With his mentor (and nemesis) retired, Georgia's coach is the sport's top dog, whether he likes it or not.
last things Kirby Smart said to Nick Saban last December at midfield of Mercedes-Benz Stadium following the SEC championship game proved to be prophetic.and Smart -- again -- and five weeks later, Saban's legendary coaching career would come to an end when he announced his retirement after 17 seasons and six national championships in Tuscaloosa. Before leading Georgia on a remarkable run of its own, Smart was part of four of those national titles as Saban's defensive coordinator.
Who could blame Smart if he were to steal a quick glance across the field during pregame warmups Saturday to make sure Saban isn't standing on the other sideline, still casting a shadow over Smart and the rest of the sport? "We've been really good the last few years and had a lot of success and I'm certainly thankful for that. But in no way, shape or form does that put me on the pedestal or the statue that he was on," Smart said."I think there's a group of people out there leading their programs who are really good coaches, and they're lucky to have the programs that they do.
"You see a lot of what made so great in what Kirby's doing at Georgia, the way they recruit, the development of players, the organization, the size, length and physicality of the players. A lot of people who've come through there have tried to copy model. As you've seen, it's a lot easier said than done. It's also the reason very few of us ever beat him, even Kirby.
There were other opportunities, too. Smart was South Carolina's top target to fill its vacancy following the 2015 season after Steve Spurrier resigned midseason and was meeting with representatives from the school the day Richt was fired as Georgia's head coach. Heading into the 2012 season, he was the front-runner at Southern Miss but withdrew his name from consideration. Richt even made a lucrative offer to lure Smart back to Georgia to be his defensive coordinator in 2011.
"I wanted more than relevance. I wanted dominance," Smart said of his mindset when taking the Georgia job."I wanted to be consistent. I wanted to be competing for national championships and be very consistent, and that's the one thing that I'm most proud of, the consistency that we've shown." Matt Stinchcomb, now a television analyst for ESPN, was a two-time All-America offensive tackle at Georgia and played all four seasons with Smart.
"The wind blows pretty hard up there at the top," Stinchcomb said."I don't see toppling, but when you grow the beast the way Kirby has, it only gets harder." "The thing about Kirby is he's won so much so fast," said North Carolina's Mack Brown, who was at Texas eight years before winning a national championship."Coach Switzer said it best. He said that you create a monster, and it's hard to keep that monster fed because he gets hungry."
"There are a lot of positives about this place that some of those other folks didn't have, but I think you get comfortable in your own skin and you make decisions on things you want to do," Smart said."I definitely think I've changed during the time I've been here and it's not as similar to Alabama as it was when I first got here. But even Nick evolved every year I was there.
"Clemson was always the beacon of culture and Alabama the beacon of talent, and we moved to where we were somewhere in the middle ground. It's worked because in this era of NIL and the money being paid, you wouldn't believe how many kids who are really good players take a discount to come to Georgia. But, hey, that's why they're winning because players aren't going there just for the money.
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