Mark Richt is a semifinalist for national coach of the year award

Georgia Bulldogs head football coach Mark Richt has been named a semifinalist for the Maxwell Club's national coach of the year award. The list of semifinalists was released on Monday with 16 coaches now in consideration for the award. Two other SEC coaches were named as semifinalists, Florida Gators head coach Will Muschamp and Texas A&M Aggies head coach Kevin Sumlin.

Other notable coaches that were named as semifinalists include Notre Dame Fighting Irish's Brian Kelly, Oregon Ducks' Chip Kelly, Kansas State Wildcats' Bill Snyder and Penn St. Nittany Lions' Bill O'Brien. Interestingly enough, Macon.com writer Seth Emerson does not rank Richt in the top half of the coaches listed. He gives top honors to Brian Kelly. Here is how he lists all of the semifinalists:

There are two weeks to go in the pre-bowl season, but if I were ranking those 16, I'd put it in this order:

Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
Bill Snyder, Kansas State
Bill O'Brien, Penn State
David Shaw, Stanford
Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Jim Mora, UCLA
Donny Dykes, Louisiana Tech
Urban Meyer, Ohio State
Mike Riley, Oregon State
Will Muschamp, Florida
Mark Richt, Georgia
Chip Kelly, Oregon
Mike MacIntyre, San Jose State
Dabo Swinney, Clemson
Dave Doeren, Northern Illinois
Darrell Hazell, Kent State

The Georgia Bulldogs are preparing for Saturday's game against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, set to kick off at noon at Sanford Stadium in Athens. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.