Has Georgia Bulldogs' coach Kirby Smart Become a "Better" Coach?
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ATHENS - So has Georgia Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart become a better coach?
Only reason I ask is because I managed to listen to the conversion between Kirby and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski that was recorded last week, and after a season that concluded with a national title for the Dawgs it seems like a relevant question.
The two coaches, who have won a national title each since 2015, talked about a slew of things. But what struck me the most were two things - both about Kirby. First, Kirby Smart is young. Second, Kirby (like most of all good coaches) is self reflective - he questions things about himself.
Like Kirby, Krzyzewski starting his head coaching tenure at a young age - 28. He was hired at Duke when was 33. Krzyzewski won his first national title at 44. Kirby won his at 46; he was hired by UGA at 39. Both know what it’s like to coach at their alma maters.
Still, Kirby’s relative youth is noticable. Nick Saban was 52 when he won his first national title in 2003 at LSU. Ed Orgeron was 58; Dabo was 47; Jimbo was 48; Gene Chizik was 49; Les Miles was 54; so was Texas’ Mack Brown in 2005; Pete Carroll was 52 in 2003; Jim Tressel was 50; and Larry Coker was 53.
Of late only Florida’s Urban Meyer and Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops were younger than Kirby when they won their first national titles more a decade ago. Kirby is young relative not just to coaches in college football, but particularly young for those with national titles. Does that say anything?
How long could Kirby, who’s youngest child is under ten, coach at Georgia? There’s no telling, and judging from an answer he gave me the morning after the win over Alabama, he’s not going to stop until he loses his passion.
I asked: “You’ve got three small children. You spend a lot of time at the offices, a lot of time recruiting, et cetera. Does last night make it worth it, all the sacrifices that you've made?”
“I'll be honest with you, if things didn't go well last night, it's still worth it. It's worth it because of the relationships. I know that the title and the rings and the trophy means so much to so many at Georgia, but it's the relationships I do it for.”
“When those stop happening, you lose your passion for it. To see these guys be successful, and the joy I have being around the players... and look every bump we've had made that much better last night. Don't think for a second if we had not been through with Alabama, would it have meant that much? Probably not quite the same.”
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“So the highs and lows, the ebbs and flows of life in general of football are what makes it what it is. But my wife, Mary Beth, who is in the back of the room, and my kids make tremendous sacrifice. I understand that's a huge part of it.”
“Sometimes I wonder: ‘Did this happen? Did I get this job too early? Because I wanted to spend so much of my time with my kids and my family and raise them and be at all my kids' sports. Because that's what my dad was. That's what I've always wanted to do. And I'm in the formative years, and I'm gone a lot. And that hurts me and pains me because I want to bring them in and get them to see everything. But, you know, they're getting at the age where they'll be in high school next year, my twins. And Andrew is nine. And these guys have been so good to them that I feel like they're part of our family. And if they couldn't be up there all the time, we didn't have that kind of working environment, it wouldn't be as pleasurable for me to be the coach at Georgia.”
When Kirby talked about being “too emotional” at times on the sideline, and that he couldn’t work players as hard now as we worked when we played in college… those two things stuck out to me.
Background: I played college basketball in the mid 1990s with a coach that was pretty hardcore. We worked. We ran a ton. Our basketball practices in college were more physical than any football game I ever played in.
Coach was winding down his coaching career in the 2010s when he started having a lot of success again. Great shooters help with great success in basketball, but he told me after one season that he had run us too hard - that it was too much - and therefore hurt our chances to win. He didn’t learn that lesson until later in coaching.
He was right. We went too hard. Frankly, we overworked. Kirby touched on that during the talk with Krzyzewski.
"I will want the culture to be right,” Kirby said. "I think that's one of the most important things there is in your workplace. Especially with today's day and age of athlete. They really look at culture and is this fun? You know, I don't always look at things when I played as was it fun? It was hard, you know?”
Yes. Yes it was.
Kirby continued: “Now we're always, as coaches, trying to find ways to trick people into believing that the hard is fun. The culture that we've been able to create is an interactive feedback and fun place to be. But when it comes time, now kids always say it is meat and potatoes at Georgia. It's not flashy. When your coaches sell that culture and players buy into it, it certainly makes things positive for players when they buy into it.”
Krzyzewski added:
“Your points are so good - to make hard fun. I struggle with that with my team,” he admitted. “Even the guys on my staff, my former players on my staff, would say 'Coach, it needs to be harder. Like you were harder.' I said: 'I am being hard. These guys want to have fun - right?’ That's a great point, Kirby. So how do you do that?”
When my grandfather was fighting in the Pacific in World Ward II he undoubtedly opened canned food with a manual can opener. That was one of the way soldiers ate. I open cans with an electric can opener.
I still get food. That’s the challenge of coaching in the 2020s. How can you the results you want with a different toolset?
That’s the question of the decade in college football.