Georgia football: Kirby Smart beats Dan Mullen… Again
Georgia football fans have gotten pretty used to Kirby Smart having his way with the Florida program. With a new QB commitment, that trend continues.
It looks like once again, Kirby Smart has eaten Dan Mullens lunch. It’s becoming a bit of a trend for the Georgia football head coach and if you’re a Dawg fan, you have to love the shoe being on the other foot. For what felt like forever, Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer had UGA’s number. Even Will Muschamp and Jim McElwain managed to mess up several Mark Richt seasons and good lord was it infuriating. After a 10 win season, Florida fans are starting to feel really good about their head coach. Many of them think that he’s already made them the best program in the SEC East. There’s just one issue there. Kirby keeps beating him whenever they go up against each other…
Nobody seems to be more hated right now in Gainesville than Kirby Smart. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Not only has Georgia beaten the stuffing out of Florida for 2 straight seasons, but they also continue to beat them on the recruiting trail. Sure, every now and then, the Gators will get a win, such as Kaiir Elam, a very good CB that they should feel good about. But just when they start puffing up their chests, back comes Kirby.
Not content with poaching their CB coach (who kind of might be good), he proceeds to offer the 2020 QB the fanbase had their sights set on. It wouldn’t matter of course they said. Dan Mullen is the greatest QB coach in the SEC. Carson Beck would never leave the state to play for the stupid Georgia Bulldogs who suck and can’t develop players. He was going to be the next great Gators QB when he committed to them this month.
Then Beck took a trip to Athens… and committed to Georgia less than 24 hours later. Whoops. Kirby wins again by the looks of it. Now I know Gator fans are mad about this. I know they are doing their usual scrambling around while looking to find ways to paint Smart in a negative light. Whether it’s the old adage of ‘hes paying everyone’ to the new one of ‘Kirby lies’, it seems like Florida fans do love to find excuses for why Smart beat Mullen on this one.
The truth, however, is very different and it’s not what Gator fans want to hear. There is a reason the Kirby Smart wins on the recruiting trail most of the time he goes up against Dan Mullen. It’s the same reason that Smart’s team beat up Florida with ease this past season. Kirby continues to focus on building a culture in Athens where Mullen is just trying to win football games and that is paying dividends in a lot of different ways for UGA.
Why would Beck choose Georgia they say? Well, it looks like it has a lot to do with new TE coach Todd Hartley who was very involved in his recruitment when he was at Miami. Upon arriving in Athens, Hartley stood on the table for Beck with OC James Coley and together, they fought to bring him to Athens. That’s the lowest paid and newest assistant coach coming into UGA and bringing in a top ranked QB within 6 weeks of arriving. That doesn’t happen by chance, it’s because that’s what expected in Athens from the head coach. There’s a culture of hard work and success that bleeds through every element of the program.
Is the same true in Gainesville? I’m not saying Mullen is a bad coach by any means, but he’s not on the same level when it comes to program building. Kirby spent months searching for the right DB coach when he hired Charlton Warren. He didn’t overreact to Mel Tucker’s departure and spoke to probably over a dozen guys, waiting until he found one in Warren that he felt fit. What did Mullen do upon the departure? Hire the old Florida DB coach 2 days later.
Some might argue that Kirby’s approach was wrong because he took too much time. They might argue that Mullens was better because it showed that he was decisive, but that shows a lack of understanding of how important every assistant coach is on a college football team. You can only have 10 guys in that room. Every head coach should be thinking 2-3 maybe even 4-5 years down the line with their coaching staff if they aren’t called Nick Saban. Hiring the first guy to pop into your head isn’t the best way to do that.
Next. Projecting Dawgs in the NFL draft post Combine. dark
The results speak for themselves when it comes to the Kirby Smart-Dan Mullen rivalry. Smart continues to win and it’s not because he’s cheating. There continue to be obvious, real evidence that Kirby Smart might actually be really freaking good at this whole head coaching thing. That’s no slight on Dan Mullen or anyone else, but the unfortunate reality for the Florida coach is that Smart and the Georgia program under him really are just getting started.