Smart explains decision to reject UGA (updated)
Athens — Kirby Smart won’t be coming to Georgia as the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator, deciding after two days of deliberation to remain in the same job at Alabama.
Smart, a former Georgia player, explained his decision in written comments provided by Alabama:
“I think it was pretty well known that there was an opportunity to return to my alma mater as defensive coordinator,” Smart said. ”I wouldn’t even have considered discussing the position with any other school, but when it is a place I’ve spent some of my best years and had some great memories, I thought it was something I should discuss with my family and figure out what was best.
“After thinking about all the factors over the last couple days, we are going to stay at the University of Alabama. We love it in Tuscaloosa, have made some great friends here and I think we are building something special here at Alabama with Coach [Nick] Saban. I have learned so much in the time I’ve spent with Coach Saban, and every year I feel like a become a better coach.
“I’ve got a great deal of respect for Coach [Mark] Richt and the job he has done there, and the University of Georgia will also have a special place in my heart. Not only did I play there, but my wife played basketball there and we have a lot of friends at UGA.”
Smart had been considering a lucrative multi-year offer — reportedly for three or four years at around $700,000 per year — to return to his alma mater as defensive coordinator. His pending decision had been the subject of intense speculation among UGA fans over the weekend. Saban previously had expressed his disapproval of assistant coaches making lateral career moves.
“We’re very pleased and happy that Kirby is going to be staying here at the University of Alabama with us,” Saban said in a statement this afternoon. ”He’s done a fabulous job for us. He’s one of the finest assistant coaches in the country.
“You expect guys like Kirby to get lots of opportunities to do things, and we want to continue to help him continue to develop his career here so that when he leaves here, it’s going to be to be a head coach and probably in a very good situation. So we’re excited about that. We’re happy for him and his family. It’s very pleasing to us.”
Alabama is believed to have aggressively countered Georgia’s financial offer, but said it would not reveal Smart’s new salary until it is approved by trustees in the spring. Smart’s salary was around $360,000 in 2009.
Richt has been trying to hire a new defensive coordinator since the Dec. 2 firing of Willie Martinez and two other defensive coaches.
Georgia previously pursued two veteran defensive coordinators for the job, Virginia Tech’s Bud Foster and LSU’s John Chavis. Both opted to remain in their current jobs after having their contracts considerably sweetened.
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1,397 comments Add your comment
Troof
January 11th, 2010
10:39 pm
At one time, teams used to be worried when they played UGA. Have you noticed that since Bama destroyed them in Athens in 2008 that no one, not even Kiffykins in 10RC, is afraid of the little doggies anymore?
Jimmy
January 11th, 2010
10:44 pm
There is no reason to denigrate Kirby.
He is doing what he thinks best for his family.
He may think he’ll get a HC job quicker with Saban.
He might be right…as long as Saban makes him look good…he might be right.
At UGA, he would be THE MAN. There’s no question about that.
Under Saban, no team will know what Kirby has actually done…outside sporting a DC title.
Nothing we’ve seen of Saban’s character suggests he would give over all responsibility for coaching defense and calling plays to another coach.
Saban is Type A all the way.
He needs to be the Alpha male.
He is a controlling son of a gun.
This makes Kirby seem like he is afraid of a challenge…but he is doing what’s best for his family.
He may be the next great HC. He may be the next big bust.
We just don’t know.
Big L
January 11th, 2010
10:46 pm
Smart in Alabama, isn’t that like a double negative.
Technophobia
January 11th, 2010
10:47 pm
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. (true for UGA fans as well)
Troof
January 11th, 2010
10:47 pm
But if he came to Athens and laid an egg he’s out the door with CMR. Why take the same title, regardless of perception, when he can stay another year or so and find that HC position. If he is part of another SEC and/or NC team he can take his pick of HC positions…perhaps even at UGA!
Troof
January 11th, 2010
10:48 pm
No, Big L, I think what you are trying to say is “Isn’t that an oxymoron.”
Didn’t stay awake in English class, huh?
Troof
January 11th, 2010
10:49 pm
I’m out of here, puppy lovers. Good luck on finding that DC. Please don’t get turned down again. You’re embarassing the SEC!!
Recruiting Alert !!!!
January 11th, 2010
10:50 pm
Jimmy, he’s already the man dude. Why does he wanna digress and become the boy?
CAUTION RECRUITS …and take note. UGA fans have high expectations like this one.
If your a top recruit, take your talent somewhere else where it’s rewarded with wins. Take it somewhere else where you will actually improve and have a chance to showcase your stuff.
Troof
January 11th, 2010
10:52 pm
Maybe if Richt was more alpha male UGA would be a disciplined football team with fewer penalties. Wait, didn’t Richt say penalties didn’t matter? LOL!
