Faith at the U
Mark Richt Talks About Faith in College Football and Transitioning from the Sideline to the Press Box
If you’re at all familiar with college football, today’s guest needs no introduction, but here one is anyway. Mark Richt coached the Georgia Bulldogs for 15 years as one of the longest-tenured coaches in the conference where he won two SEC Championships.
He then went to the University of Miami where he led the team to three consecutive bowl games before announcing his retirement in 2018.
Coach Richt talked to us about the ups and downs of his career, transitioning from coach to analyst, and what his faith looked like along the way.
Episode Transcript
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Henry Kaestner: Mark, thank you very much for being on the show today. Today. It's a big deal for us. You may not know I'm a father of three teenage boys who are diehard sports fans, and they are also increasingly serious about their faith. And so we have a little movie room kind of boys room where they play video games and wrestle around. But we have the Facing the Giants movie poster up there. And you didn't get a lot of screen time in that, but you got enough to make a real impression on them and me. And so they know that we have the Faith Driven Athlete. And on occasion, we'll talk to sports stars, of which you are one, but your first Hollywood star as well. So thank you for that. Thank you for being on the show.
Mark Richt: Yeah, that was an awesome movie. The Kendrick Brothers there in Albany, Georgia, actually, Alex Kendrick came to meet at a Bulldog club. And I'm talking to all the Bulldog fans when I first became head coach of Georgia. And he just came up to me out of the blue and introduced himself and said he and his brother through their church are putting movies together. People love to watch movies and they are trying to share the gospel through that venue. And so anyway, he said, would you be interested in having a part in this movie called Facing the Giants? And I said, well, I don't know much about them or whatever. And they said, well, look, we had a movie that we've already made called Flywheel. He was I'll give you a copy that if you like it, then, you know, I'll get back to you and see what you think. So I watch Flywheel and it was really cool and really raw. Well, you got to watch it. You'll love it. You'll love it. Think was our first shot out of the cannon and I produced the whole thing. Twenty thousand diehards, including the movie crew and everything else. But it was a great movie and it was the kind of movie I'd like to be involved in. So I said, I'll do it. So they flew me to Albany and we taped for half a day. You know, I had a few scenes in a locker room in the stadium, but all that kind of stuff and did my part, which was not, as you said, a big part, but it was enough where people recognize me. But we did that. And it seemed like about a year later, it finally took off into the movie theaters. And I think it's been translated into I don't know how many languages and been shown by all as an evangelistic to all over the world. And I mean, I do have people still today that come to me similar to what you just did and just say, Coach, we loved you in Facing the Giants. Yeah. And it was a great experience, I can tell you that.
Henry Kaestner: Yeah. You know, it's got to be slightly awkward when they come to you and they remember you for that instead of Coach. ofthe Year.
Mark Richt: Oh yeah. Well it's either that or Coach, I remember you from that Ford commercial. So, you know, you just you never know what people remember you for.
Henry Kaestner: Well, we remember you for all that and the same for most of our listeners. So you're really a guest that doesn't really need a lot of introduction, but I do want to dive in. And most our listeners might know you as a coach, but might be too young to remember some of the playing days. But you were a stand out South Florida quarterback and got offers from all over. I think you got the term all turnpike because of your awards.
Mark Richt: Well, that old turnpike was a term that my high school coach used to use to kind of mess with you. Really like what do you think, you all turnpike? But I actually was, first of all, stayed in Boca Raton Community High School, where the Boca High Bobcats man, my junior, I got hurt. So I didn't play and got no recruitment. And then my senior year, we actually went to the semifinals of the state championship. And as the season was rolling along and I began to get some offers, had offers from Florida State and Miami and Notre Dame, actually. And then I had one from Brown University an Ivy League. Yeah, I narrowed it down to Miami and Brown and us together, going to go Ivy League or I was gonna go to the beach and I. The University of Miami and those was a great decision that I made.
Henry Kaestner: I just got finished with a college tour. I'm sure the Brown University has a beautiful campus, and I know that Providence is generally a fine place. But my kids really fell in love with the university Miami. It's a beautiful campus and an incredible football program. And, tell us about being there. Being in college in a town you grew up in. But tell us about the early days with Coach Schnellenberger.
