Loran Smith - Kirby Effect

Loran

Smith

As pre-season practices move front and center, the anticipation for the start of the new football season has everybody revved up for the forecasts and the countdown to kickoff Labor Day weekend. It will be hot and humid but will begin with great anticipation. After three weeks, the “can’t wait” factor will have nerves on edge. The players will get a modicum of a lift when classes begin Aug. 13. Having the student body present will bring back a degree of normalcy. Rush will be a highlight, traffic, like the heat, will be oppressive, and parking as scarce as the forward pass in a wishbone offense.

I have been monitoring the start of Georgia for almost seven decades. There never was a time that there was not a rush of adrenaline accompanying that first day of practice.

Yesteryear, the players reported on Labor Day weekend. Now they play the first game Labor Day Saturday. I like the way it is with the semester system, which brings the campus back in full swing by the first game.

Like everybody else, I am excited about this year’s team. I have a seasoned reply when anyone asks that standard question: What kind of team are we going to have this year? I always have a stock answer. We will always be good with Kirby on the scene, but he wants UGA to be great—and now his constituency expects that of him.

Already he has established himself as the best college coach in the history of this state, and he will likely end up as one of the best ever in the SEC although the man under whom he apprenticed, Nick Saban, has a resume that will be difficult to surpass.

The only coach with a better career start was Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, who won the old BCS championship in 2000, his second year at Oklahoma. Stoops would go on to lose three additional BCS championship games.

In perusing the newsletter, “Kickoff,” which lists the records of all college teams the last five years, you note that Georgia leads all schools with 61 victories and only 7 losses. Alabama is next with a 58-10 record followed by Ohio State and Notre Dame, who have won 54 games during this period. The Bulldogs, under Kirby, are winning at an 89.7 pace. That figure rounded off is 90%. Only one coach in history, Walter Camp (Yale and Stanford) won 90% of his games (79-53)—but he only coached seven years.

Even with teams like Marshall and Austin Peay on Georgia’s schedule this year, it is tougher to win these days, especially with all the ancillary influences such as NIL and the professional influence, but it is difficult to believe any coach is more organized, more prepared or more on top of a multitude of issues than the Bulldog head coach.

This year he should become the continued from page

winningest coach—for the first ten years—in college football history. He only needs five victories to pass Bob Stoops of Oklahoma for that honor. (George Woodruff of Penn has the best record at 124-15-2 but played a super soft schedule. For example, in 1892, Penn played 16 games, which included lining up against such stalwarts as Swarthmore, Haverford, Wesleyan (Connecticut), Crescent A.C., Chicago A. C., and Franklin and Marshall).)

Not sure how the NIL circumstance will play out, but his approach is to coach his team to be just that—a team. The winners of a high bid process can wind up with a collection of selfish players. His way is to ensure that NIL money does not spoil the locker room.

Most of the name coaches win 70% to 75% of their games, including: Nick Saban, 72%, and Bear Bryant, 76%; however, at Alabama Saban won 87% of the time and Bryant 78%.

Coaches who won 80 percent of their games, or more, in their careers: Knute Rockne, Notre Dame (105-12-5)86% Tom Osborne, Nebraska (255-49-3)83% Pete Carroll, USC (9519) 83% Barry Switzer, Oklahoma (157-29-4)82% Frank Leahy, Notre Dame (107-13-9)82% Bud Wilkinson, Oklahoma (145-29-4.)81% Bob Stoops, Oklahoma (134-31)81% Urban Meyer, four schools, (104-23)81% Fielding Yost, Michigan (198-35-12)80% Bob Neyland, Tennessee (173-31-12)80% Most seasoned observers would conclude that it is tougher to win games today than in the past, which is why the records of Saban and Smart are so impressive.

Maintaining the level of excellence that Saban achieved at Alabama and Kirby’s success to date reflect how outstanding their coaching records are. Kirby has always been very respectful of his old boss, saying, “I wouldn’t be where I am today without having coached with him.”

I can’t think of another successful coach who has had one of his assistants win two national championships as it is with Saban and Kirby and obviously there is opportunity for more with the protégé. You must have an enormous amount of luck to win a championship. The last person to predict such would be the Smart man himself. However, he knows that if you are in the hunt year after year, you have the best opportunity to claim the big prize.

He has been a difference maker, making an impact from the beginning by winning the SEC championship in ONLY his second season and getting his team to the national championship game where he lost in overtime to Alabama.

It took Vince Dooley 16 years to win his national title. Bear Bryant needed 19, Darrell Royal required 16, Saban, 14, Tom Osborne, 11. Woody Hayes and Dabo Swinney grasped the Holy Grail after 9 seasons. Bobby Bowden had the best record in football during his peak years at Florida State but his first title came after 28 years as a head coach. That Kirby almost won it in his second year reflects his brilliance as a coach.

Georgia has upgraded its facilities across the board; other sports teams are enjoying noteworthy success—the rising tide lifts all boats effect— the University is in popular demand regionally and nationally and home state pride in the Bulldogs has never been higher.

With that success comes the unrelenting pressure to win. Everybody has the highest expectations. He can handle that and will work harder to overachieve. He will never fall victim to “resting on his laurels.” He will never underestimate any opponent, and he will never get fat headed with the potential of any of his teams.

He is built for the long haul, and he is as anxious for the season to get underway as the most passionate Bulldog fan out there. On top of that, he is a UGA alumnus who wants nothing but the best for his alma mater.