Mark Richt says decision to sell Lake Hartwell property was Christian motivated
Mark Richt said the decision of sell his second home on Lake Hartwell was in order to be able to give more to the less fortunate. (AJC photo by Curtis Comption)
I had to laugh earlier today when a colleague at work pointed out that the independent blog “SportsByBrooks” was reporting that Mark Richt had placed his Lake Hartwell home up for sale.
Predictably, “Brooks” — aka freelance journalist Brooks Melchior, 43, of Los Angeles — makes the leap that Richt selling off his property surely must mean that Richt is in real trouble as the head football coach of the Georgia Bulldogs.
Writes Brooks: “Normally, I don’t subscribe to a coach putting a home up for sale as a sign of anything, but in this case, it might be applicable. . . . Richt doesn’t strike me as a guy out to flip houses, so I think it’s reasonable to surmise that last year’s 6-7 record — and the subsequent outcry emanating from Athens — may have something to do with the coach making over his real estate portfolio.”
I found this funny because Richt told me several weeks ago that he and his wife had decided to place their second home on the market and he told me why. He revealed that to me in an off-the-record meeting we had shortly after I had been placed back on the UGA beat. Actually, I initiated the discussion when I told Richt that my wife and I were considering downsizing but were afraid we would take too much of a financial hit with the economic times being what they are. Richt told me then what he and Katharyn were doing and actually predicted what the reaction would be if and when it went public.
With the cat out of the bag, so to speak, I called Richt Wednesday and asked him to explain again — this time on the record — what he and wife were thinking when they decided to sell the lakehouse. I’ll just let him tell it:
“Within the last year, I read this book, “The Hole in Our Gospel,” written by Richard Stearns. He’s the president of World Vision, U.S. I think people understand who World Vision is but, basically, they help the poor. Through their organization, you can help children, you can help build wells, you can buy them donkeys, whatever people need. World Vision helps people across the world. Well, anyway, there was a lot of statistical data in there about the amount of people that live on a dollar a day around this world. Billions of people. So I’m reading this book and it really affected me. It helped me realize that what we have is way more than we need and that our ability to give is hindered by this property. I guess that’s the best way to tell you. We just wanted to be in a better position to give and bless people that don’t have anything. We felt like this was one way to be able to do that.”
The house and surrounding acreage was listed for $1.99 million on May 17. Richt had the Hart County home built in 2009, about the time his oldest son Jon Richt signed a scholarship to play football at nearby Clemson University. Jon Richt transferred to Mars Hill College shortly after Tommy Bowden was dismissed as Clemson’s coach.
Richt makes more than $3 million a year as Georgia’s coach and has earned more than $25 million in income from UGA since being hired in 2001. So it’s not like he can no longer afford it or is concerned that, without the Georgia job, eventually won’t be able to.
“Our ability to own this home, to have this home, that’s not an issue,” Richt said Wednesday. “It has absolutely nothing to do with anything that has to do with football. It has to do my wife’s desire and my desire to give.
“I was actually compelled to do this much earlier,” he added. “I made the decision to do it a while ago but I didn’t want to do it during the season or during recruiting because I knew it would be blown out of proportion. But it’s been on my heart for a long time, so we’re just going ahead and doing it.”
As for the book that served as Richt’s inspiration, you can read about it HERE. Stearns writes that 40 percent of the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day and 15 percent of the world’s people, about 1 billion people, live on less than $1 a day. The United States, on average, lives on $105 a day, the book claims.
“I’d challenge anybody to read this book and not be affected by it, Richt said. “We just live in such wealth here in America. And I’m talking about everybody. Anybody who’s making 30 grand a year is extremely wealthy compared to rest of the people in the world. These kids, these families will walk two or three miles, half a day or more, to get water that’s really not healthy. They’re drinking stuff that’s not safe for them. Then children die of AIDS, they die of malaria and they die of dehydration. Kids end up dying or the parents die and they’ve got nothing.
“This book just talks about how much of that is going on around the world and, if it was sitting right outside our door, what would we do about it? It’s a very compelling book. Compelling enough for me to say, ‘you know what, I don’t want to pour money into a home like that when I can use it for better things, for eternal things.’ It was just very alarming to find out what’s going on out there and we need to do something about it.”
As has been Richt’s style, he’s doing more about it than selling off his property. He and his family are taking a trip to Honduras this summer with World Vision to observe and assist in the construction of water wells.
As for the SportsbyBrooks report and the predictable assumptions made by it, Richt laughed and said “maybe some good will come from it.”
“If this situation gets people to read this book and gets people more interested in helping the poor, then I’m happy about it,” he said. “I hope other people respond. It’s a very compelling book and if people read it, I think they’ll understand where I’m coming from.”
