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I can’t tell you the number of times when I had conversations with Todd Monken when things were splendid with the Bulldog offense that he didn’t throw bouquets at the defense. He was the first I heard use the expression about playing “complementary” football. To win championships, complementary football must be the backbone of any team.
Mike Bobo never complained, even privately, about the “other” side of the ball. He has never done anything of the sort in the many years that I have known him. The facts are, however, that he seldom got any help from the defense.
The thing that I have never understood is that Mike is a Georgia graduate, who played his heart out for UGA, and he has worked tirelessly in his roles as an assistant coach. If you want an evaluation of Bobo’s acumen as an offensive coach, talk to his peers and former players. Not your blathering nextdoor neighbor who misses all those three-foot putts.
Bobo has something in common with Gunner Stockton. Each of them spent time with the same offensive guru when they were growing up—George Bobo, who happens to be Mike’s father.
When Gunner was six years old, his daddy took his precocious young son to the senior Bobo and said, “Teach him how to play quarterback.”
George Bobo gets that a lot. If a coach in this state has a budding prodigy, he places a call to the senior Bobo. If a father has a son that he wants to be trained expertly to play the position, as Rob Stockton did, he reaches out to George Bobo, who enjoys helping kids hone their quarterbacking skills. He does not have a passing academy, he hasn’t written a book, and he does not charge for sharing his vast knowledge with kids.
I remember a conversation with Sonny Smart, the Georgia head coach’s father, who said that when George held an informal quarterback clinic, and hopefuls gathered with him, “they would throw in the morning and bass fish in the afternoon.” George comes alive when reeling a five-pound bass to his net.
George was a strict disciplinarian, and he required patronage from his son, but he was fair and always underscored teaching. What he passed on to Mike is being handed down to Gunner today.
In the last ten years, Kirby Smart has won more games than any coach in the SEC. It ought to be obvious that he not only expects the best from his players, but he also has similar expectations from his assistant coaches. When I talk to George Bobo, he expresses cogency about his own grandson, Drew, who is a highly regarded lineman for the Dawgs. “He has the feet to play any position on the offensive line.” Bad footwork can be an albatross for offensive lineman.
Critics on the 50th row don’t know about the intricacies of offensive line play, but they are experts at critiquing results. I have a friend, John Withers, who has objective appreciation for the game. Once he was sitting with a friend who was bitching about every offensive call.
As the team was in the huddle—before the snap—John leaned over to his big-mouth friend and said, “Tell me right now what the offensive coordinator needs to call—before they break the huddle. I want to know right now what the team should do.”
Since Kirby arrived on the scene, I soon realized the Bulldogs were in the right hands, and his record supports that view. His tenth team needs a little more seasoning. Who better for them to learn from than the current head coach and his staff?
You never like losing, especially when it is Alabama, but let’s evaluate Kirby’s tenth team in late November when some of those freshmen become seasoned from the hard knocks of SEC competition.
