The NCAA just made life more difficult for Kirby Smart. To be fair the new rule they passed on Wednesday impacts every school the exact same way, but the punishment for breaking this rule is as severe as it gets.
The NCAA's new rule will punish programs that are found to have illegally signed players out of the Transfer Portal. Essentially this rule will punish schools who sign players who have not officially entered themselves into the portal first.
This seems like a pretty simple rule to follow, but tampering (recruiting players who aren't in the portal) is running rampant in college athletics. This rule is an attempt to stop tampering which everyone should agree is a good thing.
Kirby Smart can't afford to break this rule
Every Georgia fan should hope that Kirby Smart and his staff follow every rule. The best part about winning the two National Championships under Smart was that he did it the right way, so it goes without saying that Smart needs to ensure they follow this rule like every other rule. But this one is the most important to follow because of the harsh punishments if they do not.
If any school is found to have broken this rule, their head coach will be suspended for half of the season. The team will also be fined 20 percent of their annual operating budget. So not only will Georgia have to pay a hefty fine, but Smart won't be allowed to coach, recruit or do anything football related for half of the season.
Winning a championship is hard enough, and having to face any type of suspension makes that even more challenging. But facing these consequences would quite literally make it impossible to win a national title.
There is a lot of speculation surrounding how the NCAA will be able to enforce this rule, but it would be wise for Smart to make sure they never break this rule regardless of how weak the NCAA looks.