Georgia are set to announce the appointment of Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart as the new head coach of the Bulldogs.
Former coach Mark Richt, who was at the helm for 15 seasons, was fired on Sunday, and now, it appears that the former Georgia safety and assistant coach is set to replace him. Smart has not signed a contract with the Bulldogs yet and won’t be able to do so until after the No. 2 Crimson Tide plays No. 18 Florida in Saturday’s SEC championship game in Atlanta.
Georgia had been targeting Smart ever since rumors began circulating that Mark Richt would be shown the door soon. And now, it is expected that they will be announcing his arrival early next week.
Sources say that Georgia also sounded out representatives of at least a couple of other potential candidates, including Houston coach Tom Herman, but it was clear to the other candidates that Smart would be the preferred choice from the start.
Sources say that Herman never spoke with UGA athletics director Greg McGarity about the job. Smart, who is a native of Bainbridge, Georgia, has been linked with Georgia for a long time and played football there before graduating in the late 1990s. And although he has never been a head coach, Smart was also a preferred choice for the South Carolina job.
Perhaps the main reason Georgia made their move so swiftly was because they wanted to move in a strong position for Smart, who was also linked with a move to Auburn back in 2013 before Gus Malzahn was eventually hired.
Sports runs in the family it seems, since Smart’s wife, Mary Beth Lycett, is a former Georgia basketball player and also worked in the school’s athletics department. Moreover, Smart also happens to have his own vacation lake home near the Georgia campus, which means he will be looking forward to signing a long-term contract with the team.
During his 15 years at Georgia, Richt averaged almost 10 wins a season, but the last time he won an SEC championship was in 2005. Moreover, he has never won a championship, which Georgia is desperate to win now. He boasted a 74 percent winning percentage, which is the fifth highest among all active FBS coaches with at least 130 victories, with Urban Meyer, Bob Stoops, Nick Saban, and Gary Patterson leading the way.
It was his failings in the championship that were to become Richt’s undoing, and now, Georgia officials believe that Smart can revive the program and will make all the right moves in a bid to bring the Bulldogs back into the championship equation on a more consistent basis.
Smart won the Broyles Award in 2009 as the country’s best assistant coach, and in 2012, he was named the American Football Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year. Moreover, he has been a mentor to some of the top defenses in the country at Alabama over the last eight years and is well known for recruiting the best, thanks to his ties throughout the South.
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