![Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart tells the students section to calm down during the fourth quarter of an NCAA football game, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. Georgia held off Florida 24-20. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_6000,h_3375/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/153/01kj6ww40hxw4ygyveev.jpg "Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart tells the students section to calm down during the fourth quarter of an NCAA football game, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. Georgia held off Florida 24-20. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]")
Kirby Smart is known for having great relationships with a lot of opposing coaches. He even has a good enough relationship with many of them that he feels comfortable enough to publicly crack jokes at their expense.
Smart always seems to make jokes about other coaches a few times every year, and this time his target was Miami head coach Mario Cristobal. Cristobal is known for using the Transfer Portal to create his teams, and there have been more than a few accusations that he and Miami have illegally tampered with players from other schools.
Smart knows this, so he took a shot at Cristobal and started a war that he may end up regretting.
“Mario’s right behind him (Ellis Robinson) and if it had been up to him, he would have paid a lot more NIL money because it came down to us, too,” Smart said via dawgnation.com. “So I don’t like you being real close to Mario right now.”
Smart however didn’t stop there.
“You gotta be careful around Mario. He’ll take your players if you know what I mean.”
“You gotta be careful around Mario. He’ll take your players if you know what I mean.”
— Connor Riley (@Kconnorriley) February 24, 2026
Here’s what Kirby Smart had to say about Mario Cristobal which led to Cristobal’s well done response.
Worth noting Smart and Cristobal worked together at Alabama https://t.co/bsEUrMe5pc pic.twitter.com/vA9pwAM91U
Kirby Smart, Mario Cristobal don't hold back
Smart and Cristobal were at an award ceremony together on Monday night. This ceremony was to crown the top freshman defender in college football, and that award went to Georgia defensive back Ellis Robinson. So Smart jokingly said that Cristobal needs to stay away from him so he doesn't try to steal him.
Smart was obviously joking, but he opened the door for Cristobal to fire back with jokes of his own. And he took full advantage of that opportunity by saying Carson Beck benefitted from better coaching at Miami this past year than he ever had at Georgia.
Smart and Cristobal both coached at Alabama under Nick Saban at the same time, so these two are very good friends. So none of these jokes were meant to be personal as both coaches have a lot of respect for each other. But Miami and Georgia have become big rivals on the recruiting trail, and this war of words is only going to increase the tension that's been building between the two programs.