Any Georgia football fan will tell you that this has been one of Kirby Smart’s best coaching jobs of his career. Sure Georgia’s record isn’t perfect like in previous years, but after factoring in the gauntlet schedule they faced and all the injuries they’ve dealt with, an 11-2 record and SEC Championship is very impressive.
And it’s not just Georgia fans who think Smart has been impressive this season as Smart was just named a finalist for the George Munger Coach of the Year Award.
Coach Smart has been named a finalist for the George Munger Coach of the Year Award.#GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/WceeRd1nMc
— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) December 24, 2024
Can Kirby Smart win this award?
Smart has a lot of fierce competition he is up against for this award. This includes Arizona State's Kenny Dillingham, Boise State's Spencer Danielson, Indiana's Curt Cignetti, Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman, Oregon's Dan Lanning, Penn State's James Franklin and Texas's Steve Sarkisian.
While Smart clearly deserves this award more than some of the other coaches listed, there are still a few that likely have a better chance as of now. Cignetti and Dillingham stand out from Indiana and Arizona State as two coaches who led their teams to the College Football Playoff after being picked to finish at the bottom of their conference. Lanning with Oregon also is a great candidate considering Oregon is the only undefeated team in the country.
Smart has won this award award once before back in 2017. That year was the first season Smart won an SEC Championship at Georgia. He also went on to lead Georgia to a victory over Oklahoma in the College Football Playoff semifinal and an appearance in the National Championship game.
If Smart wins this award, he would become only the third head coach in this award's history (dating back to 1989) to win this award multiple times. Joe Paterno won the award three times at Penn State, which were all later rescinded, and Frank Beamer won the award twice with Virginia Tech in 1999 and 2010.
Can history repeat itself and see Smart win this award for the second time in his career? It may seem a little unlikely, but a couple wins in the CFP this season could be enough to win him this award.