Kirby Smart: ‘looking forward’ to next season with Tide
Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart, whom many Georgia fans would love to see in the same job in Athens, made a rare appearance before the media today and said he is “looking forward” to being with the Crimson Tide again next season.
Smart, who like other Alabama assistant coaches is normally kept off-limits to the media by head coach Nick Saban, was made available at a news conference advancing Thursday’s BCS national championship game.
According to this Mobile Press-Register report from the news conference in southern California, Smart did not categorically deny interest in Georgia’s open defensive coordinator position, although that might have been because he wasn’t directly asked about it.
Here is some of what Smart did say at the press conference, according to the Press-Register:
“It’s been great. It’s been great having these players and doing this, and I’m looking forward to it next year. I mean, we’ve got a lot of good players coming back. We’re losing a lot of good ones too, but it’s something that’s special to be around, because these guys bought in and they went through some hard times. And now they’re reaping the benefits, which they deserve.”
On his head-coaching aspirations, he said:
“To be honest with you, I don’t ever think about it or worry about that. I think [longtime Florida State defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews] had a hell of a career. He’s a father figure to me. I worked for him for two years, and if I ended up coaching at Alabama for the next 30 years or however long he was at Florida State, I’d think my career was a pretty big success.
“My lifelong goal was to ultimately be a defensive coordinator, and if I ever got a chance at a head job, that would be great. But that’s not something that I’m going to draw my career and say I was a failure, I didn’t get to be a head coach or whatever. I’d be completely content with that. If a better opportunity presents itself, then obviously that’s something down the road. But young as I am, I’m happy to be where I’m at and happy to be at the University of Alabama.”
Since Georgia’s Dec. 2 firing of Willie Martinez, Smart — a former UGA player (1995-98) and assistant coach (2005) — has been at or near the top of just about every rumored list of defensive coordinators that Mark Richt would or should pursue. And if the Georgia job remains open after Thursday’s national-title game, perhaps that possibility would heat up. But to this point Smart still has given no indication he would leave Alabama for another coordinator’s job.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
356 comments Add your comment
CMR Wins 2009 George Hamilton Cocoa Butter Open!
January 3rd, 2010
9:04 pm
I am really enjoying cuddling and smooching with YOUR $1.4 while here in Florida. I need to get out of ATL more often…
BamaAD
January 3rd, 2010
9:22 pm
Kirby has signed his new deal with Alabama last week. It wont be made public until the 1st week of February.
gss303
January 3rd, 2010
9:22 pm
UGA could buy GT anytime they wanted too. Tech needs all the money they can muster up.
Be thankful you are in the ACC….they were only a few seconds away from the humanitarian again.
AltamahaDawg
January 3rd, 2010
9:23 pm
Gatorguy, real grown men don’t use little teenage girl text acronyms to make thier points in a sports blog.
CMR Wins 2009 George Hamilton Cocoa Butter Open!
January 3rd, 2010
9:32 pm
gss, two things……
1. You would not want to see the respective endowments of Tech and UGA (you would be pretty embarrassed).
2. There is no longer an ACC team in the Humanitarian Bowl (hint: neither Idaho nor Bowling Green are in the ACC)
Zerevon
January 3rd, 2010
9:33 pm
ROOOOOLLLLL TIDEEEE ROOOOOLLLL…!
SWEEEEEET HOME ALABAMA…..!
WHAT IS THE DIFFRENCE BETWEEN ALABAMA AND THE REST OF THE TEAMS IN THE COUNTRY? WE HAVE NICK SABAN THEY DON’T…!
PAUL JOHNSON
January 3rd, 2010
9:34 pm
I’m so thrilled to announce our fans have been working with Gator fans on South Beach filming Brokeback 2: Beach Boy Style. I even have a cameo as the fat guy getting hammered by the Joe Cox!!
CPJ's Sportsbra
January 3rd, 2010
9:35 pm
BamaAD:
“Kirby has signed his new deal with Alabama last week. It wont be made public until the 1st week of February.”
Really? Why would they wait until the 8th and not announce it now to quell the speculation about the situation with Smart? I think putting the rumors to rest now would be a big boost in confidence to a team preparing to play in a NC. Also, assurance of coaching stability for incoming recruits.
Zerevon
January 3rd, 2010
9:37 pm
What makes Alabama so good that no other team even come close?
Nick Saban..!
Roll Tide Roll…Sweet Home ALABAMA..!
