With Nick Saban retired and two national championships in eight years to his credit, Georgia’s Kirby Smart is considered one of if not the top coach in college football.
Even his most ardent detractors would have a difficult time arguing otherwise.
Georgia is a national brand, and the Bulldogs enter the 2024 season as the favorite of many to win a third championship this fall, even with the playoffs expanding to 12 teams.
Smart holds everyone in his program accountable, is demanding in every aspect, and surrounds himself with like-minded coaches.
Smart is on top of his game as he approaches his ninth year at Georgia. He's also the game’s highest-paid coach at $13 million per year.
Should Smart win a third national championship he would join an esteemed list of nine coaches to have won three crowns. Names like Knute Rockne, Urban Meyer, Tom Osborne, and Pop Warner.
You would think the opportunity to reach such an elite status would only add to Smart’s drive. However, you would be mistaken.
During a sit-down with beat writers at last week’s SEC Media Days, Smart gave a rare glimpse inside the man leading the Bulldog program.
“I never was chasing a championship. I hate to say it, and I know that’s disappointing for you to write,” Smart said. “I don’t chase championships. That’s really not what drives me.”
Being with his players, and coaching his team, is just as enjoyable as it’s always been.
“The hunger probably has grown in me from wanting to be with my team more,” said Smart. “Because of all the things you deal with now, the portal, NIL, and all the things you don’t enjoy as a coach, my passion and energy for my players, being around these guys, being on the field with these guys, this team ... every minute you get with them is that much more valuable.”
The practice field is where Smart truly feels at home.
“That’s what I enjoy. I love that. But all the other things you have to do outside of it is what exhausts you,” Smart said. “It takes more of your time and energy away. So, the passion of being with the players and this part of it, we’re getting ready to start, I love that part."
Unfortunately, coaches have a lot more to concern themselves with these days.
The death two years ago of Devin Willock and staff member Chandler LeCroy shook the Bulldogs Nation. Smart included.
Subsequent arrests for reckless driving have continued and weigh heavily on his mind, despite countless attempts at education, warnings and suspensions to keep them from happening again.
With so much going on, Smart was asked if he could disconnect from all that’s occurred.
"I don't think that exists for any head coach, truly. When you say disconnect, I'm constantly worried about a player making a mistake or somebody doing something off the field,” Smart said. “What can we do to prevent it? You talk about sleepless nights, that gives me a lot more sleepless nights than who we're signing or whether we win or lose a game. It's the things that you can't control.
“I think you've got to do a really good job as a head coach of not losing too much sleep over things you can't control because if you do, it will wear you down. It's not easy.”
However, Smart is learning to delegate responsibility better than he used to do.
In 2021, he hired Neyland Raper as his new Director of Football Operations. He’s also learned to lean more on his assistants and trust their decisions.
“We have people in charge of every area. If you want to call a general manager, it would be the football ops person for us. General Manager is a title. What does a general manager do they oversee a lot of things,” Smart said. “There's a lot of things that are overseen by other people than me, but they report to me. I think that I, starting in Year 9 am more comfortable in delegating the offense, the defense, the special teams, and the recruiting asset. The off-field, the on-field, all the duties that are out there. But I’m in a much better place with oversight in terms of feeling like it doesn't have to be me making the decisions.”
