Bobby Bowden on Mark Richt: He’ll bring Miami back
Bobby Bowden thinks new Miami head coach Mark Richt will bring the Hurricanes back.
Mark Richt coached under Bobby Bowden for 11 seasons at Florida State so if anyone is qualified to comment on Richt and his coaching acumen, it’s the legendary former head coach of the Seminoles.
Richt accepted the Miami Hurricanes job on Wednesday, three days after he was fired by Georgia after 15 years with the Bulldogs, to return to his alma mater and the Sunshine State. Miami hasn’t had the same type of national success in the last decade-plus as they are used to, but Bowden thinks that’s about to change under Richt.
“Miami was such a power in the ‘80s, the early ‘90s,” Bowden told the Palm Beach Post. “Florida was the same way when Steve Spurrier went there. We had our success at Florida State. Then it all fell apart. Now Florida State is back. Florida looks like they are on their way. Now Miami looks like they will be back.”
How quickly Miami gets “back” is the million dollar question, because the hire of Richt has risen expectations that The U will be back competing for national championships right away. But I’d caution that’s too optimistic, because Richt needs time to bring in his recruits and change the culture around the program, which takes time.
We saw Jim Harbaugh turn Michigan around in one year at his alma mater and that’ll be the goal for Richt. But that’s the exception to the rule. Look at Texas where Charlie Strong is two years into the rebuild in Austin and has 10 wins to show for it and next year may not result in a bowl game.
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I think Richt will be closer to Harbaugh than he is to Strong and I agree with Bowden that Richt will bring Miami back. But I think they’ll be back to consistently winning nine games a year and in the next year or two will be competing for ACC division and conference championships.
Beyond that, I’m hesitant to say Miami will be a consistent national title contender like they were in their glory days.