No man can serve two masters.

Unless he’s an incoming Georgia football head coach, that is.

It looks like it will take awhile for Kirby Smart to take over as Georgia’s coach on a full-time basis.

Smart is expected to remain with Alabama through the national playoff or even its bowl. That’s according to Phil Savage, who is the radio analyst for Alabama games. Savage’s remarks came on XM/Sirius radio.

The two national semifinal games are on Dec. 31, while the national championship is Jan. 11.

Sure as hell hope Kirby gets his staff in place ASAP.  He’ll need all the help he can get on the recruiting trail.

124 Comments

Filed under Georgia Football

124 responses to “No man can serve two masters.

  1. Crap. Thats not good news. You need to be 100% focused on putting this thing in order and holding this class together.

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  2. rpcpisme

    He must have an OC in place ASAP. That, to me is going to make or break his staff. I am hearing rumors of a “Big 3” in the form of Smart, Muschamp as DC and Kiffin as OC.
    This leaves me feeling dirty.

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  3. Bulldog Joe

    Does this mean I have to pull for Florida on Saturday?

    Dammit.

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    • Scorpio Jones, III

      Hell no Joe…I pulling for Bama and Kirby to say after the game…”See folks, this is how you play defense…”

      Pull for Florida?…jeez, wash you mouf out with lye soap, there.

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    • PTC DAWG

      Go Gator…seems best case scenario for UGA. Not that I really GAS either way.

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  4. Scorpio Jones, III

    “Smart was hired as Georgia’s coach earlier this week”

    Great, boy that is good news. 😀

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  5. Blackout period begins after gala and runs through championship game. no visits to recruits allowed. this is a non issue. having our head coach on national tv during the CFP when we did not make the CFP is a small bonus.

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    • Good point.

      But that staff still needs to be put together quickly.

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      • I just can’t see Eason staying with his commitment, sorry.

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        • W Cobb Dawg

          I understand Eason has already made arrangements with his intended roomie, OL Cleveland. He’s been recruiting for UGA all year. It’s unlikely CKS would change our O dramatically anyway. And if Smart’s no dummy, he’s already doing what he can to retain Eason’s commitment.

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    • Bob

      That is true, EXCEPT for folks who have signed paperwork. We can have UNLIMITED contact with Eason and others who have done same. And that is somewhat important given our quarterback situation

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      • Gaskilldawg

        I think eethomasnc’s point is that since Smart is not yet under contract (we all assume) HD is not yet a Georgia coach who can exercise the unlimited contacts a Georgia coach can take.

        Here is a huge downside from a Georgia coach exercising the unlimited contacts. If the kid winds up going elsewhere then the recruiting contact restrictions apply retroactively as if he had not signed a FAA, so the unlimited contacts and publicizing the recruiting becomes violations. That aspect of the rule is to keep schools from asking every undecided top recruit to sign a FAA so that the school gets a recruiting advantage.

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        • Gaskilldawg

          TYPO ALERT: “he,” not “HD” in the first sentence.

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        • Gaskilldawg

          By the way. The same is true for Julian Rochester. He signed a Financial Aid Agreement, we publicized our contact with him and he is now taking other visits. Imagine getting popped with 2 sets of recruiting violations because 2 FAA kids went elsewhere?
          At least a third FAA recruit, Ben Cleveland, appears to be Bulldog born and Bulldog bred and appears to be staying even if Kirby backs out and The J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics has to hire me because I am the last person in America left to hire.

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    • lakedawg

      This Gala throw down should be real interesting this year with. CMR, Pruitt, Smart, Muschamp, Schotty, Bmac, the Easons, the AD clown. Wonder who punches who first.

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      • ADGM needs some cash to replace the reserve funds for the buyouts. Someone needs to send him a note to put the gala on PPV. It could with an old time over the top rope Battle Royale. All we would need is cage to put these guys in. First one out gets the job (and an opportunity to punch GM if he so chooses).

        DiF, need video please!

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    • We can talk to Eason since he signed. But you can’t talk to him if not a coach for us. So…

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    • Will (The Other One)

      Although if his team’s side of the ball lays an egg on national TV vs. OU, I’ll have a strange sense of deja vu…

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  6. 3rdandGrantham

    I’ve never heard of an assistant coach accepting a head coaching position, yet remaining as an assistant for the next month (or more) at his current gig for the playoff/bowl games.

    Am I totally wrong to think this is absurd? More so, I can’t believe UGA (ADGM or whomever) didn’t put their foot down on this. It would be one thing if we were waiting for some top, proven HC to finish out the season. But to kowtow to an assistant with no HC experience, who also badly wants the job in the first place, simply astonishes me.

