Retention "Key to Sustaining Success" For Georgia

At SEC Media Days on Tuesday, Kirby Smart explained the retention of staff has been the secret to Georgia's sustained success.

After winning back-to-back College Football Playoff national championships, Georgia enter the 2023 season as the favorite to win yet another title. While there are certainly a number of factors that have contributed to the Bulldogs' unprecedented run of success in the College Football Playoff, Georgia Head Coach Kirby Smart shared his thoughts on the secret behind Georgia's sustained excellence in his opening statement before the assembled media at SEC Media Days in Nashville, Tennessee on Tuesday. 

Smart made it clear that the foundation of his program's success lies in his ability to keep valuable people within the program on staff.

"Retention for us is the key to sustaining success," Smart said. "We can’t do that without a supportive administration and we sure as hell can’t do that without a great culture of people wanting to be part of our program and pouring into our kids."

According to Smart, Georgia has been extremely successful in its efforts to retain key members of its coaching and support staff.

"“Every full-time coach on this year’s staff was on last year’s staff," Smart said. "Tell me the last time that a national championship team can say that. The same strength and conditioning coach, Scott Sinclair; the same player development coach, Jonas Jennings; and the same athletic trainer Ron Courson have been at our place for eight consecutive years, the entire time I’ve been there. We have 26 UGA grads on our staff."

Georgia Strength and Conditioning Coach Scott Sinclair has been with the program all eight years of the Kirby Smart tenure

Every coach around the country endeavors to maintain cohesion within their coaching and support staffs, but it often proves to be an elusive goal. Smart explained that his success in retaining key members of his staff can be traced to the culture that he actively works to breed within the program. 

“Making sure people enjoy their work environment. I want to come to work each day and a lot of the motivation to come to work and enjoy it is that you enjoy your time with your family," Smart explained. So I’m always trying to find an innovative way and I’ve had people outsource this like come in and tell me how we can use our time more efficiently and therefore our coaches get to be with their families and enjoy their families so that when they are here they are more passionate about their work and they want to stay"

Smart recognizes the overwhelming demands of the college coaching profession, and, as such, is very intentional about creating an environment in Athens that people enjoy being a part of.

"The college coaching calendar is one of the toughest things out there. Just go ask an NFL coach they’ll tell you, they’ll laugh and say ‘its crazy what you guys do,’ well I want to make it enjoyable for our coaches so they feel good and they want to stay and they can bring their family to every event that we have and they can let their kids run around and enjoy it. That’s important to me because I want my kids around. So the retention part is letting them do their job and making their job more enjoyable."

While Georgia's highly successful recruiting efforts consistently make it one of the most talented teams in the country, it is more than just talent on the field that has helped separate Georgia from the rest of the college football world. Matching the Bulldogs' elite talent with a strong sense of cohesion has been the secret sauce that has has transformed Georgia into the standard in college football.