Kirby Smart - Football Coach - University of Georgia Athletics

Kirby Smart

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
ahunt@sports.uga.edu

Now entering his 10^th season, Kirby Smart’s record is an impressive 105-19 for an .847 winning percentage. The highlights include back-to-back College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championships (2021, 2022), a 2017 CFP title game appearance, Southeastern Conference Championships in 2017, 2022 and 2024, six SEC Eastern Division titles and eight New Year’s Six bowl games.

In 2024, Smart became the fifth fastest coach to reach 100 career wins in FBS history, needing just 117 games to do it. The milestone win, a 30-15 victory, came over No. 1 Texas in Austin. Two months later in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta, Georgia beat then No. 2 Texas again. Over the last four years, Georgia has been the most dominant program, leading the FBS with a 53-5 record including two national titles and two SEC crowns. Overall, the Bulldogs lead the nation with 28 consecutive bowl game appearances. Through 2024, the program has produced 63 NFL draft picks in the Smart era including 17 first-round selections. Also, Georgia extended its national-leading streak of having at least one former player in the Super Bowl for the 24^th consecutive year.

Smart returned to his alma mater in December of 2015, and in his second year, he had the Bulldogs playing for the national championship for the first time in three decades. The Bulldogs would end a 41-year championship drought in 2021. A year later, the Bulldogs would become the first and only team in the CFP era to repeat as national champions, going a perfect 15-0.

2024

Georgia claimed the program’s 15^th SEC title and third during Smart’s tenure by outlasting No. 2 Texas 22-19 in overtime. This marked the Bulldogs’ second victory of the season over the Longhorns after taking down No. 1 UT in Austin 30-15 during the regular season. Registering his seventh season with at least 11 wins, Smart guided Georgia to its fourth CFP appearance since 2017 and earned a first round bye thanks to the Bulldogs’ conference crown.

2023

The Bulldogs completed an undefeated regular season, SEC Eastern Division title, and 13-1 overall record after defeating FSU, 63-3, in the 2023 Orange Bowl. The Bulldog defense ranked first in the SEC and 10th nationally in Total Defense (289.07 ypg) and Passing Defense (175.43 ypg), and fifth nationally in Scoring Defense (15.64 ppg). The Bulldog offense ranked first in the SEC in Total Offensive Plays (958), second in the SEC and fifth nationally in both Total Offense (496.5 ypg) and Scoring Offense (40.14), and second in the SEC in Passing Offense (305.29 ypg).

2022

Georgia became the first team to win back-to-back national chapionships during the CFP era thanks to its flawless 15-0 record. The Bulldogs captured their second SEC championship of the Smart era in dominant fashion to begin the postseason. Georgia went 12-0 in the regular season and soundly defeated LSU in the SEC title game, earning a No. 1 seed in the final CFP rankings. The Bulldogs came back to defeat No. 4 Ohio State in the Peach Bowl CFP semifinal before the team joined thousands of the UGA faithful in L.A. for the National Championship Game. Georgia made history in its 15^th win of the year by burying No. 3 TCU 65-7, marking the largest margin of victory in bowl game history.

2021

His 2021 team became UGA’s first national champion since 1980, the first since 1982 to go undefeated in the SEC regular season, a No. 1 national ranking by all the major polls and the first ever to win 14 games. It marked the fifth straight team to finish the regular season ranked in the top ten of the CFP rankings. The team set 21 school records, highlighted by the nation’s top-ranked defense. The third-ranked Bulldogs defeated #2 Michigan, 34-11, in the Orange Bowl in Miami and then No. 1 Alabama, 33-18, in the championship game in Indianapolis. The senior class also set the mark for most career wins by going 45-8. After the regular season, Smart was named SEC Coach of the Year for the second time in five years. Georgia’s championship season enjoyed a fitting exclamation mark at the 2022 NFL Draft. The Bulldogs set a Draft record with 15 players taken, including five defenders in the first round, led by the first overall selection, junior Travon Walker, to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

2020

The 2020 Bulldogs became Smart’s fourth consecutive team to earn a New Year’s Six bowl game appearance. With a Peach Bowl victory over undefeated Cincinnati on Jan. 1, 2021, the Bulldog seniors tied the record for the most wins by one class in school history (44).

