Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart has a lot to be proud of. As a head coach, he’s won two national championships and has built one of the best college football programs in the country.
Along with that, however, he is starting to garner a reputation for running a renegade program.
‘There have been 24 arrests under Smart, including a star wide receiver recently arrested for the second time for felony battery charges. There have also been two deaths within the program, one player and another a staff member, both attributed to street racing.
To say nothing of the program’s dismal graduation rate (41 percent).
Smart seems to be tone-deaf about his program having a culture problem or the notion that he might be losing control of his players.
Some are starting to wonder if Smart is turning into former Florida and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer.
Like Smart, Meyer led Florida to two national titles. Also like Smart, that Gators program was riddled with off-field issues and arrests. 41 players were arrested while Meyer was head coach there.
Smart is considered the SEC heir apparent to Nick Saban, which is also a label that was once given to Meyer before he left Florida and resurfaced at Ohio State. Georgia has taken over Alabama’s spot as the next great college football dynasty, but they may not last nearly as long if Smart can’t get things back on track.
Your job as a head coach is not only to coach your players but to teach them leadership skills as well. It doesn’t seem that Smart has made his players own up to their misdeeds. In fact, he barely acknowledges them.
With the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns joining the SEC this season, the Bulldogs’ road to an SEC Championship has gotten harder. Even though Smart’s mentor and nemesis Nick Saban has retired, the league is tougher and he cannot afford to have good players suspended or kicked off the team. Keep in mind the Bulldogs start the season against the Clemson Tigers and will have to face Ole Miss, Texas, and Alabama on the road. There’s no room for error.
It feels like it’s only a matter of time before a player too-good-to-lose gets in trouble and kicked off the team. Maybe that’s what it will take to spark some reaction around the program and university. They can’t afford to lose anyone due to stupidity off the field, so Smart better figure out how to wrest control of his program back, lest he go the way of Urban Meyer and leave before getting that third title.
About Stacey Mickles
Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.