As everyone in Bulldog Nation knows by now, Mark Richt recently received a raise that increases his annual compensation from roughly $2,000,000 a year to $2,800,000 per annum.
While this salary increase unquestionably was richly deserved, Paul Westerdawg correctly notes that the decision to pay Coach Richt at a competitive market rate likely had as much to do with Dennis Felton's future in Athens as with the Georgia football coach's.
The official announcement of Coach Richt's raise noted that he "has six years remaining on the eight-year contract he signed following the 2005 SEC Championship season," which indicates that this represents only a compensation increase, not a full-fledged contract renegotiation.
While I consider that a good sign and yet another indicator of Coach Richt's long-term commitment to the program, I have to think that, if I were Coach Richt's agent, I'd have been looking to tweak his deal a little more, to include the sort of clause Nick Saban had at L.S.U.
You know . . . the one that said that, if he won a national championship, he'd be paid at least one dollar more than the highest-paid coach in college football. I have a feeling that particular incentive clause will be kicking in very soon.
All in all, we have to be pretty pleased with this development. Mark Richt, a class act and a proven winner who has generated a run of success at Georgia not seen since the early 1980s which includes a No. 3 final ranking and a No. 2 final ranking, is a bargain at twice the price and the decision to boost his compensation was prudent and well worth the investment.
Go 'Dawgs!