According to Chris Low, things aren’t that far along in discussion between Mark Richt and Kirby Smart after all.
… Smart said earlier this week that he expected to be back at Alabama next season. But on Tuesday, he didn’t completely shut the door on going back to his alma mater, either.
Richt has talked to Smart about the job, but Smart says there’s never been a formal offer.
“I haven’t really talked to Mark much,” said Smart, who was the Broyles Award winner as the top assistant coach in the country this year. “To say I said ‘no’ to Mark … he’s not offered me anything. So that’s not really accurate. To be honest, with this game coming up, I haven’t even thought about it.”
In other words, no offer, no rejection, no dollar amount… no nothing. Feel free to recalibrate your projections.
Get The Picture 
Paging Jimmy Sexton. Is Jimmy Sexton in the house?
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So….you’re saying there is still a chance? Woo Hoo!!
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Well…, i guess we’ve…found our man…
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we have not offered anyone anything yet. There have been a couple of conversations to talk about what a high calibre DC should be making. Hell, for all we know CMR could have called Bud Foster simply to ask about Todd Grantham’s coaching technique.
Just be patient. It is apparent that we are waiting on someone still coaching in a bowl or in the NFL playoffs.
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Still Coaching in a Bowl? You mean we’re going after someone from Central Michigan or Troy?
Smart isn’t coming to UGA. Odds are Richt is going after someone in the pros or someone none of us have even considered. Smart money, no pun intended, is on the latter.
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“Smart isn’t coming to UGA” Link??
I’m sure you have an inside source that you will assure everyone is very solid.
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Do you really need a link to prove that a Coach that’s about to Coach for the National Title has no interest in making a lateral move to a middle of the road (yes that is what we are now) SEC team?
It doesn’t take a genius to know he’s not interested in starting from ground zero all over again. But then again…
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“Middle of the road” and “ground zero” makes it sound like Georgia is bereft of talent, has nothing to offer anyone with half a brain cell, and that doomsday has fallen upon the Classic City and only the Classic City.
The words “drama queen” seem all to appropriate.
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It doesn’t take a genius to say “I’m not going to Georgia,” if those are indeed his intentions either. Your speculative questions such as “why would he make a lateral move” are meaningless. None of us here know if there is mutual interest between UGA and Smart, but don’t be a giant douchebag and pretend like you’ve got it figured out.
Fact is, Kirby Smart has now had 3 opportunities to shut the door on the UGA DC speculation, and all 3 times he has left the door wide open.
And this may not be acceptable language for this blog, but fuck you and your “we are middle of the road” bullshit. We’ve averaged 10 wins a season for Richt’s entire tenure here and won more SEC titles in that period than anyone but Florida and LSU. Find me another SEC coach who can say the same.
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You gotta be kidding me. It also doesn’t take a genius to know that keeping the door open gets him an even bigger raise. Keep dreaming guys.
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Maybe that’s what he’s doing… but do you know that? No, you don’t. What if making more money than he’s making at Alabama and the opportunity to coach at his alma mater alongside his old teammate and friend actually, for some unfathomable reason, appeals to him? Why the hell would that appeal to anybody?
Realist got it right. You are a super drama queen.
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“but fuck you and your “we are middle of the road” bullshit.”
Nice. Then what do you call a team that’s 8-5 in the SEC, 3rd in the east, and just went to the Independence Bowl?
3rd place out of 5 is exactly middle folks. I get that math is tricky Reptile, but come on. It’s not an insult, just a fact.
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I call it a rebuilding year, as do most people with half a brain.
Let me ask you this. Is Oklahoma a middle-of-the-road team? What about Southern Cal?
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You’re being ridiculous.
FU went 9-4 and finished third in the East just 2 years ago. And they’re likely to regress somewhat next year.
LSU had a miserable season last year.
Are those teams middle of the road? No. Rebuilding years happen.
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Well, I guess any moron with a keyboard can speculate what Smart or Richt is or isn’t going to do. I’m just not one of them. I think the point of the Senator’s post was that not many people other than Richt really know where he is with the search at this point. And any speculation about it is just that.
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Coach speak. Technically he hasn’t talked to Richt himself, but his agent maybe.
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Agree the operative word there is “Mark”.
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WE’RE DOOMED! HIRE WILLIE BACK! FIRE FELTON!
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Today’s late code-breaking development on Words and Phrases of Kirby Smart for $100 has multiple coach-speak linquists, almost all of whom deny being particularly clever or cunning at least when they are around the other guys (but not so much so when they are around their wives and girlfriends), hard at work on the seemingly impossible task of trying to cipher Kirby’s latest words strung together in no particular order by Kirby into some kind of a meaningful coherent phrase. Today’s report brought to you by Dawn and advanced whitening Oxydol, a division of Tide
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I see what you did there…. cunning linguists… heh.
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“I haven’t really talked to Mark much..”
Much? Why would he have talked to Mark at all? Eh?
can we just get a DC already so this specualtion crap ends?
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Although I’m an Alabama homer, I just don’t think Smart is going to Georgia. He will get a huge raise; stay another year; then get a head coaching job. Why leave a place that you are playing for a national championship for a place that you don’t know for sure who will be the head coach beyond next year. Of course, it’s just my opinion, but I think if Richt has a bad season next year then he may be gone.
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It’s going to make more than even another bad season for Richt to be gone. UGA doesn’t axe people quickly unless there’s a scandal, and never has.
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Not. Gonna. Happen. Richt is here as long as he wants to be here.
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Damon Evans isn’t going to fire a coach who averages 10 wins a season and is holier than the Pope. If UGA has another poor year next year, it will probably be attributed to having a freshman QB and all new defensive coaches.
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I’ll tell you why Scooter, cuz the meat and three at Peaches Fine Foods is dyno-f’in-mite!
In all honesty, Kirby’s smart enough to work a good raise out of this and stay a few more years until Auburn or South Carolina or some other school calls him up to the big time.
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The sweet tea is impeccable too.
I personally think Kirby could do a lot for his career by stepping out from Saban’s shadow and showing that it’s actually him pulling the puppet strings on D, but that’s just me.
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My opinion on this is that CMR has probaly talked to Kirby Smart about it, but he is giving him the space and respecting the fct that he has a huge game to prepare for and, afterwhen the time is apppropriate he will appproach him with an offer. Honestly, as long as whoever he hires brings fire, intensity, and the relentless pursuit of the junkyard defense back. I could care less who it is. The Dawgs have too much talent to not be a great defense.
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I would much rather have DeRuyter over Smart.
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I’m just looking forward to to them hiring someone so that college football fans will never have to rampantly speculate about anything ever again.
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It is all so ridiculous at this point. I googled Everett Withers, and here is what came up:
*This was heard around the water cooler. Also mentioned was that UGA also wanted him badly. Here’s some info on Withers, who also spent 5 years in the NFL:
Link
NC finished 6th in the country in total defense this season.
Discuss.*
This quote comes from here:http://forums.gatorsports.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3691038186/m/1861062659/r/2451003659
Let the Everett Withers rumors begin.
I bet his name will be linked to UGA tomorrow on ESPN. Unnamed sources will be to blame.
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Here is a new name for you: Joe Whitt, Jr.
Entering his third season in the NFL, Joe Whitt Jr., begins his second with the Green Bay Packers but first in his new position of secondary – cornerbacks coach.
In 2006 with Atlanta, Whitt worked alongside veteran coach and former Packers defensive coordinator Emmitt Thomas in tutoring the Falcons’ defensive backs.
During his time in Louisville, Whitt’s recruiting efforts helped bring the program into national prominence as the Cardinals went 41-9 over that four-year stretch. After joining the staff in 2003, Whitt worked diligently to improve the Cardinals’ recruiting efforts, and the program landed its first top-25 recruiting class in 2005.
On the field, he coached All-Big East first-team selection William Gay, who led the team with six interceptions and was a fifth-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2007. Whitt also had a hand in safety Kerry Rhodes, a starter for the New York Jets, and Antoine Harris, currently with the Atlanta Falcons, making it to the NFL.
A native of Auburn, Ala., and a walk-on as a player at Auburn University, Whitt eventually earned a scholarship and played for a coaching staff that included his father, Joe Sr., an Auburn assistant since 1981 who at one time as defensive line coach tutored current Packers outside linebackers coach Kevin Greene.
Whitt worked his way into Auburn’s rotation at wide receiver and contributed on special teams, battling several injuries along the way. After three shoulder surgeries and reconstructive knee surgery, he was granted a medical hardship waiver and became a student assistant at Auburn for two seasons, coaching alongside his dad.
This guy sounds absolutely perfect to me. He was the recruiting coordinator at Louisville when they were good. Emmit Thomas should be in the HOF as a DB coach. Kid is only 31, but he has got a bright, bright future.
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Green Bay — Joe Whitt Sr. gave his life to his family and his heart to football, but after awhile there wasn’t much to differentiate between the two.
After he played linebacker at Alabama State, he coached as an assistant for 25 years at Auburn.
The coach and his only son talked football at the dinner table, on the drive to church, every waking minute. Joe Whitt Jr. began playing at 5 and tagged along with his father on recruiting trips at 7.
“And when he could write plus or minus in second grade, I would have him help me grade film,” said Whitt Sr.
“That was my way to make sure I could spend time with him. And he was more focused on football than most 7-, 8-year-olds.”
A quarterback and free safety in high school, Whitt Jr. joined his father at Auburn as a walk-on receiver.
Whitt Jr. did everything he could to play that game, enduring four shoulder surgeries and one reconstructive knee surgery, but it was all over his junior year. He dived for a ball in practice and the shoulder slipped out once more.
“They told me if I tore it again I wouldn’t be able to hold my arm up,” said Whitt Jr. “Only my teammates knew how good I was because I never played, I only played in seven, eight games. It hurt me because a lot of people thought I was there only because of my dad.
“That day my dad made the decision that I wasn’t going to play again was probably the only time I have ever seen him cry. But if that didn’t happen, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
Today Whitt Jr. is Green Bay’s youngest assistant coach. After coaching stints at Auburn, Citadel and Louisville, he broke into the NFL with Atlanta in 2007.
“And that’s how I got to the NFL at 28,” said Whitt Jr. “So everything happens for a reason.”
When Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy made major changes with his defensive staff after the 2008 season, he let a lot of people go. But he kept Whitt Jr. In fact, McCarthy told his new defensive coordinator, Dom Capers, that Whitt Jr., the defensive quality control coach, had potential and would be elevated to cornerbacks coach.
It was quite the promotion. Not only did 31-year-old Whitt Jr. have to understand and reinforce Capers’ new scheme, he had to coach two Pro Bowl veterans who were older than him – Charles Woodson (33) and Al Harris (35).
“At the beginning – I’m just going to be honest with you – I don’t think Charles believed in me,” said Whitt Jr. “But like I told Charles, ‘You’re one of the best in the league at this. I think I am, too.’ ”
At first, Woodson would do what was asked, but he would question it: “Well, we could do it this way or we could do it that way,” recalled Whitt Jr.
That was a test.
Whitt Jr. had absorbed his father’s intense style of coaching and had worked with DeAngelo Hall and Lawyer Milloy in Atlanta. Despite his youth, he firmly believed he had helped them improve.
He would help Woodson, too.
“I respect him so much because he’s so smart,” said Whitt Jr. “Once we started getting to know each other, we built trust. Now, whatever I ask him to do, he does. And there’s no questioning it because he has 100% faith in me and I have 100% faith in him. And he is handled totally differently because he earned that.
“I don’t teach Al Harris and Charles Woodson how to press. They know how, OK? I’ll teach Brandon Underwood and Trevor Ford how to press. I teach Al and Wood how they fit into this defense. The teaching is different.”
Capers, meanwhile, observed from a distance. Capers coached defensive backs for 20 years in college and the pros; he knew it better than anyone. But he did not step in on Whitt Jr., did not coach the kid who was coaching the veterans.
“You hire the best people you can, try to give them solid direction and then let them do their jobs,” said Capers. “Because I think you inhibit guys if you do their job for them.
“Joe’s got a very good command for the things that we’re doing; the players have a tremendous amount of respect for him; he’s a no-nonsense guy. Mike said, ‘I have a bright young guy in Joe’ and I can see why.”
Whitt Jr. takes great pride in seeing Woodson’s success continue this year as possible defensive player of the year and watching Tramon Williams try to fill the void left by the injured Harris.
“Joe is a lot older than his age in terms of his thinking, his mind-set,” said safeties coach Darren Perry. “He got started young. Players in this league want to know if you can help them get better and that you care. Show them those two things and you’ve got a good chance of reaching them, and I see that being the case with Joe.”
But Whitt Jr. would eventually like to see his name on a gold plate across the head coaching door of Auburn.
The highest his father climbed at Auburn was assistant head coach, although he was retained on the staff through four head coaches.
“Auburn is where I want to be a head coach at one day. I love Auburn, now let’s not get that wrong,” said Whitt Jr. “But what he means to that university – he should have had the opportunity to be the defensive coordinator and the head coach.”
When Whitt Sr. was offered a chance to be an assistant coach in the NFL in 1992 in Dallas and Chicago, he turned it down because he did not want to move his high school-aged son and daughter. He’s now retired from coaching but serves as the school’s associate athletic director.
“I learned from my dad. He’s somebody I’m trying to be exactly like. He’s a perfect role model,” said Whitt Jr.
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I have no idea if Kirby Smart will be our next DC, nor do I know if he SHOULD be. But I to those who say it is a “lateral move” and that there is no reason to take the job, I offer these reasons the UGA job is better than the ALA job.
1) As long as he is the DC at Alabama, many (if not most) people will give the credit for Alabama’s defense to Nick Saban. Smart will never be considered the defensive mind behind Alabama’s defense.
2) UGA may be offering more money.
3) UGA is his alma mater.
4) At UGA, he could coach along old friend and former teammate Mike Bobo.
Are those enough reasons to make the move? I have no idea. Should we, as UGA fans WANT Smart as our DC? Again, no idea.
The only thing I know is that there are some very good, very legitimate reasons for Smart to move from ALA DC to UGA DC. Therefore, calling it a pointless lateral move is incorrect.
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