Everything Georgia Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart Said Before the Orange Bowl
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KIRBY SMART: I'd like to thank the Orange Bowl committee and the group that's been with us hosting this Capital One Orange Bowl. They've done a tremendous job, and our players have thoroughly enjoyed the weather and the state, and excited about moving on with this game.
It's been a tremendous honor to represent the University of Georgia. Certainly got so many people down in the Miami area to thank, and just a wonderful host to our team.
We appreciate that.
Our guys are excited. We've got a lot of respect for Coach Harbaugh and his team. They've always played a physical brand of football, and our guys are looking forward to that opportunity to go out and play. It's really what you work all year for is to get this opportunity on this grand stage, and our guys are excited for this opportunity.
Q. I'll direct this question to Kirby. I think back to 2017 and your team was a little bit more of a still-developing -- the program was still developing. I wonder if a season like this where the expectations not just externally but internally are so high and you've had so much success, is it still hard to enjoy it?
KIRBY SMART: It's never hard to enjoy it. If you don't enjoy it, you're in the wrong profession. I enjoy the relationships with the players, block out the outside noise, day-to-day, go into practice, recruiting, being around our guys, that's what I enjoy. I enjoy the smiles on the faces when they make a big play, when they give up a play and they've got to fight through it. The joy is in the relationships with the coaching staff and the organization. It's not in the expectations.
That's part of what comes with being at the University of Georgia, but that's not what I concern myself with. I concern myself with guys having fun, competing at a high level, and when you do those things right, you can coach guys tough, they can have a chance to be successful. We've had a chance to be successful every year.
Certainly happy and honored to be in the College Football Playoff. But I don't look at the other seasons as failures, either. I get the joy out of the relationships with the guys.
Q. Both of you played at schools that you are now coaching in the playoff; given that, what does it mean to you personally to have your school in the semifinals with a chance to win a national title? Also, I know you shared the same birthday last week. Did you get any presents that stood out?
KIRBY SMART: I like that thought, the old doubled up was definitely the case. It's much easier to give one than two. Hey, I'm just going to let this be your Christmas and your birthday gift. I certainly think I got a lot of that.
It makes it easier, I agree with that. I didn't think of it in the way Jim did in terms of not having to count the year. If that's the case I'm probably 40, not 46. That probably helps with -- I do like the fact that it comes at a time in a coach's life that you're usually off. We've traditionally taken off somewhere either the 22nd or 23rd, somewhere around Christmas. Seems like all the years I was at Alabama and other places I've been, you took the bowl time, a couple days right there. For my wife it's been convenient because she's had me around on the birthday.
Not like we did a whole lot. I can't speak to any gifts. I didn't get a whole lot. This tie I'm wearing and that's about it, but not a whole lot I'm asking my kids for right now.
Q. Both you guys are known for the whole -- your power football. Everybody says they're physical. Everybody says they play power football. But we've seen Michigan and Georgia take it to another level in terms of the commitment. I guess I'd ask you, Coach Harbaugh, about that strategy that Michigan has had over the years and the payoff in a day and age when it seems like offensive football and fireworks is the new way to go.
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, to me being physical is part of the sport. If you're not going to be physical you're probably going to struggle. That starts with the line of scrimmage. There comes a point in almost every game where you have to be able to run the ball, whether that's four-minute end of game stuff or that's short yardage. There has to be a commitment to moving forward and putting your hat on people.
Nowadays it's probably done a lot more on the perimeter in terms of there's hats on hats on the perimeter now more than ever, and every play has multiple plays to it, and you're playing a defensive line block technique, you're playing it out on the perimeter. You're blocking somebody at receiver more now than ever because there's a perimeter screen attached to every play. I think that's made the premium on being physical more. Certainly I understand the game is played outside the box more than ever, but at the end of the day when it gets cold or it gets the end of the year, wherever you're playing, you'd better be able to run the ball.
