Ask Farrell: Where does Miami turn after Richt's surprise retirement?
Mark Richt pulled a stunner on Sunday as he retired as Miami’s coach, opening up one of the best jobs in college football and restarting the coaching rumor mill that slowed down in recent weeks as jobs became filled.
Richt won nine games in his first season with the Hurricanes, followed by a 10-win campaign last year, but Miami was 7-6 in his third season and got walloped, 35-3, by Wisconsin in the Pinstripe Bowl.
After a strong start to both Miami’s 2019 and 2020 recruiting classes, the Hurricanes are currently No. 42 nationally and seventh in the ACC for the 2019 group. In recent weeks, an outstanding 2020 class has fizzled away with de-commitments.
In a statement on Sunday, Richt said, “My true desire is for our football program to return to greatness, and while terribly difficult, I feel that stepping down is in the best interests of the program.
The focus now turns to who will replace Richt as Miami’s coach.
We asked Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell who would be his No. 1 candidate - and his answer comes from the Pac-12. Oregon fans might not be too thrilled.
FARRELL'S TAKE
“Mario Cristobal coached at Miami, he has Miami ties, he has South Florida ties and ties in the entire Southeast with the way he recruited at Alabama. He was one of the guys who went in there and stole kids out of Florida for ‘Bama. He’s doing an amazing job recruiting at Oregon. Even in the Southeast, a lot of kids are mentioning Oregon in the Southeast.
“It would be difficult to pull him from Oregon especially after Willie Taggart stayed there for just one year, but Miami should make every effort to get him. He should be Miami’s No. 1 candidate, they should aggressively pursue him and try to do what Florida State did and just steal him away and get him back to where he’s most comfortable.”
