The Miami Hurricanes gets Bibles. The Georgia Bulldogs lose on a Hail Mary. Bulldog fans, you may need to get used to 10-15 years of games like this:
On November 29th, 2015 the university’s administration and Head Coach Mark Richt mutually agreed to end his employment after after 15 years despite amassing a 144-51 record. For many in the UGA community and the state of Georgia, Coach Richt was beloved. In fact, it prompted me to write the post The Type Of Man You Want Leading Your Son – A Tribute To Mark Richt which went viral. Candidly, I am still not happy about his dismissal.
The following are the reasons why:
- Two-time SEC champion
- Five-time SEC East Division champion
- 144-51 record while at Georgia
- Two-time SEC Coach of the Year
- 2013 Stallings Award for commitment to humanitarian and community service.
- 9-5 bowl game record
- 1 year removed from being the 2014 season-ending 9th ranked team in the country.
- Six Top 10 finishes in 15 years
- 222 graduates – most by any SEC head coach
- 1 of 7 head coaches in NCAA to have 90 wins in his first 9 seasons
But that wasn’t good enough. So in the spirit of the University of Tennessee after they fired Phillip Fulmer, the Georgia Bulldogs may be entering into a decade of disappointment despite their considerable talent. The Bulldogs are currently 3-2 with two conference losses and have dropped out of the Top 25.
So how is Coach Richt doing at the University of Miami who hired him in less than 72 hours after he became available? The Hurricanes are currently 4-0 and ranked number 10.
In addition, he is changing the team’s culture. Hypeline.org published an article on September 30th detailing how Coach Richt surprised everyone on the team with a Bible. You can read the full article here.
The following are 12 Leadership Lessons About Godly Leadership all leaders can learn from Head Coach Mark Richt I gleaned from the article:
- Godly Leaders Are Compassionate – The article noted what makes Coach Richt so unique is the compassion he shows his players.
- Godly Leaders Care About You As A Person – Coach Richt wants his players to become great men in addition to being great performers on Saturday.
- Godly Leaders Are Attune To The Needs Of Those On Their Teams – The article said, “Coach Richt heard that some of his players didn’t have Bibles and that some of the ones who did had older versions — which made it harder to read and understand.”
- Godly Leaders Are Kind. – Coach Richt is not pushy. He is a gentleman. The Sun Sentinel reported, “Richt said that while it was optional his players and staffers take them, he wanted to make sure everyone had the option of having a new Bible if they wanted it.”
- Godly Leaders Are Wise – Coach Richt said, “There will be times I’ll give them those wise sayings from Proverbs, the book of wisdom.”
- Godly Leaders Challenge People To Reach Their Potential – Coach Richt added, “If anyone would take the challenge of reading a proverb a day, you’re going to get wiser. It’s good stuff. I just wanted to make it available to them.”
- Godly Leaders Are Trustworthy – Defensive end Demetrius Jackson described Coach Richt as “genuine and he’s the man he says he is. He just showed us he honestly cares about us and I know if I can trust him, we can all trust him.”
- Godly Leaders Are Humble – Georgia team chaplain Kevin Hynes said of Richt, “I’ve never seen a man get more humble with more success, but that’s just what God has done in his life.”
- Godly Leaders Elevate The Importance And Value Of The Scriptures – Safety Rayshawn Jenkins said, “It’s shows us that he really cares. He could’ve just handed us a playbook instead, or something else. But he handed us Bibles, something different. It lets us know he wants good for us.”
So Miami gets Bibles. Georgia loses on a Hail Mary. As residents of the state of Georgia, we miss Coach Richt. And I am afraid we are going to be missing him for quite awhile.
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