Kirby Smart took a strong stand on several topics being discussed at the annual SEC Spring Meetings in Destin.
On the questions he wants answered at spring meetings…
“Yeah, I think I have a good understanding of where it is and the decisions that have to be made, but I don't think those decisions get answered here. I think we all think this is like we're going have these answers when we come out of it. There are a lot of thinking heads, a lot of people that have to come together, a lot of green that has to be done to get where we want to go.
"If we have a small sample size right now of what we did, and we're going to get another sample size right this year under a similar format, maybe a little different with the seating part, but where it goes in the future, I don't know where that goes. I'm not looking at it in a self-preservation mode, which happens a lot in college football. These meetings are that way, conferences are that way.
"I think I've learned from the best in the business that you're trying to constantly sustain the game and make the game better, and not just do it for what's best for me or just for self-preservation. And I'm not saying anybody is doing that, but I'm saying we got to look at it from that perspective, and that's hard. I look at women's softball, I look at men's basketball, and I look at men's baseball, and it just absolutely blows my mind how the SEC can end up with the teams they end up with in those positions, okay?
"Now, some of those you can say are play-in, because maybe they went through a regional, and you look at the women's softball World Series, you look at men's baseball, you look at men's basketball, 13 of 16, 14 of 16, and they're larger pools, but when you look at what they're able to do, and there's no outcry, and there's nobody beating the drum saying that it's completely unfair, they do a lot of things based on RPI, they do a lot of things based on strength of schedule, and there are reward teams for that.
"I have a hard time seeing Ole Miss, Alabama, and South Carolina not being in the best teams last year, and that, for me, is a big part of the SEC. People want to say, well, you need to play nine games, you need to play eight games. We don't really know which one of those is until we know the playoff format.
"But I beg everybody in this room the question, would we have been better off not playing Clemson last year and playing another SEC game to make nine games? How would that have been better for the SEC? How would that have been better for Georgia? I don't think it would have. I think those teams you play outside your conference verify your strength."
On if it's better for the game if Georgia does not play Clemson…
"Well, I think it's better for the games to play Clemson, absolutely. I think us playing Clemson did a lot of things for our conference, improved a lot of things for our conference. And people take that out of context."
On if he's afraid non-conference games like Georgia-Clemson and Texas-Ohio State will go away…
"You're going to see more and more of those games regardless of the SEC because that's what the fan base wants, what TV wants. That drives revenue, and you're going to see lots of those opportunities out there.”
On what he's seen from Steve Sarkisian as he's built his Texas program and the biggest changes you face early in your head coaching career…
"Yeah, continuity, keeping your staff intact, very different environment that I started the Georgia program in and what Sark's started in.
"College football has changed, and it changed really fast. So, it was different from when Nick started at Alabama and we were part of that staff to when I started at Georgia to now Sark's well off at Texas, doing a great job. It starts with getting good football players."
On if we'll see fewer undefeated national champions in today's college football…
“Yeah, I would like to say yes, you will see fewer, but I would say it's not because of the schedule and the length of the schedule. It would be because of the portal and the lack of depth and the more parity.
"As soon as I say that, it depends on the way things go in the next 6-10 months. You could end up with some haves and have nots out there and ultimately a team could drive prices and go buy a championship like you're talking about with super teams. I mean, I think we could see that if there's not parity. We don't really know if there's going to be or not."
On how he's been dealing with getting to 105 players and what he's been telling walk-ons...
"Yeah, we've been in communication. I think the number one thing when you deal with that situation is when you don't know, you tell somebody you don't know and you tell them which way it's leaning and what we're hearing and you prepare for that. We not only don't know that, we don't know what the camp number's going to be. We don't know who's going to get to come back when school starts, who's going to get to come back when camp starts. A lot of unknown in that.
"But we've been very honest with our guys and told them. We told them that they were free to go in the portal. And some have looked out and realized that that's not necessarily the grass is greener because there's not a lot of opportunities. Everybody's got a reduction of opportunities, so these kids that went in had very few places to go. So a lot of them have come back and looking for their opportunity to return. We've prepared for that, and we're prepared to go either way in terms of that."
On a preference when it comes to conference championship weekend...
"Yeah, I don't know the formats they're talking about. A lot of this stuff I've heard about this team playing that team, crossing conferences within your conferences. I don't know. I know a lot of that's going to be determined by television revenue, what's best for that championship weekend. Is it a play-in game? Is it like your baseball or softball regionals and you play and you try to get yourself in?
"I don't want to devalue the regular season. I do think there's a lot of value in the regular season. I don't think a team that — I guess Texas last year, right? They're the one seed going into the SEC championship. I mean, there are some scenarios out there where I'm like, okay, they've got a play-in game? I don't know if I agree with that. They can play a championship game or they can play a game, but there should be some value to a regular season in terms of what you perform and what you do.
"You don't see a regular season basketball champion going to the SEC tournament and play and then not make the tournament. It's not going to happen, right? So we have more limited spots than they do. I enjoy the SEC championship. I'm a firm believer in that, but I'm going to support whatever circumference we choose to do in that format."
On where he stands on the transfer portal and what the argument would be to do it after spring instead of the winter...
