What’s a topic or issue about which you’ve changed your mind?
This question was the writing prompt on the Jetpack app today. I usually breeze by this as I put together a post here at GTPR because I can’t normally tie something from it to what you want to read. Today was an exception.
I was wrong … in 2015, I didn’t think Kirby Smart was the right man at the right time to be offered the head football coaching job at the University of Georgia. I told the Senator that, and I wrote that on comment threads during the search. I admit I wasn’t a supporter of Greg McGarity’s (or, really, the liquor barons’) decision to terminate Coach Richt at the time. I thought we needed a comprehensive search that if Smart was the best candidate, fine, but I wanted us to hire someone experienced.
10 years later, there’s no doubt Kirby was the right man at the right time to lead this program. Sure, that’s hindsight, and it’s 20/20. Here’s why I got it wrong:
He loves UGA
Ray Goff bleeds red & black, but he never had the responsibility for a game plan during his time as an assistant. I doubted Kirby in this case because of his decision to leave Richt in 2005 and not to return in 2010. I underestimated how much his wife loves Georgia and that clearly had rubbed off on him even for all those years in Tuscaloosa.
Looking at it now, I see how stupid that was on its face. I see a guy who says after the heartbreak of the 2018 national championship game, “We aren’t going anywhere.” I also hear the profanity laced tirade at halftime speech in Jacksonville in 2021 as the Dawgs lead 24-0, and I know he hates Florida with the same passion I do. What completed it was that he and Mary Beth committed to name a classroom in the new Terry College almost immediately following accepting the job.
He had experience
Saban disciples have not been consistently successful after they have left the Alabama nest. I was concerned about this … Nick taught Kirby everything Kirby knows, but he didn’t teach him everything he knows. The turbulent first season was a reminder of this, but Kirby kept chopping. We won a couple of games we probably shouldn’t have and lost a couple of games we shouldn’t have.
While Kirby didn’t have experience running a program, he did learn at the best program manager’s feet.
He convinced 4 guys who had no allegiance to him to stay after that 2016 season, and these guys (Bellamy, Carter, Chubb & Michel as well as others) formed the nucleus of a team that will always be special in Georgia history.
He changed the culture
One of the reasons I didn’t love the choice immediately was the fact that it felt like the Georgia Way was getting its way again. Hire a coordinator and hope it works out while the reserve fund balance grows.
You’re either elite or you’re not.
Keep chopping.
Attack the day.
It’s 0 to f-ing 0.
We will be the hunters.
Pressure is a privilege.
Better never rests.
All of these words were the complete opposite of the Georgia Way. As a result, we have the best program in the sport. We have a home field advantage that is the envy of 98% of fan bases. We have 3 SEC titles and 2 national championships.
All that is because Kirby changed the culture.
In conclusion
Kirby was the right man at the right time, and I am glad to have been wrong. His first 9 years have been nothing short of spectacular.
Given the degree of change college sports particularly football is going through, would you want anyone else as the leader of the program? I wouldn’t, and I’m sure unless you’re a Bammer, Barner, Nerd, Handbag, Vowel, Tigger, or Lamecock, you aren’t either.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
What about Georgia football has made you change your mind? Let us know in the comments.
Did you have anyone in particular in mind back in 2015? Anybody who looked shinier at that time regardless how they’ve progressed till now?
Also, pardon me arguing but were you skeptical of Kirby or were you disgruntled at the firing/hiring process. I recall that lots of people thought the AD rushed to let Mark Richt go because he was afraid South Carolina would snag Kirby.
I did at the time … David Shaw. He had been successful at Stanford to that point. Once again in hindsight, that wouldn’t have been a better candidate, but who knows.
I was skeptical that the process seemed be done with the mind of getting the best candidate.
I was wrong about Stetson. I didn’t believe until the 4th quarter in Indy in 2021 and then it was like when Neo saw the Matrix and I knew he was the one. I’ve tried not to doubt Kirby again after that, and I really haven’t for the most part. I’ve also been very pleased with the program since 2017 so life’s been great as a Dawg for a good long stretch now and don’t see that changing too much as long as Kirby is around. Continued thanks for all that y’all do for this site!
Mine goes back to the Arkansas game when Stetson went in and saved the day for the deer in the headlights QB we had. My Dad always said, if they’ll let that Bennett boy play, he’ll win some ball games. He was right.
If there were no Alabama, he might have won them all.