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398 comments Add your comment
Kirk Blackmon
May 25th, 2011
5:28 pm
Coach is becoming a doer of the word instead of a hearer of the word. God is smiling
lefty fielder
May 25th, 2011
5:29 pm
Mathews dawg, Kirk Blackmon . . . well said.
I can’t believe some of the other comments I’m reading.
Some things are more important than money
May 25th, 2011
5:30 pm
Coach Mark Richt is genuine.
GET A CLUE
May 25th, 2011
5:32 pm
wally
Shut your mouth you pious idiot
Give me a break you want to preach about a man saying hell so now he has to rededicate his life as a Christian
You know nothing about Christianity
if you did you would know thats why Christ died for mankind because all mankind is sinful and needs saving and we wont be perfect until we leave this earth if you have accepted Christ as savior
Stop acting like those who are Christians must live a sinless life, thats not going to happen only Jesus did that
Your probably that boozer who sits behind me with those stupid red pants
Einsteindawg
May 25th, 2011
5:34 pm
@Barkin…your personal guarantee is just like your opinion (unless you wrote that contract). I’m sure some of those things are in his contract, but he was hired to win games…first and foremost. If not, then maybe that’s why we are on his case right now. For $3M a year, I expect to contend for the MNC every year, and yes, I am a long time (42 year) season ticket holder. How ’bout you?
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
May 25th, 2011
5:34 pm
Its a good example for all of us
JayD
May 25th, 2011
5:35 pm
When is does leave (hopefully no time soon) – Georgia will be hard pressed to find a better person. Sometimes I think people forget that these are actually people in these stories.
Barkin'Dog
May 25th, 2011
5:35 pm
I’ll take that bet, Hendu… the odds are in my favor. CMR is working with kids who often make mistakes (have you ever made one?). Check to see what kind of arrests his players made and then check to see what arrests came in from those 15,000 (I’ll bet there was a number greater, this past year, and much more severe)… then get back to me
1970 Dawg
May 25th, 2011
5:35 pm
BuzzGT and GT79–Classy posts. It’s nice to see that not all of our opponents are haters. I wish I could say the same about all of our so-called fans but we do have some whiners and rabid fans who don’t see the big picture. I, for one am Proud of CMR. He talks the talk and more importantly, he walks the walk.
Dawg Whisperer
May 25th, 2011
5:35 pm
I suspect there is a lot of gnawing and gnashing of teeth (sorry for the hyperbole) from those that hate Richt and Chrisitianity after reading an article such as this. It’s not about the Bulldogs, it is about our purpose. Unfortunately, many have a hard time reconciling Chrisitanity and success in the business world, coaching profession, etc.
The truth is that Richt’s Chrisitan faith is not a detriment to translating success on the field, just as in any other career. It is an asset when purposefully applied to emulate Christ. There have been many examples of strong Christian men that coached football on every level (Tom Landry comes to mind as a well known Christian).
Anyway, Mark Richt’s sacrifice is a good example for the young, impressionable players that he coaches and it is a considerable reason why moms and dads entrust their kids to him for this season of their lives.
Evansdawg
May 25th, 2011
5:36 pm
Coach Richt is THE CLASS of college football. All the way.
SSIgator
May 25th, 2011
5:36 pm
The picture says it all:
I used to be a bartender and I could pour shots with two hands. Pretty cool, huh? I think I will do that again when I get fired from my phoney-baloney job. Suckers.
Old Dawg
May 25th, 2011
5:38 pm
To make a negative comment about one word that CMR used is taking self-rightiousness to an all-time low. One of the worst cussers I’ve ever know was a monk who was the prior of a monastery that treated lepers in Liberia. He came to the states every year begging on the streets for old clothes, shoes, furniture – castoffs of our wealth – and the people in Liberia thought everything he brought back was from a royal household.
The monk was a man of great faith, lived a life of poverty and helped thousands of people. He always apologized for his language, but he never took his eye of his life’s prize: helping people in need.
Roy
May 25th, 2011
5:40 pm
GT guy here……. and while I never pull for your football team, I do believe you have one of the best coaches in college football. It is about building character and making boys into men. Better than you deserve. Be gald he is still there.
USEagle
May 25th, 2011
5:42 pm
When that one Great Scorer comes to mark against your name , he writes not that you won or lost .but how you played the game.- Grantland Rice. Mark plays the game of life as he coaches football , with dignity and class. As for the “inappropriate word “,he was forgiven over two thousand years ago.
Mark truly shows us his faith by his words and actions.
Trial Lawyer
May 25th, 2011
5:42 pm
Being a fine christian man does not mean you will be a great football coach. The Dogs need a mean SOB that can motivate players and coach them to their full potential
Bill
May 25th, 2011
5:46 pm
I stand with the guy who said he was “proud to be a Georgia Bulldawg and proud Mark Richt is our coach”! I’m also proud Mark Richt’s family is a big part of The University of Georgia.
rock steady freddy
May 25th, 2011
5:48 pm
I would give anything to be able to have 5 minutes, in the octagon, with some of you people. You trash are what is wrong with the world today. Sure, we get antsy with CMR at times, but the man is a stand up guy and truly cares about people. Like one poster said:”Richt gets it”.
