It all began with a blind date.

As a graduate assistant on the coaching staff at Florida State University, young Mark Richt, who had been striking out in relationships, expressed his desire to meet a “nice girl.” Overhearing his statement, the girlfriend of Richt’s roommate suggested that she might know the perfect woman for him: her own roommate, Katharyn Francis. Immediately she set up a time for the four of them to get together.