Mark Richt’s decision to step down at Miami in late December, after UM’s bowl game, caught the college football world by surprise. After 15 seasons at Georgia (2001-15), many people expected Richt, who turned 59 in February 2019, to be in for another long run with the Hurricanes.

Richt recently visited The Joe Rose Show on 560 WQAM and discussed why he decided to step down after the Pinstripe Bowl. He revealed that not taking the time to recharge his batteries led to him feeling burnt out.

“Well, I think the biggest thing for me was, I didn’t do a great job of taking care of myself from the day I took the job,” Richt said, per 247Sports. “I went 15 years at Georgia, and probably needed a break then but just the Miami opportunity was there and is too good to turn down.”

Richt played at Miami from 1979-82. He felt the need to give his alma mater his all, which was taxing on his health.

“I knew is gonna take a lot of heavy lifting and I went in with my eyes open and, and I went hard, you know, and I enjoyed every bit of the grind, but I probably worked out ten times in three years,” Richt said. “I didn’t take care of myself. So probably just didn’t do a good enough job taking care of myself. When it was all over, I mean, the hardest thing, by far is saying it’s time for me to stop, because when you’re the head coach it involves a lot of people; your assistant coaches, their families, the recruits, and your current players. So many people are kind of count on you to be there, and when you decide it’s time to stop, that’s a gut-wrenching decision.”

This season, Richt will be an analyst for the ACC Network. We’ve seen other coaches, such as Urban Meyer, use a studio gig to take a short break before taking another coaching job, but Richt says he has no plans to give coaching another go.

“I don’t I don’t think so I’m not planning on it by any stretch,” Richt said. “I’m not in the back of my mind saying, ‘Hey, I’m waiting for some opportunity.’ That’s not where I’m at right now…I don’t doubt that I’ll get some calls and there’s been people already tried to, you know, feel out my feelings and all that kind of thing. I’m really excited about the ACC Network. I’m excited about, starting a new career yet because you can’t, you can retire from coaching, but you can’t retire from life.”