Mark Richt: Yeah, well, actually, my recruiting coach was Coach Saban. It was Nick Saban, but it was Lou Saban. He recruited me to Miami and was there one season and left. And then that's when Coach Schnellenberger came in. For the next four years of my career, I was redshirted actually my second year. So I spent four years with Coach Schnellenberger and Coach Schnellenberger as a backdrop. He was the offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins when they went undefeated with Coach Shula as the head coach. And so here's this NFL system that he brings to college football. And that's where I learned being just an unbelievable amount of ball. It's really what was prai the main reason why I got hired at Florida State, because Coach Bowden knew that I had some knowledge of what was going on there in that system and wanted to know more about it. But that's when I went there. Coach Saban, you know, he convinced me that I was going to be the next superstar. And I remember asking him about the Miami Herald article about the signings that were about to be signed. And there was a quarterback named Mike Rodrique, but it had slashed DB next to it. So he said, hey, don't worry about. And he's a defensive back from Choctaw High School. And then I go, what about this guy, Jim Kelly from East Brady, Pennsylvania? What about him? He said, Mark, somebody has got to back you up. And I said, I was like, OK, that's a good play coach.
But my senior year, Jim and I were seniors. Vinnie Testa Verde and Bernie Kosar were freshman. You know, so, yeah. Jim Kelly was a first round pick, Bernie Kosar was a first round pick. Test testified he was the first pick in the draft. And my quarterbacks coach or Morel, who played for the Dolphins, literally is undefeated season and the Colts. He was a first round draft pick out of Michigan State. So, anyway, long story short, I was only going to getting one drafted in the first round, me and a guy named Kyle Vander one. But I got the pitcher sitting in my living room right now.
Henry Kaestner: That's an amazing collection of of of names. Jim Kelly, Vinnie Testa Verde, Bernie Kosar. It was known as it was known as quarterback u and I know and that's I think that people would still if you say quarterback u, I think that people would still know what you're talking about, even though maybe there haven't been the same caliber of quarterback recently where I think God knew that I was going to be a quarterbacks coach one day.
Mark Richt: And since I couldn't look in the mirror and, you know, see a gray when I had to watch those guys play. And then, of course, in the NFL, I ended up with the Dolphins for a minute with Dan Marino and with the Broncos for a real short minute with John Elway. So I was part of the fourth best quarterback in the world at the time. I just didn't get the chance to play.
Justin Forman: So, coach, you played at the U, but then you get your first call for coaching and it comes from one of your rivals, Florida State. What was it like getting that call from coach Bowden?
Mark Richt: Well, that call was interesting because I had written letters to every school that I thought I had an interest in and just said I wanted to be a coach. And I actually got offered a job at LSU. Bill Arnsbarder was the defensive coordinator of the Dolphins when they went undefeated and he knew Coach Schnellenberger and Mike Archer was also at Miami and Mike Archer was a defensive coach at LSU. So I had the connection between Coach Schnellenberger and Coach Arnsbarder to get a chance to be a Jay or graduate assistant at LSU. So I had my you all packed ready to go to Baton Rouge. And the night before I drove to Baton Rouge. I got a call. I got that call from Coach Bowden and he asked me if I wanted to not only be the graduate assistant coach, but help him coach the quarterbacks as a graduate assistant, which is kind of unheard of at the time. So instead of assisting the quarterbacks coach at Florida State, I got a chance to be the quarterbacks coach at Florida State as a just a young guy starting out. It was pretty amazing, actually.
Justin Forman: Yeah, certainly is. I mean, you look back at the experience you had playing, coaching or playing around some of those greats. I can imagine that that plays into it. So let's push it a little bit more. If your coach in Florida State, you've played at Miami, did you ever wake up some mornings, roll out of bed with the wrong tee shirt on and had to practice in a green and oranger? Did you get a hard time?
Mark Richt: I'll say it is the very first game that as a coach at Florida State against the University of Miami, it was very surreal. I was still I knew just about everybody on that team at Miami. Most of the coaches were still there. And it was very weird to sit there and hook up against the team you came from.
Henry Kaestner: It's not only the team he came from, but you grew up in Boca Raton. It's your community.
Mark Richt: Oh yeah, no doubt. And so I guess after the kick off, it just went away. Very similar the time I was the first time a coach, Georgia and coach in a game against Florida State with Coach Bouton and Coach Andrews and all the guys I worked with, those kind of weird to till we kicked off. But it was definitely something that I'll always remember.
