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The Prayer in Jordan-Hare in flight on Nov. 16, 2013 in Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com),

HOOVER, Alabama - If any coach in the SEC should be in favor of transfer restrictions, it's Mark Richt.

If any coach should push for a league-wide rule to keep players dismissed from one SEC school from playing at another, it's the Georgia coach.

See Nick Marshall and the Prayer in Jordan-Hare.

Now see Tray Matthews getting booted in Athens, cutting out the juco middleman and moving straight to Auburn.

On self-interest alone, Richt should have come to SEC Media Days beating the drum to put a stop to doing the right thing and having it come back to bite you.

He didn't because that's not him.

Asked about Matthews, the talented safety who quickly transferred to Auburn after Richt dismissed him at Georgia, Richt made a point that should be a model for other coaches.

"I have never hindered a transfer from going anywhere that he wants to go," he said.

Not all coaches are that understanding or forgiving. Plenty of them put plenty of restrictions on players that want to leave or are asked to leave. Can't stay in the league. Can't go to a school on the schedule. Etc., etc., etc.

It's one of the most hypocritical aspects of the coaching profession. Men who'll change jobs before or after signing day, no matter how many years are left on their contracts, don't mind telling a player where he can and can't go if, for whatever reason, he finds himself at the wrong school at the wrong time.

Richt could be a hypocrite on this issue, too, for self-serving reasons. Last year alone, he lost to Marshall and Auburn and barely survived another former Georgia player at quarterback, Zach Mettenberger at LSU.

If Matthews makes the most of his second chance at Second-Chance U as he sits out his transfer year, Richt will have to face him during the 2015 season.

That doesn't seem to bother the Georgia coach.

Good for him.

"When guys leave our program, my goal for them is that they continue their career and they realize all their dreams," he said. "Life's too short. They're young men that make mistakes. If somewhere along the way you learn from your mistake, you turn it around, finish your career strong, I'm happy for the guy."

Obviously, Richt wasn't thrilled when Marshall's Hail Mary last November made its way through Matthews and another Georgia DB to Ricardo Louis for Auburn's game-winning touchdown, but you get the point.

Richt's approach should be part of a one-time transfer rule available to everyone. No selfish restrictions. No punitive handcuffs. Happiness if the young man wins big somewhere else would be optional.