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football Edit

Dean of the SEC

When Tommy Tuberville resigned from Auburn after 10 years it left Georgia's Mark Richt with a unique distinction – dean of coaches in the SEC.
Has it really been that long? Is it really possible?
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Although South Carolina's Steve Spurrier has been in the league longer, Richt's eight years at the same school is now the longest such stretch in the conference, followed by Vanderbilt's Bobby Johnson just wrapped up his seventh season in Nashville.
In fact, in the past two years, six of the league's 12 schools have now changed coaches, including Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Auburn.
But following the departure of Vols' coach Philip Fulmer, Mississippi State's Sylvester Croom and now Tuberville,, Richt now stands alone.
Despite this year's 9-3 mark, Richt's 81-22 record places him No. 4 on the list among the winningest-active coaches in terms of percentage, following Southern Cal's Pete Carroll (86-15), Florida's Urban Meyer (81-17) and Oklahoma's Bob Stoops (107-23).
Just for fun, let's take a look at home much the world we live in has changed since Richt took over the Bulldogs in 2001. You might be surprised.
For example:
According to historicaltextarchive.com, during a trip to the grocery store, a dozen eggs cost just 89 cents, a loaf of bread $1.49 and a pound of coffee $2.66.
Amazingly, gasoline was more expensive than it is now at $1.70 a gallon, but that brand new Plymouth Voyager would have cost you just $11,995.00.
If you took your girlfriend to a movie you would have expected to spend $7 per ticket. Feeling thirsty afterwards? A case of Heineken would have set you back $19.99.
President George W. Bush still had a high approval rating.
At Georgia, Damon Evans was still two years away from taking over for Vince Dooley as the Bulldogs' athletic director and Knowshon Moreno was just 13 years old.
So, congratulations, Coach. You are now officially No. 1.
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