Georgia Football: Is Kirby Smart the new SEC coach killer?
Kirby has changed the landscape:
One thing is for sure, the SEC looks very different now than it did a few years ago. Since the day that Nick Saban arrived in Alabama, the rest of the SEC has been playing catchup. His dominance has led to coaching turnover at every other school in the conference.
LSU let go of a coach that won them a national championship, so did Auburn. Georgia wasn’t immune and fired Mark Richt, a beloved figure who averaged 10 wins a season at the school and was the 2nd best coach in the program’s history.
It’s still early days for Georgia and Kirby, but a pattern is emerging. Whether it’s on the field or the recruiting trail, Smart and UGA are on fire. They’re beating out other schools for the players they want. Then they’re going out and giving them a beatdown on the field. That’s exactly the kind of dominance we’ve seen from Alabama over the last decade. I’m not saying that Kirby is the next Saban. But his success can’t be ignored. It certainly can’t be overlooked by programs that are traditional rivals who are struggling.
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If teams like Florida and Tennessee don’t bring in better coaches and UGA builds a reputation for success, it’s going to be a lot harder for them to catch up. Kirby is forcing those teams to make early moves to try and stop that from happening. Based off how Georgia is playing right now though, there’s a chance that they could be too late.