Kirby Smart: Winning CFP at Alabama best thing for UGA?

Kirby Smart said on Monday that “there’s nothing that’s going to help me more as the head coach of Georgia than winning a national championship at Alabama.”

Kirby Smart is fully committed to the Georgia Bulldogs’ future as well as the present College Football Playoff run of the Alabama Crimson Tide. As the bowl season is underway, Smart coaches for Alabama, but recruits for Georgia.

Surely it is difficult to transition from defensive coordinator to head coach, but to move from one high-profile school to another in the SEC while still coaching for a former employer in the College Football Playoff isn’t for everyone. However, Kirby Smart is doing this and told Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I left Alabama. To not coach in this game, I couldn’t even imagine. It’s a no-brainer.”

Kirby Smart also told USA Today’s Nicole Auerbach that winning the College Football Playoff at Alabama would be one of the best things he could do for the Georgia Bulldogs football program.

It is an interesting scenario for Kirby Smart as really only Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen and Houston’s Tom Herman have dealt with similar coaching circumstances at the collegiate level. Mullen was Urban Meyer’s offensive coordinator at Florida during a National Championship run after he accepted the head coaching gig in Starkville. Herman last year was Meyer’s offensive coordinator at Ohio State. He had accepted the head coaching position with the Cougars before the first College Football Playoff.

-= Related: Kirby Smart keeps Rocker, Sherrer at UGA, Brown to The U =-

Smart does have two shining examples of being able to stay on as a coordinator while preparing for his first chance at as a head coach. He also draws inspiration from Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn who did the same thing last season as the former defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks before relocating to Flowery Branch in February after Super Bowl XLIX.

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In the micro sense of Kirby Smart’s decision to continue to coach at Alabama through the Playoff, it is understandable why many members of Dawg Nation want him in Athens exclusively. UGA has to deal with the aftermath of firing Mark Richt and securing both a strong recruiting class and coaching staff.

However during this dead period in recruitment, playing for a National Championship will only elevate Smart’s already rising stock in the eyes of prospective recruits. All throughout the broadcast of the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Alabama’s National Semifinal Game with the Michigan State Spartans, the booth will certainly bring up that Smart is the next coach of the Georgia Bulldogs.

Should the defense thrive in this year’s playoff, that only makes Smart and the UGA program look better. Seeing Smart’s Alabama defense possibly carry the team to the Championship Game in Glendale may end up getting a few commitments from Alabama to swap allegiances and Commit to the G to play for Coach Smart in 2016.

In the macro sense, Smart can recruit for Georgia during this dead period by coaching well in the second annual College Football Playoff. Most incoming coaches don’t have this luxury of finishing their former gig at the highest stage before getting to work at their new place of employment.

Next: Bryan McClendon to South Carolina

While the thought of Alabama fans claiming another national title could make many in Dawg Nation cringe, this is one that UGA could honestly get behind. Finish the Drill and Commit to the G. Go Dawgs!