There are a lot of reasons why Kirby Smart has been so successful at Georgia. Some are more obvious than others, and some haven't received the attention they probably deserve. Smart's coaching staff is one of those reasons.
Everyone knows that Smart has had great assistants around him that have helped him win championships, but the one key feature of them is that they typically feature a couple coaches with experience as a head coach.
That experience has worked wonders for Georgia as former head coaches were their offensive and defensive coordinators during their two national title winning seasons. Naturally other teams have recognized this and are now copying that strategy.
Steve Sarkisian and Texas are the latest program to mimic this strategy, but their attempt to do so may have blown up in their face.
The three current and former SEC head coaches on Texas’s staff are a combined 1-16 against Kirby Smart https://t.co/fdnm8kdeV7
— Graham Coffey (@GrahamCoffeyDC) March 2, 2026
Steve Sarkisian's attempt to mimic Kirby Smart blew up in his face
Sarkisian now has two former head coaches on his staff at Texas. This includes Will Muschamp which he just hired away from Georgia and Mark Stoops who is a long time head coach at Kentucky. This seems like a smart strategy based on how Smart has run his program, but these hires quickly blew up in Sarkisian's face.
Sarkisian, Muschamp and Stoops all have one thing in common, they struggle beating Smart and Georgia. In fact, these three combined have a 1-16 record against Smart. That is about as bad as it can get.
Sarkisian and Teas are 0-3 against Georgia since joining the SEC. The Longhorns obviously will do anything they can to get over the hump and finally beat Georgia, and that apparently includes copying a key Smart strategy. Their attempt to do so however doesn't look like it will work out so this ultimately could lead to even more losses in the coming years.