CBS Sports calls Kirby Smart replaceable at Georgia

A good chunk of college football fans and media members believe Kirby Smart is the best active head coach in college football. There are some people though who would put other coaches in front of him, but there might only be one reporter who thinks Smart is replaceable.

CBS Sports’ Bud Elliot is that individual, and he recently staked his claim that he is replaceable at Georgia.

NIL is the one thing Kirby Smart is challenged on

No one can deny the amount of success Kirby Smart has found at Georgia. Not even Elliot is saying that Smart isn't a successful head coach as he believes he already is a hall of famer. Elliot however thinks Smart is replaceable in today's college football landscape.

His argument is centered around NIL and the lack of money Georgia spends compared to the other top programs in the country. Last month The Athletic released their estimate for each Power Four program's roster value, and Georgia came in at No. 19. Elliot believes a different coach could come in and spend more money than that and find similar success at Georgia as Smart.

That is what we call a baseless claim. Maybe another coach could come in and spend more money than Smart is and recruit more top end recruits, but that doesn't guarantee success. At some point people like Elliot need to realize that spending the most money doesn't result in wins on the field. So if that is the only reason why Elliot thinks Smart is replaceable then he should probably look more closely at the data and what Smart has been able to accomplish since NIL became legal.

The data shared from The Athletic shows that Georgia is ranked higher in the AP Poll than 17 of the 18 teams who have spent more than them. Then there are teams like Oregon who spent the second most money who lost to Oklahoma State already this season who only had six teams spend less than them.

Spending more money can lead to more wins, but Kirby Smart is able to make up for the difference and still win at the highest level because of how great of a coach and talent evaluator he is.

No program can match Georgia’s success since NIL became legal

NIL first became legal in 2021. Immediately after that Georgia won their first national championship under Kirby Smart. Then just one year later they went back-to-back and won another national title.

Since then three Big Ten teams have won the rest of the championships during this time frame, but Georgia has racked up two more conference titles to go with their SEC crown they also won in 2022. So for those keeping track at home that is three SEC championships and two national titles in the NIL era. Only Michigan is even close to Georgia as they won the Big Ten three times with one national title, but Georgia has won more than anyone else since NIL became legal.

Elliot argues that NIL didn't reach it's current state until 2023. That is accurate to a certain extent, but it isn't fair to just eliminate the first two years of NIL just to try and make his point about Smart more valid. Smart however has kept winning at Georgia even since 2023. Sure he hasn't won another national title, but that's hard to do. Georgia however has been in contention every year heading into conference championship weekend since their last national title, so Kirby Smart has his program where they need to be come December to have a chance to win it all.

This year Georgia also has a chance to win it all. There is still a lot of football to play but they are 4-0, the No. 2 team in the latest AP Poll and have the No. 1 scoring offense in the country. Maybe there's a coach out there who could replace Smart and still win at Georgia, but would anyone in Athens want to take that chance? Not at all, and that's how you know he isn't replaceable.

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