A couple of guys in our group chat referred to Stetson as the Make a Wish QB. Man, were they ever wrong.
Did you ever invite them to eat their words?
After the 33-18 win over bama I thought Kirby broke the bama curse. I was wrong.
I thought he had when they called Simmons offsides.
That was the night to do it and the stripes fucked us.
Yep…literally took away what would have been a National Championship….all because the refs were afraid of Saban.
Burn the boats!!
I love Coach Richt but I knew he had taken us about as far as he could. I did think Kirby was the right hire. Being with Nick that long and not just being there but was really Nick’s right hand man. He had to have been really good for Nick to trust him that long. And the fact that he was Alabama’s best recruiter.
I had no doubt about his recruiting ability or his ability to scheme defense. The only things I was concerned with were overall game/program planning and the ability to be a CEO.
When I knew that Kirby was special is when Nick broke down in front of reporters when Kirby took the UGA job.
I was skeptical about Kirby but in hindsight I believe it was a lingering hope that Richt would finally get it right. Richt was great but I was wrong.
Georgia has never been where we are now with Kirby. He’s made us what those of us here thought we were but had never been.
Even if UGA football wins the 2012 seccg, then goes on to demo nd in the title game, I get title game winners change alot, CMR wouldn’t have survived the inevitable, CKS might have been hired by another, (shutter to think), peeps in charge make mistakes, CKS isn’t through in that respect, ya just pray UGA football has built enough street cred to overcome any shortcomings…nothing has ever or will ever change my person about UGA, we ALL have been through it with UGA football/sports in general, mine Red and Black soul do love me some UGA football, those Red and Black sunglasses believe UGA can do no wrong, admin can sure fuck it up when they desire..Mickey plus nil are a serious pain in my ass….GO DAWGS!!
Remember when CMR clearly had the best and hottest team in the country…and Nick Saban made the comment that if a team didn’t win it’s conference, they shouldn’t play for the Natty? And the sports media used that as an excuse it to deny UGA the BCSC game.
That game almost certainly would have been CMR’s crowning achievement at UGA.
(If I’m remembering this incorrectly..correct me..I’m wrong a good bit lately)
I didn’t think that was Saban … Les Miles was the coach in 2007, and then Kirk Herbstreit poured gasoline on that fire.
After saying that Michigan should play for the title the year before even though they had not won their division/conference.
In 2006, herbie says the purpose of the natty is to pair the two best teams. Division titles weren’t relevant.
12 months later?
“But Georgia didn’t their division!”
Fuck that guy.
I haven’t forgotten that, or the many other times he said something that either gives an advantage to a big 10 team and/or hurts UGA. I can’t stand the guy.
Off the subject, SORRY EE, but does anyone know why Jae Lamar is no longer with the Packers? I know he had a lot of past troubles.
No idea, but very odd.
Great analysis & right on.
I have been wrong more times in my life than I have been wrong.
I was not opposed to the Kirby selection as much as I was the way Richt was fired.
Remember a bar on Athens ran an ad, “We have beer as cold as McGarity’s heart”
Obviously, Kirby has been a Godsend.
We all have beer cans as empty as McGarity’s head.
James Cook. Even though he was a highly ranked recruit I thought he was a lightweight that went down if a defender put a finger on him – if he managed to hold onto the ball. And I said so in a few gtp posts at the time. Whenever I see him on TV I still can’t believe he’s now one of the top paid RBs in the nfl, and enjoying a lot of success.
I was wrong about Stetson but I gave him his due after he proved himself. Still, I wasn’t 100% on board when he decided to come back. I got over it. I was also wrong about what a bunch of whiney, narcissistic a-holes the Texas team and fan base are. I figured they couldn’t be as bad as everyone said. They’re worse.
A Fraternity Brother & 1989 A&M grad warned me about that as soon as it was announced they were joining. Said they were the biggest bunch of A-holes this side of Hell… and they’ve never met a conference they didn’t try to destroy with their arrogance.
I was wrong about Boom’s acumen for getting a defense up to championship caliber. God I miss Muschamp.
This 1000 percent
I was wrong about Stetson Bennett. He turned out to be fairly clutch. I still think he’s an asshole.
I was not happy with the way McGarity fired Richt. I thought he deserved better. But then again, I really don’t like McGarity and my natural reaction was to disagree with just about everything he did.
Curious though – why do you think it was the ‘liquor barons’ call? It wasn’t just them. My dad and his $5k donation and several of his friends also wrote letters promising not one dime until there was a change. There was a huge portion of the fan base who wanted change. Not just those 5 or 6.