Justin Forman: Now trying to remember your tenure at Florida State. Was that during some of the wide right games?
Mark Richt: Oh, yeah, right in the middle of them.
Justin Forman: So that's kind of that's got to be something surreal. You're sitting on the sidelines, you're alma maters there. You're on the other side line in three pretty intense games there for year after year.
Mark Richt: Yeah, no doubt. We had we being Florida state at the time, had so many opportunities to win that game. And I mean, you know, back then, Florida State versus Miami was a monster game, the winner of that game, and had a really good shot at play from the national championship. And to be so close to victory and just miss a very makeable kick more than once, more than twice, it was hard to swallow. But that's one of the things that I credit coach bag with, was the ability to keep things in perspective and keep staying positive and, you know, keep the staff and the coaches and even the fan base believe in. And of course, that might have been the only game we lost those seasons. You know, there's a lot of ten, eleven win seasons, but never an undefeated one until ninety nine.
Justin Forman: So Coach Bowden is, obviously a guy that's meant a lot to you and your life. And I've heard you share a little bit of just kind of how he influenced you and your spiritual journey. Unpack that for us. What does he mean to you.
Mark Richt: Well, other than my father, he's the most influential man in my life. I mean, led me to Christ in 1986. What happened was, if you go backwards just a minute. Back at Miami, I had a summer school roommate named John Peaslee basically present the gospel to me. By the time that happened, Jim Kelly had already beat me out. I was second team. I was started to do things I never dreamed I'd do, just going down a bad path, trying to be an all-American at the nighttime games, you know. And John Peaslee was probably a Heisman Trophy candidate of the nighttime games before that one summer. And something happened to him. I just don't think I could say there was a piece about this guy that didn't exist before. I was like, what is the deal, man? And he shared the gospel with me. And I was thinking maybe that was the time for me to come to know Christ. And I was very attracted to it. But then again, get towards the end of the summer. And there's really three reasons why I chose not to become a believer. And no one was I was afraid of being a hypocrite. I thought if you're a Christian, you to be perfect after that. So I was taking an inventory of my sin and thinking I could stop this thing and I'm maybe could stop this. And I'm like, I'm not stopping this thing anytime soon. So that was one reason why. And then, you know, another reason why I was I was worried about what my girlfriend might think. I was worried about what my Roommates during the regular season, we're gonna think. So I'm saying they're more worried about what man thought than what God thinks. And, you know, right now it's so stupid to me to think that way. But that's what I was more worried about. Man starts than gods. And then the last thing was I still was pretty self-centered about what I wanted to do in life. And I thought, there's still hope to be a NFL quarterback. And I thought if I became a Christian, God may set me on a mission trip to Africa or something. I never come back. So I just chose not to make that decision for Christ back in college. And then my second year as a graduate assistant at Florida State.
There was a campus party and some our guys were there. And one of our guys, Pablo Lopez, a big six foot five, two hundred eighty pounds, offered to tackle kid out of Miami. Kid who lived in Miami. And he was a guy that everybody loved on the team. But he's also one of the baddest dudes on campus to you know, not many people would mess with him. And somehow you got arguing with the kid and made the kid back down. A kid got his feelings hurt and came back to the party with a sawed off shotgun and told his buddies to tell Pablo, I'm messing with Pablo's car and one of the teammates car or whatever. Long story short, Pablo comes out and the kid, you know, wants Pablo to back down, like Pablo made him back down and find his friends. And so Pablo was walking towards him as he was holding the gun saying, you're not going to shoot me, bro. Miami Vice attitude. And sure enough, the kid panic pulled the trigger and shot Pablo and he died that night.
So the next day, Coach Brown called team meeting. So the whole team's in there and I'm in there I'm a graduate assistant coach, you know, taken role and kind of keep an eye on the doors, make sure we have a private meeting and coach starts talking to the players in a said. I don't know where Pablo is. I don't know where he's going to spend eternity. No worries in his faith. He said, man, there's a God in heaven who created the world and created you and me and loves us and wants us to live forever with him and heaven. And we've got a problem. You know, Adam sinned and send in an old man. And so we can't be perfect. We need a savior. So God gave us his son, the perfect lamb of God, who lived this perfect life and died and took on all of our sin and was buried and rose again.
