MIAMI — Just when college football thought it had seen it all, former Georgia coach Mark Richt will be honored with an award bearing Steve Spurrier’s name in February.
Richt, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in December, will receive the Spurrier Legend Award on Feb. 26 in Gainesville.
“I have always had a lot of respect for Steve Spurrier, he’s one of the brightest offensive minds in the history of college football,” Richt said.
“I learned a lot from watching his teams play, and I’m honored to be a recipient of an award named after him.”
The announcement comes the week Georgia is practicing in Miami to play against Florida State in the Orange Bowl at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium.
The timing of the award’s release seems ironic; Spurrier was born in Miami, Richt spent several years as the offensive coordinator for the Seminoles, and Richt played his college football and finished his head coaching career with the Hurricanes.
“Coach Richt is one of the first-class gentlemen that has been a part of our sport,” Spurrier said. “Coach Richt’s career at Georgia and Miami speaks for itself, five SEC Championship Games, bowl teams all 18 years he was a head coach
“We’re honored to add him to our legacy group.”
Former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops won the award last year.
Spurrier noted Richt was also successful as an assistant coach at Florida State from 1990-2000.
“We played FSU 14 times in the 12 years I was at Florida, and 13 of the 14 times they were in the Top 5 in the nation.”
Richt went on to coach at Georgia from 2001-15, going 145-51 while leading the Bulldogs to SEC titles in 2002 and 2005 and making three other appearances in the league champioship game.
Richt, who now lives in the Athens area, won ACC and national coach of the year honors after returning to his alma mater at Miami, leading the Hurricanes to their first ACC Coastal Division title in 2017.