As for Kirby’s game planning and CEO ability – some things you only learn by being in the role. You can’t be THE man until you ARE The Man. That’s why some of the best assistants in history have failed spectacularly as head coaches (Dick Lebeau, Will Muschamp, Bud Carson, Tex Winter, Brian VanGorder)
Leeburn and others were the people behind Kirby.
The ‘others’ you mention were about 30,000 UGA fans who wanted change. They were all behind the coaching change. If Don got his way all the time Suzanne would have been the Assistant AD.
A group of large donors (the “liquor barons” in the Senator’s words) are the ones who supported Kirby as the replacement. There is a reason a “national search” lasted all of one week and really less than that. There was 1 candidate.
Hell, the Senator was never big on Kirby’s hire that first year. If memory serves, he wanted Tom Herman, and was pissed that the so-called UGA hiring committee spent a million on a big search just to hire Kirby anyway. None of us have a crystal ball, and we all made our own suggestions here and there. I wanted Kirby but didn’t think he would come TBH. My grand suggestion at the time was to back a Brinks truck up to Pete Carroll’s house.
IIRC, the Senator never came out with a preference. He did say he wanted someone who would stand up to the negatives of the Georgia Way.
I never saw a post that said, “Go hire Tom Hermann,” and I never asked him his preference via email. He knew from day 1 it was going to be Kirby. We emailed back and forth the morning of Richt’s firing, and he said the people he knew said it was Kirby and that was where the process began and ended.
No. I was the Tom Herman guy. Senator was justifiably dismissive of that suggestion.
I recall him being generally supportive of the entire transition from cmr to cks.
The Senator didn’t specifically want Tom Herman (or anyone); he did mention that Tom Herman and others were available citing an article from Mark Schlabach. BUT he did not like much about the firing or the hiring PROCESS. Here’s a copy/paste of a clip from the Archives dated November 30, 2015:
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“I don’t cry out for people to be fired. It’s not my style and nobody listens to me anyway. So I’m not about to make an exception for Greg McGarity. What I do wonder, though, is who’s directing the athletic director. Boosters who pound their chest and cry, “We’re Georgia!”? Jere Morehead, who to this point has shown nothing more than a willingness to open up the checkbook without giving any real indication that he knows the best way for the money to be spent?
That’s why I’m apprehensive.
There’s been way too much chatter about Kirby Smart to be discounted at this point, and I’m not about to do so. But ask yourself something. If Georgia really is this premier program, this sleeping giant, that much of the fan base and the national media believes it is, is the best this program can do in its next hire a coordinator with no head coaching experience? Wasn’t that the resume of the coach they just fired?
Don’t get me wrong. I’ll support whoever is hired, Smart included. He’ll be Georgia’s head coach and that’s that for me. But for once, I would love for this program to do the unexpected and take a chance on somebody outside the conventional box. Show me that some real thought went into the shape of the future. Please.”
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I think I am right about the athletic department not spending a million on a search committee. I think that went to the recruiting budget. Remember the Kirby Kopter? I also didn’t think actual head coaching experience counted for as much as The senator seemed to think. Dooley, for example was an assistant coach at Auburn and he did okay. Kirby was even better because of all the time he spent with Saban at Bama and his recruiting chops and the successes of his Defenses. there was no better choice, imo.
I didn’t think he could consistently sign top 3 classes which is what I thought he needed to play the style of football they played at Alabama.
We never had.
Well, he did. Every damn year.
That was really my only concern. That he’d sign classes in the bottom half of the top 10 nationally, like CMR did, and Kirby would wash out and we’d have to start over.
When I think of the hiring of Kirby it starts with the firing of CMR. I hated the way it ended. I had come grudgingly to the conclusion that it needed to happen. I remember Richt’s early years his attempts to change SEC football with the now common hurry up offense he brought from FSU. The league shut that down another possible historic change lost. There was no 4 or 12 team playoff. Then McGarity to his eternal shame hamstrung Richt with the Georgia way. It’s just factual CMR never had near the support from the AD Kirby has.
On Kirby I thought when hired he was a Georgia man and a real professional coach. During those first two seasons he sure looked at times over his head. I never doubted his passion or desire to be great.
