Bristol, CT - July 25, 2017 - Studio G: Coach Mark Richt of the University of Miami Hurricanes on the set of College Football Live (Photo by Melissa Rawlins / ESPN Images)
Mark Richt is riding high right as the head coach at the University of Miami. His No. 7 ranked Hurricanes are 8-0 and host No. 3 Notre Dame Saturday night at 8pm ET on ABC.
It’s the biggest game of Richt’s 2 years with the Hurricanes but it’s certainly not the biggest moment of his life.
That came back in 1986, when Richt was a graduate assistant coach at Florida State under legendary coach Bobby Bowden.
Flashback: Mark Richt shaking Bobby Bowden's hand after Miami-FSU game on 10/30/1982. pic.twitter.com/55rtINHWZL
Richt says that this is where his life changed forever, and he accepted Christ as his Lord.
“Pablo Lopez, who is from Miami, got shot at a party,” Richt told Katie Witham. The next day, Coach Bowden had a team meeting and I was in the room as the graduate assistant coach. Coach Bowden said ‘men I don’t know where Pablo is.’ I don’t where he’ll spend eternity. He basically presented the Gospel to the team. He said ‘God sent his son Christ to die on the cross to take on all the sins of mankind. If you just choose Him, He’ll pay the price for your sin and give you a new life.”
Coach Richt says that speech by Coach Bowden forced him to wrestle with the idea of where he would go when he died.
“Coach Bowden said ‘if that was you last night instead of Pablo, do you know where you would spend eternity?’ I go the next day and knock on the door to Coach Bowden’s office. I went in there and prayed to receive Christ and I just began to try and obey and love God from that point on. It was a life changing experience. My old sin nature I was born with was eradicated through the blood of Christ.”
Mark Richt has his team focused on one main goal. One mission statement for his Hurricane players, and that’s to carry themselves in a way that would honor the Lord.
“It could be the only mission statement,” he told Witham. “Honor God with what we do. Honor God with how we go about our business. God created us, He loves us and wants a relationship with us. He loves us enough to allow his son to die for our sin. When your heart changes, you start doing things out of love”
Here in 2017, the Hurricanes are one of the best teams in the country and with a win over Notre Dame on Saturday Night, could place them in position for a run at the College Football Playoff in January.
Annabelle Hasselbeck (left) and Brady Russell (right). (Photo by Sports Spectrum)
THIS IS SPORTS SPECTRUM’S WHAT’S UP PODCAST
WITH ANNABELLE HASSELBECK
On today’s episode of Sports Spectrum’s “What’s Up” podcast, we have Brady Russell from the Seattle Seahawks.
We’re so excited to talk to Brady about his 2024 season with the Seattle Seahawks, time at the University of Colorado, and how he has seen the Lord work through his life and football career.
Charles Tillman in 2012. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST WITH MATT FORTE & JASON ROMANO, FEATURING CHARLES TILLMAN
Charles Tillman is a former Pro Bowl cornerback with the Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers. He was selected in the second round of the 2003 NFL Draft, 35th overall to the Bears. He spent 12 seasons with Chicago (2003-2014) and helped the Bears to an NFC championship and trip to Super Bowl XLI in 2006-07. He was selected to the 2011 and 2012 Pro Bowls, and in 2013 was selected as the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year.
Thanks to his “Peanut Punch,” Tillman owns the NFL record for most forced fumbles in a game, with four against the Tennessee Titans in 2012. He also had three interceptions returned for touchdowns that season and was a first-team All-Pro.
Today on the podcast, Charles Tillman joins his former teammate, Matt Forte, to discuss his NFL Draft story, the challenges he faced around the game of football, developing the “Peanut Punch,” and the importance of faith and family during difficult times, such as his daughter’s heart surgery.
Falcons players and their spouses — including Bradley Pinion (left) and Kaden Elliss (right) — walk through the Dominican Republic. (Photo courtesy of Compassion)
Many professional athletes are involved in some capacity with Compassion International and have served with the nonprofit in foreign countries. But until the Atlanta Falcons took a large contingent to the Dominican Republic in March, no professional sports organization had traveled as a group in partnership with Compassion.
