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AJC Pulls the curtain back on Kirby & UGA "Reckless Culture"

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"Since Kirby Smart became Georgia’s head coach in late 2015, dozens of players have engaged in reckless, often lawless behavior that put them and others in jeopardy: excessive speeding, street racing and driving under the influence, among other offenses. Players have illegally brought weapons onto Georgia’s campus. They’ve gotten into bar fights. They’ve been charged with domestic violence and sexual assault."

-But Smart almost always lets athletes continue playing despite their off-field transgressions. Suspensions are unusual, dismissals from the team even rarer.

Exactly how Smart punishes players is unclear. In one instance, in 2019, he ordered six players who had been arrested over the previous six weeks to run the steps of Sanford Stadium in front of a select audience of donors to Georgia’s athletics department. Otherwise, he routinely declines to disclose disciplinary actions after players break team rules or the law.

“Everybody wants to know what the punishment is,” Smart said after a recent string of arrests. “Well, the players know what the punishment is.”

The football program’s tolerance for risky behavior was laid bare by a tragedy that rocked the team and the university alike: a fatal high-speed car crash on Jan. 15 that followed celebrations of Georgia’s second consecutive national championship. The team’s star defensive player, Jalen Carter, later pleaded no contest to reckless driving and racing charges in connection with the crash. He paid a $1,013 fine and is serving 12 months’ probation.
 
More recently, Kenny MacIntosh had multiple run ins with the law.

No one knows for certain how fast Kenny McIntosh drove through a residential neighborhood one Sunday morning last year. To the Athens police, though, it was too fast. McIntosh’s speed, an officer noted, posed “an immediate threat to public safety.”

Two miles south of the University of Georgia, where McIntosh played on the national-champion football team, his high-performance Dodge Charger struck an Uber driver’s Kia compact SUV with such force that it ripped wheels off both vehicles. The police arrested McIntosh on charges that included reckless driving — his third traffic offense in less than six months. A judge later fined him $685.

Any penalty imposed by McIntosh’s coaches apparently was far less severe.

McIntosh, a running back, played in all 15 of Georgia’s games last season, amassing more than 1,300 yards of offense, including 126 in a national semifinal game against Ohio State. His value to the team outweighed the gravity of his offenses.
 
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MovingZen said:
Well I'm a 54 year old child and if I can the right clearing on the highway I have no problem doing pulls to over 140 mph. So, I got nothing to say other than **** georgia and keep beating lil nicky's ***.
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Going full speed on a highway is nothing compared to even 55 in a residential on a Sunday morning. Driving fast is one thing. Driving stupid is another.
 
I know, I know, as a many decades Canes fan, I'm supposed to despise other programs more, but I don't.
 
I wanna be mad and point fingers, but man when I was at this age, I was burning rubber, doing street races down The Shaw, doing donuts hanging out the window, & filming chicks twerking on my car. Sooooooo while I don’t condone any of this, I do know how I got down at that same age.
 
Rellyrell said:
I wanna be mad and point fingers, but man when I was at this age, I was burning rubber, doing street races down The Shaw, doing donuts hanging out the window, & filming chicks twerking on my car. Sooooooo while I don’t condone any of this, I do know how I got down at that same age.
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Yes, but were you ever caught, or cause anyone harm? And did you face any consequences?

I don’t expect 18-21 year old ”men“ to be be choir boys, let alone 58-year olds :), especially with traffic regulations, but at what point does enough become enough? When a player kills someone? Reads like Carter was ’involved’ in a fatal crash, and McIntosh could have on his third major offense.

But yeah, this story isn‘t a Baylor-like situation.
 
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So, in other words, Kirby Smart is running a typical football factory program. We have always known that these schools in the middle of nowhere allows kids to do whatever and law enforcement looks the other way. I'm shocked that the AJC reported it, because it's extremely likely that UGA alums are up and down their editorial staff, as well as in the exec ranks. Then again, they also know that it's unlikely anyone gets fired or disciplined for this, so why not report it and get some clicks and engagement?
 
Ghandi said:
Boys will be boys.

The AJC can cry more; ******* pussies.
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I know you are being sarcastic, but eventually, letting people do crazy reckless crap will lead to someone thinking the rules don't apply to them and it escalates. Is this Penn State or Baylor? Of course not, but those situations didn't start full blown either. There is a "Rules don't apply to us" mentality that eventually leads to people doing wild stuff. I don't think Kirby goes down for this, but if you can't keep a watch on your guys, it will eventually take you down. Saban, despite his flaws has managed to keep his guys out of trouble for the most part, despite recruiting well throughout his tenure.
 
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