Richt says he’ll continue to call plays
Even as Jimmy Johnson questions that decision
CORAL GABLES — When Mark Richt was hired three years ago to coach his alma mater, one of the draws, he said, was the opportunity to be hands on, to coach quarterbacks and to call his own plays, something he stopped doing during the latter part of his tenure at Georgia.
But as Miami has struggled to score a combined 39 points during its recent three-game losing streak, Richt’s play-calling has come under fire from many outside the program.
Now, former Hurricanes coach Jimmy Johnson, too, has wondered if Richt should step away from those time-consuming duties.
During a radio appearance with WQAM-560’s Joe Rose on Tuesday, Johnson — who led the Hurricanes to the 1987 national championship — said that with all of the demands put on college coaches, it may be in Richt’s best interest to bring in a dedicated playcaller, freeing the coach up to manage the program as a whole.
“I’ve said that as far as the head coach calling the plays – I used to have this discussion with Norv Turner — Norv is as good an offensive coordinator as there was – or is. And yet as a head coach, he continued to calls plays. I told him, I said, ‘Norv, you’ve got to oversee the whole thing,” Johnson told Rose. “There are so many demands on your time that I’d much rather have a guy calling plays that spends night and day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, working on that one thing. I think it’s even harder in college than what it is in pro football. In pro football, there are some demands on a head coach’s time, but you’re 90 percent football.
“A college head coach? Hmm. There are a lot demands on your time. With the alumni. With the university. With recruiting. It’s hard to be on top of it night and day 24 hours a day. I’d much rather have someone doing it that’s doing it all the time.”
Richt, for his part, seems to disagree with that school of thought.
When asked in recent weeks whether he’s considered giving up play-calling duties, Richt has repeatedly said he hasn’t. He reiterated that point again Tuesday when asked if there was a possibility offensive coordinator and running backs coach Thomas Brown might be allowed to call plays this week at Georgia Tech or in any game beyond that.
“Right now, I haven’t even thought about that,” Richt responded tersely.
Richt, of course, isn’t the only coach to call his own plays.
Super Bowl winner Doug Pederson of the Philadelphia Eagles calls his own plays, as does Kansas City coach Andy Reid for the high-flying Chiefs. And former Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher called his own plays during the Seminoles’ run to the 2013 national championship.
Johnson and others, though, do it differently.
Before Richt was hired, former Hurricanes coach Al Golden left play-calling duties to former offensive coordinator James Coley, and just this week in Tallahassee, Willie Taggart relinquished play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Walt Bell after Bell called the plays in FSU’s 47-28 loss to North Carolina State.
That move was a change for Taggart, who previously called plays during his time at South Florida and Oregon.
“I’m not a big-ego guy, I’m going to always do what’s best for our program and just because I give up plays doesn’t mean I’m not involved in it,” Taggart told reporters, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
While he may have wondered whether head coaches calling plays is a good idea, Johnson did have some praise for Richt, particularly for his recruiting.
While Miami is trying to improve on its 2019 class ahead of the early signing period, the Hurricanes landed a top-10 recruiting class last year and a top-15 class in 2017.
“When you have high expectations and you don’t meet those expectations, there’s going to be disappointment,” Johnson said, referencing Miami’s struggles of late. “Obviously, there’s going to be heat. Let me say up front: I like Mark Richt. I think he’s done a really outstanding job of going out and recruiting good players.”