Jimmy
January 11th, 2010
10:54 pm
Troof,
You speek the troof. That was my point exactly.
Saban makes KS look good.
He might be a pretender.
To hire him would be to roll the dice.
If he stinks, we will pay the price for a bad hiring decision.
And he will never get a HC job once he is revealed.
He might be the next great coach, but with El Diablo as the HC at bama, we just won’t know until he gets that HC job…despite what the great deceiver says about him.
Spiller Time
January 11th, 2010
10:55 pm
Couldn’t happen to a better klan. Top notch organization they run over there in A-town.
More the reason Morant decommits and becomes a Tiger on his official this weekend.
Sorry mutts! Go Tigers!!
Hairy Dawg
January 11th, 2010
10:56 pm
Go Dawgs! Bama Stinks! Go Dawgs! Bama Stinkys! Go Dawgs! Smart is a doofuss! Go Dawgs! Smart is a trater! Go Dawgs! Smart worships Satan! Dawgs is Christain!
Go Dawgs! Sick Em! Woof! Woof!
North Av Engineer
January 11th, 2010
10:58 pm
Georgia’s getting rejected more than a geek at a high school dance. They better hire someone quick, even if it’s an up and comer at a small school, or they’ll blow their recruiting class for 2010. Offer the job to Womack, who just got fired at Tech—he needs a job, fast and will work for peanuts.
hind tit
January 11th, 2010
10:58 pm
troof if he stays on the nest nobody will know if he layed an egg or not. might have got cold feet. it’s wamer in the nest.
Jimmy
January 11th, 2010
11:03 pm
Recruiting Alert!!!
You are so funny and such a cretin.
When you work for El Diablo, you are already HIS boy.
I do wish Kirby well. I hope his deal with the devil pays off.
Hi Georgia Basher, I see You're Back!
January 11th, 2010
11:10 pm
Hi AJC-
You’re going to have to turn this thread off, Georgia Basher is going nuts again, he’s posted the last 300 in a row.
Just cut him off and don’t give his vapid rants a voice.
Hairy Dawg
January 11th, 2010
11:12 pm
Smart is bum and we dont want him to coaching in Athens anyhows.
Now Richt Can Finally Get His Man
January 11th, 2010
11:15 pm
Now that Richt got that Kirby Smart garbage out of the way to appease the fan base, Coach Richt can get the guy he REALLY wanted in the first place.
Lefty
January 11th, 2010
11:16 pm
Seriously, why would you leave a program that is on top of the world for one that looking at a 3rd place finish in the SEC East? Georgia has a lot of holes to fill next year, particularly on defense? Alabama is loaded for next year, especially if Hightower comes back from injury (potentially as good a player as McClain). The depth they have on defense is really unbelievable.
Kirby’s stock as a potential head coach would fall like a rock if he came back to Athens. You can’t “coach up” what you don’t have. By staying with Saban another year or two, Kirby will end up with a big time head coaching position (Texas A&M, South Carolina, LSU, and maybe even UGA may all be interested in the near future).
TideTemplar
January 11th, 2010
11:27 pm
He decided to wait for Richt to be canned this fall or the next and take the UGA HC position. Why go down with the ship? Besides, Bama can afford to pay their assistants more after winning the NC.
gdawgs77
January 11th, 2010
11:30 pm
CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY EVERYONE LIKES GRANTHAM????? HIS ONLY EXPERIENCE AS DC WAS IN THE NFL FROM 2005-2007. HIS DEFENSES FINISHED 16TH IN THE LEAGUE IN TOTAL DEFENSE IN 2005, 27TH IN 2006 AND 30TH IN 2007. WE DONT NEED HIM!!!!! WE NEED SOMEONE THAT CAN ACTUALLY RUN A BIGTME DEFENSE. LIKE I SAID WHY DOES EVERYONE LIKE HIM SO MUCH????? DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!!!
Ronnie
January 11th, 2010
11:35 pm
Right man for the job right here :
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/football/news/story?id=4811710
Snook Dawg
January 11th, 2010
11:36 pm
Where did the plane land in Texas this evening……Austin or DFW in Dallas. I hope waiting 2 weeks and not landing SMART will fire up CMR. Maybe Ole Kirby is pulling a Saban and denying the job..He only has 4 more times to pull a Satan (oops Saban).
Dear bama fans
January 11th, 2010
11:45 pm
Why do yaw even try yes Saban is a good coach but it will be like everything else he has been involved with.He will get bored of it and move on.When this happens (HA) Dont go running to your blogs and complaining because i told ya first so you have ample time to prepare.It will most likely be around the time his contract is up and they try to give him an extention.Thats when the NFL comes calling ,ala Carroll to the Seahawks,and gives him the big contract he wants.You are being used and happy about it.Instead you might should be humble and cross your fingers that this does not come to pass! You might b**ch bout what i said but you know his track record does speak for its self can you say show me the money!!!!