Falcons president Greg Beadles, head coach Raheem Morris, seven players, plus staff and spouses went on the trip with Compassion, which partners with local churches to help release children from poverty. The group spent four days in the country meeting with church partners, participating in organized activities with the children, like a baseball game and football drills, and visited the homes of mothers and children facing struggles.
“One of my biggest takeaways from the trip was just the guys that went on it and seeing their hearts for Christ and seeing them outside of the football building and in a situation that can sometimes be a little uncomfortable, because of the level of poverty that you’re seeing,” Falcons punter Bradley Pinion, who spearheaded the trip with his wife Kaeleigh, told Sports Spectrum. “But then, seeing how my teammates just opened up and the joy that came on their face, and just seeing them serve and serving alongside them to the neediest of families in the Dominican Republic, it’s just something that I’ll never forget.”
The @AtlantaFalcons are making a difference beyond the football field! They recently visited the DR to see firsthand how Compassion is helping children escape poverty.
"The lives of these kids are being changed, and we've been changed too," said Bradley Pinion, punter for the… pic.twitter.com/0M2KMrZamx
— Compassion International (@compassion) April 7, 2025
Pinion has been serving with Compassion for many years. In 2023, he and Kaeleigh traveled to Tanzania to visit survival centers they helped fund, which provide critical prenatal care and access to food, clean water and medicine to mothers and babies.
This experience led to him launching “Punts for Purpose” later that year, for which he partnered with other punters around the NFL to donate $1,000 to Compassion for every punt that landed inside the 20-yard line, in support of 500 child survival centers.
When envisioning this trip to the Dominican Republic, he felt compelled to invite his teammates and other members of the organization to experience what Compassion is doing. However, he told Sports Spectrum, he was admittedly a little nervous to ask Beadles about the team partnering with Compassion, but he’s ultimately glad he did.
“It was just incredible to see, honestly, God in all of it and how it, from one simple [act of] stepping out in faith and being undaunted, led to me seeing teammates in a different light, and seeing different people within our organization in a different light, and our head coach in a different light, and our president in a different light,” Pinion said. “God has used that to draw people not only closer to Him, but also draw them to Compassion’s mission and the work that Compassion does.”
“We’ve never done anything like this before and I’m so grateful we had this opportunity,” Beadles said in a team press release. “We are a values-driven organization both on and off the field, and we’ve always wanted to be a positive, impactful force for good in communities.”
Morris echoed a similar sentiment.
“It’s what we preach every day,” he said. “When you get a chance to go live it, it means everything.”
Compassion President and CEO Jimmy Mellado commended the Falcons for their willingness to serve as a team. He said the Falcons organization is “dedicated to excellence and sportsmanship on the field,” but it went a step further because these efforts off the field were “lifesaving.”
“You can tell when a team has a culture: when they’re unified, when they’re powerful,” Mellado said in a video recap. “There are some teams that have the best athletes in the world, but they don’t ever reach their potential. But when you put ability plus culture plus that glue that puts you together, now that team is unstoppable.”
According to Compassion, 49% of households in the Dominican Republic live on less than $3.40 a day. Children in these communities are often exposed to “serious consequences of poverty,” including crime and gang violence, drug activity, human trafficking and other forms of exploitation.
Through its partnership with 234 church partners in the Dominican Republic, Compassion serves more than 62,000 children in its fight against poverty and its side effects.
“It’s what we are passionate about,” Pinion told Compassion. “We just want to bring other people along because we see the impact Compassion’s having. We want other people to see it, support it and give that same fire that we have.”
Patrick Taylor Jr. in 2024. (AP Photo/Ben VanHouten)
THIS IS THE GET IN THE GAME PODCAST
WITH SCOTT LINEBRINK
Patrick Taylor Jr. is a running back with the San Francisco 49ers going into his fifth NFL season.
Patrick joins the show today to share his faith journey, the importance of surrendering to God, and how his faith helps him navigate the uncertainties of a professional football career. He shares his experiences of identity beyond being a football player, the role of prayer in his life, and his commitment to serving the community through youth camps.
