Is Mark Richt making same mistakes with Miami Hurricanes as at UGA?

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Canes Warning discussed earlier this week if Miami Hurricanes Defensive Coordinator Manny Diaz would make a better Head Coach than Richt. Diaz is in his 14th season as a Defensive Coordinator at the FBS level and is likely on the verge of becoming a Head Coach.

Canes Warning spoke to Allistair Penny the Expert for FanSided’s Georgia site Dawn of the Dawg earlier this week to give us his insight on Richt’s tenure at Georgia. Penny reiterated the criticisms of Richt not being able to elevate his program to the top of college football.

"“We won 9-10 games every year and then got destroyed whenever we played an elite team and also lost one game we shouldn’t every season. That’s the Mark Richt experience. It’s awesome for 95% of schools, but if you want to challenge for the CFP, he’s not the guy. He’s an awesome guy. I can’t stress that enough. Everyone in Athens loves him. And he’ll never let anything bad happen to the program like you’ve seen under some other coaches.  He’s so genuine and such a great guy is why he lasted 15 years with us. He transformed our program and made us relevant again. But eventually, it became obvious that he was never going to be able to push us over the top to being a perennial powerhouse and that is what the fans here demanded. Fast forward three years and life under Kirby is very different…I just don’t know how he’s going to beat (Clemson Head Coach) Dabo (Swinney) and get you that ACC crown. He could never beat (Former Florida and current Ohio State Head Coach) Urban (Meyer) or (Alabama Head Coach Nick) Saban here and that’s the thing. He’s better than 98% of coaches out there, but when it comes to the elite, he’s just not quite there.”"

In his short tenure with the Miami Hurricanes, a high percentage of the fanbase will certainly agree with many if not all of these assessments. When the change back to Malik Rosier occurred at quarterback earlier this week there was an outcry from the Miami fanbase. Not all of it was because of Rosier being named the starter.

Penny reiterated throughout our conversation that he had nothing but respect and admiration for Richt. It was almost like no one truly wanted to see him get fired from a standpoint of their personal feelings for him. On the field and in recruiting was a different story.

"“Richt is an incredible guy, but he’s loyal to a fault and that caused problems in Athens Coaching wise, he didn’t always hire the best and he never pushed the program in the way Kirby Smart did. He wasn’t obsessed with winning or building a culture in the way Kirby is…Hence his famous ‘rings collect dust’ quote…He ran a good program, but you never got the feeling that he demanded excellence from everyone around him.”"