Opinion: Kirby Smart is indeed a top 10 coach

In that time, the Bulldogs have enjoyed their best success since the early 1980s, when Georgia won the 1980 national championship and appeared in the Sugar Bowl for three straight campaigns.

While the ride under Smart hasn't been perfect, there are only a handful of programs that have enjoyed the kind of success the Bulldogs have managed.

In a recent column, Rivals’ Mike Farrell put together a list of the college coaches he believes are currently among the top 10 in the country.

Smart was not part of the group, a suggestion that raised the eyebrows of many. Anyone who knows me can tell you giving an opinion, popular or otherwise, has never been a problem here.

So, when I suggest that Farrell was incorrect in his assessment of Smart, it has everything to do with the following facts. Here’s why I degree with the esteemed Mr. Farrell on his assessment:

1. Georgia, Alabama, Clemson, Oklahoma, and Ohio State are the only schools to finish in the top 10 of the College Football rankings since 2017.

2. The Bulldogs have played for a title as recently as the 2017 National Championship under Smart.

3. Under Smart, the Bulldogs have recorded three straight No. 1 recruiting classes from 2018-2020.

4. Under Smart the Bulldogs are 3-1 in bowls that rotate as part of the College Football Playoffs: Rose Bowl (1-0), (Sugar Bowl, 1-1), and Peach (1-0).

But here’s the topper, where the results should be impossible to dispute.

In Farrell’s top 10 coaches, he lists Jimbo Fisher No. 3, Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley No. 4, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly No. 5, Florida’s Dan Mullen No. 8, and LSU’s Ed Orgeron No. 9.

Granted, Oklahoma has been to the playoffs three times, and Orgeron's Tigers beat the Bulldogs in the 2019 SEC title on the way to the national title.

Nevertheless, if we take out Nick Saban (only Dabo Swinney on the list has beaten him) and count the remaining coaches Farrell includes in his top 10, Smart is 8-3, with two of the losses coming to Orgeron—in 2018 and in the SEC Championship in 2019. That’s not worthy of Top 10 consideration?

Smart has not been perfect.

The Bulldogs have lost some big games; there have been some ugly losses included and ill-conceived calls. The fake punt call with Justin Fields in the 2018 SEC Championship against Alabama jumps immediately to mind.

He can be testy with the media, and by his own admission, is still growing and learning as a coach.

However, when you look at what Smart has done and continues to accomplish through recruiting, along with the fact Georgia’s facilities are now among the best in the SEC, Bulldog fans should be excited about the future of the program. You have to build the roster before you win with it.

Alabama’s Nick Saban is the king. That a fact most college football fans readily accept. Clemson’s Dabo Swinney is on his heels.

However, to overlook Smart and exclude him from any top 10 list seems a bit misguided. Yes, a national championship still eludes the program.

Nevertheless, what Smart has done in just five seasons and continues to do at Georgia is certainly enough to include him in any list that ranks the top 10 list of coaches currently coaching big-time college football.