A look back at Mark Richt's tenure at Georgia

ATHENS -- Fifteen years ago, Georgia was in need of a spark. Jim Donnan had worn out his welcome with three consecutive losses to Georgia Tech stinging the most. The Bulldogs needed new blood and looked south to find their next head coach.

At Florida State, a young and successful quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator named Mark Richt had just wrapped up his 11th season with the Seminoles. He had coached Heisman Trophy winners Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke and had been a part of two national championship.

It was time to branch out and become a head coach.

Georgia hired Richt on Christmas Day in 2000, which began a successful 15-year career at the helm.

Here's a look back at Richt's tenure in Athens.

2001: After 20 years without an SEC title, Georgia hired Richt to be its 25th head coach in program history. Richt's first season contained plenty of ups and downs and ended with an 8-4 record. The Bulldogs lost 20-16 to Boston College in the Music City Bowl.

2002: Richt's Bulldogs went 11-1 in the regular season and defeated Arkansas to win the SEC championship. Georgia's lone loss was to Florida, which kept the Bulldogs out of contention for a BCS national championship appearance. The Bulldogs defeated Florida State in the Sugar Bowl. Richt was named the SEC Coach of the Year.

2005: Richt became only the seventh coach in SEC history to win two SEC titles in his first five years at the helm of a program. Georgia defeated LSU to win the SEC title and made an appearance in the Sugar Bowl, losing to West Virginia. Richt was named the SEC Coach of the Year for the second time.

2007: After a down 2006 season, Richt led the Bulldogs to a 10-2 regular season. But the Bulldogs lost the SEC East tiebreaker to Tennessee, which went to the conference title game. Georgia was jumped in the final BCS Championship rankings and did not go to the title game. The Bulldogs blew out Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl and finished the year ranked No. 2 in the country.

2008: Georgia was the preseason No. 1 team in both the AP and coaches polls to start the year. But this is the season a lot of people point to as the beginning of the end for Richt. The Bulldogs did not live up to expectations and lost three games, despite having 2009 No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Matthew Stafford at quarterback and No. 12 pick Knowshon Moreno at running back. Their season ended with a win over Michigan State in the Capital One Bowl.

2009-11: These three years marked the beginning of Richt's seat getting warm. The Bulldogs finished 2009 8-5 and ended 2010 6-7 and with a loss to Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl. Georgia started the 2011 season 0-2 with losses to Boise State and South Carolina but won its next 10 games to take the SEC East. The Bulldogs closed the year with losses to LSU in the SEC championship game and to Michigan State in the Outback Bowl.

2012: This was arguably Richt's best team. Despite a 35-7 loss to South Carolina, Georgia won the remainder of its games and found itself in the SEC championship game against Alabama. After the Crimson Tide took a 32-28 lead late in the game, quarterback Aaron Murray led the Bulldogs down the field and inside the 10-yard line, with Georgia hurrying to the line of scrimmage. Georgia ran a play for Malcolm Mitchell in the end zone, but the ball was deflected by C.J. Mosley. The ball then ball fell into Chris Conley's hands at the 5-yard line, with Conley slipping to the turf. Time ran out, and Alabama went on to win a national title.

2013-14: In 2013, Georgia dealt with a myriad injuries, which led to an 8-5 finish in Murray's senior season. In 2014, the Bulldogs saw star running back Todd Gurley get suspended for four games before tearing his ACL against Auburn. The Bulldogs still won 10 games, which included a Belk Bowl win over Louisville.

2015: Georgia began the year as a preseason top-10 team and was expected to run away with the SEC East. But a horrible stretch in October -- including losses to Alabama, Tennessee and Florida -- proved too much for Richt to overcome. He won his final four games, including his 13th over Georgia Tech but was fired a day after the regular season ended. His career at Georgia ends with a record of 145-51.

This story was originally published November 29, 2015 at 4:24 PM with the headline "A look back at Mark Richt's tenure at Georgia ."