UM's Mark Richt Named ACC Coach Of Year

CORAL GABLES, FL — With a 10-1 record heading into Saturday's ACC championship game against number one ranked Clemson, University of Miami Head Coach Mark Richt has already scored an important victory over the Tigers. Richt was voted the 2017 Atlantic Coast Conference Football Coach of the Year on Tuesday by a vote of 41 to 10 over Clemson's Dabo Swinney, who finished second.

According to the conference website, the voting was conducted by 45 members of the media and the league’s 14 head football coaches.

"Miami’s 10 wins this season are the most for the program since 2003, and the Hurricanes’ seven league wins are their most since joining the ACC in 2004," the website reported. "The Hurricanes’ 10 wins to open this season, combined with five consecutive wins to close the 2016 campaign, produced a 15-game winning streak that ties for the fifth-longest in league history."

The Hurricanes landed their first ACC Coastal Division championship and a top-10 national ranking this year, which marks only Richt's second in the top gridiron post at his alma mater. Saturday's game takes place at 8 p.m. in the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

"Richt is a semifinalist for the 2017 George Munger College Coach of the Year Award presented by the Maxwell Football Club," the website added. "Ten of his Miami players were voted to the 2017 All-ACC team. The Hurricanes lead the nation in turnover margin and rank seventh nationally with 17 pass interceptions. Offensively, they closed the regular season averaging nearly 423 yards and 32 points per game."

Here are the complete ballot results for ACC coach of the year:

• Mark Richt, Miami 41
• Dabo Swinney, Clemson 10
• Steve Addazio, Boston College 5
• Bronco Mendenhall, Virginia 2
• Dave Clawson, Wake Forest 1

Head coach Mark Richt celebrates after the Hurricanes defeated the Florida State Seminoles 24-20 on Oct. 7. Photo by Butch Dill/Getty Images