CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Vinny Testaverde wondered just how committed the University of Miami was to its football program and what it takes to win.

He was interested in the answer to that question on two fronts: He’s a program icon as a former Heisman Trophy winner, and he’s an even bigger stakeholder in the program for another reason:

Vincent Testaverde, his son, is a sophomore quarterback on Miami’s team.

Testaverde, along with another Hurricane great like Jonathan Vilma, was on the search committee that eventually named Richt as the 24th head coach in program history.

That group was there to help select the best coach. Period. When that candidate was Richt just by that standard, Testaverde then allowed himself to consider his personal relationship with Richt. .

“After the room felt the way that I did about Mark as a coach, then I would allow those feelings as a parent to come in because my son is a player on the team. As a parent, there’s no better role model for my son than Mark Richt. There’s no better person that I would want to see as a head coach coaching my son.”

Testaverde described his role on the search committee. It was a lot of meetings and conference calls and vetting of the right candidates. He said the group wanted to do it right, not fast.

“The hardest part for this whole process with Mark was when he was let go at Georgia and when we were talking about bringing him in for an interview was to separate my feelings and emotions that I had for him as a former teammate and stick to the process that I was asked to be a part of.”