Mark Richt Retires After 3 Seasons as Miami Head Coach

Miami Hurricanes head football coach Mark Richt announced his retirement Sunday after three years with the program, per Christy Chirinos‏ of the South Florida Sun Sentinel:

The news came as a surprise on a number of fronts:

In his three seasons, Miami went 26-13 and reached three bowl games, including the Orange Bowl in 2017. The Hurricanes reached as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press poll in 2017, though they finished a disappointing 7-6 this year.

In his career between Georgia (2001-15) and Miami, Richt was 171-64 with 17 bowl appearances (10 wins).

But Richt had his share of struggles in recent years, especially later in seasons:

As for Richt's replacement in Miami, Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports and The Athletic broke down some of the possibilities:

Manny Navarro of The Athletic added Oregon's "Mario Cristobal is Miami's No. 1 target" but noted "[Greg] Schiano, Butch [Davis], [Dan] Mullen were interviewed last time."

Schiano is the defensive coordinator for the Ohio State Buckeyes, while Mullen is the head honcho at Florida and likely would be tough to pry from the Gators. For both Schiano and Davis, the head coach of the Florida International Panthers, however, the Miami gig would be an upward move.

The job is a premier position, though it also comes with its share of pressure given that the Hurricanes haven't been elite in quite some time. Miami was one of college football's most dominant programs from the mid-1980s until the early 2000s, winning five national championships in that span, though recent years have brought decline:

For Miami's next head coach, the only goal will be returning the Hurricanes to prominence. Anything less will be deemed a failure for the proud program.