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Kirby Smart - Still a Corch?

Caneadian said:
So he changed O Coordinators 2 or 3 times in 4 years? I'm trying to nail down the exact timeline of his Offensive Coordinator firings and hiring's
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no..

he had chaney as OC and Coley as co-oc for his first 3 seasons ('16, '17, '18) and went 8-5, 13-2, 11-3..

then chaney left and coley got promoted to OC by himself.. went 12-2 (2019)

then coley left to A&M and Monken was brought in in 2020..
 
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One of my biggest gripes on this board is not acknowledging successful coaches. Many of u always have to put some caveat on it.

Let me be clear; I d g a f about all this “they have the players”, bull chit. U know y Coker sucked as a HC? B/c we had the players & did chit w/ it outside of 2001-2. Despite all those 1st round picks, Coker did chit. So I don’t wanna hear oh Nick & Kirby only win b/c of the players.

Scoreboard & trophy case says who tf cares.
 
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OrangeBowlMagic said:
Super wrong.

He inherited Jim Chaney, and being a first-time coach with no real coaching tree, he kept him for Year 1 at UGA. Chaney then left to go to Tennessee, and he promoted James Coley to run the offense. Obviously, the offense was predictably horrendous in 2019, and he demoted Coley and hired Todd Monken, who had been an NFL offensive coordinator for the past 4 seasons.

Year 1 was a transition for everyone, as it oftentimes is. He went 8-5, lost to Vanderbilt between the hedges, and many in Athens thought UGA made a major mistake. Well, in a really bizarre move, the brass at UGA decided to maybe giving him more than 1 year before scheduling his funeral, and he started to figure some stuff out, and make some better hires while continuing to use what he learned about recruiting under Nick Saban. The rest is history.

There's a lesson here for all of us. Maybe, just MAYBE, shut the **** up for a season and allow a coach to actually do what he wants to do before you freak out like toddler. Nobody here will adhere, but just some food for thought.
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He hired Chaney. Chaney was at Pitt the season before. Richt had Schottenheimer’s kid the previous season. Not sure what the larger picture here is, but Chaney was his guy.
 
Three coaches have won back to back titles in the modern era. Osborne, Saban and now Smart. Doesn’t matter if he just collects talent and out talents everyone. Urban was unable to do this, so was Dabo. Smart isn’t corch no matter how much we don’t want to admit it.
 
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aelmiami said:
He hired Chaney. Chaney was at Pitt the season before. Richt had Schottenheimer’s kid the previous season. Not sure what the larger picture here is, but Chaney was his guy.
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No, you're right. That's my bad. I thought he was there the year before but when I went back and looked, his first year was Kirby's first year.

Coley was co-OC, but Chaney called plays for the first 3 years.

Chaney went back to UT after year 3, he had prior history there, and Kirby thought he could just keep things the same and allow Coley to call plays. That was a failure and he demoted him, and hired Monken.
 
OrangeBowlMagic said:
No, you're right. That's my bad. I thought he was there the year before but when I went back and looked, his first year was Kirby's first year.

Coley was co-OC, but Chaney called plays for the first 3 years.

Chaney went back to UT after year 3, he had prior history there, and Kirby thought he could just keep things the same and allow Coley to call plays. That was a failure and he demoted him, and hired Monken.
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Monken has been a tremendous hire. But really the biggest piece of that offensive staff is Hartley. Once someone overpays for him the dynamic of how they operate will change.
 
Rellyrell said:
One of my biggest gripes on this board is not acknowledging successful coaches. Many of u always have to put some caveat on it.

Let me be clear; I d g a f about all this “they have the players”, bull chit. U know y Coker sucked as a HC? B/c we had the players & did chit w/ it outside of 2001-2. Despite all those 1st round picks, Coker did chit. So I don’t wanna hear oh Nick & Kirby only win b/c of the players.

Scoreboard & trophy case says who tf cares.
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I don't know - I think Coker is the poster boy for talent making a coach look good.

Coker started 24-0. Was 35-3 his first 3 years. And he was pulling out close games.

It wasn't until Willis McGahee became Tyrone Moss, and Andre Johnson became Ryan Moore that it all went downhill.
 
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Ok, enough is enough. Smart has earned a spot amongst the college game's elite coaches. Very solid defensive coach who surrounded himself with an infrastructure of seasoned assistants - think Todd Monken, Will Muschamp, Mike Bobo types, former head coaches who are now lifers - and support staff, while embracing a program built on physicality and, much like Mario, is a driven and relentless recruiter.
Also helps being a decorated former Bulldog player who alums and boosters long championed as the coaching-in-waiting (Like Mario, right?). Bottom line, he's put serious juice into what was a solid, albeit at times soft program under nice guy Mark Richt.
 
bshaw28 said:
I don't know - I think Coker is the poster boy for talent making a coach look good.

Coker started 24-0. Was 35-3 his first 3 years. And he was pulling out close games.

It wasn't until Willis McGahee became Tyrone Moss, and Andre Johnson became Ryan Moore that it all went downhill.
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My point is that Coker won one Nat’l title, but despite all the talent that was accumulated via recruiting from 2002-2005 (#5, #4, #3, #9 ranked classes)

We lost
-To a 8-5 VT team (2003)

-Back to back games to a 6-6 UNC & 6-5 Clemson teams (2004)

-To an 8-5 FSU & 7-5 GT teams (2005)

-To a 7-6 FSU, a then G5 UL, THEN losing 4 in a row that included to a 5-7 UVA team (2006)

Let me ask u, with those classes, do u think Kirby or Saban r losing to these squads that Coker lost to?
 