Q. Kirby, Coach Lanning the other day alluded to him being the one calling the plays tomorrow night. Had you talked with him about going through that experience of having to balance both the job that you have right now and also the job that you have in the future?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, we spoke. We spoke when he took the Oregon job and spoke about it at length. It was quite some time now, quite some time ago now. That's not a major concern for me. It's something that I did as a coach and many coaches have done. We talked about it.
There's not a 24/7 continuum on being just the coordinator. There's guys that have other things on their mind, and he delegates his time. I trust Dan. He's done a tremendous job here. Number one, he's a great recruiter. He's loyal to Georgia, he's loyal to these players that he recruited. He knows for his sake and Oregon's program's sake he wants to play well. He's as invested in this process as everybody is.
That's not a major concern for me having him call the defense being the head coach at Oregon. I've seen it done many times and very confident that he's giving us every effort he has. He's got a great staff with him, along with Coach Schumann and Coach Muschamp and myself all have eyes over there, so it's not like he's alone, and he hasn't been alone all year.
KIRBY SMART: James has been a tremendous asset to our program. First of all, James is like a South Florida kid that's really tough that loves the game of football. I mean, he wants to go out and play tackle every day. That's just who James is. He's like, let's go hit today, let's go play tackle football, Coach. He just grew up down here. He loves the game. Wants to play well at home. His brother played in this game, Dalvin, and it means a lot to him to get to play down here.
He's been a great leader for us because he speaks, people listen. He doesn't speak very often, but when he gets up in front of the team, people know it comes from the heart, and the way he practices and the way he plays, they respect him. Sometimes less is more, and with James, that certainly is the case.
Q. Just want to see what was the plan today; is it just a light walk-through, picture day, meetings tonight, pretty much off the grid? Do you think there's too much downtime, kind of like let's get after this three days ago kind of thing?
KIRBY SMART: We've got a routine we go through, and we'll keep that routine the same, basically as if we're going to play a road game today, change over some things mentally, get ourselves in a place of we haven't been here for four or five days and put yourself in a mental position of just arriving for a road game to keep that routine the same. We've got a walk-through that we do on Fridays before games, so we'll simulate that same setup and have our meetings and meals throughout the day and do it just like we would a road game.
Q. Coach Smart, I know you've talked several times about saying it's unrealistic to say that guys are going to jump into playing time spots that are younger over just bowl practices, and I'm not saying that, but have there been any guys that have impressed you in general, maybe the younger guys, through the bowl practices?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, we've had some really quality -- especially early on, getting after it and letting guys scrimmage and go play. So many of these young guys are coming off COVID high school careers where they got shortened seasons, they didn't get spring practices, they were unable to have a spring here. So there's been some guys that have done some good things.
I thought that Micah Morris has really stepped up and played well on the offensive line, both guard and tackle, and Dylan Fairchild has played well, really physical. Both those guys are going to be high-quality, really good football players. Seen a lot of promise out of Smael and Pop at linebackers. Those are guys that we're counting on for the future, and they've gotten a lot better, and then the young DBs got a lot of reps in the last two weeks. They've gotten a lot of work all year, mostly as twos, but they've gotten a lot of work here in the last couple weeks of scrimmage and did some things.
There's been a good group of guys that have gotten quality work. A couple of our walk-ons from last year have made plays and done things that are going to help us. We go back, go to the core fundamentals and go back through special teams and try to teach and develop these guys, because so many of them, they want to play at the next level and part of the special teams aspect is big, and try to go back and really compete and have fun, and those guys have done a great job of that.
Q. You're both obviously perfectionists that demand a certain level. Are you able to take it in yourselves and really relish in what you've accomplished? Secondly, do you think college football is ready for a CEO or a czar or someone to help be more unified in decision making, et cetera?
KIRBY SMART: Same way for us. It's an awesome opportunity. Been able to be a part of a lot of big games like this on the CFP stage and then back in the BCS stage.
Just watching the guys play, it's memories for a lifetime as a coach. You hope to be back. As a coach you've been here before, but it's the players that it's really about. It's about these guys enjoying it and going out and competing and making memories of a lifetime and just thankful for the opportunity that college football gives us.
