After six years of demoralizing and bullying teams with his talented squads, Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart is the SEC East King, but he is also one of the top-3 coaches in college football.
While he has four SEC East titles and a 30-5 record against those teams, experts wanted to give other coaches more credit before winning that national title. Smart has also taken his team to the playoffs twice, led the Dawgs to their first national title in 41 years, won an SEC Championship, a Rose Bowl Championship, a Sugar Bowl win, a Peach Bowl win, and the accolades continue.
At times experts suggested Dan Mullen was the better coach, Ryan Day at Ohio State, and countless other arguments about how they weren’t sure Smart had all the tools to be great.
Well, Smart won a national title in his sixth year as a head coach and has consistently made every other SEC East coach look silly.
There is no discussion that Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart is one of the best coaches in the country, if not No.2.
He is the best coach in the East division, and it isn’t even close. There are no other coaches in his division that match his passion for the University of Georgia. He is also a top-3 coach, if not No.2 behind his mentor Nick Saban.
Teams have replaced head coaches multiple times in the last six years after Georgia would beat them. Not directly correlating that Smart is the reason, but Georgia’s program is so far ahead of the rest of the East’s that it comes off that way.
This past season wasn’t the proof Smart needed to earn the crown, but it was enough to silence those experts who refused to give him the credit he deserves.
Here are three more reasons why Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart is one of the best college football coaches and will continue to be as his reign is just getting started.
Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart recruits better than anyone
Since Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart took over, the Dawgs have elevated their recruiting to a standard only Alabama would understand, and maybe Ohio State.
Smart knew to contend for national titles that the recruiting had to improve in all areas. The Dawgs needed to build depth on both lines, add better skill players and keep the best Peach state kids home. He has done that, and some as the Dawgs are almost unstoppable on the recruiting trail.
Since the 2016 recruiting cycle, Georgia has landed the 247Sports No. 6, No.3, No.1, No.2, No.1, No.4 and No.3 classes.
Smart instilled a precedent for recruiting and a requirement from his coaching staff that the Dawgs will land the best fitting players for their team. It isn’t always about stars, but Smart has landed plenty of 5-stars in his six short years, with a lot of them going into the league.
Now he has gotten some depth built up — Smart can instill this culture and relationship tactic on the recruiting trail. That strategy resulted in the 2020 No.1 class ranking a national title and players who proved, no matter their ranking, that they could be playmakers.
Recruiting is what Smart is good at and is just one of the reasons he is one of the best college football coaches in America. His ability to connect with players is unmatched and just one of the reasons kids want to play for the University of Georgia.
Kirby Smart develops his players for success on and off the field
The next thing that head coach Kirby Smart does better than almost every other college football coach in America is developing his players. After the 2021 season, the Dawgs have a chance at seeing 15 players drafted in the 2022 NFL Draft, which would be close to breaking a record.
This slide goes back to the whole, and it doesn’t matter what the recruiting rankings are because, regardless, Smart has shown with the right coaching, they can be stars. Look at Eric Stokes and what he is doing with the Packers — a good chunk of his success came from the development he got in Athens.
Stokes is just one story of development for Smart. He sees something no one else does in these players and turns them into monsters. That ability to help players grow is so important in college football and why many coaches fall off because the development doesn’t continue.
Look at Derion Kendrick coming from Clemson when he felt like no one else wanted him and turning him into a corner who had four interceptions on the season.
Development is something Smart strives to do because he knows not every 5-star and 4-star will come to Georgia. So if he can find a way to get the kids who have what it takes to put in the effort and get them the best coaches to help them along the way, he is doing his job.
Kirby Smart has a record that speaks for itself
Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart and his team have lost eight games since 2018 and only five SEC East games since he took over in 2016.
Through six seasons, Smart has a 66-15 overall record, one SEC Championship, a Rose Bowl victory, a Sugar Bowl, a Peach Bowl, an Orange Bowl, but most importantly, a College Football Championship.
Smart’s win percentage against top-10 teams is downright impressive at .681. He has a 15-7 record against top-10 opponents, as he went 5-1 against them in 2020 as Auburn was a ranked team just not in the top-10.
Not many coaches have this much success through their first six seasons, but Smart has done a great job putting the correct staff together, the right players on the field, and trusting that his culture will bring success.
When Georgia made it to the national title game in 2017 but fell short against Alabama, it was for a reason. The Dawgs weren’t ready to win a title, even though we all thought they were without losing that game. Who knows how everything would have gone from there.
That 2nd and 26 play haunted Smart, his program, and the fanbase until 2021, but it also motivated them because, since that play, it’s been sheer dominance from the Dawgs.
Georgia had one season since then with two losses in the regular season, and that was the 2020 one against Alabama and Florida.
Smart is the perfect guy for the Georgia job and has proven that in six short seasons. He is right behind Saban on the coaching rankings, and the gap they’re creating isn’t shrinking.