RAMtOUGH
May 25th, 2011
5:49 pm
Richt has a dark side he’s shown with mettenberger, gray, ealey, dowtin, harmon, and so on.
and the cursing out a fan in macon.
an occassional good deed won’t erase his dark side.
Hunker Down
May 25th, 2011
5:50 pm
It could be worse…….our coach could be Jim Tressel. A big, fat liar! Go Dawgs!!
RAMtOUGH
May 25th, 2011
5:52 pm
there was once a monk on the moon who loved to waive at passer-bys.
each time he waived his arm in the light, he noticed a dark shadow underneath his arm.
and so it was, is, and will be.
Borodawg
May 25th, 2011
5:52 pm
You folks talking about his salary and $25 million total over his time with UGA….that is not take home pay morons. Do you realize people in that tax bracket give close to 50% of that salary plus to the government as income tax? So what we are looking at $12.5 before tithe, bills, family, college tuition, adoption fees, medical…the list goes on. Shame on any of you who question his sincerity in giving, you embarass yourselves out of sheer jealousy.
tide roll
May 25th, 2011
5:53 pm
Before he hits the Honduras, you think he could hit Westlake, Creekside, MLK, and Stephenson High to pick up some legitimate SEC offensive lineman!! A lot more convenient trip, although abmittedly, not as important. That’s a nice story. Richt is an inspiring human being. Lucky Rapture didn’t happen. We would have lost the guy!
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
May 25th, 2011
5:57 pm
Dawg Whisperer
You can add Joe Gibbs, Tony Dungy and Vince Lombardi, to that list with Landry
I do get tired of people on here who think because Richt is a Christian is the reason he cant coach
Those 4 coaches total won more than a decade worth of NFL championships.
I will be the first to say Ive been critical of Richts coaching but I will not sit here and blame Richt because he is a Christian
People who do that are ignorant and probably wish Ray Goff was still our coach
Clive Bigsby
May 25th, 2011
5:58 pm
I have a young son who I would love to see suit up and play ball at UGA one day. It is my SINCERE hope that Mark Richt is his coach. For me, that says it all.
UGA 93
May 25th, 2011
5:58 pm
As a Christian I admire Coach Richt for his very strong faith and beliefs. However I would like to see him focus on the mission of his team more and people in third world countries less. He cannot save all of the unfortunate people, but he could spend more time with his players to make them better men and better football players. In turn they could collectively have a bigger christian influence on making this a better place for all people. If he wins National Championships his voice will be ten fold stronger and he will then get a raise and he can give more money.
jp
May 25th, 2011
6:00 pm
Much better having Richt as a coach than Mus”chump” and Dooley. We might lose a few more games but we’ll do it the right way in Athens. Can’t say that for Muschump and dooley however.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
May 25th, 2011
6:00 pm
RAMtOUGH
GO back to your Jack Daniels and the Jerry Springer show
Typical Liberal AJC
May 25th, 2011
6:03 pm
religion has nothing to do with it
Knowing the Lord? You bet ya
Proud-Dawg
May 25th, 2011
6:03 pm
@RAMtOUGH………You sir are a morn. Mett was charged with sexual battery, and was kicked off the team after he lied to CMR about the incident. Ealey was nothing but an underachieving, entitled cancer. Trust me, a lot of players were happy to see him leave. Harmon couldn’t read a book, his grades were awful, which is why he is no longer a Dawg. Lastly, I’m good friends with Logan and I can assure you that he has no ill feelings towards Richt or UGA. He just happened to be on campus with two 5-star quarterbacks (Stafford and Murray). Logan is a DGD and an even better person. I didn’t realize saying “hell” was facilitated by a “dark side”. Your a douche bag, congrats
RealDawg
May 25th, 2011
6:04 pm
THIS is why he is still our coach and not some pompous a-hole.
Dill Driscoll
May 25th, 2011
6:05 pm
We are also blessed to have much and are consolidating and continuing to seek what the Lord would have us do with our good fortune…Coach we applaud you, your wife, and family…we are so blessed to have been put in the USA by God… and we need to share…and praise God for all our good fortune…let’s make it a blessed evening..and oh yea..Go DAWGS
Proud-Dawg
May 25th, 2011
6:05 pm
@Roll Tide….Your last line was hilarious about Richt and the rapture.
Proud-Dawg
May 25th, 2011
6:06 pm
^^^^”You’re”…..take it easy grammar police
1970 Dawg
May 25th, 2011
6:06 pm
tide roll, your statement indicates that you would still be here if the Raptuire had occurred last Sat. And why are you obsessed with our linemen? Did we fail to offer you sometime in the past?
j
May 25th, 2011
6:07 pm
wally, you are one sick individual.
