ATHENS-Former University Georgia head football coach Mark Richt has been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame according to an announcement of the 2023 class Monday by the National Football Foundation.

          Richt is the fifth former UGA coach to be elected to the College Hall of Fame along with 16 former players.

          During his tenure at UGA from 2001-2015, Richt compiled a record of 145-51 (.738) and was named Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year in 2002 and 2005.  He led the team to two SEC championships (2002 and 2005), five SEC championship game appearances, 15 consecutive bowl games (10-5), and eight top ten final national poll finishes.

Richt was one of only four men in NCAA Division I-A history to record 135 or more wins in his first 14 seasons.  Twenty-four of his players went on to play in the Super Bowl.  One of them, Thomas Davis of the Carolina Panthers, received the 2014 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award by the NFL.

Former Georgia players and coaches previously inducted into the College Hall of Fame:  Coach Glenn “Pop” Warner, 1951; Bob McWhorter, 1954; Frank Sinkwich, 1954; Charley Trippi, 1959; Vernon “Catfish” Smith, 1979; Bill Hartman, 1984; Fran Tarkenton, 1987; Coach Vince Dooley, 1994; Coach Wally Butts, 1997; Bill Stanfill, 1998; Herschel Walker, 1999; Terry Hoage, 2000; Kevin Butler, 2001; John Rauch, 2003; Coach Jim Donnan, 2009; Jake Scott, 2011; Scott Woerner, 2016; Matt Stinchcomb, 2018; David Pollack, 2020; and Champ Bailey, 2022.