Mark Richt gets key to the city of Miami

MIAMI — As a former football player for the Hurricanes, Mark Richt understands the unique relationship the city of Miami has with the program that has won five national championships.

And as he prepares to enter his second season at UM, he understands the expectations placed on him by not only the university and South Florida community as a whole, but by the city that honored him Thursday by presenting him with a ceremonial key to Miami.

“It’s awesome. I love the city of Miami. We love living here,” Richt said after he was recognized by Miami mayor Tomas Regalado and the city commission. “We love representing the city and representing the University of Miami and the city of Coral Gables, obviously. It’s a nice honor. People want excellence in everything that we do in this city and that’s what they’re expecting and hoping for myself and my staff and our players.

“I knew coming in how important our team is and the success of our team is to the city and how the city enjoys the benefit of it. And I’m all for that.”

Though he’s been with the Hurricanes just over 18 months, Richt has already made a substantial impact on Miami’s football program, on and off the field.

The Hurricanes are coming off a 9-4 season and notched their first bowl win in a decade with their 31-14 win over West Virginia in December. And according to the National Football Foundation, Miami was one of 13 teams nationally to experience an average attendance increase of at least 15 percent in 2016.

Last year, the Hurricanes averaged 58,572 fans at their six home games at Hard Rock Stadium, an increase of 23 percent, the NFF said earlier this year. That was Miami’s best attendance average since 2004.

The expectation is that Richt and Miami will build on that this season, with athletic director Blake James saying last month he expects Miami to sell upward of 46,000 season tickets this year.

“We had one of our best years from an attendance perspective this past year in season ticket sales, and we’re ahead of the pace from this time last year,” James said.

Richt smiled a bit on Thursday when noting he was surprised to be recognized by the city of Miami so early in his tenure at UM — “I feel like I just got here,” he said. However, when commissioner Francis Suarez’s introduced Richt at Thursday’s city commission meeting, he noted the coach has already made progress with his program and his players.

“Coach is not just an incredible football coach, but more importantly, he’s an incredible human being as well,” Suarez said. “For his entire 30-plus years coaching, he has developed a reputation as a humanitarian and a community activist and advocate. He has been a consistently positive role model to the countless young men he has coached. For me, it’s important that he is also a man of faith. … When coach Richt came to the university last year, it was a true homecoming. … To have a coach like Coach Richt come back to Miami, it means so much to our city. Even though we know the Hurricanes are physically located in Coral Gables, they really represent the fabric and the soul of our city.”

Richt and the Hurricanes will open the 2017 season against Bethune-Cookman on Sept. 2 at Hard Rock Stadium.

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