Mark Richt abruptly announced his retirement from the Miami Hurricanes on Sunday, and the speculation machine immediately cranked into high gear. After all, Miami is a power program in a fertile recruiting territory with a history that's littered with success. One name floated out immediately after the announcement didn't just come out of left field, it came from out of the ballpark -- Rex Ryan. 

The Miami Herald reported that several former Miami players are pushing hard behind the scenes for athletic director Blake James to approach the former New York Jets and Buffalo Bills coach, and that Ryan would be interested if he's approached about the vacancy.

Ryan was 65-67 in eight seasons as an NFL coach. He made the playoff in his first two seasons with the New York Jets in 2009-10, but never won more than eight games in any of the next four seasons. He took over the Buffalo Bills in 2015, but was fired after just two seasons.

He has experience working in college, but it's been a while and the game has evolved quite a bit. He was Oklahoma's defensive coordinator in 1998 and Kansas State's in 1999, prior to jumping to the Baltimore Ravens as a position coach.

Ryan now works as an NFL television analyst at ESPN.