Technophobia
January 11th, 2010
11:46 pm
Wasn’t Martinez once “Richt’s guy”?
Kirby Smart
January 11th, 2010
11:48 pm
I really wanted to come back to Athens but my daddy Saban said no.
Saban's Shadow is Overrated
January 11th, 2010
11:53 pm
In the Natl Champ, Saban’s Shadow gives up 195 passing yards to a FRESHMAN QB.
No sacks until the one at the end.
Genius? Please, the guy’s a clown.
It was a close game with 3 minutes to go until the Fresh QB made 1 too many mistakes.
My grandma could win with a Fresh QB who throws 5 int’s.
Saban’s Shadow came within 3 minutes of getting embarrased by Freshman QB in the Natl Championship.
please
January 12th, 2010
12:11 am
UGA is going to end up with a no-name DC… ahahahahahahahahahahahahah
where good talent goes to die
Snook Dawg
January 12th, 2010
12:12 am
Agree about Saban’s shadow and the UA and UT game. Had McCoy stayed in the game we would know if Bama’s D was for real. 2 many turnovers for the Freshmen, but Shipley did shread the Bama D in the 2nd half. Let me say…I could have cared less who won the game. Bama as a SEC team or Muschamp for Texas. As my little girl said..”I want Georgia to win”…and I replied I do 2, I do 2. It looks as if I’m still waiting..
Kirby is Smart
January 12th, 2010
12:35 am
What a hilarious blog. The dawgnation has been boiled down to the least commom denominator. Sometimes it might even be irrational. (Yall just ignore the big words).
Kirby was the man yesterday and was soon to be seated at CMR’s right hand. Then he came to his senses and some of you have taken it as your duty to expunge him from the dawgnation. Forever. And all his family, too. What a farce.
“We will be back on top again real soon”
Right. One nat’l title in the history of the school. That “first” title was thirty years ago and actually belongs to Herschel. Without Herschel, you have none. And no, you can’t count each of his personalities as a separate title.
When Saint Mark finally finds someone to take the DC job, the talk will start “He always was our first choice, the BCS should just go ahead and give us our rightful place in the nat’l championship game.” (Not long ago, some of you were livid that you weren’t playing for the title even though you were not in the SEC title game.)
Maybe part of the job description for the UGA DC is to be available at 4:00 AM to go get scholar athletes released from jail. Maybe Kirby likes to sleep at night.
Maybe Kirby’s musical tastes do not include hip-hop blasted at infernal decibel levels. I can’t believe you really like it either, Bubba.
Again, thanks for the entertainment you cretins have unwittingly provided with this blog.
PS–Remember to wash your hands before returning to work at the fry tank.
Hairy Dawg
January 12th, 2010
12:37 am
Screw Smart. Lets go get Mushamps from Longhorns. Hes the better anyway as opposes that trater Kirby who is Sabans whippen boy.
Kirby is Smart
January 12th, 2010
12:41 am
Thanks, Hairy Dawg,
You were just the prototypical UGA fan I was thinking of.
Dawg4Life
January 12th, 2010
1:13 am
Thank god he didnt come back home. If UGA ever offers this A HOLE anything in the next 57 years i swear to god i will start pulling for the ga state. I would feel different if he had not signed the term sheet then turned us down. Had he listened politely then said thanks but i am happy here in bama, fine atleast he did things the right way. but he had to go b*tch.
Thinking outside the box
January 12th, 2010
1:17 am
Tell Richt to go get Alvin Wyatt. He’ll bring some life into Sanford.
Dallas (Tex) Dawg
January 12th, 2010
1:19 am
Hey, I agree with Jimmy and others who say lay off Kirby Smart. He went to Georgia, gave his all for the Red and Black, won All-Conference honors, and has aquitted himself well of late as a DC. He made a decision that (hopefully) he believes is ultimately best for him and his family. Let’s hope it is, wish him the best until they play UGA and move on for what’s now best for UGA. I do believe Saban somehow “talked” him out of taking the job, but so be it. And he will be sporting NC ring next year. When is the last time WE could say that? Also, lest any of us forget (and for those too young to remember) back when we DID when a NC, a certain Saint Vincent Dooley turned down big bucks from HIS alma mater (we all know who) to remain HC at UGA. We dawgs loved it then, so hey, life goes on. But speaking of us, I don’t know where we go now. I live in Dallas and follow the Cowboys. We’ve been turned down now by (at least) three top DC’s, so what makes everyone on this blog so doggone sure that Grantham will take the job. Jerry Jones has got more money than UGA and ‘Bama put together, and if Cowboys win the SB, the assistant coaches just may want to stick around for another year, including Grantham. If that’s CMR’s new Plan A, he better get B,C, and D together in short order. Just a thought, but has anyone considered the DC at Boise State. I don’t even know his name but all I know is that everytime they have to play a big boy team and are supposed to get blown out, they show up. Just a thought, but it is embarrassing to know that Urban Meyer has got one foot literally in the coaches grave and he was able to fill out a staff in one week and still pick up 5-star recruites while we can’t even scratch a month after after Martinez and Co., were fired. Sad times in Dawg Nation!
