(OT) SHOCKING NEWS: Georgia to name Kirby Smart as head coach

Submitted by Mr. Yost on

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/14269857/georgia-bulldog…

This is of course is a shocking development. In all seriousness, we all saw it coming.

This is step one of my prediction...

  1. Kirby Smart to Georgia
  2. Mark Richt to Miami
  3. Jeremy Pruitt (if he doesn't get the S. Carolina head job) to Bama as DC

Obvious coaching hires if you ask me...

bluinohio

December 2nd, 2015 at 4:01 AM ^

comparing alabama's 5* laden team with hoke's recruits is a bit of a stretch.

when you have the highest rated class 4 years in a row, you SHOULD win the title a few times.

saban is a good recruiter and an average coach.

Wolfman

December 2nd, 2015 at 11:41 AM ^

As you said, he is a great recruiter, but he was not getting those players while at State and he won the BIG at state and was able to beat FL, pre Urban of course, but FL had been a hell of a program for some time. His decision to leave state was predicated largely on his inability to compete for athletes w/UM. He knew the top players going to a Michigan school were going to AA instead of EL. He has, is and will remain much more than an average coach until the game passes him by like we saw w/Paterno, Bowden, Bear to a lesser degree and many others. Very seldom, it seems, does a coach get out when he's at the top of his game like Bo. And Carr's lack of interest in his last two seasons definitely took its toll on our roster and made possible the giant strides that Dantonio was able to make in his third year in E.L. Maintaining a program and having it good to go when the new sheriff arrives is every bit a determinent as game day skills in consistent way above average to great programs.

Mr Miggle

December 1st, 2015 at 10:42 PM ^

especially on defense. That time working with Saban should be valuable. Does anyone think Saban is not a good coach because he a lot of talent to work with? Smart's moving on to another team that's going to have a very talented roster so that's very relevant experience. So is coaching in the same conference.

Tater

December 2nd, 2015 at 1:47 AM ^

To take BG's point even further, it's easy to be a "great" coach when your boosters buy you whoever you want.  For example, Saban doesn't like to recruit DB's under six feet tall.  This year, they only have two DB's listed on their roster who are less than six feet tall.  For comparison, Michigan has five, and I'm guessing it was closer to ten before Hoke got his ass handed to him by Bama.  

I think it's better to hire someone who is having success at a lesser school than to hire someone who is a hot assistant.  Great assistants have yet to prove that they can handle the CEO aspects of being a head coach.  

There are plenty of winners and losers both ways, but I think hiring coaches who have proven they can handle the HC job is the way to go for an elite program.  Besides, UGA should be able to poach a coach from any program in the country except for maybe 15 or so.

Bad move AFAIC.

CorkyCole

December 1st, 2015 at 10:46 PM ^

His point was if Harbaugh would have been brought in prior to his Stanford and 49ers jobs. At the point Carr retired, Harbaugh just building his resume at San Diego. Still a bit of an unknown at that point. I believe that was his point at least... That's how I read it.

pdgoblue25

December 2nd, 2015 at 9:16 AM ^

And I'm pretty sure I would be a decent DC with the talent on that team.  OL talent made Trent Richardson look like he was good at football.

It's kind of like how Belichick's coordinators all fall on their faces as head coaches, but the Patriots get along just fine every year.

But hey, I don't know anything, and great coaches obviously had to get an opportunity somewhere.

BornSinner

December 1st, 2015 at 9:55 PM ^

On top of that, the rumor is Muschamp is gonna be Smart's DC at Georgia since they both went to UGA undergrad. 

Gonna be an interesting month. 

Mizzou is looking like the loser in all these coaching sweepstakes. 

Mr. Yost

December 1st, 2015 at 10:01 PM ^

No run zone. No fly zone. No anything for your offense.

edit: they'll actually be known as the most overrated combo in sports because of this...anytime someone scores a touchdown it'll be fans doubting their ability as defensive coaches.

dnak438

December 1st, 2015 at 10:59 PM ^

CFB playoff rankings:
  1. Clemson: Dabo Swinney: WR coach and recruiting coordinator at Clemson when he was hired, no HC experience. Huge gamble.
  2. Alabama: Saban: not a gamble
  3. Oklahoma: Bob Stoops: K State CB coach, co-DC, Florida DC, no HC experience. Gamble.
  4. Iowa: Kirk Ferentz: Iowa OL coach, HC at Maine (12-21 record), Browns OL coach, Ravens OL coach: basically an OL coach with a failure as a HC at a small school when hired. Huge gamble.
  5. Michigan State: Mark Dantonio: Akron DB coach, Youngstown St DC, Kansas DB coach, Michigan St DB coach, Ohio State DC, Cincinnati HC (18-17 record). Probably not a big gamble.
  6. Ohio State: Urban Meyer: not a gamble

Still, half of those teams had hires that were bigger gambles than Kirby Smart is (Dabo, Stoops, Ferentz).

BornSinner

December 1st, 2015 at 11:40 PM ^

Didn't Iowa have the option to hire Bob Stoops and instead hired Kirk Ferentz? 

They were on the same staff that worked under Hayden Fry I believe. That's gotta suck knowing what Stoops has done at Oklahoma lol. 

dnak438

December 1st, 2015 at 11:56 PM ^

Iowa doesn't seem like a program that has a lot of advantages, but maybe that's because they haven't been good lately (i.e., under Ferentz). I mean, Oklahoma has access to more fertile recruiting grounds than Iowa does. Iowa's all-time record is 8th in the Big Ten. They probably should be a mid-level Big Ten team.

Or, put another way, Iowa's all-time record is .530; Ferentz's is .599. Iowa's won 5 Big Ten championships in the past 50 years; Ferentz has accounted for 2 of those in 16 seasons. If he wins in Indy, then 3 in 17 seasons. Either way, that's better than the historical average of 1 Big Ten championship per decade.

But yeah, Ferentz wasn't a home run hire. But he's definitely above average, maybe even a very good hire.

jmblue

December 2nd, 2015 at 8:51 AM ^

How good do you think Iowa should be?  They have no recruiting base and they're not that far from Nebraska, which has much more history.  It could easily get a lot worse for them than they have it under Ferentz.

 

jmblue

December 2nd, 2015 at 9:07 AM ^

When you fire a coach who was winning nearly ten games a season, you're shooting for the moon.  Fans probably expected a run at Chip Kelly or someone like that.  Giving a coordinator his first career head coaching job might not be what they anticipated.