Miami Hurricanes head football coach Mark Richt told boosters he will give $1 million of his own money to plan for a new indoor practice facility.
Over the past 33 seasons, no college football team has won more national championships than the Miami Hurricanes. Five times, Miami has been the best team in the game at the end of the season despite having facilities that are, quite frankly, not even the best of the three FBS teams in South Florida.
One of the issues has been the lack of an indoor practice facility at the private school, something that causes issues during typical rainy afternoons in Miami during the summer and early fall. While other schools in the state have such facilities (including the rival Florida State Seminoles and Florida Gators as well as the UCF Knights), Miami has unveiled plans for one of their own.
The construction cost is estimated between $25 and $27 million. Now, they are going to get a donation of reportedly $1 million from a very interesting source…the personal account of head coach Mark Richt, according to the Palm Beach Post:
"Mark Richt told boosters in Chicago last week he was donating $1 million of his own money to fund Miami’s indoor practice facility, several sources who were at the event told the Post. UM Athletics Director Blake James told the Post that Richt’s gift had not been finalized and he would not confirm the amount. Plans are on paper for the facility — and have been shown to prospective donors and recruits — but aren’t ready for public view."
Mark Richt has become quite the fan favorite since he was hired as the next head coach for the Hurricanes in December of 2015. Richt came back to his alma mater, where he was a quarterback from 1978 until 1982, after being let go as head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs following 15 seasons at the SEC school.
Mark Richt replaced Al Golden, who spent just over four seasons as the head coach at Miami before being fired during the 2015 season, one day after the school’s worst loss in their history (a 58-0 loss to the Clemson Tigers).
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