Mark Schlabach’s piece about how Georgia has spent its way into becoming a national powerhouse doesn’t really contain anything new, but there is this oh-so-modest quote from Kirby Smart:
“I talk about commitment to excellence and commitment to building a strong program, and [the administration] has committed to that,” Smart said. “When you’re talking about taking a job at the caliber of Georgia, there’s not a lot of negotiating power. It’s a great job, and I wanted the job. They talked about a commitment to excellence, and that’s what I want and that’s what they’ve done.” [Emphasis added.]
All it took to counter that was a well-timed Jimmy Sexton threat about South Carolina and the rest is history.
Get The Picture 
If it’s your own money, you call his bluff on SC and stand firm on a reasonable offer. When it’s other peoples’ money, you pay the ransom and cover your ass because winning, not fiscal responsibility, is what protects your job.
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Senator, just heard your podcast skillz last night from Chapel Bell podcast. Nice work.
This is a great post. I would love to have seen the look on the admins’ faces if/when that was actually said (in those words or not).
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And do more podcasts.
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I sometimes wonder about a parallel universe where we balked at Sexton and doubled down on Richt. What would that be like?
Would SC be in the top five? Would Bobo have come back this season after Richt retired? Would McElwain be on the hot seat after another shark ride?
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Georgia would still be winning 9 or 10 games a season and crapping the bed in games that really mattered and missing out on winning the East. The fans would still be saying “IF ONLY!!” and “Wait til next year”. We would be signing top 10 recruiting classes but be about 6th in the SEC in recruiting rankings. We know exactly what would have happened if we doubled down on Richt, we had a 15 year sample size to see.
I think Kirby is too smart to have taken the SC job. That job is career suicide for coaches and Kirby knows it.
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Spot on. 🎯
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You won’t hear this often but thank god for Jimmy Sexton.
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Came here to say that. The Senator likes to sometimes act like the hiring of Kirby in Athens is a bad thing.
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Not putting words in Blutarsky’s mouth, but I think his issue is with the way it was done. Not who was hired.
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I don’t care how it was done —- just that it got done!
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Any hire other than Kirby would have been idiotic. Best recruiter we could hire, real chance he was a good coach too, and he’d stay as long as we paid him since he loves UGA.
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I’ve said this before and take it with a grain of salt, but VT was the bigger threat to land Smart than SCU was if UGA chose to stick it out with CMR for another year.
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I honestly don’t think either would have been. Kirby played the long game beautifully and wasn’t going to leave but for a handful of jobs. UGA, Auburn, LSU, FSU….I honestly think that’s about it.
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I would like to remind everyone that Auburn interviewed Kirby after te 2012 season. He wanted to bring Mike Bobo over as his OC. They decided on Gus instead.
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They also wouldn’t let him stay through the NC game.
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And we got 3 more years of him seasoning in the machine. I get annoyed with all the Saban tree cliches. Most of those guys were there for a hot minute. He helped build the monster.
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Gawd Bless Jimmy Sexton, then.
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