And then by accepting that gift, then now we're made perfect in God's sight, in our spirit, and then, you know, we get to go to heaven, he says. But, you know, I don't know where Pablo is. He goes, man. Probably used to sit in that chair right there. And now he's gone. He said that that was you last night. Do you know where you'd spend eternity? And so he's talking to the players around like he's talking to me and all those memories of my summer school roommate present the gospel to me just came to fruition. I'm like, you know what I know? That was me last night. I know where I'm going and I don't want to go there.
So that night, I was dating my wife Catherine at the time. And that night I said, I'm going to go see Coach Bowden tomorrow. He invited the players to come see him if they wanted to talk about it. And so I go in there the next day, knock on his door. He goes, Hey, buddy, come on in. Of course, he calls your buddy when you don't know your name. And then I prayed to receive Christ with him right there in the office. So, you know, that was obviously the turning point of my life. I went from this really self-centered, selfish guy to somebody who is Christ centered.
And my life became very, very simple after that. It was not very easy necessarily. I'm not saying it was always easy, but it was simple in that my new goal in life was to try to live a life that would be pleasing to God and to walk anywhere. He wanted me to walk. You know, if you wanted me to do some different besides coaching, I'd do it. I just truly told God I want to do what you want me to do. And ever since then, I've been just trying to walk in a way that he'd be pleased.
Henry Kaestner: So let's continue the story. So you pick up from there and eventually you get hired by the University of Georgia to be their head coach. And you coach there for 15 years and coach some of the all time greats, current stars and legally. Matthew Stafford, Ty Gurley, AJ Green. Tell us about your time at Georgia. Pick it up on the faith things. Have you now changed in the way your perspective on life through Pablos death and Bobby Balanced leadership, and now you find yourself in a position like a Bobby Bowden, where you are the leader, you're the head coach, and you're working with young men and you're the head guy. Brings us up to speed. Tell us about the University of Georgia experience.
Mark Richt: Well, one thing that was a blessing for me was I was at Florida State for fifteen years and working under coach bound for all of those years, working under a man who loved Jesus number one and family number two and football number three. You know, football being the players, really. So I grew up under him and really only him. Know a lot of guys go to a lot of different places before they get their first head job. I was at one place, basically. So I only knew one way. I knew the Bobby Bowden way. And so that's how I began my journey as a head coach to do it the way we did it at Florida State. I mean, Florida State had had 14 years in the top four in know. So we had credibility and I had some credibility coming into being from a program like that. Serbia's are. Yeah, let's do it that way. And so it was very easy as far as to figure out how to go about it. But to sit in that chair of head coach is so much different than observing Coach Bowden and saying, this is what I would do or that's what I might do this instead. But once you sit there and feel the weight of that responsibility, it's a different world. And I remember very early on Georgia being at a basketball game and some fans came to me and it was my very first year recruit, my first class, and things weren't going just great. And some guy came to me, said, hey, my buddy said, you guys don't start signing some of these kids, we're going to start Bynum. And I said, you tell your buddy he's going to kill the thing that he loves if he tries to do something like that. I'm like, what in the world have I got myself into? And I'll never forget being at the hotel because they put you up in a hotel to your family, shows up and you get you find your home and all that kind of thing. So I'm still in the hotel. I just got there, basically. I just laid down on the floor, face down, and started crying out to God, saying, God, I can't do this. And then basically, God said, I know you can do it by yourself. But like he told Moses, he said, I will certainly be with you. And that's what he told me in my spirit. And so, you know, that just really gave me a great peace to know that God was with me and that I can't do it by myself. And obviously, you can't do it by yourself. You need assistant coaches and all kind of support staff. But even so, the way to that job was lightened tremendously by just understanding that God had it. And I could trust that.
Henry Kaestner: So you've got student athletes coming in from all over the country to play football at the University of Georgia. You've got fans and boosters that expect that you're going to win. And you got to hold that out is the thing that everybody signed up for. That's what they're filling the stadium for. How do you feel how do you deal with the pressure during that time? What does that look like?