Then the warrior culture slowly filtered out of the players mouths. You could see the buy in starting. Then as ee pointed out special players pasted up NFL big money because they wanted more of what Kirby was teaching them. That is perhaps the most single important thing that got us to where we are today. Without that leadership from the players there’s no magical 2017 season. Thank you Nick Chubb for leading the way for your teammates. Until that moment I thought he was just another really talented guy about to take the money and run. I was sure wrong. Nick Chubb changed the course of Georgia football with his play and more importantly his leadership. His love of Georgia and his team there is no finer DGD.
Once Kirby had created his process of culture I knew this was the way. As ee pointed out Kirby left no doubt he wanted to not just beat our rivals. Hell no he wanted to crush them make them never want to play you again. He more than anyone felt our pain it was his too never to be forgotten. That combination of outstanding coaching and love of bringing glory to his school proved he was the perfect fit.
ee mentioned Stetson Bennett. What a dichotomy of emotions to unpack there. The entire Kirby can’t manage QB’s meme too. I really thought JT was the man. Again slowly in player statements you could see they trusted and believed in Stetson Bennett. I began to regularly state on GTP unless your at practice your not seeing what the coaches are. Losing that SEC championship really hurt and made me believe we didn’t have a championship QB. Then crushing Michigan I saw the leadership the players did. Finally walking out into the night that below freezing Indianapolis night full of I love everyone and unbridled joy. I was all in on the Mailman he had delivered what we most want in MVP fashion.
I never doubted Kirby’s burning desire to win or select the best possible available players available to his since. In Kirby I trust knowing even when he’s wrong and I’m made. He’s on the mutha cause he’s like rust never resting always looking to improve. That’s not just words I believe it’s who he is. It’s in his DNA to make Georgia football champions.
Now he still makes mistakes it’s impossible that every gamble or decision goes your way. NIL sure has made his job more difficult.
I was very wrong to believe it impossible that the University of Georgia would ever in my lifetime have the undisputed best working head football coach in all of college football.
I’ll admit that I was skeptical of the administration firing Richt at the time. I was also skeptical of hiring Kirby. Especially when the success rate for former Saban assistants not named Jimbo didn’t inspire confidence. That skepticism continued through the 2016 season. I’m glad I was wrong. I didn’t doubt Kirby’s recruiting chops or his coaching acumen as a defensive coordinator. But a great coordinator doesn’t necessarily translate into a great head coach. Honestly, I’d always seen Kirby as a Mickey Andrews type of guy. A fire and brimstone type of coach that players love to play for but maybe didn’t have the temperament to navigate all the complexities and criticisms of being a head coach. I’m ashamed to admit this, but I was kinda pissed that we didn’t go after Tom Herman at the time. I’ve never felt better about where the program is as a whole and I’m confident in Kirby’s ability to adapt to the constantly changing landscape of college football for the foreseeable future.
I was also so very wrong about Stetson and had my doubts that he could be the guy to win a natty. I thought he was a guy that wouldn’t lose games for you, but couldn’t win them for you either. I was quietly hoping that JT would finally get the opportunity to start again after the SEC championship debacle. After finally beating Bama I still wasn’t convinced necessarily. When he decided to come back I wasn’t necessarily thrilled. But I saw how much his teammates loved him and believed he deserved the opportunity for a victory lap. Watching him make plays when we needed a play to be made in 22 was something to behold. I gladly ate crow for those two years.
Just a couple of weeks ago…I thought Frazier was looking like a bust as an SEC RB…This week he showed us he has some fire and determination to be part of the backfield rotation… the stable of running backs looks super!
Also wrong to have doubts about our blue collar QB, Gunner. He’s getting better and better every week and by all accounts is the epitomy of hard work and study.
Frazier has never looked like he loafed or didn’t care. He’s had some bad luck plays where a guy comes in from the back side and knocked the ball out. Now that he has the perception of a guy with ball security issues, defensive coaches are telling their players to go after it.
I thought that Hugh Freeze was a God-fearing man and he was just ministering to those young ladies.
Also, Auburn Sucks!
Hugh is the most miserable looking man on the sidelines that I’ve ever seen. I didn’t blame him against Oklahoma..where the Barners got burned by the refs…but he doesn’t look like he’s having much fun coaching…probably a long way from the fun he was having at Ole’ Miss.
He misses his burner phone and escort service
“It’s not that CMR didn’t want to win a national championship as badly as other top coaches, it’s that CMR didn’t mind losing.” A quote, at the time, from a senior partner in a long standing, “influential”, Athens law firm.