Former Georgia coach Mark Richt ends Miami’s 10-year bowl drought with win over West Virginia
Mark Richt had some success in bowl games during his 15 seasons as Georgia head coach. Now, at the end of his first season at the helm in Miami, the former Bulldogs coach made sure that continued.
Richt, who went 9-5 in bowls while at Georgia, helped the Hurricanes snap a 10-year bowl drought with a 31-14 over West Virginia in the Russell Athletic Bowl on Wednesday night in Orlando, Fla. Miami’s last bowl victory came in the MPC Computers Bowl on Dec. 31, 2006.
Since that previous bowl win, the Hurricanes went 0-6 in bowls over the course of 10 years. That stretch included losses to California, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Louisville, South Carolina, and Washington State.
That 🏆, that 🏆 is ours. pic.twitter.com/JSOq2DIP0h
— Canes Football (@CanesFootball) December 29, 2016
Although this was the fourth consecutive year Miami went to a bowl, it was its first victory in one since Larry Coker was the head coach. Randy Shannon, Al Golden, and Larry Scott all went winless in bowl games during their careers with the Hurricanes, while interim coach Jeff Stoutland also experienced a bowl loss in 2010.
Richt finishes his first season with the Hurricanes with a 9-4 record. They closed the year with five straight wins after experiencing a four-game losing streak in the middle of the season. It marks the fifth time in the last six years that a team coached by Richt finished the year with nine or more wins.