As far as a central person, I think that's great in theory. Maybe it's not as simple as that for the world of college football to have somebody because you're representing a lot of interests from all across different conferences. But I think in theory it would certainly be beneficial.
Q. I feel like there's a lot of comparisons made amongst fans, the media, that you guys share some similarities, personality-wise, program-wise. Do you see a little bit of yourself reflected in each other and in each other's programs? What would be some of the main differences you might notice, as well?
KIRBY SMART: I think that's hard to answer because I don't know if I know Jim well enough for that. I have seen him throughout the years compete and go to camps and work out with kids. I remember at Alabama when he played a little football down in Prattville, took his shirt off. I could never do that. He can get away with that a lot better than I can, so I have to keep my shirt on. But he has a lot of energy, and I know the recruiting events I've been to and the camps, he certainly coaches with a passion and style that I certainly admire and respect.
Q. When you come into a season like this with a little different dynamic, is the ride to get to the top sometimes a little more -- I don't know if enjoyable is the right word, or is there some different meaning in the ride to get to the top as opposed to when you have already reached the top? Is there a different dynamic to a season when you feel like you're sort of building to something as opposed to you've already accomplished it?
KIRBY SMART: Yeah, I've enjoyed the ride. I enjoy the ride every year. I feel like at Michigan and Georgia, you're never not the target. If you go through the year and say, well, we're ascending this year and we're climbing and this and that, look, it doesn't matter who we play, both teams, we have a lot of rivals. We're very unique in that there's -- everybody is a rival in your conference when you go to play, and you're one of the top programs in the country, premier programs in the country, you get everybody's best shot. It's not about their shot, it's really about your shot.
My job is to make sure we give our best shot to everybody we play. I'm not interested in the climb and the rise. What I'm interested in is being at our best when our best is required, and that's ultimately what we're trying to do every single game, how do we get it better. The process and the ride that you go through along the way, the bumps and the bruises, the injuries, the players in, the players out, all those pains are part of the ride and part of the process that you try to enjoy.
Q. Kirby, you've obviously had to come back from losses as every coach has. What's the biggest thing you've learned in bringing a team back from a loss, whether it's through trial and error or maybe something you've observed from a coach that you worked for?
KIRBY SMART: Biggest thing is be technical about the process. Nobody wanted to win that game more than those kids and the coaches, the amount of time invested, the amount of work and sweat invested into it. Certainly the desires and the want-to is always there, but be technical on things we can improve. Don't be judgmental, don't say things if you do this and if you do that, you're going to get your butt beat. You're very technical about it; what can we do better from everything. That's the way we approach anytime we have a loss.
As a matter of fact, we approach every win that way, too, and believe it or not, there's a lot of games we won this year that we didn't play well, and people find that hard to believe, but there's so many technical things you can correct, and we try to do that. We don't approach it different with a loss, no matter what kind of loss that is, whether it's close, distant, what the reason is. Be technical about it, really try to improve in the areas that you -- a lot of times that's the most improvement you can make, and they seem to listen a little more after a loss. That's certainly the way we approached this last one.
Q. You're coaching at both your alma maters. How is it different coaching there than other places, if it is, and obviously you both have had high-profile jobs in other places. Clearly there's some advantages. Are there disadvantages, and how is it different?
KIRBY SMART: Biggest difference to me is the tie-in, the amount of your time. I know since arriving in Athens, there's a tremendous amount of support and encouragement, but you being a former player and alumnus, there's an expectation of time of the people you had relationships with, the people you played with. It now transcends when I was here, to before I was here, to when I left. Everybody wants some part of that time. I never felt like at other jobs that I owed that. It was like I could go do my job and really work hard on the football piece because you weren't tied in to so many other commitments. Now, I also was not the head coach. But I think the biggest difference is you feel an emotional tie. You feel a gratitude. You're able to sell that in recruiting. But the hardest part is just the time commitment to so many that have an expectation of it.
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