Mark Richt: Well, I tried to categorize pressure and stress in different categories. There is always if you have a job, there is pressure to take care, your responsibility. No matter what it is. You can be an assistant coach. You can be anything in life. And you're going to have a job to do. You have a responsibility and there's pressure to get that job done. Now, the question is, are you going to stress out about it to me when you stress? If I felt stress, I knew my spirit wasn't right with God and I knew I needed to spend more time with him because, you know, God doesn't give us that spirit of fear. So if I felt fearful, I knew I was in a bad place spiritually because my wife was reminding the series of reminding me constantly to give my spirit right at times like that. But thank God for her. But once you realize that you do have pressure to take care of business, OK. And that's OK. That's healthy. It's motivating. But don't stress out about it. Trust God. Do the very best you can. I mean, even at worst. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? You get fired. Well, go get another job. It's not the end of the world. It may feel like it, but just do the very best you can and do it for God.
Henry Kaestner: So following Georgia. You have kind of a homecoming, very much of a homecoming at the University of Miami. And so you're back in. And most people, when they think about you. They don't think about that as a great place to live out your faith. And yet you have. What's it look like for you to live out your faith at the university Miami, same as anywhere else?
Mark Richt: You know, I mean, I think everybody looks through life through a certain lens. And, you know, mine my world view is, you know, God is God and Jesus is my savior. And, you know, bottom line, that's it. And people say, well, how do you integrate your faith into your job? I mean, how do you how do you leave it out of your job? I mean, it's how you think. It's where you get your wisdom. It's where you get your strength from, you know, in God's word and prayer and and all those things. So it was not that hard, really. It's just like I said, ever since 1986, it's kind of been operating, just trying to live a life that God would be pleased with. And that never changed from Florida State to Georgia to Miami.
Justin Forman: So, coach, who invented the turnover chain? Is that a patent? Did you invest in Miami products? Are you guys collecting the royalties off of everybody?
Mark Richt: Not me, but Manny Diaz, who's now the head coach, was the defensive coordinator for me when it first started out and people were finding ways to reward defensive players. The offense tends to get the glory. And so the defenses around America are trying to find ways to motivate kids to get a turnover. And of course, if you're at Miami, you got to have a turnover chain as a Cuban link chain. That's pretty cool. But anyway, Manny came to me before the opening kick, I think was like maybe the day before the game. He goes, oh, by the way, coach, we got this turnover chain as a reward for, you know, we got a turnover in the game. And he goes, I wanted to run it by and make sure as OK, I said, OK, because it's kind of gaudy. But, you know, I think he's afraid to show it to me.
Henry Kaestner: It is kind of maybe a little bit of an understatement. But my goodness, boy does that get people fired up.
Mark Richt: Yeah, it was really nice. And they changed that every year, too. So they'll be making a new whenever you hear one. There was not a pattern on it, but I think you're one would have been the year to have the bet because people just sort of making turnover chain t shirts and turnover chain jewelry and they were making, you know, Christmas ornaments out of the turnover chain so they could have made some good money on that.
Justin Forman: So, Coach, you talked so much about coach Bowden what he meant to you, the way that he mentor and we had an impact on you when you look at the faith community in college football and broadcasting in the league. I think it's a lot deeper. It's a lot wider than people think. Who are some of the coaches, the leaders, the players, me players that played for you? You look at and say, man, they're young men out there that aren't taking it to the next generation, that are meeting with their faith or that are trying to instill their faith in the way that the coaching lead. Who are the Sunni guys out there that give you hope?
Mark Richt: Well, you know, I just talked to a young man yesterday, Gregory Russo, Gregory. So the defensive end at Miamis, a freshmanall American. He's going to be preseason all-American then. I know that's how he lives his life and what he believes in. Very exciting to see that, and there was a guy, coach, years ago at Georgia, Ben Watson, who played in the NFL for 20 years, a tight end with a lot of great teams and a lot of great moments. And, you know, he was a guy that was certainly on fire. Forgot is right now. I mean, I think Georgia is one of those guys that was raised. Right. But was still trying to find his way a little bit about how to handle his fate around the team and all that kind of thing. But before it was already became very strong in that way. And really the strongest guy of all of all the guys ever coach was Charlie Ward, Florida state hater, about a guy to live in his faith as a collegiate superstar. That was Charlie Ward. He was a man of very few words, but he was a man of action. And his actions were just pouring out with Christ live in it. And he is amazing guy.
Justin Forman: You know, for every profession. It's a little different. You know, stories are legendary of overworked football coaches who sleep on couches at the office or might be text in a recruiting church. You know, where the places as you've got this family, you're going through the coaching ranks either at Florida State or you get the chance to lead your own program. Where did your faith get stretched the most as a coach, as a dad, as a husband?