    What’s next, Smart demanding to be paid Saban like money and/or Saban and Smart both agreeing that none of Alabama’s current recruiting targets will dare be contacted? Heck, perhaps Saban will dictate to Smart what staff he can hire at UGA and what D scheme he’ll allow him to run while he’s at it as well.

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  7. Scorpio Jones, III

    “You cannot serve both God and money.” Guess we had one, we shall see what we get now.

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  8. Yeah, this isn’t good. Richt acknowledged that his 2001 attempt to be both FSU OC and Georgia’s HC was a bad idea and nearly killed him. And that situation was far less complicated than this one has become (trying to keep an important recruiting class and one particular recruit from jumping ship, trying to fend off poaching from a VERY recently fired ex-coach, working for programs in the same conference, recruiting the same players, etc.) and for less time.

    How Smart or anyone, other than Saban obviously, thinks this is a good idea is beyond me.

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  9. Saltwater Cowboy

    I haven’t seen much before now about this in print, but it has potential to become very strange. As it has been stated so far …

    Richt is still the HC of UGA, and will coach them in their bowl game. Perhaps this changes as a result of the Miami job, but I thought he was trying to help the seniors win 40 games in 4 years. And what could he really do for Miami in their bowl game? Doesn’t know the players, the coaches, the calls, etc.

    Smart is still the DC of Bama, and will coach them at least through the SEC Championship and likely through the NC. (If the latter, I guess we all become Gator fans and hope they knock Bama out of the playoffs so we can get our new HC sooner).

    So 2 guys coaching for one team, but building staffs, recruiting, planning for another. Neither likely able to fully focus on the game at hand, as that would be a lot of distractions for anyone.

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    • Well Teams going to bowl games get extra practice time. If I were Richt–I would sure as shit want to take advantage of that time getting to know my players.

      Richt gets to make that decision. Kirby does not.

      Plus, McGarity comes out looking like a master negotiator…again.

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  10. Spike

    If they hire that huge ass hole Muschamp to coach I will never give them one more dime. Please don’t hire that pyscho nut job.

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  11. HVL Dawg

    Firing a Head Coach is a messy business. This isn’t an excuse that we shouldn’t have done it, but no one should be surprised that it is messy.

    Oh and does no one else believe that Coach Muschamp is going to South Carolina? SC is out of options and Muschamp isn’t the kind of guy who likes to be assistant manager.

    Muschamp interviews in Columbia on Friday.

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  12. Doggoned

    I HOPE Boom goes to South Carolina. Perfect fit for the ‘Cocks. By the way, though I can’t bring myself to do it, you could try rooting for Florida this weekend. Gators win and KS could go full-time on Sunday.

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  13. You gotta know that Nick will keep Kirby’s nose to the grindstone over there while trying to win another national championship. Really can’t blame him but we will surely get short-changed on this one. I agree again with the Senator: getting that staff in place is priority number one. I keep harping on it but we have to keep that 2016 class in tact as much as possible.

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    • Nick is going to keep KS in T-town as long as possible because he probably wants to torpedo our recruiting class. A bad start by KS at UGA would be just collateral damage.

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  14. Ellis

    Based on the reaction of recruits, both committed and uncommitted, I don’t think this will be an issue. Having an idea who oc will be would be helpful though.

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  15. Turd Ferguson

    Sorta pokes a hole in that theory about Smart just being a puppet of a coach.

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  16. My question is whether he’ll be in town the following weekend for the Gala … not to attend (that would frankly be crass) but to recruit. It’s one of the biggest recruiting weekends of the year and one QB recruit will be on his official visit. If he spends the weekend in T-town watching tape rather than in Athens helping to keep the class Richt & Co. put together, that would speak volumes for where his heart is.

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    • WF Dawg

      Here’s how I’d make the case to Kirby to start the UGA job: the recruits that you do or don’t sign in this first class will go a long way toward determining whether you have enough success at this job to still be in it in 3-4 years.

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      • If KS doesn’t get that, he won’t be in the job in 3-4 years. I can understand preparation for the SECCG. It’s this week, and he has probably been working with Nick for a few weeks on the game plan. If he stays for the playoff, it tells me he’s keeping his Bama lifeline open in case he stubs his toe or if he really wants that job when Nick has had enough.

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      • Gaskilldawg

        Agree. I would add that how that how we recruit in February 2016 will go a long way to determine if the J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics keeps the job in July 2017.
        A certain bureaucrat in the Butts-Mehre Building is probably begging KS to be there. Or at least send Saban’s bottle.