2019

Smart’s 2019 Bulldogs became the first team in school history to win 11 or more games for a third straight season. Georgia defeated three teams in the final Top 15 CFP ranking — Notre Dame, Florida, and Auburn — and finished fourth in the final polls. The Bulldogs capped their season with a dominant victory over Baylor in the Sugar Bowl game.

2018

Georgia in 2018 posted an 11-1 regular season record, a second straight SEC Eastern Division title and a ranking as high as number four in the CFP poll. Georgia landed in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 2019—the program’s tenth all-time appearance in the New Orleans classic.

2017

Smart’s second season in 2017 was a special one, with an 11-1 regular-season record, an SEC title, a win over Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl Game (CFP semifinal) and advancement into the CFP National Championship Game. It was the first conference title since 2005 for the Red and Black. Both Smart and his players reaped the bounty of their banner 2017 season. He was named George Munger National Coach of the Year by the Maxwell Football Club, SEC Coach of the Year by the Associated Press and SEC Coaches, and the Regional Coach of the Year by the AFCA. Roquan Smith earned First Team All-America honors and the Dick Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker.

2016

In Smart’s first season leading the Bulldogs, Georgia made its 20th straight bowl appearance and posted four fourth-quarter comebacks, including wins over No. 8 Auburn and No. 22 UNC. He led the Bulldogs to an 8-5 final record, which included a victory over TCU in the Liberty Bowl.

As an Assistant Coach

When Smart officially came home to Georgia on Dec. 6, 2015, he had unfinished business as defensive coordinator at Alabama, which was still chasing a national title. He juggled both jobs for a month until Jan. 11, 2016, when the Crimson Tide won its fourth national championship in a 7-year span. Twelve hours later, he was at work in Athens, where he remains one of 15 head coaches at schools from Power 5 conferences that are coaching at their alma maters. Smart had served on the Alabama staff the previous nine years, seven as defensive coordinator. During his tenure at Alabama, the Crimson Tide won three BCS National Championships, one CFP national title, three SEC crowns, six SEC Western Division titles, and was ranked in the nation’s final top 10 the last eight years in a row.

During Smart’s time at Alabama, he coached players at three different positions, in addition to his coordinating duties. He was recognized as the 2012 AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year and the 2009 Broyles Award winner as college football’s top assistant. He also was a finalist for the award in 2015. Prior to joining the Alabama staff in 2007, Smart spent the 2006 season as safeties coach with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. He served six years at the collegiate level as the running backs coach at Georgia (2005), defensive backs coach at LSU (2004), graduate assistant at Florida State (2002-03), defensive coordinator/linebackers coach (2001) and defensive backs coach (2000) at Valdosta State, and administrative assistant at Georgia (1999). Smart was the running backs coach for Georgia’s 2005 SEC Championship team. He coached Thomas Brown, Danny Ware and Kregg Lumpkin — all future NFL players. In 2004 at LSU, he tutored two NFL draft picks: Corey Webster (2nd round, New York Giants) and Travis Daniels (4th round, Miami).

As a Player

Smart was a four-year letterman at defensive back for Georgia, where he was a First-Team All-SEC pick as a senior. He finished his career with 13 interceptions, a mark that still ranks sixth in UGA annals, and paced the Bulldogs with six interceptions in 1997 and
five in 1998. He led the SEC in interceptions during his final season. A four-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll, Smart received his bachelor’s degree in Finance from Georgia in 1998 and his master’s in Physical Education from Florida State in 2003.

The Smart Family

The Bainbridge, Ga., native is married to the former Mary Beth Lycett of McDonough, Ga., a 4-year letterwinner and 2-year starter on the Georgia women’s basketball team from 2000-03. The couple met long after their undergraduate days at Georgia, when Lycett — then working in the UGA Athletic Association Business Office — helped arrange Smart’s trip to interview for the Bulldogs’ running backs coaching job in 2005. They are the proud parents of twins Weston and Julia (born Feb. 8, 2008) and son Andrew (born May 25, 2012). Kirby and Mary Beth Smart also oversee the Kirby Smart Family Foundation, which is focused on being champions in the community by supporting needy
children and families facing adversity.