There is very little doubt about where Kirby Smart ranks among Georgia football's best coaching hires. But what about college football as a whole, and specifically the sport's hires this century?

CBS Sports' Shehan Jeyarajah recently explored that, ranking the top-25 hires since 2000. As you'd expect, Georgia's hire of Smart was closer to the top of the list rather than the bottom.

Jeyarajah ranks Smart as the No. 5 coaching hire this century.

"We're now getting into the territory of coaches with multiple national championships, and Smart is perhaps best positioned to join Nick Saban as the only coach with more than two," Jeyarajah writes. "Smart has created the closest thing we have to a new Alabama, rattling off eight straight AP top seven finishes with consecutive national championships.

The aforementioned mentor of Smart ranks No. 1. Yet, there may be debate about the coaches ranked ahead of Smart. Per Jeyarajah, Florida's Urban Meyer, Clemson's Dabo Swinney, and USC's Pete Carroll all rank above Smart.

Smart has the same number of national titles as all three men, so what's holding him back?

"The only thing keeping Smart slightly lower on this list than the top four is that he took over a Georgia program that was painfully close to reaching the promised land under Mark Richt," Jeyarajah writes. "All four of the other situations were bleaker."

Perception is seemingly the biggest difference between Smart and the three coaches, separating him from his former boss. He inherited a program that was averaging 10 wins a season under Richt.

Yet, there was a ceiling. The Bulldogs could never find a way over the hump and end their then national championship drought. While taking over a program that was winning on average 10 games a season may be perceived as a turnkey operation in terms of taking it to a championship, it was not that simple.

Following an 8-5 first season in Athens, Smart took the Bulldogs to a national championship game in his second season. Although he didn't capture that elusive national title on that attempt, he did capture his first SEC Championship, in addition to winning a double overtime thriller versus Oklahoma at the Rose Bowl in the College Football Playoff semifinal.

That would serve as just a precursor to what came four years later. Smart took Georgia to the mountaintop, defeating Alabama for its first national championship in 41 years, in addition to avenging the team's only loss that season.

Of course, the next one came just a season later, as he guided the Bulldogs to a perfect 15-0 season, which started with a dominating win over Oregon and then ended with another as Georgia beat TCU 65-7 in the largest win in a national championship game.

While the wait for a third national championship continues, Smart is fresh off leading another SEC Championship and appearance in the College Football Playoff. Despite a sour ending as Georgia went one-and-done in the playoff, losing 23-10 to Notre Dame, Smart later described the 11-3 season as his "best" coaching job.

He will look to add to his already Hall of Fame-worthy resume in his 10th season at the helm of the Bulldogs' program.