VALDOSTA — A large crowd turned out Tuesday night to honor the Valdosta High football team and to hear Mark Richt speak at the team’s banquet.

When Richt, the football coach at the University of Georgia, agrees to speak somewhere in Georgia, a big crowd usually shows up to see him. Tuesday night was no exception. He received a standing ovation when he came up to the podium to speak.

“It’s great to be in this community,” Richt said. “Every time I come here, I am always greeted very warmly.”

Part of Richt’s speech related to Georgia’s up-and-down 2006 season. The Bulldogs started 5-0 and were ranked No. 7 in the country. Then they lost four of five games, including losses to Vanderbilt and Kentucky, and found themselves reeling. But Richt says the team stuck together, and they finished the regular season with upsets of No. 5 Auburn and No. 15 Georgia Tech, and ended the season by winning the Chick-Fil-A Bowl over Virginia Tech.

“After we lost those games, even more important than having leadership was having unity,” Richt said. “We stayed unified. We had the strength and the unity to survive the barrage of negativity... If we had broken apart instead of staying unified, we could never have won (the Auburn and Georgia Tech games).”

Richt’s reason for telling that story was clear. Valdosta is coming off the worst season in its storied history, a 1-9 campaign in 2006. Richt encouraged the Wildcats’ players, coaches and fans to stay unified as they try to get back to winning in 2007.

“If you guys stick together, awesome things will happen,” he said.

Richt spoke very highly of Valdosta head coach Rick Tomberlin, whom he has known for several years.

“Coach Tomberlin is a great man,” Richt said. “He’s building for the long haul. He’s building the right foundation here. A lot of the characteristics you gave of Coach Hyder you will also find in Coach Tomberlin.”

Tomberlin was just as complimentary of Richt. A couple of Tomberlin’s players at Washington County have gone on to play for Georgia.

“There is no coach in college football I would rather have one of my players play for than Mark Richt,” Tomberlin said.

Before the banquet, Richt met fans, posed for pictures and signed autographs.

“I feel like I’ve now met all of you,” he joked at the beginning of his speech.

Valdosta normally pays its banquet speaker, but Richt turned down any speaking fee. So instead, the Valdosta Touchdown Club made a donation to the Valdosta Boys and Girls Club in Richt’s name.

The banquet was held to honor Valdosta’s 2006 football team. A highlight video was shown, and a copy was given to each player.