Georgia football has been spoiled ever since Kirby Smart became head coach of the program in December of 2015. Ever since he became the head guy, we have experienced countless amazing feats and historic moments at Georgia.
Playoff wins, SEC Championships and two national championships obviously stand out as the highlights of his career thus far. And while a win at No. 1 Texas on Saturday would certainly be a highlight from his entire tenure, there's another reason why this win would stand out as one of the biggest moments of his Georgia coaching career.
100 Career Wins
That's right, a win against Texas on Saturday would be the 100th of Smart's career. 100 wins is a significant milestone in any coaches career simply because of how difficult and how long it takes to actually get there.
For starters, I think it's fair to say that Georgia has been an elite program almost the entirety of Smart's time at Georgia. Six out of Smart's eight completed seasons at Georgia have resulted in at least 11 wins. And the two that did not Georgia still won eight games (which is a lot for some programs). So even with all of that success, it still is taking Smart nine seasons just to hit 100 wins.
Most coaches lose their jobs or move on to a new opportunity within nine years, and the ones that stay put for that long don't have nearly as much success as Smart has had. So coaches just don't stay put long enough at their job and don't have the sustained success that Smart has had to be able to reach this achievement.
Obviously Smart will hit this milestone this year even if he loses to Texas on Saturday, likely with his 100th coming the following game against Floida. Now while hitting that milestone against a rival would be fun, I think doing it on the road against the No. 1 team in the country would be the most fitting outcome.
Beating Florida this season is just like any other win, the Gators are not good this year so it really won't be that exciting. But beating the top team in the country when Georgia is an underdog for the first time since 2021? That sounds like the perfect game to hit this milestone to me.
Fun Fact: Smart will become the fourth Georgia head coach to reach 100 wins once he accomplishes this achievement. He will join Vince Dooley (201 wins), Mark Richt (145 wins) and Wally Butts (140 wins) to hit this mark at Georgia.