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Kirby Smart coaching strengths may be getting overlooked
System
Posts: 11,318 admin
Kirby Smart coaching strengths may be getting overlooked
Kirby Smart has become one of the top coaches in college football.
Comments
Good, interesting, well written, informative article. Wonder why it's not attributed to any particular writer.
Usually there's a byline.
In any case, great article.
Go, Dawgs!
This kind of assessment is not just about wins and losses, it's about who you brung to the dance. Some people would argue that with Georgia's recruiting classes (a massive strength of Smart), Georgia's staff (a related strength of Smart), and Georgia's facilities (no doubt influenced by Smart), plenty of other coaches would look quite good. Heck, Smart might have better pure "coaches" on his own staff. But the likelihood of those foundational things being in place without Smart is quite low. Make no mistake, he's the right guy at the right time, and we're lucky to have him. But only when his game prep/game time (including halftime) coaching and player development catch up with those other elite factors, will he be clearly #3 and in the same convo with Saban and Swinney. He's still a relatively young guy who is learning... hopefully he'll get there, and the sooner the better. Go Dawgs!
"Against Riley, Day, Kelly and Fisher, the four coaches ranked ahead of Smart, the Georgia coach is 4-0. If Georgia can beat Clemson this year, he moves to 5-0 against the five coaches directly ahead of him in the rankings."
This is basically political correctness run a muck. Throw logic to the side and put your want's in it's place.
There is no way in hell that Riley should be ranked higher than Smart. Not by any fair assessment.
Riley is in a weak conference where he out recruits every other team ( average rankings - since he's been at Oklahoma) It's like getting a free pass into the Play-Offs every year. When he faces other elite competition, the results have not been impressive. Riley is 0-3 in College Football Playoff games.
Ranking Brian Kelly above Smart is only slightly more mind-boggling. Notre Dame has been a complete joke as a Play-off team. Drawing Notre Dame is like getting a free pass into the NCG.
IF not for Saban, CKS would have at least one NC and at least one other Championship game appearance, and perhaps a 2nd NC..
Yes, I do think Kirby got the short end of the stick on this ranking. Smart is the best coach and recruiter Georgia has had in decades. Period. However, I do agree with Fornelli's assessment of Smart and the Dawgs. Close is only good enough in horseshoes. Coming up short time and again and falling short of expectations gets really old. You can't keep recruiting the best players in the nation year after year and not finish the drill. This is probably the main reason for Kirby's low ranking.
The only thing that really matters to me is wins and getting to the playoffs. We can debate strength of coaches and conferences until the cows come home, but we all know how weak the SEC East has been for quite some time. We've made it to the SEC Championship game most years under Kirby, but we've got to get the Bama curse off our backs in order to take the next step. Until we do then the Dawgs won't reach that next level. Riley and Oklahoma may be our biggest obstacle to getting to the playoffs in 2021 (assuming we win the games we're supposed to win) if we fail to win the SEC Championship again.
Aren't you the one who's always talking about intellectual honesty?
You can't call Saban the G.O.A.T. and then be overly critical to Kirby for getting beat by the GOAT. Aren't you the GOAT for a reason? No shame or detriment to lose to the GOAT. Like getting beat by Bear Bryant.
Having said that, that doesn't mean you can't critique his coaching. I have said often that I believe there was a time in the late 3rd quarter and early fourth quarter in the NC game that UGA could have gone for the kill shot when they had BAMA reeling somewhat but instead chose to shorten the game by running over and over again on the 1st two downs and passing only on 3rd down. It almost worked but 3 repeated 3rd down incompletions in a row started swinging Old MO to the BAMA side.
Bama is not invincible...hardly. They have only had (2) undefeated seasons since 2009 (2009 & 2020). And if Ole Miss (twice), Auburn (more than twice), LSU, and Texas A&M can ALL beat Saban over the last 8-10 years then it's beyond time for Kirby to do the same. I agree that Kirby must do better with his in-game coaching as he has made some obvious questionable if not downright bad decisions in games. Hopefully, he has learned from those decisions.
Think about this: If Saban hadn't lost to Auburn in 2017 during the regular season, would the Dawgs have even been able to beat Bama in the SEC Championship game to advance to the playoffs? Was Auburn the only reason we made it to the playoffs that one year? Is Gus Malzahn, the head coach Auburn fired, a better coach that Smart because he has been able to beat Saban more times than any head coach?
