Miami head coach Mark Richt abruptly retires following 7-6 season

Coaching change season usually brings about a surprise or three, and here is one for sure: Mark Richt is done at Miami after just three seasons. He’s phrasing as a retirement, but yeah, I dunno about that, man.

Richt won ACC Coach of the Year honors just last season, when the Hurricanes won 10 games and reached the conference championship. The Canes slumped to 7-6 this season and finished with a blowout bowl loss to Wisconsin, but still, three bowl trips plus a conference title appearance in three years ain’t bad at all.

For whatever reason, there was an awry feeling about Miami’s program this season, and probably there will be some additional details about the whole thing later on. But this is a little strange, no doubt.

And I don’t know how to properly evaluate the Miami job anymore. The brand’s not totally dead, and you’ve got all the talent you could possibly need right in close proximity, but this program has struggled to find consistent success for quite a while now. The talent pool automatically makes it a good job, though it’s still only the third-best job in the state.

Let’s see what they do now!