Kirby Smart is the Consensus No. 1 College Football Head Coach
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ATHENS - The Georgia Bulldogs might not be the No. 1 team in college football heading into the season like it has been the last few, but it does have something- someone that is considered to be the top Dawg among his peers.
Kirby Smart is the consensus best head coach in college football. ESPN and CBS Sports have each released rankings recently, both of which have the Georgia coach at the top of the list. Almost every other site that has made a list in the last year ranking the coaches has Smart listed as first.
Smart was anointed as the top coach when Nick Saban retired, and despite not winning a national championship in either of the previous two seasons, he still holds that title to most. ESPN provided a little more than the other sites about the voting breakdown. Smart received 11/12 first place votes, so it was not unanimous at that outlet, but he is still on top.
Who is joining him near the top? Ohio State’s Ryan Day and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney are consistently ranked in the top-3 with Smart.
Something that the other outlets don’t list as a reason for Smart being in front of them is that he is undefeated against the two. Georgia beat Clemson 10-3 to open the season 2021, where the Dawgs went on its way to winning its first national championship in 40 years. Georgia opened its season a year ago with a 43-3 beatdown of the Tigers. In 2022, Georgia beat the Day-led Buckeyes in a thrilling Peach Bowl/College Football Playoff semifinal matchup.
In nine seasons as Georgia’s head coach, Smart has an overall record of 105-19. That equates to an 84.7% win rate. If Georgia wins at least nine games this coming season, he will sit firmly in the top 10 in winning percentage of college head coaches that coaches at least 10 seasons. He is on a historic track.
Smart and Swinney are the only two active coaches with multiple national titles. In addition, Georgia has won a Sugar Bowl, two Orange Bowls, two Peach Bowls, a Rose Bowl and three SEC Championships under Smart.
Georgia is consistently bringing in top 5 recruiting classes and the top class in some years. Smart has also produced more first round NFL Draft picks than he has losses at Georgia.
It will take Georgia regressing or Swinney and/or Day winning another title for Smart to slide down the rankings.