In my opinion, being a head coach like Smart who has played Bama multiple times and not been able to beat them is nothing to be proud of...especially with the elite talent he's had in his back pocket.
LOL!
Coaching what???
Come on, Man!?
Bama has been better, talent wise, than UGA the past few years. I don't care what the recruiting sites say. That's what has made the difference. Simply look at the NFL draft the past 5 years. BAMA has had 30 players taken in the 1st two rounds of the Draft. UGA has had 12. That's a startling difference in the volume of the very best players.
Maybe BAMA coaches them up better or maybe they just get the best players period, or a combo of both. Coaching certainly plays a roll. But to say that 2 teams are equal in talent just because they both have the same amount of 4 and 5 stars is an oversimplification IMO. I used to argue other wise, but I have changed my mind.
Brock Vandergriff and Gunner Stockton are not going to have the same careers, even though both may be 5 stars QB's. No two 5-star receivers are going to necessarily pan out equally. All it means is they are of a certain caliber above the norm. But within that particular small subset there is often another division between the real good players and the great ones. BAMA has had more great ones for a fact.
Only article attribution I saw: "Welcome to Good Day, UGA, your one-stop shop for Georgia football news and takes. Check us out every weekday morning for everything you need to know about Georgia football, recruiting, basketball and more."
I don't want to write another treatise on this subject. Kirby was hired for one reason...to win UGA an NC. He is in his sixth season as head coach with promise and has yet to deliver on that hiring mandate. He has the recruits, the facilities, the staff, and the team in 2021 to finally accomplish it. Kirby has notched a top 10 finish every year. He is still on a learning curve as HC in my opinion. Finally, he has the staff to move out of the RBU rut with the addition of a serious passing game in JT Daniels and excellent receivers. Long over due in my opinion. Portal provided some buttress in corner and defensive backs....at least I believe they will fill those slots. Possibly more portal gems in the near future. UGA is gelling. Fairly new coaches, players, facilities..all confluencing in a mighty river this season in my humble opinion to again reach for that elusive prize every elite team is after... the NC. Posture all we want....UGA is looking very good this season....to finally lift that trophy overhead in victory.
I'm not doubting you about Saban being a better coach, recruiter, and developer of talent than Kirby. Yes, that goes without saying. Kirby is still learning. And honestly, no college football head coach is as good as Saban, and I would bet he is the best that's ever been. Talent-wise, we stack up well against Bama - definitely not quite as good - but as good or better than most of the other teams that end up in the playoffs.
None of those things mean we shouldn't be able to beat Bama...just like many other teams that are not near as good as the Dawgs have managed to do. Kirby will have his day(s) against Bama...hopefully in the 2021 SEC Championship game.
Seems a little low, eh?
Then do not lose at home to a Will Muschamp coached team who starts his second string QB, then finishes it off with his third string QB and has a total team that had 2 players go to the NFL drafts first 5 rounds and whose draft class rankings were 20+ spots behind Coach Smart’s!
These site writers keep mentioning Saban, Saban, Saban...well, it’s not just “Saban”.
It is also Muschamp, Mullens, Malzahn, Orgeron, etc etc...
Stop glossing over losses against sorry Carolina teams and dealing with the reality of some u-g-l-y losses in 2019 and 2016 would be a good start...
Interesting to bring up the SC loss. In that game Javon Kinlaw disrupted the run game and made Jake's life miserable, he threw 3 interceptions by Jaycee Horn(one was a pic 6), and I believe our otherwise reliable FG kicker missed a chip in.
The interesting thing is that both Kinlaw and Horn ended up being 1st round draft picks. Horn was from Alpharetta and according to what I read didn't get much love from UGA coming out of HS. That's the importance of having 1st round greats. We had a couple on our side of course. But the point being that those guys are the difference makers.
BAMA has had more difference makers in the KIrby years. Not to say they can't be beat(well last year they couldn't ) but this year (don't fool yourself we were never going to win hat game last year) I feel that we will have a comparable amount of difference makers to anyone.
I truly believe that if our main guys can stay healthy we can run the table.