincy Carter:
"I'll speak with him, I'd like to speak with all the players. If Quincy wants to stay, of course I want him to stay. He's a tremendous player and I met him coming out of high school through the recruiting process. I've gotten a chance to know him and his mother just a little bit. They came unofficial one summer prior to his freshman year and I actually talked to him on the phone a little bit when he was trying to decide where to come back to play. I'm familiar with Quincy and I'm looking forward to talking to him."
On decision:
"Our goal was to never leave Tallahassee or make one move. We felt like if we ever did make a move we wanted to make sure it was a place where we wanted to stay and we've made that commitment. We're not turning back and we're not looking over our shoulder. We want to make it here because we believe it can be done here."
On Florida State coaches coming to Georgia:
"That's a possibility. I'm not going to recruit any of them. I don't want to take anyone from Coach Bowden's staff. He's means too much to me to do anything like that, but if some of the coaches express an interest to me and tell Coach Bowden that they came to me about it then there's a possibility of that happening."
On what is his strongest asset:
"Integrity I hope will be number one. Just running a program that will prove to be true to its word. If we something to a prospect that we'll follow through with it. We'll definitely stay within all the rules in recruiting, within the rules on the football field. I want the players to believe that when I tell then something that I mean it. Trust is so important in anything in life, but in coaching, a coach-player relationship, if they don't trust you then you don't have a chance. We know we have to earn it and the players will have to earn our trust also."
On what he has learned from Coach Bowden:
"He has a way of communicating with the players that they know that he's sincerely interested in their benefit athletically, academically, and spiritually. Hopefully, I'll be able to build a program where coaches will want to come and coaches will want to stay, and players will know that they are cared for and players will know know that when they left this program they left a better man than when they came here."
On having responsibility of calling plays at FSU:
"I've had to learn to deal with the good and the bad and I think him (Bowden) allowing me to have that responsibility and making it public it helped me learn to deal with not only the good times but the bad times. Once you learn that criticism is directed at the coach not so much the human being you learn to deal with it. People are passionate about football. If people weren't passionate about football, then I wouldn't be able to make a great living doing it. So you can understand why people get frustrated."
On dealing with people off the field:
"I think the main thing is to communicate with people, just be nice to people. I'm no different than anybody else in this room. We're all just people that enjoy a handshake, enjoy friendship, enjoy good conversation. I think the bottom line is that if everybody communicates well and everybody is civil to each other, friendly to each other, than life can be a whole lot easier."
On working with media:
"That's part of the job. I understand that the press has to do their job. I understand the press is going to have an opinion, everyone is going to have their opinion on how things are going. I've never had a problem with anyone in the media to criticize. That's part of the business. Hoepfully people will be fair and up front and we'll have a good relationship."
On recruiting:
"The number one priority will be to recruit the state of Georgia. There's a lot of great players in this state. If you dominated the state of Georgia every year, you'd have plenty to compete in the SEC and on the national level. We'll probably dip into Florida some. Depending on the staff I bring in, I'm there will be some coaches that might have some good rapport with coaches across the country and we may spread out even farther than that. The number one priority will be the state of Georgia."
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Comments from UGA Athletic Director Vince Dooley:
On The Hiring of Mark Richt as UGA Football Coach:
"The past two to three weeks we have conducted a national search for a new head football coach. We talked to a lot of people and did hire Chuck Neinas as a consultant, and it was very helpful to us. In any event, I am pleased to announce that Mark Richt -- offensive coordinator at Florida State, has been offered and accepted the position of head football coach at the University of Georgia. Mark brings to Georgia a unique combination of talents as a former Division I college player at Miami and most recently as an assistant coach and coordinator at what has been the nation's most successful college football program during the decade of the 1990s in Florida State. FSU is playing for another national championship next week in the Orange Bowl against Oklahoma. I talked to Coach Bowden, and he requested if it all worked out with Mark coming to Georgia, he would be allowed the opportunity to coach FSU in the bowl game. I thought it was proper he be allowed that. Therefore, he will be coaching with FSU until the bowl game is over. However, he will tell you that during the course of practice he will have opportunities to also tend to some basic duties that he will more than want to get started on during that practice time. We found out very quickly during the process that Mark has a national reputation as one of the country's top coordinators and as the records show has developed one of the most versatile and effective offense at FSU in his seven years as the offensive coordinator. Just as importantly, he has developed an reputation as an outstanding individual who is one of the country's most promising head coach prospects. Dr. Adams and I are very enthusiastic that Mark has accepted the offer to become part of the Georgia family. While he was an excellent candidate on record and on recommendation, he was also one with whom we both felt the highest level of comfort. I know that our athletic staff, our university community, our fans and each of you will enjoy the relationship as you get to know Mark and his family (pictured below)."
On Coach Richts Contract Terms:
Mark will have a five-year contract with the total package for around $750,000 a year. There is not a buyout or exceptions to leave any school. Mark has convinced me that he has made a commitment to the University of Georgia as we have made one to him. I think that he has expressed that in being very deliberate about where he saw his future for he and his family, and it s a good feeling to know that he feels that way about us. There will be some provisions in the contract to ensure that."
On Chuck Neinas' Help with the Search:
"Chuck Neinas and consultants now are able to make phone calls that are more inconspicuous than I can be and able to inquire about interest. He was able to do that and able to contact people in some areas that I couldn't do without it becoming total public knowledge. He was a great resource and helped to expedite this process and was very, very helpful."
Factor of Mark Richt not being a Head Coach Before:
"That was a factor. I do think that there are certain advantages of having the experience of being a head coach. However at some point in time, someone has to get that opportunity. I am thoroughly convinced of the people we talked to and interviewed that there is no one more qualified to step into the position as the head football coach at Georgia from an assistant position than Coach Richt, and that's why we offered the job to him. We didn't put any restrictions on where we would look or criteria that would restrict me. Coach Richt was our first choice."
When the Position was Offered:
"The job was offered Wednesday evening and Mark accepted Thursday."
