Monday Thoughts - Why Kirby Smart will be a Success: Culture

Buc,

Thank you for the kind words. I was thinking of doing a part II to this topic of why Kirby will be successful. I suspect the reasoning behind why I wrote it is because I've studied Saban for quite a long time and I also am sick and tired of hearing those who claim to be UGA-friendly press incessantly pissing and moaning, giving snide comments about CKS and UGA's "risky" hire.

Something I failed to mention in the original post is that I find it the height of hypocrisy that I hear all these orphaned disciples of the previous coach here spouting off at how Georgia could have done better than hiring a coordinator and that Georgia isn't the place to learn on the job. Excuse me....ahem.....wasn't there an offensive coordinator we hired back in 2000 from Florida State that seemed to know how to win some games?

Funny how that works isn't it?

I find it also interesting that the only people I'm hearing telling me that this is a wait-and-see, not-sure-how-its-gonna-work-out type of hire is the Atlanta media - with their tepid praise of Smart here-and-there. They've got the red ass something fierce over this hire and I'm sick of it. I've only heard one set of fans telling me how much of a joke this hire was and that's Tennessee fans. Go figure...and...consider the source. Beyond them, I've heard from Florida fans telling me how stellar a pickup this was for us and how it's going to improve the program. Florida State fans I know have told me that this was a tremendous hire. I have USF fans I know that blew my phone up telling me that this may turn out to be the biggest grab the program has seen since Herschel Walker. The day Smart was announced as a hire, a former colleague (who might be the most knowledgable Bama fan I know) texted me and said: "Congrats. Ya'll just secured a championship in the near future. Your wait is ending. Damn sure hate to see Kirby go, but if he has to go, I'm so glad he's going home to you guys and not the Cocks or Auburn."

About your Bowl question. Who the heck could possibly be any bit excited about the bowl game? I'll watch it just to see how BMac finishes out his career here, but otherwise, I'm disinterested in this game to say the least. It's the last holdover from the previous coach that I'm happy to see conclude. Even though I'm a native Florida boy and enjoyed going to Orlando or Tampa to catch another meaningless game in person, I'm sick and tired of Florida becoming our winter post-season retreat.

When I go to Athens next year for a game, or when I drive down to Lexington, I want to make that drive in with a confident knowledge that we're going to kick ass and take names. That's what I want. Not this fake juice that I know has been served up for far too long with such cutsie catchphrases as "we're gonna go play some grown man football," or "we're gonna go out there to compete and play our tails off."

The man coming in to us is coming from a program where hell would literally freeze solid before you'd hear such nonsense coming from them.

Grasp this Dawg fans..think about this for a second...and then tell me that this hire was anything less than superb:

Saban said in a leadership conference I listened to a while back that he gets asked a lot about "the process" at Alabama. (N.B. - Kirby was asked about this in his introductory presser). Saban said that people want to know what the process is and why it's so successful. His answer will give you an insight into what we're getting:

A lot of people wonder what 'the process' entails. It's really straightforward. Our process is to understand human nature and to coach against it. Most people are completely comfortable with average because it's human nature. Average gets people through life. In a student, human nature says if I got an A on this mid-term, but didn't study as hard for the other mid-term and got a C, I'm still sitting at a B average and that's alright. In our world, that's not alright. It's the same with football. If I practice hard in the morning session, I can slack in the afternoon session. That's human nature, and that isn't acceptable to us. 'The process' is hard work, from start to finish. It's a relentless drive for excellence, and it starts and ends with arresting human nature which tells us that good enough is good enough. It isn't. Our players will strive for the best in everything we do, we will out-condition, out-study, out-practice, and out-prepare our opponents and crush that element of human nature that says we're good enough. I demand that all the players embrace this, and everyone on my staff preaches and teaches it. It's really not a complicated concept."

Reading today about what Freeze is doing at Ole Miss. That speels trouble for 2 programs: AU and Miss State. I see the West becoming a Bama, LSU and Ole Miss dominated division. I did mention besides Tom Herman we should look at Freeze because the guy is a great recruiter but already had SEC coaching experience (of course, I am fully behind KS), don't know if Freeze is brilliant or cheats. But not all his players are 5 stars. He takes 3 stars and coaches them up. There are 2 stars on the team starting. That is player development

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CMR didn't know about that in Athens. Remember 5 star Brandon Miller (wasn't he the 5 star from Seminole county who was our last signee that signing day? I believe #1 LB in the nation? A bust.

Freeze will get most of the players that are in Miss., LSU will always lock up La., and Bama will get them from everywhere, So, where does AU and Miss State go?

Nowhere

Hey, I enjoy reading about uga football here!

It was time for Mark Richt to move on. Yins got thumped hard by bama and Florida this year. Those were bad losses.

Still can't understand the disdain I see for the old coach. I read here and agree the sec is the toughest football conference period. Uga was 83-37 over the last 15 years in conference games. Bama, Lsu, and Florida virtually the same conference record over those years. Nobody much better than uga over 15 years.

Dawgs were 30-10 in sec play the last five years. What do you predict the next five. Honest question.

I'm a leader of the pack when it comes to disdain of the former coach and I don't care who doesn't get it.

Winston Churchill once made a comment about few making do with so little. Our former coach made so little with so much.

What do I predict for the future?

Nothing more than the getting the most out of what we got. Had that been true of the previous coach he wouldn't be the "previous coach.

When much is given.. much is expected.

How many times do you have to hear it? Top 5 money... top 10 recruiting classes.. top 5 in talent put in the NFL. WEAK schedule.. yet barely achieving top 25 results. (22nd since 2008)

If you want to defend Richt any more, defend that.

Jeff Sentell did this interview, and it shows that many of the young men understand the nature of college football. Rochester certainly does. Maturity is what I read in the article . . . .

Know that many have read this, for those that haven't, good read from what appears to be a young man with his head fastened tightly.

For sure Kirby Smart will not stand in one spot on the sideline and fiddle with his headset.

Scooby, you seem to be repeating yourself. Just saying.

Don't know when I have enjoyed reading the posts more. This is good "stuff".

www.dawgnation.com/football/recruiting/u...mart-to-dabo-swinney

Buc, I'm actually looking forward to a new football season for the first time in years. Can you imagine.....landing stellar recruits and then actually seeing them coached up and their full potential developed??? A foreign concept lost on the previous regime.

And scooby we were actually 30-12 in SEC play the last 5 years...ignoring the two losses in the SEC championship games doesn't mean they didn't happen