Georgia Football: Kirby Smart - Will Muschamp, the tale of two coaches

Kirby Smart and Will Muschamp have crossed paths constantly throughout their careers, and the tale of these two coaches is still being written.

Kirby Smart and Will Muschamp know each other well. They share the same alma mater in the University of Georgia. Both played safety for the Georgia Bulldogs, and have eerily similar coaching resumes

Muschamp was at UGA from 1991-1994 while Smart came after in 1995. Neither made it into the NFL and became assistants almost immediately after their college playing careers ended. Muschamp at Auburn in 1995 and Smart at UGA in 1999.

Their paths wouldn’t cross again until the year 2000. Muschamp was the Defensive Coordinator at Valdosta State University and found himself in need of a defensive backs coach. He gave a young Kirby Smart a chance and in 2001 Kirby found himself as DC for VSU when Saban hired Muschamp as part of his initial LSU staff.

One thing's for certain about both of these coaches, they climbed the ranks of coaching extremely quickly. Smart was a graduate assistant at the end of the 2003 season at Florida State, within 4 years he was the defensive coordinator for Alabama. Muschamp was a defensive coordinator at a D2 school in 2000, and within 5 years was an assistant head coach in the NFL for the famous Dolphin's staff Saban put together. (Take the time to look at that staff, I think you'll recognize some names) 

Smart and Muschamp would be reunited again at LSU when Saban hired Kirby to coach his secondary, Muschamp was in his third year at LSU as DC. Both would eventually follow Saban to Miami for a brief NFL stint and then Kirby went Tuscaloosa where he would serve Saban as the DC for Alabama until his hiring at UGA at the end of the 2015 season. Muschamp in the meantime bounced around between Auburn, Texas, and Florida. The latter being his first head coaching gig.

Georgia HC, Kirby Smart & South Carolina HC, Will Muschamp

That's where the similarities between these two coaches come to an abrupt halt. While Muschamp has been a head coach longer and has compiled a 52-41 record, Kirby, on his way to a 37-10 record as a head coach, has already become the more successful of the two with 2 SEC East championships, 1 SEC title, a CFP appearance and win, and of course a National Championship appearance.

Will Muschamp is 1-7 against his alma mater, Georgia. His lone win coming in his final year as Florida head coach in 2014. Since arriving at South Carolina in 2016, he's yet to beat Kirby. And Saturday at noon when the Bulldogs and the Gamecocks square off at Dooley Field in Sanford Stadium, Smart and Muschamp will be all business. 

But before and after the game, the two will be friends sharing genuine respect and admiration for each other. Leading up to the game they will publicly express praise for the job each other is doing at their respective program, as is the case for most coaches. But in this case, the respect and praise is real. 

Here's Muschamp speaking about their relationship a bit: