Kirby Smart: The Next Head Coach of the Georgia Bulldogs?
By John Buhler
Kirby Smart, according to Chip Towers of the AJC, barring any last-minute issues will become the next head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs as soon as Sunday.
Per Chip Towers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Alabama Crimson Tide Defensive Coordinator Kirby Smart will become the next head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs. Smart, who will be coaching the Tide in the 2015 SEC Championship Game versus the Florida Gators on Saturday in Atlanta, cannot officially sign with UGA until after the game has concluded. Towers believes Kirby Smart will be officially the next UGA head football coach by as soon as Sunday or Monday.
Kirby Smart will be named Georgia’s new football coach https://t.co/AxnreMDrW4
— Chip Towers AJC (@ctowersajc) December 2, 2015
The assumed hiring of Kirby Smart is what Towers refers to as a “healing choice for the Bulldogs.” Dawg Nation has not handled the firing of former Head Coach Mark Richt Sunday by Athletic Director Greg McGarity. Since Smart is a Bainbridge, Georgia native and played defensive back for the Dawgs in the mid-to-late 1990’s (1995-98), McGarity’s decision to go with Smart, for lack of a better word is smart, if Richt wasn’t the man for the job anymore.
-= Related: Mark Richt Fired, Will Coach Bowl Game =-
The only other candidate that seemed like a remote possibility was current Mississippi State Bulldogs HC Dan Mullen, who was the Offensive Coordinator under Urban Meyer at the University of Florida while McGarity worked there. Mullen has done a remarkable job in Starkville and is probably happy staying at MSU, though he did reportedly interview at the University of Miami for their vacant head coaching gig.
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Seth Emerson of the AJC also offered some insight about who may form Smart’s coaching staff at UGA. Towers believes it is a “mystery” to who could become UGA’s next Offensive Coordinator, but he did mention Alabama WR Coach Billy Napier and Western Kentucky OC Tyson Helton.
Defensively, Towers speculates on a few things. We know that DL Coach Tracy Rocker will stay. Jeremy Pruitt is likely gone and will probably replace Smart as the Defensive Coordinator at the University of Alabama.
Will Muschamp may return to UGA. Smart and Muschamp were teammates in the secondary for Georgia and he may end up being the Dawgs’ new defensive coordinator. At least UGA has more talent on the side of the ball than Auburn, right?
Next: Georgia Bulldogs Poised to Win Bowl Game for Richt
Emerson may also choose to keep both WR Coach Bryan McClendon and RB Coach Thomas Brown, both former players at the University of Georgia. Kirby Smart was Brown’s RB Coach in 2005. McClendon is a top recruiter nationally and Smart may feel pressure to keep McClendon at UGA.
This hire as Kirby Smart as the next head coach seemed like the logical choice after parting ways with Mark Richt. In a matter of days, UGA could have themselves their newest head coach in Kirby Smart.