University of Georgia Athletics
Smart Striding Into Spotlight
February 03, 2016 | Football
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By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Georgia football coach Kirby Smart is still new to being front and center, the face and voice of a program. On Tuesday, college football's national signing day, he could be seen all around the Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall striding confidently into the spotlight.
More than he ever has in his nearly two months on the job after Georgia hired him on Dec. 6, to replace Mark Richt, he owned the room. The former Bulldog safety that later developed into an elite defensive coordinator talked with confidence, insight, depth and purpose, and also with ease and comfort, whether it was during a lengthy on-camera interview for GeorgiaDogs.com or in his news conference, in front of about a dozen cameras and three times as many reporters.
When you work for Nick Saban at Alabama, as Smart did for the past nine seasons, you have little interaction with the media and little time in the spotlight. Assistant coaches are mostly off limits, so Smart has likely done more in-depth news conferences and phone and TV interviews in the past two months than he did during his entire run in Tuscaloosa.
As if answering a lot of questions is all he's had to contend with. Since early December Smart's plate has been overflowing, like a nose guard's at a buffet.
"Chaos" was the word he used to describe the past eight weeks, which included all of the following and surely more: getting hired, an introductory news conference where the eyes of the state, the SEC and beyond were on him; that was followed by hiring a staff, recruiting, coaching the Crimson Tide defense in two playoff games, winning a national championship, even more recruiting for this year's signing class and getting to work on next year's.
The time in front of the camera, Smart said Tuesday, has been the easy part.
"That's been the least of my worries, to be honest with you," he said, adding that the last two weeks, since the recruiting dead period ended, "have been a blessing in disguise because I get to go out and do what I love to do and go recruit," and see the almost countless football people across the land that he's built relationships with over the years.
And he could even go see some of them via helicopter, as he did last week. He said that was more a function of using his time wisely rather than flash, but short of a coach showing up with a jet pack or something, getting out of a helicopter on a school's football field is about as cool as it gets.
Having to do everything at once in his first couple of months on the job was demanding, Smart said, but also helpful in a lot of ways.
"As far as work hours and the demands and the stress level," he said, "I think it was a great start to be doing all that at once. And now it feels like it's easing off because you've got the pedal to the metal to start out."
With the likes of Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh forging a new, very connected and charismatic path in recruiting, which is likely going to become the norm across the land, that ease in front of the camera and casual confidence is critical. And it's something that seldom comes easy, whether it's a coach or a congressman or an actor.
As he showed Tuesday, Smart, whether he's noticed or not, is getting better and better at it. His answers in interviews are longer, he's more detailed and animated, and we're all getting to know him a bit better with every appearance. There's a connection being made to everyone in and around the program and beyond that's invaluable.
At 11 a.m. on Tuesday, after most of the Bulldogs' signees were in the books, Smart appeared on the set of the GeorgiaDogs.com broadcast, on the third floor of Butts-Mehre, with former UGA standout quarterback D.J. Shockley and host Chuck Dowdle.
As Smart had a microphone pinned to his blazer, he waved to the crowd of several hundred that annually fill the building on signing day -- a red-and-black army of adults playing hooky from work. Then came a 16-minute chat, during which Smart got some laughs, drew several big ovations and rounds of woofing and appeared to get more relaxed as the interview went along.
He also looked comfortable standing alone at mid-court while talking to 10,000 fans at halftime of Georgia's basketball game against Arkansas on Jan. 23. He, and the many recruits and their families in tow, got a huge, swelling ovation that day. Smart talked about home, about guiding this program the right way and about his desire to see Sanford Stadium completely packed during the G-Day spring game on April 16. He echoed most of those words Tuesday.
Smart was able to crack quite a few jokes Tuesday. That may have been because he's getting more comfortable with the cameras all around him, or it could be because the Bulldogs appear to have landed an excellent recruiting class. Or maybe it's because once most of the letters-of-intent were in Tuesday, for the first time in the two months since he was hired, Smart had a moment to exhale. The plate isn't quite so full for the next few months.
With the 2016 signing class in the books, Smart can at last turn his full attention to actual football. There is much evaluation of the players already on the roster to be done by Smart and his staff in the weeks ahead, prior to the start of spring practice. His answer when asked what's next for him: "Get our hands on our players."
Smart said he was really looking forward to doing the part of coaching he "loves the most," and that's building a relationship with the players.
"The core of our team next year is on this campus," he said. "We've got to develop that so that we can be a good and productive football team."
He has time to do that now, following two very good and productive months on the job.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
