All You Need to Know About Kirby Smart

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Smart worked as an administrative assistant coach at Georgia in 1999. He served as Valdosta State’s defensive backs coach in 2000 and defensive coordinator in 2001. Smart served as Florida State’s general assistant coach from 2002 to 2003. He became the defensive backs coach at LSU under then-head coach Nick Saban in 2004, before moving on to Georgia as the running backs coach in 2005.

In 2006, he worked as an assistant coach for the Miami Dolphins. Kirby Smart returned to college football in 2007, following Nick Saban to Alabama, where he served as assistant head coach and defensive back coach. From 2008 to 2015, he was the team’s defensive coordinator. The duo won national championships in 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2015.

Smart then became Georgia’s head coach in 2016. In 2017, he was voted SEC Coach of the Year after leading the team to its first SEC championship since 2005. The Bulldogs advanced to the National Championship game but lost to Alabama 26-23. The 2018 and 2019 seasons ended with 11-1 regular-season records and SEC championships. The 2020 season was simplified due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the team ended the regular season at 7-2 for second place in the SEC East.

The Georgia Bulldogs would defeat Alabama in the National Championship game in 2021, marking the school’s first title since 1980. The Bulldogs finished the regular season 12-0 before losing 41-24 to Alabama in the SEC Championship game. Georgia, now ranked third in the country, faced the Michigan Wolverines in the College Football Playoff semifinal game at the Orange Bowl, defeating them 34-11 to advance to a rematch against Saban’s Crimson Tide.