Mark Richt: Right. Well, just to manage all those things is very, very difficult. And again, by the grace of God, I worked for Coach Bowden. He used to ask us, he'd ask the staff. When you go see your children. Then he goes, I'm not talking about once a week, when are you going to say? He goes, I want to know when you're going to see him every day. You go see your children in the morning or you will see your children at night. But we're going to work it out or you can see your kids every day. You don't need to lose your family over this business. And so we decided as a staff that we would start our staff meetings around eight thirty in the morning. So I was able to get up every morning with the kids. Me and my wife, we'd have breakfast together. We'd have a family devotion together. I would drive because the school to want him could drive basically do students spelling words on the way there. And I just I was able to be a dad.
My kids saw me every morning. It didn't seemed like a lot. But in the coaching profession, it is a lot to have that time to be with them. And then, you know, we had a lot of things that were pretty cool. We had family nights at Florida State, did the same thing in Georgia. You know, every child of a coach was welcome in the building at Florida State. My wife came to visit us with our kids. She could walk right into the staff room and say hello if she wanted to. And we actually lived right across the street from the football offices while we were at Florida State for quite a few years. And our son, John, when he was the only one, he came to practice every day till he went to school and that even then he would come in. When they got older, they became ball boys or, you know, my wife, Kathy was a water girl. And my daughter on you wanted to be a watergirl with her. And, you know, if we visit if we traveled the night before the game at a hotel locally or across the country where we played, when our kids got old enough, I'd bring, you know, one of my boys along with me. So they got to do some pretty cool stuff. Then when I went to Miami, part of my downfall, so to speak, as far as you know, just taking time for a family and taking time for myself and my faith. I just once it was just Katherine and I and no children. It was kind of like I was free to just grind away.
And I knew that job in Miami had a lot of needs. And there's got to take some heavy lifting and a lot of fund raising and build an indoor and doing everything you got to do to get the staff right and to get the program right. Just so many things that had to be done. I just I just threw myself into it. With with no governor, I mean, I just kept going hard and I really didn't take care of myself. I didn't need a ride. I didn't sleep right. It didn't work out like I should. And I really, quite frankly, didn't get connected to God and community. I still got up and did my quiet time. I still get up and play. But I really didn't have a community of men in a small group that I had maybe in Georgia. And I just I don't know, I just lost my way a little bit, not in my faith, but just in by strengthening of my faith and my spirit. And I basically just ran out of gas. I was empty. I was empty physically. I was empty in some ways spiritually. And I'm really worried about trying to keep going. I mean, you call it burnout, call what you want. I got to that point where I just didn't take care of business like I should, and it got me.
Justin Forman: So could you talk us through that a little bit more? When did you realize it was getting you? Did you realize that in the moment or is it, you know, some of the health circumstances that you've gone through here in the last year that helped kind of frame that? When did you realize that things were out of balance?
Mark Richt: It really was until the end of my third season, just. You know, weeks prior to making the decision go into that bowl season and. It just wasn't a good time for me, just like I said, health wise, and just the grind got me.You know, when you pour out and you pour out and you pour out and you don't replenish, you become empty. And that's what happened to me. And even, you know, I had a heart attack this last October. And I had two arteries, 100 percent blocked, and there is probably some of the fatigue I was feeling and probably had some to do that. It's not uncommon prior to having a heart attack to have that type of fatigue and fatigue that I never felt before. A fatigue that was made me very concerned about if I kept trying to grind at the pace I was going, it was not going to be good for me. There's not could be good for Miami. And so that's why I made that decision. But you know, the beauty of the heart attack, though, just to elaborate on that just a little bit. No, you're going into great detail other than we went. I say we my wife and I, we get up our routine after retirement was. We live at the beach here in Destin, Florida. And we'd walk up but 30 minutes and go to the gym and then we'd work out and then we'd go walk home for another 30 minutes. I was kind of a routine. Well. One morning we got up. I was taking some vitamins on an empty stomach. And we went for a walk and went to the workout. And on my very last set in the weight room, I started to get a little fatigue, more than normal. Couldn't catch my breath. Well, before you knew it, I was feeling a little nauseous, but I figured it was just me taking the vitamins on an empty stomach. And so I said, honey, I'm a go to the restroom and I'll be out in a minute. So she left the gym and was out in the lobby area. And while I was in the restroom, it hit me that it was more than just being nauseous. I got smoking hot. The nose, you got worse. And I could not breathe. And so I figured I was having a heart attack. So I was laying on the bench in the locker area and I called out for help. But no one was in that locker room but me. So I had to make a decision. I was like, if I don't get up and walk these 45 steps to the gym where people are, I may die right here on this bench.