"Boy, I'm so glad you asked. I didn't get to talk to Elko. I was getting ready to talk to him. I did talk to Clark Lea. I think of this meeting and I think everybody in this room is eight or nine? SEC championship or not? Settlement? The biggest decision that has to be made in college football right now, by far to me, by far, is when is the portal window and is there one or two?
"That's not being decided by us today. A lot of people don't even know how it's getting decided. Who's deciding it? But, I need you to think for a second. There is a strong contingent. We had an AFCA meeting. We had a meeting in which we unanimously decided that there really needed to be one portal window. Whatever that is is what it is, and it needs to happen sometime in January. There is an outcry. There are schools, there's different conferences that feel like it should not fall during the playing season. I would love that. I would love to be able to play the season without it. Is basketball able to do that, or do they deal with the portal during their championship? I'm asking."
Someone points out they do during the NCAA Tournament...
"What do we deal with during the final — let's call it maybe four teams. I don't know if I'm exactly right on that, but roughly we're down to four. We deal with that. OK, that's because of the academic calendar for us. It's where the academic calendar falls, and everybody doesn't have that in congruency. Oh, by the way, we had to deal with that multiple times. It's not fun. It's not fun. It's really hard to be playing in a championship setting and having to deal with that, but when I brought that up as a complaint or a problem, it was told to me there's no crying from the yacht. If you're going to play in these environments, you have to be willing to do that. Now it's we can't do that.
"Then I got told, well, we have a cap year. The cap year runs July 1 to June. If the portal is in January, we can't manage our cap. We can't do our cap. Well, that's an accounting method you've got to take into account. Some schools are trying to manage that and prepare for that. Why can't you just change when the cap year is? Because the settlement is going to determine the cap year, and it's going to be based on all the other sports within our sports programs, which is July 1 to the end of June.
"So I'm a big believer in what Coach Elko said, and I want to develop my team. I think it's really important in football to have your team, your team, at whatever date in January — whatever we decide that is — and then you work those guys out, you train those guys, you lift, you prepare, you do meetings. You do all this preparation, and then that's your team, right? Like, that's your team. And I'm great with the money they make. I'm great with them being able to go on the portal. And if you ask kids when they would like to be able to go on the portal, they're going to say in January so they can go get started where? At their new place.
"But there's a large contingency that's growing now trying to push an April portal, maybe May that want to practice in June and have some practices in June. I want you all to think about June for us. We have 10 days of high school camp in June. We believe in using those. Across the Southeast, we use ten days. Some schools use 10; some don't use any. We also have official visits every weekend, so now we're going to practice our team in that same window? Something's going to suffer."Needless to say, I'm a proponent for a January, wherever it fits, window. There's people saying, 'Well, we can't get our kids in academically. Well, they're getting mid-year high school players in, in that same academic window. It's happening everywhere. I'm a big believer in that, and I think that's the decision that has to be made, at least from a standpoint of SEC and bigger picture of the country. Where is the portal window, and is there two or is there one?"
On having a general manager and if a player has ever asked about it...
"No, nobody asked me who the general manager is. We introduce everybody to everybody in the organization, and we have people that fill that role. It may be three, four people, including myself, but we're very clear in the roles of our staff members and what they do. They learn that throughout the recruiting process, and we utilize those. Is that the only part you asked?"
Just about how you structure it. Why did you choose not to have that title?...
"We do have that. I mean, we do have that. We have people that do that. What does a general manager do, in your mind? I think it varies from organization to organization. I agree. So we have people that do various things instead of pinpointing the general manager, because I think if I ask every coach what their general manager does, they all do something different. So, I mean, I can't figure out what you define it as, because when you ask me what is a general manager, I want to know what you think it does, because in the NFL they do different than what they do at all."
On how he navigated a hectic December...
"A big staff. I mean, having a large staff. You can manage it, but we're not here to complain about that. That's become the norm. Every time I come in here, we talk about December is absolutely crazy. Now, let's call it January, because hypothetically the portal opened in December. We're leaning towards that thing being in January and a little more stability in December in terms of let's sign our high school recruits first, then let's figure out in January where the semester break ends, who's staying and who's going. So we compartmentalize. Let's deal with this issue now. Let's deal with this issue now. But we're talking about taking this issue this January and moving it out all the way to April. You think tampering is a problem? Put that portal in April and see what teams do in January, February, and March. Just think about it now, because we're getting ready to make a big decision, and a lot of people believe, well, the kids won't be able to leave if we put it in April. They'll have to stay the next semester. Oh, no. They'll be on your campus getting tampered with, collecting 33% of your cap before they leave with it. I'm not for that."
Who makes the decision on when the transfer portal takes place...
"I think it would be a great question to ask some people, but my opinion is the House Implementation Committee, which comes from the settlement, appointed eight ADs, two from each power of four conference, who will hear the conference's perspective, and ultimately those eight ADs which are appointed and they're kind of coming off of the settlement will have to make a lot of implementation decisions that are not part of the settlement, the nuggets, let's call it. Here's the settlement, and the nuggets are going to come from these eight ADs, and that's very critical in my mind. It's not really talked about. Nobody's talking about the portal date. They just don't think it's a big deal. Is it two? Is it one? When is it?"
On the quarterback battle...
"Yeah, I'm excited about both those guys. They've both played really well. They've both done a great job, and they're both working their tails off. They're Georgia football players that love Georgia."