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  17. GATA

    Two thoughts…One, anyone else find the irony in our AD’s weak PR skills actually assisting CMR in his Miami hire? As bad as the press conference was for our AD, it was a brilliant performance from CMR’s perspective. As I watched it, I then thought to myself that it was a high-quality job interview. Second, (to continue this bizarre state of affairs) is there any possible way for the Dawgs to be matched against Miami in a bowl game? The Senator’s hit counter may experience Y2K-type fears…

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    • Will (The Other One)

      I’ve seen a few projections where it’s UGA-Miami in the Music City Bowl, and if I were running a bowl game in Nashville, I would love that matchup.

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  18. This whole situation is evidence of what a bad AD McGarity is.

    He knew the Miami job was open. He should have waited another week or more before firing Richt.

    He easily could have had some chats with Kirby or his agent to let them know a job was likely available – at least enough to keep him from accepting the SC job.

    And so what if he does. Sorry, but Smart isn’t the best option out there.

    Now we’re basically without a coach for our bowl game, some prime recruiting weeks are wasted, and our program just looks like the idiots they are.

    Wait… screw it…….. hahahahahaha man, all you can do is laugh at our shitty athletic department. SO BAD. What a bunch of morons. So much pathetic inbred cronyism.

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    • So we went from bitching that he didn’t fire him after the Florida game to bitching that he didn’t wait until next week.

      What good does waiting till next week do? You gonna announce the new coach the same day you fire the old coach? Yeah, THAT’D sit well with people here. Or maybe he just does what he did this week, a week later like you suggest. Then you’re all complaining that he let Richt go out recruiting for a week before making his decision and you’re calling him indecisive and other names in that scenario as well.

      Smart was our guy. Has been for awhile. You might disagree with it, but if the goal was to get Kirby, he acted swiftly to get it done.

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      • I wasn’t bitching about the lack of a mid-season firing. Midseason firings are stupid usually.

        If you can’t see how horribly McG and our AD have handled this, have been outmaneuvered repeatedly, then I can’t help you.

        Our program looks like a bunch of drooling, incompetent morons. Which I guess makes sense, as that’s what they are.

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        • There’s literally no way he could have done it where some of y’all wouldn’t have crucified him for it.

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          • There are literally zillions of ways a competent AD could have handled the situation better.

            From the actual firing, to the presser, to the conditions of the firing, to the hiring of the new coach, to the conditions of that hiring, etc.

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            • Gaskilldawg

              Forget it. The J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics could have personally called every high school senior and told them to stay away from Georgia and chilidawgnv would defend him because all chilidawgnv obsesses about is Richt and The J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics is his all time hero for firing Richt.

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  19. Kirby has already fucked up. Nice job, McGarity.

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  20. doofusdawg

    Could be that cmr and Kirby agreed that letting cmr coach the bowl was a good thing. Mark made the commitment to his players and I suspect after further consideration he thought it was still the right thing to do. He deserves to be carried off the field by his players. Our ad deserves to be carried out back.

    The other interesting thing is that if by any chance Greg Davis is hired as oc then he and Kirby could be coaching against each other in the playoffs. You can’t buy that kind of publicity.

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  21. http://www.macon.com/sports/college/sec/university-of-georgia/bulldogs-beat/article47769395.html

    “Soon-to-be Miami man Mark Richt will not coach Georgia’s bowl game”

    Well… not surprising.

    Hahahahaha McG sucks so bad.

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  22. Spike

    B Mac is coaching the bowl game..

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  23. Erskine

    Kirby Smart – committed to the G, (not until Nick Saban says so).

    I have no disagreement with KS as Bama DC through Sunday morning. After that he should be all Dawg. Nothing wrong with being stand up and saying UGA has given me a career opportunity and it is in my best interest and the best interest of UGA for me to being my duties immediately to earn the priveledge I have been given.

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  24. Well,well! All of your questions are valid and there are “some” logical and easy answers for all of them! Of course Greg McGarity has not thought about any of the questions, so to look to him would yield the same look he had on his face at the Richt firing presser. We have the man we want now we just don’t have him until Nick Saban says we can have him! No problem coach Pruitt knows the code by which we live now so we’ll be OK until Kirby arrives! That won’t do, Coach Pruitt is out. Not a part of the “new way” This is just all so complicated my head may just explode! What was that Mark Richt quote? “Georgia can be what Georgia wants to be!” He was right!!!

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