Mark Richt is a wizard at Miami where he has created a minor miracle by turning around the program and making them the most competitive team in the State Of Florida. There is a bit of a pecking order in Florida, and it shifts now and again. Right now, Miami is on top as Florida sinks to the bottom even below USF, and FSU simply cannot keep up without Deondre Francois. What has Richt done that other coaches could not do?
Richt attended Miami
It is Miami's great fortune that Mark Richt played with Jim Kelly. Jim Kelly was brilliant, and Richt had to go into coaching.
That alone makes this a great story because Richt is worshipped at Miami. People have always loved him there because he is their favorite son. They love all the good things he has done as the OC at FSU, and they are proud of him for all the things he did at Georgia. They were happier to see him come home, and now he strides around Coral Gables with the world in the palm of his hand.
He recruited well
All that amazing talent that came to the NFL from Georgia is now coming to Miami, and Richt knows how to sell the university because he knows what it is like to play there. He is well within his rights to go into a living room and tell the family that their child will come to the school to play. He embodies The U in every way, and that is why he has attracted so much talent so quickly.
Turning the program around was so much easier simply because Richt's name already meant something at Miami.
He adjusted
Richt knew that his message was getting a little bit stale when he left Georgia, and he decided that it would be much easier for him to relax and let the team play. He is willing to stand back and not get in the way, and he knows that allowing the personalities on the team to blossom matters.
He went to Miami at a time when they were the strongest program in the nation, and a renewed personality will change the way they play. If Miami can get back to the way they were when they got off the plane wearing camos with Warren Sapp leading the defense, they will be in very good shape. It is Richt who adjusted his needs to make sure the team could turn out like this.
Miami needs this
Miami will never be a basketball school, and they are desperate for this team to be good. They would do anything for the Miami football team to improve, and they might have to do so that Richt can hire more staff and get more players. He has set the expectations, and now he has to live up to them over many years.
