The U is finally fun again, but in a very Mark Richt kind of way

In Week 6, the Miami Hurricanes finally beat the Florida State Seminoles, breaking a streak that’d dated back to 2009. With the victory, the Canes also hit 4-0 for the first time since 2013.

It would appear that Miami, now ranked No. 11 in the country, finally has its swag back, but it’s not the exact same swag that was the trademark of the program from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.

The U’s dynasty dates back 30 years, when the Hurricanes found massive success, with national titles in 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, and 2001 — but with a non-traditional style.

The U’s identity was being the team that came off the plane wearing army fatigues before the 1987 Fiesta Bowl and the program that later inspired the NCAA to create taunting rules.

Miami fans loved it. Younger college football fans loved it. A lot of people hated it. But in the decades since, as the program tried to clean up its image, a lot of supporters — such as 2 Live Crew’s Uncle Luke — worried the program was erasing its identity.

There’s physical evidence of this — Miami’s turnover chain! Every time a Canes defensive player forces a turnover, he’s donned with a very Miami-esque piece of jewelry.

According to the Sun-Sentinel, two weeks before the season started, UM cornerbacks coach Mike Rumph called a Miami jeweler to ask if he could make a rope chain.

“Naw, man,” chimed in [former Miami Hurricane Vince] Wilfork, recently retired after a 13-year NFL career. “We got to do the Cuban link, AJ!”

The consensus among the three was a collective “Hell yeah!”

“In Miami, what are we famous for? We’re famous for the Cuban chains,” Machado says. “But we need to add a little something to it.

“So we did a big U charm — orange stones, green stones in there to flash it out.”

“Here’s the deal with swag,” Richt said via the Palm Beach Post. “I’ll say this: if you want to dance, go to the club. I’m about whipping somebody on the other side of the ball, OK? That’s what swag is. Swag’s not about how you dress or how you dance or how you try to talk to somebody, all that. That’s a bunch of bull to me. Swag to me is doing your job and doing it well and whipping somebody across the ball.”

He’s explained this philosophy to his players in pregame:

“Everybody talks about Miami having ‘swag,’” Richt said before 2016’s Appalachian State game. “When I took this job, all they wanted to talk about [was], ‘Is Miami getting the swag back?’ I said, ‘You know what? Swag ain’t dancing to me. Swag ain’t saying, ‘I got a first down.’ Swag ain’t swaying before a kickoff and they run back to the 45-yard line.

“Swag is whooping the man on the other side of you! That’s what swag is. Swag is, when the game’s over, we win the game! That’s what swag is.

“I don’t care what the boys did in the past. The reason why it was swag is because they WON! Not because they had some kind of antic. You understand what I’m saying? I’m counting on every one of you guys to whoop the man across from you, EVERY. SINGLE. PLAY.”

Some of the Canes players began simulating digging a grave over the FSU logo. Richt came in hot and put a stop to that real quick, to say the least.

The rebuke was swift, and there’s an audible “ass” in there. Richt was, at least for a moment, pretty upset about this.

There are likely a few things at play. First, Richt got his biggest break in coaching from his time at Florida State. He was Bobby Bowden’s offensive coordinator, and from there became Georgia’s head coach. There’s an ingrained respect for the institution. There’s also the fact that he knows that that will become bulletin board material for next season for the Noles, and tempers might have flared if there happened to be any FSU players still around.

Richt is also a pretty pious fellow. It’s not a veneer, and that’s not me poking fun. He’s just a pretty staunchly Christian man.

One of his former players, Garrison Smith, said this about him a few years ago:

“I’ve seen coach Richt so mad one time that he almost said a cussing word. He said fiddlesticks,” Smith said. “A lot of people put on that façade of being a Christian guy and it’s just a tool that they use. I can honestly say, and I’m a stand-up guy, that coach Richt, he’s a genuine guy.”

He’s continued his backflipping-off-a-high-dive tradition at Miami, which he did each offseason in Athens.

Richt’s annual summer camp in Coral Gables is dubbed Paradise Camp. Last summer, he had a slew of former legendary Canes on-hand for it, including Ed Reed, Jeremy Shockey, Willis McGahee, Michael Irvin, Jonathan Vilma, Wilfork, and Devin Hester.

As a former Hurricane himself, Richt’s got an inside pull on the recruiting trail already.

“I understand the pride and traditions of the University of Miami, academically, athletically, football in particular. I know what it’s about,” Richt said via the Miami Herald. “I came close to being on a national championship team, left in ‘82 and that ‘83 team was the one. … I do understand what’s expected and really, I don’t want to make a lot of promises other than I’m going to promise we’re going to get to work and we’re going to try to earn the right for victory. It’s a process and it does take a lot of work, it takes a lot of people doing things the right way.”

His 2017 recruiting class ranked finished 12th in the nation, Miami’s best since 2013.

So hey, I guess this could qualify as Richt’s swag!

To be honest, it kind of looks like the Evil Mark Richt goatee that EDSBS created for him back in 2012:

Evil Richt does all of the things Mark Richt did in 2007, encouraging outlandish celebrations, winning games, throwing caution to the wind, and calling plays that work more than once or twice in a football game. Mythologically, he is the harbinger of victories and the antithesis of the Bobo-guard, the living avatar of Mark Richt’s often beneficial and always frustrating conservatism.

Conservative UGA Richt might’ve called for something safe to set up a game-tying field goal late against Florida State, but Miami Goatee Richt called a shot to the end zone to beat the Noles right then and there.

Miami still has a lot of big games in front of it, including a home game against Georgia Tech this Saturday, some road games, and Virginia Tech and Notre Dame. But this is already an exciting season and Miami team, and I can’t wait to see what it does for the rest of the year.

Especially if defensive tackle Kendrick Norton keeps playing guitar on rival quarterbacks’ legs, something the Canes of old definitely would’ve appreciated.