Even if you think that he is a corch, I have respect for folks who can self-assess their own weaknesses and plan accordingly. The guy has built up quite a machine over there. So whether it's him or the staff, he deserves credit.
 
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Rellyrell said:
My point is that Coker won one Nat’l title, but despite all the talent that was accumulated via recruiting from 2002-2005 (#5, #4, #3, #9 ranked classes)

We lost
-To a 8-5 VT team (2003)

-Back to back games to a 6-6 UNC & 6-5 Clemson teams (2004)

-To an 8-5 FSU & 7-5 GT teams (2005)

-To a 7-6 FSU, a then G5 UL, THEN losing 4 in a row that included to a 5-7 UVA team (2006)

Let me ask u, with those classes, do u think Kirby or Saban r losing to these squads that Coker lost to?
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Few years ago kirby lost to SC.. an 8 loss team. saban has lost to several 4 loss teams. I think the talent disparity between what kirby/saban have been working with the last few years is greater than anything Coker had. That being said, they are both better coaches. They also both have much more than talent disparities in their favor. Everything alabama and georgia have now is eons better than anything Coker had.. except players.
 
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HurricanePhilly said:
Not sure if posted

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He is probably right. His point is irrelevant in reality though.

Using a basketball comparison, Giannis has no ring if kyrie & harden were not hurt. Lebron could have gotten another ring in 2015 if klove and kyrie did not get hurt. Bam and Goran got hurt in the bubble which might have stopped Bron’s 4th ring. Kawhi & Raptors prob do not win without KD and Klay getting hurt. Harden might have a ring if Chris Paul did not get hurt. Every year there are injuries. Staying healthy is a combination of skill, physical discipline, and luck.

Miami would have 6 rings without some BS helping OSU 20 years ago. The list goes on and on.
 
MovingZen said:
Few years ago kirby lost to SC.. an 8 loss team. saban has lost to several 4 loss teams. I think the talent disparity between what kirby/saban have been working with the last few years is greater than anything Coker had. That being said, they are both better coaches. They also both have much more than talent disparities in their favor. Everything alabama and georgia have now is eons better than anything Coker had.. except players.
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Agreed, & upsets can & will happen even to the best, but to put this in to further context:

Here’s Kirby’s worst losses:

5-7 Ole Miss, 6-7 Vandy (2016)
4-8 USCe (2019)

In 7 yrs, Kirby has had 3 bad losses. We’ll call that an anomaly or an upset special. Coker had 7 bad losses in 4 yrs despite talent discrepancies. That’s y I’m of the opinion is not just about Jimmy & Joes, it’s also about X’s & O’s. If it was strictly about Jimmy & Joes, then my friend, Miami would be the poster child of the ACC Coastal & Texas would be the poster child of the Big 12.

Imo, coaching can overcome Jimmy & Joes b/c Utah taught me that. Harbaugh at SDSU taught me that. Meyer at Utah & Bowling Green taught me that. Chip Kelly at Oregon & now UCLA taught me that. But those guys have a glass ceiling w/o the Jimmy & Joes; but once, a good coach have access to those Jimmy & Joes, it’s a wrap. Talent can overcome coaching deficiencies for so long.
 
cookies said:
He is probably right. His point is irrelevant in reality though.

Using a basketball comparison, Giannis has no ring if kyrie & harden were not hurt. Lebron could have gotten another ring in 2015 if klove and kyrie did not get hurt. Bam and Goran got hurt in the bubble which might have stopped Bron’s 4th ring. Kawhi & Raptors prob do not win without KD and Klay getting hurt. Harden might have a ring if Chris Paul did not get hurt. Every year there are injuries. Staying healthy is a combination of skill, physical discipline, and luck.

Miami would have 6 rings without some BS helping OSU 20 years ago. The list goes on and on.
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This is another cheap shot & discrediting act. Haters r going to hate. The what if game can be applied to every scenario out there in sports. What if Manu or Kawahi made one FT in 2013-14? What if the ref didn’t call a fumble on Cleveland Gary or JJ kicked a PAT vs. going for 2? What if KD & Klay didn’t get hurt in 2019? What if MJ never retired in 1994? What if Draymond didn’t get suspended or Bogut get hurt in 2016? What if AD didn’t get hurt every season? What if Brady actually was called for a fumble in 2001? What if Seattle gave the ball to Marshawn in 2015?

Like we can go down a whole rabbit hole w/ the “what if” game. What’s reality? UGA are back to back Nat’l Champions.
 
Rellyrell said:
This is another cheap shot & discrediting act. Haters r going to hate. The what if game can be applied to every scenario out there in sports. What if Manu or Kawahi made one FT in 2013-14? What if the ref didn’t call a fumble on Cleveland Gary or JJ kicked a PAT vs. going for 2? What if KD & Klay didn’t get hurt in 2019? What if MJ never retired in 1994? What if Draymond didn’t get suspended or Bogut get hurt in 2016? What if AD didn’t get hurt every season? What if Brady actually was called for a fumble in 2001? What if Seattle gave the ball to Marshawn in 2015?

Like we can go down a whole rabbit hole w/ the “what if” game. What’s reality? UGA are back to back Nat’l Champions.
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Big facts. The final score is the only real result at the end of the day.

The what if game is dudes hating from outside the club when they cant even get in type vibe
 
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