Brent
January 12th, 2010
1:35 am
I’m probably a bigger Dawg fan than anybody on this board, but I’m disgusted by some of the negative comments directed toward Kirby Smart. The fact that he is supposedly “persona non grata” in Athens now is absurd. Look, getting Kirby would have been great, but to expect a guy to leave a program that just won the national championship to join a team that didn’t finish in the Top 25 for the SAME POSITION just wasn’t likely to work out. Just the fact that he gave it consideration shows how much love he still has for UGA.
Trust me, if Richt decides to leave in a few years and Kirby Smart is available, he will CERTAINLY still be welcome in Athens.
Furthermore, quit acting like this is the end of the world that we didn’t get Kirby. Nobody knows how he would have done in Athens anyway. Plus, basically any DC with relative competence would be an improvement over Willie Martinez, so I’m still pretty hopeful that we will get a worthy candidate. I applaud Mark Richt for shooting so high, but figure we’ll still get a pretty good DC, even if it’s an unknown. Remember that nobody had heard of Van Gorder when we grabbed him from UCF.
richard cranium
January 12th, 2010
1:41 am
If you can’t go to college – Go to UGA…
DawgFan
January 12th, 2010
1:42 am
Troof, You mean like UGA beating the great Saban in Alabama in 2007
ATL 4 Real
January 12th, 2010
1:51 am
Alabama is probably one of the worst states to live in period. Bama has not won aything for a decade and now when they finslly sniff a win or two all the fans acting like their program is so much better than everyone else’s. The state of Alabama is nothing more than a farm state.
Dawgman
January 12th, 2010
2:59 am
Who would want to work for someone that treats you less then adult? Kirby will never be a member of the BULLDAWG NATION again. Sold your soul…..to ALA. and the Devil!!!!
Crimson Crush
January 12th, 2010
3:05 am
Alllllll weekend long … It’s a done deal … It’s a done deal … David Pollack posted on his Tweet account … It’s a donnnnnnne deal . Now … it is not so done after all and the Jawjack fans spend 13 pages of comments spewing in any and every direction possible
Mainly they seem to be blaming Kirby Smart and THE University of Alabama for Jawga being what it has always been … just slightly better than Auburn but vastly under any one of a number of historical powerhouse programs in college football . When reality collides with their delusions of grandeur Dawg fans go totally out of their freaking minds LOL
Jimmie
January 12th, 2010
3:28 am
I’d rather have a Bulldog than a lapdog. I bet Satan proofread Smart’s quotes before he could read it to the media. I wonder if Smart was hiding behind his leg when Satan spoke. You can have him. We will be OK. I’m not worried about it.
Cuz
January 12th, 2010
5:05 am
How do you feel on hitting thirteen pages. Awesome dude!!!!!!!!!
Cuz
January 12th, 2010
5:08 am
Smart made his choice, and that is fine with me It should be fine with the rest of us Dawgs. Good luck Kirby, I hope you get a good HC one day. I mean it. go you fuzzy mamoth dawg.
Dawg #5
January 12th, 2010
6:25 am
Richt what about Tommy T. ????????
david
January 12th, 2010
6:51 am
three strikes were out?
dawgno91
January 12th, 2010
7:02 am
You Alabama folks make me want to puke.You went out and got your hired gun to win a Nat. Championship so you can brag. Enjoy it because you can’t enjoy the hired gun. They guy is a jerk. He can’t keep coaches for a reason. It will come back and get him with the players too eventually. They couldn’t even celebrate the win because of their jerk coach. You think recruits don’t see that? He will leave you in the learch just like LSU and Miami when a better deal comes. As for Kirby Smart, I hope you don’t think that the money at UGA will forget. They won’t. It’s not that you didn’t come, it’s the way you can’t stand up yourself and say it. You had to get daddy to do it for you.
Big L
January 12th, 2010
7:03 am
Woke up about an hour ago. I almost slept the embarresment away.
PT
January 12th, 2010
7:05 am
If there was and offer to Foster and Chavis, how much were they to be paid and what was the lenght of the contract. Those question are still unanswered. Smart had the only contract offer made by UGA. Prove me wrong!
PT
January 12th, 2010
7:07 am
oops