Big DAWG
January 3rd, 2010
9:41 pm
$1.4 million: ((((30-24))))!!!! You haven’t been to a major bowl since 1967. That is 41 years! ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha! Remember we run this State ((((30-24)))).
Temwetrel23
January 3rd, 2010
9:42 pm
Zerevon you are so right. I am a Georgia fan and I agree with you. If we had him instead of Mark we probably would be the next NC of collage football..
$1.4 million Shreveport vs. our $14 million BCS Orange bowl
January 3rd, 2010
9:45 pm
I am loving me some hot Miami Men! Iowa Men are hotties.
Dawg Grad
January 3rd, 2010
9:47 pm
I am a dog fan, but this week I am definetly going to pull for IOWA and BAMA! Roll Tide, THE SEC RULES BABY.
Ole Yeller Dawg
January 3rd, 2010
9:47 pm
I don’t want to be negative here but I just don’t see Michael Adams or Damon Evans spending the money that it’s going to take to bring KS to UGA. CWM was the highest paid assistant at UGA and he was only making $327,000…… Kirby is sitting at $369,000 right now…..Bud Foster at $450,000 we almost had him until VT kicked in a million $ annuity at the end of 6 years. That means we balked at $616,667 a year. Does this sound right is the math correct? If you pay that much to one assistant then you will also have to pay your OC about the same amount of money or you will create dissension on your team. Bud Foster has 23 years experience compared to Kirby’s 1 year.
I can see where Richt was headed but I don’t believe that $616,000 is going to pry Kirby away from Bama.
Dawg Grad
January 3rd, 2010
9:51 pm
$1.4 million Shreveport vs. our $14 million BCS Orange bowl did you say your coaches are good at getting boys? Dang Johnson is ugly and a homo.
$1.4 million
January 3rd, 2010
10:23 pm
Hey, Saint Simons (a.k.a. $1.4 million bowl…), you won’t be able to make the game. You are being called in to work next week to work the drive thru. I also don’t see many Tech grads traveling from India and Singapore to make the Orange Bowl.
Ole Yeller Dawg
January 3rd, 2010
10:30 pm
Correction:
Bud Foster makes $402,000 so we actually balked at $568,667 a year…..Chavis makes $450,000
sorry for the error.
jellybeandawg
January 3rd, 2010
10:35 pm
Poster “Kirby Smart’s Coming to Georgia” is still as dumb as ever. First is name is spelled GARNER not GARDNER. You claim to be so smart about UGA football yet you cannot even know how to spell the coaches names. Secondly Garner was NEVER, considered a candidate to begin with so how could Richt publicly eliminate him if he was never even a candidate to begin with.
3rd) The Georgia job is NOT a better opportunity. Its a lateral move at best and there is no amount of money that UGA could or would offer Kirby that Bama couldn’t or wouldn’t match because the UGA athletic department is notoriously cheap when it comes to paying assistant coaches. That started with the miser (Dooley) himself and he taught his apprentice Evans very well.
As far as working with Richt over Saban then that may be the only advantage UGA offers. Kirby has already been a coach on Richt’s staff in 2005 and Richt the genius had him coaching the running backs so Kirby may not consider working for Richt a benefit.
Paul's Johnson
January 3rd, 2010
10:44 pm
There is some buzz that the next UGA def coordinator is indeed coming from Alabama. But it won’t be Smart; it’ll be Sal Sunseri—which would indeed be ironic, since he kicked him some Georgia butt in the ‘82 Sugar Bowl when he anchored Pitt defense.
well-endowed
January 3rd, 2010
10:59 pm
gss303 wrote on January 3rd, 2010 @ 9:22 pm::
“UGA could buy GT anytime they wanted too. Tech needs all the money they can muster up.
Be thankful you are in the ACC….they were only a few seconds away from the humanitarian again.”
to enlighten you … here’s part of an article from a 2008 edition of GA magazine::
“UGA lags far behind other top public institutions. With an endowment of $475.6 million, UGA has roughly one-sixth the financial reserves that UVA enjoys ($2.8 billion). Georgia Tech ($815 million) is considerably stronger, and the difference is particularly glaring when you compare endowment-per-student statistics: Georgia Tech ($51,310) vs. UGA ($14,009).”
The article continues to point out the following::
“There is a direct correlation between academic quality and the size of your endowment. The best public universities have the largest endowments,”
Just Wondering
January 3rd, 2010
11:06 pm
How much money did your mother and dad have to pay for you to get a college education to get a group of these weird fans going on your blog? This is major silly stuff.