Dbalcer
May 25th, 2011
6:10 pm
So glad Richt is our coach and I hope the AD and University realize how fine a coach he is. Our APR is great. He shows athletes how to be good men. I wish people who are so short sighted would step back and realize that character is as important as wins. He will win a NC and it could be at UGA or if the shortsighted run him off it will be somewhere else.
coloradobulldog
May 25th, 2011
6:10 pm
That’s a great book btw.
DBH
May 25th, 2011
6:10 pm
And to think that not all that long ago, many of the UGA football faithful wanted this guy fired! Richt obviously has his priorities in order, which is more than can be said for much of the UGA football fan base.
Yo D Bags
May 25th, 2011
6:12 pm
Life isn’t all about winning a national championship. Chizik cheated his way to a national championship and i gurantee he isn’t happy. Richt is blessed with a giving heart, and if yall don’t like that something is wrong with you. Richt would rather lose his job than sacrifice his morals and for that he earns my complete respect, so back off because yall want to win a national championship we will get our time.
Ted M
May 25th, 2011
6:14 pm
ya but CMR can give and give and give then give some more and still keep the house.
NOBODYYOUKNOW
May 25th, 2011
6:15 pm
I’ve always known CMR was a good man. As far as he losing his temper and saying what he did in the past. The man is not perfect, nor are any of us. Living a Christian life is a constant battle to keep your morals up and your temper down. For the position hes in I think the guy does a damn, “ups” excuse me. “A darn good job”. If he has a rough season next fall we’ll see how the so called Christian fans react then. God Bless him.
bake24
May 25th, 2011
6:19 pm
I am so proud to be a Georgia Bulldog and have Mark Richt as head coach. He definitely has his priorities right. I was involved with World Vision Ministries sponsoring a child for many years. They are a class act. I think it is quite funny how some of these so called journalist write on non factual information. And oh yes us christians are crazy…………..We are crazy about JESUS CHRIST our LORD and Savior!
GT CE 80
May 25th, 2011
6:21 pm
Congratulation to CMR for having his priorities in order. I don’t see how anyone could take this article and make something negative out of it. CMR has my respect. While I may not be a fan of UGA football, I do think their coach is a good man.
Yo D Bags
May 25th, 2011
6:23 pm
@Ted M
think through the expenses of a house, it isn’t a one time payment so think about how much more he can give with that and not having liabilities or have to pay to fix the house. You obviously don’t own a house of your own.
sandiegodawg
May 25th, 2011
6:24 pm
Wally- you really got your spiritual panties in a wad over using a “curse” word. Don’t be a Pharisee- Cursing is actually calling someone a derogatory term, which is essentially what you are doing by questioning his committment to his God. I think Richt is showing you his faith by good works- What are you doing?
FLA DAWG
May 25th, 2011
6:26 pm
Richt doesn’t have to sell anything to donate to charity.
His selling this extra home is step 1 of goodbye in my opinion.
Chip, this guy may have just played you like a fiddle – did you consider that?
fpice
May 25th, 2011
6:29 pm
I don’t doubt that Mark Richt is a christian. I believe he is a good one. I doubt very much that he can coach football. I believe he is in way over his head.
UGA fans need to stop thinking about being fair to Richt. CMR has been royally compensated for his time at UGA. He is a multi millionaire.
Think instead about GA fans and alumni! We deserve a better coach!
techster
May 25th, 2011
6:30 pm
I am a jacket and wouldn’t trade my heritage for anything. I am also a follower of Jesus. Mark Richt is a great man and coach. The only negative thing I can say is that he makes it so difficult for me to despise the dogs…but I do.
Why am I talking about Mark Richt « lindsey talerico.
May 25th, 2011
6:31 pm
[...] Mark Richt sells Lake Hartwell property — I was emailed this article earlier today by a colleague. When I first started reading it, I was thinking that maybe he’d lost his marbles sending this to me… the article wasn’t about social media, or blogs, or World Vision, or charity work, or home decor or spaghetti — my typical interests. Then I saw this paragraph about half way through the post: “Within the last year, I read this book, “The Hole in Our Gospel,” written by Richard Stearns. He’s the president of World Vision, U.S. I think people understand who World Vision is but, basically, they help the poor. Through their organization, you can help children, you can help build wells, you can buy them donkeys, whatever people need. World Vision helps people across the world. Well, anyway, there was a lot of statistical data in there about the amount of people that live on a dollar a day around this world. Billions of people. So I’m reading this book and it really affected me. It helped me realize that what we have is way more than we need and that our ability to give is hindered by this property. I guess that’s the best way to tell you. We just wanted to be in a better position to give and bless people that don’t have anything. We felt like this was one way to be able to do that.” [...]