Kirby Smart has Instilled Consistency into Georgia Football

Georgia football is entering its sixth year with Kirby Smart as their head and one thing he has done an exceptional job at providing them with is consistency.

It was around this time back in 2015 when the University of Georgia announced the hiring of Kirby Smart as the football program’s new head coach. The program had just ended its ties with Mark Richt after 15 years, feeling it was time to hand the keys to a new up-and-coming coach in the industry. Six years into the job, Kirby Smart has done a lot of great things, but there is one specific aspect of the job he has really excelled at. 

Providing consistency. 

One of the biggest reasons that led to the head coaching position at Georgia opening up had to do with the lack of consistency surrounding the program. That is when all eyes turned to Kirby Smart, a coach who had been studying under the greatest coach in college football history for the previous nine years, to rejuvenate the program and establish a new identity for Georgia football. 

It didn't take long for Kirby Smart to establish his expectations of how Georgia football should be perceived. In his first full year as head coach, he landed the 3rd best-recruiting class in the nation and since then Georgia has not been outside of the top five when it comes to recruiting classes. If a coach is looking to instill longevity into a football program, it starts by landing some of the best talent in the nation year in and year out and Coach Smart has continued to do that, even to this day. 

Another major piece of being a successful head coach is building a staff that can assist you in building and developing an elite program. When a team finds as much success as Georgia has under Kirby, it typically leads to coordinators and assistant coaches being plucked from your staff. The key is being able to rebuild your staff to help maintain the success you have had, and Coach Smart has done exactly that. 

Nearly every season that Kirby has been at Georgia he has lost one of his staff members but has also been able to bring in guys to fill the void without missing a beat. Two of the most recent examples are current defensive coordinator, Dan Lanning, who replaced Mel Tucker after 2018, and Todd Monken who replaced James Coley after 2019 to come and call the shots for the offense. Both Lanning and Monken have answered the call in their areas of expertise, and the argument could even be made that both the offense and defense have improved since those hires were made. 

As a result of building a great staff and being one of the best recruiters in the sport, Kirby Smart has been able to deliver consistent national relevancy to Georgia football and its supporters. In just his second year as a head coach, Georgia made a national title game appearance, and since then Georgia has remained in the conversation as a playoff team. While Georgia is making only their second college football playoff appearance in the team's history, they have consistently remained as one of the top teams in the sport. 

While there is still plenty of room for growth for Coach Smart, as there would be for anyone six years into being a head coach, he has climbed up the ranks at a tremendous rate. One of the hardest things to do as a head coach is to build a consistently successful football program, and Kirby Smart has found the ability to do that. 

Although the sustained success that Kirby has brought to the program hasn't turned into a national championship yet, he still has provided them with a seat at the table. Georgia has a shot this year to bring home a national championship, and thanks to the work Coach Smart has put in at Georgia they will continue to be in that position for a long time coming. And that is something to be commemorated for.