UGA Prez Adds Comment on Georgia Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart's Contract
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UGA president Jere Morehead said Tuesday that he expects Georgia Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart to be the coach of the Dawgs for a while.
Morehead and Kirby are in what is being described as the final few weeks of a contract negotiation to keep the coach in Athens for some time to come. It is easy to see why, coming off a national title last season, FanDuel considers the Bulldogs one of the favorites to win it all again this year at +350.
“I've known Kirby since he was an undergraduate at the University of Georgia,” Morehead told the ESPN’s Paul Finebaum. “We are not worried about his contract. It will be resolved in the next few weeks. He will be our football coach for many, many, many years to come.”
It is the second time of late that Morehead said that the negotiations would be wrapped up soon. He addressed the topic earlier in May at UGA’s athletic board meetings.
"It will be commensurate with what you would expect compensation to be for a national championship coach, but we're close to finalizing those arrangements,” Morehead said at the time. “I don't think anybody will be surprised.”
"It's just going through the process, taking your time," UGA athletic director Josh Brooks said in a statement. "This is an important contract for [Smart] and for us, so it's just all the little details. It's typical stuff, nothing out of the ordinary. We've worked closely with his agent, and it's been a great process."
What the the final terms of the deal will be is not yet know, of course. Kirby’s current deal was signed after the 2017 season and is worth around $7 million per year. That contract is set to expire after the 2024 season. Just before the Dawgs took out No. 1 Alabama in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in January, Kirby was the tenth-highest paid college football coach in the country.
But LSU’s agreement with former Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, and USC’s agreement with former Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley may have reset the market on coaching contracts. Both agreements have been reported as being over $100 million deals.