Here’s a preposterous idea! What if Mark Richt returned to Georgia as offensive coordinator?

Outgoing Georgia head coach Mark Richt is a man with options.

“I will have an opportunity to look at a lot of options,” he said on Monday. “I think there are going to be a lot of options to weigh. I am just not ready to say what I want to do yet.”

He’s an accomplished offensive coordinator (at Florida State, five of his seven offenses ranked in the country’s top five in scoring) and head coach (arguably the best in Georgia history, Vince Dooley included). He’s only 55. Despite a down-ish year that could still end up as his 10th 10-win season, his staff has the No. 4 recruiting class on the 247Sports Composite. He’s universally hailed as a good dude.

“I am looking forward to coaching again, in terms of being more hands-on,” Richt said. “I miss coaching quarterbacks. I miss calling plays. Whether it is in the role of head coach, coordinator, quarterbacks coach, I would be really excited about coaching QBs again and getting in the middle of offensive strategy.”

Fans of basically every team in the hunt for new head coaches are daydreaming about hiring him*.

Our Virginia blog’s excited by him saying he wants to be a head coach again. He’s a former Miami quarterback, and our Canes readers have been on board for weeks with the idea of a return. Our Maryland blog says he’d be “an out-of-the-park hire.” A month ago, our South Carolina blog said if Richt hit the market, he’d instantly be the best coach on it.

He said Monday on the radio that he’s already heard from five schools. However:

* I tried to word this in a way that would make Georgia sound like it did something smart, but gave up. Bear with me.

That “current job openings” thing might include OC spots, but still.

As just one example, how scary is the idea of combining LSU’s now-entrenched head coach and recruiting-ace assistants with UGA’s star defensive coordinator and one of football’s steadiest offensive minds?

Remember, the problem with Georgia’s 2015 offense wasn’t exactly Richt. It was Richt hiring a mediocre OC from the St. Louis Rams.

Richt conducted UGA’s offense for years before overseeing eventual Colorado State head coach Mike Bobo grow from quarterbacks coach to maligned OC to excellent OC. His work at FSU and in Athens more than trumps one bad hire.

“Mark has the opportunity to remain on our staff at the University of Georgia,” athletic director Greg McGarity said on Sunday, “and would be heavily involved with outreach programs for our former football lettermen via the PO Network.”

Some have speculated this includes some sort of fundraising role.

“I have been given an opportunity to stick around,” Richt said. “It has not been defined totally. In some way, shape or form, to continue to bless the players, number one, and the university in general and the athletic association. Just anyway I can be helpful.”

Five-star Washington quarterback Jacob Eason is in that highly rated 2016 class.

“[Georgia has] a great track record with Matt Stafford and what they’ve done with their quarterbacks,” Eason’s father said in June, after a tour of Alabama, FSU, Notre Dame and others. “Coach Richt was a quarterback himself. That was important to me to have a head coach that played the position of quarterback. I’m hoping Coach Richt and Jacob will have a relationship that lasts a lifetime.”

So, what did Richt, while on his way out as UGA’s head coach, say to Eason?

“I said just to be patient and see who the next guy is,” Richt said on Monday. “You might get really excited about that. The rest of the guys might get really excited about that. I’m not saying don’t check out other options and all that kind of stuff, to be proactive or whatever. Don’t jump the gun. You chose Georgia for a reason, and it was more than just me or Schottenheimer.”

If UGA had its way, the next guy would likely be Alabama defensive coordinator and former Bulldogs safety Kirby Smart. A first-time head coach at a top-10 job has to nail his first hire to run the side of the ball opposite his own. And since this is UGA, one of those schools with treasured offensive identities, you’re gonna prefer somebody who’ll run the dang ball and call some clock-punching American dropback passes.

I do not know any of these people. This is an idea cooked up on the Internet. But how hard would it be to imagine Richt saying that, after 16 years of the big job, he’s happy to concentrate on his love of coaching offense and have just a bit more time for his off-the-field projects?

His goodbye presser showed no hint of bitterness, and the fact that he even gave a goodbye presser at the school that just let him go shows the relative lack of ego we’re dealing with.

Arrangements along these lines have gone awry before. Dana Holgorsen and Bill Stewart! Muschamp and Mack Brown! The entire roster loving Richt, then being told there’s a new dad, but old dad’s still around!

But if there’s any coach in the country you can see pulling it off with grace, it’s Richt.