So I got up and and I made it to the weight room area and called out for help. And people came or rather, they should call nine one one. Yeah, call nine one one. Just praying, kind of waiting and trying to breathe and just trying to cool down and try to wait for the ambulance. Ambulance comes. You figure. Hallelujah. They're going to give me to make you feel better. Well, everything they gave me didn't make me feel better. I just kept getting worse and couldn't breathe. And then we finally made it to the hospital. And I'm thinking, hallelujah. They're gonna give me some. Put me out. Take care of me. And they couldn't put me out because my blood pressure went too low and they're worried about me not making it. So I'm conscious as they're putting stents into one artery in three stents and one and one stent in the other. And during that time, different parts of my body were going numb on me. And then finally, at one point, my whole body went numb and my blacked out completely. And I truthfully thought I was going I was going to be gone. But the beauty of that was that. In my spirit, I was so peaceful and so even excited to go to heaven. That decision I made in 1986 was real. And so, you know, I could literally hear my body screaming, gasping for air still. And in my spirit, I had total peace.
I thought about missing my wife, Catherine. But other than that, I was excited about God. And then a little bit later, one of the doctors said, wake up. I don't know if it was Jesus or Satan, but nondescript. But anyway, I came back to life. I guess I got to say I'm not saying flatlined, but I came out of that spiritual experience back to reality and actually could finally start breathing again.
But it was quite an episode. But just so thankful when it was over, I was very, very thankful, not so much that I was still alive because I was ready to go. But I was very thankful that I knew where I was going. And you know what, man? That's in the end. There's only one thing that really matters. And that's where are you going? Just like when Coach Bowden said, hey, if that was your last night instead of Pablo, where would you spend eternity? It was the same thing. And I was just so thankful that my faith is real. And I experienced that through that heart attack.
Henry Kaestner: That's a great story and one that I can actually identify with. And I know that a lot of other listeners can as well, there's a special gift when you're confronted with death and can feel the pieces surpasses all understanding. It just changes your perspective for how you live and what you do today. And if you're like me, sometimes you lose perspective on that. And but it's always that's an experience that you always have to fall back on when you try to forget what's really important.
Mark Richt: Preach Christ. That's what.
Henry Kaestner: Amen. We would like to close out all the episodes we do on our podcasts with the same question, which is we ask our business leaders, our investors and our faith driven athletes about what they're hearing in God's word. And maybe it's just more and maybe some maybe something last week, maybe something within the last month that some way that you feel that God is speaking to you through your time in his word.
Well, my life verse has been Colossians 323. Whatever you do, do you work? Heartily for the Lord rather than men. And when I get off the path, I get away from that verse and basically just means it doesn't matter what we do. Everybody sometimes. Oh, God. Tell me what you want me to do. What you are going to do. What you want me to be. You know, God says whatever you do. Do you work? Do whatever you are responsible for, do it, hardly many do it the very best you can do it for me. Not for man. So I always took that to heart. I mean, I knew Vince Dooley was my athletic director and I know Michael Adams was the president of Georgia. I knew they were my boss, but I was working for God. And that was the bottom line for me. And here's the thing. The highest accountability we can have in life. Is God, you can do your best for your boss when your boss is watching, but what about when your boss is not watching? Then what? But if you're working for God, you know, God sees everything. None of us are perfect in our behavior. We're perfect in our spirit once we know Christ, but we still blow it. But when we make decisions, it's based on a heart that was changed from the blood of Jesus Christ and the fact that God sees all that we do and we're not afraid of getting beat down by God for making mistakes. But we're afraid. We just don't want to let him down because we love him so much. And that's your motivation. You know, it makes life very simple, not easy, but simple.
Henry Kaestner: That's a great word. Thank you. Bless me with it. I know you blessed our audience with it. I'm really grateful for your time and being able to share your story. And thank you.
Mark Richt: I enjoyed it very much. I appreciate the opportunities.