Written by Daniel Taylor at Total Sports Live
The hunt for Mark Richt’s successor at the University of Georgia is finally over. UGA was the premier job on the table after Louisiana State University decided to keep Les Miles on staff, and even if they had fired Miles it would have been a premier job. Spots at UGA, LSU, and the other Southeastern Conference schools are rarely open. So when Kirby Smart finally got his offer to leave the University of Alabama and return home to UGA (he played at Georgia from 1995-98), he jumped on it.
There has been speculation that Smart would wait out Nick Saban’s retirement at Alabama; he was reportedly the coach in waiting. However, that option was one Smart finally bypassed the wait-it-out approach and jumped on his opportunity to become a head coach finally. After all, Saban could remain at ‘Bama for quite a few years still.
The deal isn’t official yet and could still fall through in the eleventh hour I suppose. However, it seems all but official. Smart will remain the defensive coordinator at Alabama for one final game, the SEC Championship this weekend. It’ll likely be announced Sunday or Monday that Smart is officially the new head ball coach between the hedges in Athens, Georgia.
So what does this all mean?
First, Smart inherits a great gig. Mark Richt averaged nearly 10-wins per season throughout his 15-year career with Georgia. The Dawgs are routinely a top school when it comes to recruiting and routinely produce NFL talent. However, Richt was never able to shine in the big moments. He won the SEC East five times, including back-to-back wins in 2002 and 2003, and 2011 and 2012.
In Richt’s second year, 2002, the team went 13-1 with its lone loss to Florida (another problem we will address) and beat the University of Arkansas 30-3 in the SEC Championship. Georgia missed out on the BCS title game simply because Ohio State University and the University of Miami were both undefeated.
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