GT IS STILL A 4TH RATE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM
January 3rd, 2010
11:16 pm
THOSE JELLOW JOCKITCH WILL REMAIN A HIGH SCHOOL TEAM FOREVER AND EVER. HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA FOREVER AND EVER.
Matt the Brave
January 3rd, 2010
11:18 pm
Hey GatorGuy, can you clear something up for me? What exactly is a Cahmpionship? I’m confused by your Florida-educated spelling.
GT IS STILL A 4TH RATE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM
January 3rd, 2010
11:18 pm
tHOSE JELLOW JOCKITCH LIEKS TO SEE THEIR IMAGE AT THE BOTTOM OF THEIR STREAM ON THOSE WATERELESS URINALS AT THE CALLAWAY GARDENS. JUST A REMINDER OF THEIR PLACE IN THE ORDER OF LIFE IN THE THIS UNIVERSE. HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA FORVER AND EVER.
Matt the Brave
January 3rd, 2010
11:23 pm
Oh, btw St. Simons aka 1.4 mill, look up on Wikipedia (I’m sure you have it bookmarked) and see Clean, Good Old Fashioned Hate. You’ll notice that since 1970, Tech has won exactly 11 times since then. You’ve averaged 3 wins a decade. Maybe you’ll get lucky this year, but if you couldn’t beat a very mediocre team this year, you have no chance next season. Too bad. I’ll make sure to tell all my friends about it since I’m sure all yours are only online and you’ve never met in real life.
Matt the Brave
January 3rd, 2010
11:25 pm
Well-endowed, how can you justify the examples of only two or three schools to make a generalization about endowments. Every academic knows that you must have multiple (i.e.: more than three) sources to prove your research. Does this article show the private donations to the UGA Foundation? Because that money is separate from the endowment of the school. Kennesaw State does the same thing. It’s how you compensate for not having a large endowment. If you can provide more proof other than ‘I told you so’ arguments, please feel free to post them.
The Refreshing Upside of Lowering Your D.C. Expectations « The Athens Avenger
January 3rd, 2010
11:36 pm
[...] 3, 2010 by athensavenger Today’s article from the AJC’s Tim Tucker more or less confirmed what those of us who prefer dreams of the [...]
Kirby Smart's the Guy
January 3rd, 2010
11:40 pm
How many people want to guess we won’tr be hearing from “jellybeandawg” ever again after Ricth announces Smart as his new DC after Jan 7. What a complete tool.
Kirby Smart's Coming to Georgia
January 3rd, 2010
11:44 pm
Grammer kidz-
Knowbody on this blug but ideots kare about seplling.
This is a sports blog, not a grammer class, you eggheag dufus. Of course you never have anything intellgent to say anyways, so no one reads your garbage posts anyhow.
Kirby Smart's Coming to Georgia
January 3rd, 2010
11:55 pm
jellybeandawg-
you arn’t too good at grammar, on your 10:35 post:
1) you wrote:
First is name is spelled GARNER not GARDNER
I think you meant to type HIS after first, because IS , doesn’t work gramatically–”first is name”–huh???? “Is” is spelled “Is”, “Is” is NOT spelled GARNER, “IS” is spelled with an “I” and an “S”, so again, that’s incorrect. Proves you’re a complete idiot and can’t even practice what you preach. Typically Gator behavior.
If you seriously don’t think Smart is coming to Georgia, boy, I see why they call you jellybean, about the size of yo brain.
Kirby Smart Brushes Off UGA Talk « ~5 (Fiverso)
January 4th, 2010
12:01 am
[...] anything said in the week leading up to the National Championship game can be believed, but Kirby claims he’s happy where he is. But really, what else can he [...]
jughead brown
January 4th, 2010
12:09 am
Jellybeandawg-
You wrote:
You claim to be so smart about UGA football yet you cannot even know how to spell the coaches names.
Actually, the post you’re referring to did not mention being smart about UGA football, so your post was untrue.
Bulldog Mike
January 4th, 2010
12:14 am
Jellybeandawg-
You made another critical grammer error.
In your 1st paragraph, you spelled out “first”, then “secondly”. Then you led the 2nd paragraph with “3rd)”.
If a poster’s quality is judged by your own standard of grammar errors, you have failed your own standard.
I see why they call you Jellybean, must be the size of your thoughts.
Denver Dog
January 4th, 2010
12:27 am
Whoever likes to use my moniker, thanks, I think it is a great one to copy. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.
