Honest to a fault

Also from that Weiszer article I just posted comes this quote from the guy who proclaimed himself to be “a pretty honest guy, forthright in telling the truth” just the other day:

Six Georgia players left the team as transfers since the bowl game, all who served in backup or reserve roles.

In an ESPN .com article this week, Ed Aschoff wrote after interviewing Smart that when “some of the ‘bad apples’ who didn’t think they played enough have moved on, you tend to get more done.”

Smart was asked if “bad apples” was his term: “I’m not sure, to be honest with you. I don’t really remember.”

Short-term memory loss can be a bitch.  I hope that’s not a sign of early onset of Alzheimer’s, Mr. Forthright.

37 Comments

Filed under Georgia Football

37 responses to “Honest to a fault

  1. Gaskilldawg

    Smart better start winning championships
    and soon. He said, essentially the more we are around him the better we understand him.

    81 said it best, The Process Lite, All the arrogance without the wins! Smart has set himself up for 2018 being the year he has to succeed are a level high enough to avoid souring a whole lot of fans.

    Like

    • dawgman3000

      A good portion of the fan base is going to be sour on Kirby no matter what he does.

      Like

      • dawgtired

        Losing games you shouldn’t always leaves a sour taste but I don’t understand some of the comments about Smart. It appears to me he has mostly conducted himself professionally in the media interviews. I might get a little short on answers after 100 questions myself. Confidence and focus can be misunderstood as arrogance at times. I’m pretty sure he knows the uphill battle that awaits him in the SEC year in and year out.

        Like

      • The other Doug

        Not if he wins.

        Like

      • Macallanlover

        “good portion”? I think not, very few hystericals based on just hate alone from what I have seen. I would say fewer than 1% wish to see him fail based on some vendetta, that pales with the 15% (that grew larger before year’s end in 2015) who wanted UGA to lose so they could get their way.

        I will agree that Kirby is a less sympathetic figure because of his handling of media time and actions relating to players, and comments about them. But I don’t know one single fan who hopes he fails and wishes the team ill fortune just to see him gone. Not saying you cannot find one or two, but I would say much less than 1%, so hardly a good portion. Your paranoia seems out of line with that comment, but then I recall you being in that 15% group before (memory could be off, if so, I apologize because I know I would hate for anyone to mistakenly put me in that group.) Dawg fans are hoping for much success from Kirby, and they should be. Seems to be your own pot you are trying to stir, just no evidence of that happening.

        Like

      • PTC DAWG

        Laughable…

        Like

    • DawgByte

      Good grief man! When Kirby arrived this program had serious issues and two recruiting classes within the last three that turned into total busts, which naturally had an impact on both talent and depth levels. You also have to factor the impact of new coaches, new schemes/terminology, starting a true freshman QB, young defense and a horrendous OL. Expecting an instant turnaround was fanciful.

      Like

      • Good grief … did this team have enough talent to beat Vandy and tech and not fall behind 45-0 to Ole Miss? I don’t think any rational person expected an appearance in Atlanta in year 1, but the play on the field and coaching from the sideline left a lot to be desired in 2016. If you can’t see that, then you didn’t want to see it.

        You want to see a program with serious issues. Look at Alabama 2006. What did they do? They went out and Mal Moore wouldn’t take no as an answer from Nick Saban. If the Georgia program had such structural failings, why hire a guy who had never done it before as the only candidate that was seriously considered?

        I hope Kirby is wildly successful, but you typically don’t hire someone as a turnaround artist who has never done it before and expect to get the best result.

        Like

        • Otto

          The UGA alums have to hire their boy, and the team did about as well as could be expected given the head coach had not done it before and a true Fr at QB. I want Smart to succeed but he wasn’t my choice.

          Like

      • Kdaddy

        This ^^^^^^^^^
        Good lord, people need to give him time.

        Like

        • Gaskilldawg

          I am giving him time to be a successful coach. 2018 will be his third year, plenty of time for the “next Nick Saban” to start showing the results we hired him to produce. I hope he does produced the results he was hired to produce. He has already fine tuned his personality; give him time to change it?

          Like

    • Bob's your Uncle

      He’s only been Head Coach of the Georgia program for 16 months there Gaskilldawg. How about we give the new coach time to build up the program. I have a bigger problem with some of the fans that have unrealistic expectations of freshmen and first-year head coaches than I do Kirby Smart being a smart arse with the local press, that frankly, are a bunch of click-bait whores and cannot wait to jump on writing something negative about UGA.

      Kirby Smart may not be the guy to turn the program around, but how the hell will we know if we don’t give the guy a chance. Some fans and writers just love to bitch and complain no matter what.

      Like

      • Gaskilldawg

        Bob, you missed the point. I understand that he has to have time to learn his craft. I expect that he will learn from his mistakes and improve this year. My complaint is about his attitude, He acts as if he already won a bunch of championships as a head coach. If his results don’t match his arrogance then he will not have generated a lot of loyalty among the fan base.

        One last time: my point is not that he should have won more in 2016. My point is that Smart acts as if he won a hell of a lot more than he did. Understand the difference?

        Like

        • Bob's your Uncle

          Yes. I understand the difference, but the Georgia fan base complained for the longest time of the previous coach for not having enough attitude or balls and now we are complaining about Kirby Smart having attitude and balls. Maybe not you, and I do agree that when a coach doesn’t win, that confidence/arrogance can quickly wear thin on the fan base. I think that is why Richt was able to keep his job so long. He was a ‘nice’ guy. I agree that if Smart doesn’t win a conference championship in the next couple of years, he’s not going to have the same grace period Mark Richt enjoyed.

          Like

          • dawgman3000

            “if Smart doesn’t win a conference championship in the next couple of years, he’s not going to have the same grace period Mark Richt enjoyed”

            I don’t see that as a bad thing. If Kirby is underachieving, then we can cut bait without hearing about how he should be the coach forever because he’s such a nice guy.

            Like

  2. MLB2

    Not a very “Kirby enabling” stance. You’re going to bruise some fee fees with this one.😉

    Like

  3. Has anyone heard whether someone asked Aschoff about the “bad apples” quote on Twitter?

    Like

  4. Dawgflan

    Reminds me of the NPR interview of George W. Bush I heard part of yesterday. The interviewer’s last question went something like: “Some seated nearby at the inauguration stated that after Trump’s speech you said ‘That was some weird shit’ – can you confirm?” and ol’ W replied with the standby “I honestly can’t recall” and then went on about his memory of the amazing transfer of power in such a peaceful blah, blah, blah…

    Like

  5. PTC DAWG

    Sure, we had bad apples…glad we are getting rid of them. Truth hurts.

    Like

  6. Scott

    Richt called them Energy Vampires. I’d rather be called a bad apple.

    Like

  7. How dare those kids want to play in starting roles during their very short college careers.

    Like

  8. W Cobb Dawg

    Calling them bad apples seems like sour grapes to me. Or are these players on their high horses being used as scapegoats for an underachieving season?

    Like

  9. Kirby needs to thump on his bible more in public and talk about how he loves and wants to hug everyone. That will win more games for sure.

    Like

  10. I toured and read all the blog comments. some things and some folks never change. Enjoy the off season.

    Like

  11. lakedawg

    I think Kirby is an exact copy of Boom, smart mouth and unable to back it up. Expecting another depressing season and doubt if he will be here after 2018. Him and McGoof leave at about same time.

    Like