Miami coach Richt makes 1st visit to FSU since 2000
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Mark Richt has a unique perspective of the MiamiFlorida State rivalry as a former player and coach.
Still, despite all that the Miami head coach has seen in this series, Saturday will be his first trip back to Doak Campbell Stadium in 17 years.
Richt, who was a Florida State assistant coach for 15 years, credits a lot of his development to the time he spent under Bobby Bowden. Richt said he still tries to model a lot of the things that he does after what Bowden did.
“I just learned a lot of football from Coach Bowden but I learned probably a lot more about life. His priorities were things that meant a lot to me,” Richt said during this week’s Atlantic Coast Conference teleconference. “He took a chance on a 24-yearold kid that coached quarterbacks for him. I don’t even know that I shouldn’t be coaching QBs that early in my career.
“He let me grow as a coach. For him to have faith and confidence in me to do that was huge.”
Richt, who played at Miami, was a Florida State graduate and volunteer assistant from 1985 to ’88. He went to East Carolina for a year as offensive coordinator before returning to FSU as the full-time quarterbacks coach in 1990.
Four seasons later, Richt was named the offensive coordinator. He was the quarterbacks coach for two Heisman Trophy winners — Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke — as well as being on the staff of two national championship teams (1993, ’99) and part of a 51-game home unbeaten streak before heading to Georgia in 2001.
But a trip down memory lane will not be the most important thing to Richt this weekend. His priority will be to have the 13th-ranked Hurricanes (3-0, 1-0 ACC) snap a seven-game losing streak to the Seminoles (1-2, 1-1). Miami wide receiver Braxton Berrios has one word to describe the losing streak, including losing the last three by a total of 10 points — inexcusable.
“Especially the ways we’ve lost and how close most of the games have been,” Berrios said. “At least when I was here, we’ve led in every single fourth quarter.”
The game has come down to a single point eight times in 61 meetings.
Richt has been involved in four of them along with some of the other crazier finishes, including three where Florida State had gametying or winning field goal attempts go wide right in the final minute.