Question 1, why are Techies that claim to be at South Beach, blogging on a UGA blog ? Smell test failiure.
Question 2, Whay are Gators claiming to not be worried about the UF coaching problems, on a UGA blog talking about the UGA defensive coordinator? Last I checked they need one too! Smell test failure.
Question 3, Is this the death of Journalism as we know it?
well-endowed
January 4th, 2010
12:27 am
Matt the Brave … you’re welcome to read the article from a 2008 edition of GA Magazine (see below).
http://www.uga.edu/gm/artman/publish/0605camp.html
It discusses the 1996 private endowment to UGA by Bernie Ramsey, and UGA’s aspirations to reach the higher ranks of major Public Universities in terms of Public AND Private endowments.
I would have searched for at least 2 other similar articles, as you suggest should be done … but UGA is simply not worth the time. HAPPY NEW YEAR … GO JACKETS!!!
George O'Leary
January 4th, 2010
12:32 am
I was successful at Notre Dame. Heck, I did get the job for a day or two. I am a fine coach though that came from Tech. I coach at Central Florida and we are a bigger powerhouse than Georgia Tech. This is an upgrade for me. However, my family did like the free hot dogs that came with their season tickets at Georgia Tech.
Smart to UGA!
January 4th, 2010
12:46 am
Georgia needs to break the bank and offer Smart whatever he wants to get him as the d coordinator, even if it takes $2 mil per year—he’s worth it. Smart’s the best D coach in america and the Dawgs need him bad to make a BCS run next year.
Matt the Brave
January 4th, 2010
2:18 am
Thanks for the link, and all I can say is ‘typical’. Too lazy to actually do the legwork. Classy. Next time, try a little harder to convince me. Oh, and just remember, your team still sucks at football. Try basketball. It’ll make you feel better.
$14 Mil alone from merchandise sales
January 4th, 2010
3:40 am
You got your GT yet? Didn’t think so…GO DAWGS!!!
BIEDDAWGONE
January 4th, 2010
4:19 am
BLOG RECORD
SMART TO UGA? 290 A DECADE OF TECH FOOTBALL 103
maybe more emabarassing than this years loss on the field?
Go Dawgs!!!!!!
BuLLdawg
January 4th, 2010
4:25 am
7-2 Bowl Games Coach Richt Era.
26 Bowl Wins only Southern California, Pennsylvania State and Alabama more.
90-27 Coach Richt Era.
2 SEC Championships, 3 BCS Bowls we Won 2 of.
13 Consecutive Seasons of 8 plus Wins, no other team more in a row.
45 NFL UGA Bulldogs today.
Coach Richt Era starting 2001 :
91-27 LSU
90-27 Florida
90-27 UGA
LSU 1 more Win. Florida 2 NC. LSU 1 NC. Alabama soon 1 NC.
What we really need is some NFL experience somewhere on Coach Richt’s staff.
8-1 State of Georgia CHAMPIONS vs. GA tek after 30-24 at their house.
BuLLdawg
January 4th, 2010
5:24 am
QUOTE by :
The Dude (Andrew Sherwin)
January 4th, 2010 12:46 am
“I must say, after enduring many years of torture from the UoG crowd about bad years and lost games, this year’s Clean Old Fashioned Hate just doesn’t bother me nearly as much as it has in the past. I hope that feeling sticks.”
HA HA HA.
That’s a total laugh.
That is the single funniest GA tek post ever by ANY ONE.
Playing at your own house, ranked at the time in the Top 10 with your Best Football team in 54 years since 1955, you could not beat 8-5 UGA Bulldogs, to absolutely MAKE OUR SEASON, and leave us with a much better win than any of your GA tek wins this season and extend our streak to 8 of the last 9 and Win Number 60 against GA tek for us to have now 13 consecutive seasons of 8 plus wins and 26 Bowl Wins for MORE and a BETTER WINNING PERCENTAGE in Bowl Game than GA tek, leaving us at 90-27 in the Coach Richt Era starting 2001 with this 30-24.
Then, we come in here and read a GA tek fan post that “enduring many years of torture from the UoG crowd about bad years and lost games, this year’s Clean Old Fashioned Hate just doesn’t bother me nearly as much as it has in the past.”
It bothers you less that you are now 1-8 vs. Coach Richt.
It bothers you less that you have now lost 60 times to UGA.
It bothers you less that our worst team in 13 years beat your best team in 54 years.
