Homer Rice, the man behind Georgia Tech’s Total Person Program and the hiring of some of its most successful coaches, passed away. He was ninety-seven.
Georgia Tech revealed on Monday night that Rice passed away on Monday.
From 1980 to 1997, Rice served as Georgia Tech’s sports director. Baseball coaches Jim Morris and Danny Hall, football coaches Bobby Ross and George O’Leary, and basketball coach Bobby Cremins were among his noteworthy choices. In addition to making it to the Final Four in 1990, Georgia Tech won a share of the 1990 football championship and its first basketball championship in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1985.
In five sports, the Yellow Jackets won 16 ACC titles while Rice was the head of the athletic department.
Before starting his career as an administrator, Rice coached football at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. In 1979–1980, he served as the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL before starting at Georgia Tech.
Before departing to work for six years as the athletic director of North Carolina, Rice was the coach at Cincinnati (1967–68) and an assistant at Kentucky (1962–65) and Oklahoma (1966). He spent two years at Rice as the football coach and athletic director after being hired in 1976.
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Rice’s Total Person Program is regarded as the model for the NCAA’s Life Skills Program. The Homer Rice Award is presented annually to a FBS athletic director in recognition for significant contributions to college athletics.
“Homer has reminded us throughout his career that the ultimate goal of intercollegiate athletics is to help student-athletes grow fully as people,” Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera said in a statement released by the school. “At a time of profound changes in athletics, Homer’s message and legacy of excellence is more important than ever.”
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