CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Mark Richt spent the past 11 seasons squeezing in practice time any day possible to prepare for Georgia Tech’s triple-option offense – the past three at Miami and the previous eight at Georgia.
So, now that’s he retired from coaching and has joined the fledgling ACC Network as a TV analyst, what does he do for relaxation over the summer? He takes his wife to a campus that is the current epicenter of triple-option football – West Point.
Army football is coming off an 11-2 season that finished nationally ranked No. 19 and 20 in the AP and USA Today polls. It’s a program record for wins in a season and the first time the Black Knights finished a season nationally ranked since 1996.
With Richt able to enjoy his off-season, Army coach Jeff Monken took advantage to invite the three-time conference coach of the year (twice SEC, once ACC) to meet with his staff to talk football. That’s how coaches stay current.
“My wife I got the world tour of West Point,” Richt said Wednesday at the ACC media days. “We stayed an extra day to see it all.”
Although facing the triple-option has frustrated Richt over the years, his respect for Monken’s job turning around Army football made the trip inviting.
“I think Coach Monken has done great job of communicating with his players what the team needs to do to win without taking away from the cadet experience,” Richt said. “He’s very enlightening. I’m hoping to go to an Army-Navy Game.”
You won’t be disappointed, coach.
Richt’s new job won’t include breaking down the triple-option since there are no ACC schools on the schedules of the Black Knights, Navy or Air Force. But he is curious to analyze Georgia Tech’s program now that Paul Johnson, who brought the triple-option from Navy to the Yellow Jackets in 2008, has retired.
New Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins used a pro-style offense at Temple, his school that past two years with a 15-10 record at the AAC. It’s not expected to be a smooth transition. Phil Steele Magazine picks Georgia Tech seventh out of seven teams in the ACC Coastal.
“That’ll be interesting,” Richt said. “I’ve always thought when they make the transition it’s going to take time. That’s my guess. It’s hard from an offensive standpoint to start to recruit certain skill set players that are different from triple-option football.”
Georgia Tech officially has five returning offensive starters and four on defense, but they’ll have new roles.
“I would think it will take to time to find out what some of these kids can do,” Richt said. “Who will be your running backs? You’re receivers? Are there any tight end bodies that are in a triple-option?
“But (Collins) knows what he’s doing and what he has to recruit to. For them to light up everything on offense the first year will be difficult. If they do, it will be amazing, in my opinion.”
Collins says it has been a challenge, but he has kept in mind it’s still about the chance to play college football for the players he inherited.
“One of the big things is we’re not an organization that’s built on scheme,” he said. “We’re an organization that’s built on players. We inherited a roster that had 13 running backs on scholarship and zero tight ends. Those young men are in our organization, and they have hopes and dreams and want to play at a high level. How can we put them in a position so they can have success individually and we can have success collectively as a team?
“Same thing on defense. What we’ve inherited, some great young men, but whether we’re a 3-4, whether we’re a 4-3 doesn’t really matter. We need to put our players in a position so they can have individual success and we can have success as a whole.
“That’s the challenge every single day that we’re going through. There’s some exciting things that we’re doing, that we’ve experimented with, tried to find a place for every guy in our organization to have success
Richt’s Georgia teams were 6-2 against Georgia Tech, but his Miami clubs only 1-2. He noted the triple-option is not a normal week of game preparation. Richt set aside days in fall camp and during a bye week for extra practices facing the scheme later in the season.
“It’s not easy to prepare for at all,” he said. “You’re not only trying to teach your players how to face it, you’ve got to teach your scout team how to simulate it. That’s the biggest problem. You get the scout team doing it, but it’s virtually in slow motion compared what it will be like in a game.
“If you’ve never experienced it as a defensive player, it’s a shock that first quarter trying to figure it out. You have veteran guys that get used to it, but you can’t say enough to the guys that are facing it for the first time.”
But that’s not Richt’s concern anymore. With Johnson retired, neither is it for his successor, Manny Diaz, who was Richt’s Miami defensive coordinator.
“I’m sure Manny Diaz is welcoming that he doesn’t have to face it,” Richt said. “All across the league I’m sure they’re welcoming the fact they don’t have to prepare for it.”
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I invite you to follow me on Twitter @shanny4055
Tom Shanahan, Author: Raye of Light http://tinyurl.com/knsqtqu
— Book on Michigan State’s leading role in the integration of college football. It explains Duffy Daugherty’s untold pioneering role and debunks myths that steered recognition away from him to Bear Bryant.
— Raye of Light featured at 2019 National Sports Media Association Book Festival
http://shanahan.report/a/the-case-for-duffy-and-medal-of-freedom
http://www.shanahan.report/a/forty-four-underground-railroad-legacy-facts
Don’t believe the myths at Duffy Daugherty’s expense about Bear Bryant’s motivation to play the 1970 USC-Alabama game or myths about the Charlie Thornhill-for-Joe Namath trade. Bear Bryant knew nothing about black talent in the South while he dragged his feet on segregation.
http://shanahan.report/a/myths-that-grew-out-of-1970-alabama-game-with-usc
http://shanahan.report/a/mystery-solved-in-thornhill-and-namath-myth
David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize winner and biographer; “History writes people out of the story. It’s our job to write them back in.”
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