Ha Ha Ha.
” I hope that feeling sticks,” you say Andrew Sherwin. I can tell you how that will work out. You will look back on 24-30 and say your boys were not tough enough, didn’t want it enough, didn’t care like your coach who all week long for 2 weeks running told us at UGA that the game did not matter.
Then, of course, he too had a change of heart after the game. Hit the UGA fans in the face, he told you GA tek fans (both of you.)
Thanks for making our season. Our best win of the season and better than any win GA tek had. And, to think that we did it by lining up our men against your boys and running the football right up your gut, only to see Paul Johnson SCRAP his high school offense and throw the football on the last 4 plays of the game, all 4 wounded ducks to drop to the ground at Grant Field.
We take special joy in you SCRAPPING YOUR HIGH SCHOOL OFFENSE for the last 4 plays of the game, trying to tell us how Heisman-like Josh Nesbitt is with his 13 TD passes to 11 interceptions in his 38 games played as GA tek’s “quarterback.” Then, you got to play Climpsum Farmers just after 7-6 South Carolina beat them, for the ACC CHUMPionship Game.
Yeah, that didn’t hurt at all.
Should I play you back what every GA tek fan said BEFORE the Game ?
It hurts like Hell, that’s how it feels. You blew it. Thought you were great.
Uh, no. You play in the ACC where you have no competition and for out-of-conference besides JACKSONVILLE STATE, you play the ONLY 2 SEC teams to NOT EVEN BE IN A BOWL GAME. You played six games against teams NOT EVEN IN A BOWL GAME.
LOST 24-30 to UGA Bulldogs for the 8th time in Coach Richt 9 years and LOSS Number 60 overall to UGA Bulldogs.
Yeah, that doesn’t mean anything, whistling into the sunset you go.
BuLLdawg
January 4th, 2010
5:33 am
PAC-10 has LOST 5 Bowl Games, for the most losses by a Conference.
SEC has WON 5 Bowl Games, for the MOST WINS by a Conference & 1 to go.
superDawg
January 4th, 2010
5:46 am
Hey gaturBOY we made urban and teabag cry on national tv also,and we shut the nerds up at home nov.28.All they can do now is lean on some one else and that is the way it is.Urban knows what the future is at uf and it aint looking good.tek we own you always have always will.Last I checked we own uf also.
superDawg
January 4th, 2010
5:49 am
and that is a BullDawg point of pride.
.$1.4 million Shreveport vs. our $14 million BCS Orange bowl
January 4th, 2010
6:07 am
I spent all my time in Miami on your BLOG, I,m not obsessed. I am with my mom>
60-39-5 30-24
January 4th, 2010
6:15 am
and our last damn nerve
Valdosta Native
January 4th, 2010
6:43 am
Have any of you recognized the ties between Muschamp, Smart, and Valdosta? They both were secondary or assistant coaches at Valdosta State University under former coach Chris Hatcher. Hatcher was just fired from Ga. Southern, even though he brought in recruits and the next coach will reap the benefits. It would be nice to get rid of Bobo, bring in Hatcher as our OC (known for his offensive mind being a former great QB) and maybe that could lure Smart into Athens since he’d be working with an old friend.
jerry
January 4th, 2010
7:09 am
Thuga fanantics should be grateful for GT. Think where you would be without them. Richt could shave a win a year off his record and it wouldn’t be so glossy and shiny. And if it were not for Vandy and some Georgia Southern type wussies it would be even less glossy and shiny. In fact, it would be rather dull.
SickandTired
January 4th, 2010
7:14 am
So I see the DC search for the Dawgs has moved to Newark. The guy going the wrong way through security has to be a Dawg Fan does it not. Shut down the entire air traffic grid. Surely it wasn’t Mark Richt but how could it not be. He’s in the northeast trying to find someone, anyone that is willing to board the Titanic and throw his career down the tubes with the Mark Richt crew. Captain Richt please report to the bridge, there’s a problem you need to deal with. He was last sighted doing a back flip off the Brooklyn Bridge on New Year’s eve because he certainly had no football functions after his team played on Monday in Shreveport when the ticket for admission was a pound of shrimp and a Herschel Walker doll. Yee Haw Dawgs! Kirby Smart indeed. He’ll come back to Athens as head coach and then the Dawgs can get on a roll because he won’t put up with the underachieving, me first, late hitting, selfish play that Mark Richt embraces. I’m pulling for you Dawg Fans to get a coach that actually has some integrity and some football sense.