Kirby Smart, head coach at Georgia
Photo: Bobak Ha’Eri, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Kirby Smart

Kirby Smart went 123–⁠22 as a head coach, 2016–⁠2026, at Georgia. His teams claim two national titles: Georgia in 2021 and 2022. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 6–⁠0); by them his record is 123–⁠21.

Record
123–⁠22 career
Seasons
11
Schools
1
National titles
2 claimed: 2021 and 2022
Born
Dec 23, 1975
Alma mater
Georgia 1998
Best season
2022 15–⁠0, No. 1

Season by season

Wins and losses each seasonfinal AP rank above★ national titleline: the team’s Elo at season’s end, best 1897 in 2022
SeasonSchoolRecordConference finishBowlAP final
2016Georgia8–⁠5T–2ndLiberty Bowl W
2017Georgia13–⁠21stRose Bowl, CFP Semifinal W; CFP National Championship L2
2018Georgia11–⁠31stSugar Bowl L8
2019Georgia12–⁠21stSugar Bowl W4
2020Georgia8–⁠22ndPeach Bowl W7
2021Georgia14–⁠11stOrange Bowl, CFP Semifinal W; CFP National Championship W1
2022Georgia15–⁠01stPeach Bowl, CFP Semifinal W; CFP National Championship W1
2023Georgia13–⁠11stOrange Bowl W4
2024Georgia11–⁠3T–2ndSugar Bowl, CFP Quarterfinal L6
2025Georgia12–⁠2T–1stSugar Bowl, CFP Quarterfinal L6
2026Georgia6–⁠1 (Wikipedia: 6–⁠0)

Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.

Players he coached

11 more

Devonte Wyatt (No. 28 pick, 2022); Quay Walker (No. 22 pick, 2022); Nolan Smith (No. 30 pick, 2023); Broderick Jones (No. 14 pick, 2023); Amarius Mims (No. 18 pick, 2024); Lewis Cine (No. 32 pick, 2022); Mykel Williams (No. 11 pick, 2025); Monroe Freeling (No. 19 pick, 2026); Rodrigo Blankenship (2019 Lou Groza Award); Ladd McConkey (2023 Wuerffel Trophy); Brett Thorson (2025 Ray Guy Award).

18 of the 29 players from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.

How his teams did

Kind of gameGamesRecord
Against ranked teams6143–⁠18
Against top-10 teams3625–⁠11
Against rivals6954–⁠15
Conference games8673–⁠13
Bowls and playoffs139–⁠4
Decided by 8 points or fewer3826–⁠12
At home6660–⁠6
On the road4337–⁠6
At neutral sites3626–⁠10
As our Elo’s favorite126114–⁠12
As our Elo’s underdog199–⁠10

His own 145 games on file, 2016–⁠2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.

Against other head coaches

CoachRecordTheir schoolsGames
Mark Stoops 2016–⁠202510–⁠0Kentucky10
Gus Malzahn 2016–⁠20205–⁠1Auburn6
Nick Saban 2017–⁠20231–⁠5Alabama6
Josh Heupel 2021–⁠20255–⁠0Tennessee5
Dan Mullen 2017–⁠20214–⁠1Mississippi State, Florida5
Barry Odom 2016–⁠20194–⁠0Missouri4
Eli Drinkwitz 2020–⁠20234–⁠0Missouri4
Clark Lea 2021–⁠20264–⁠0Vanderbilt4
Brent Key 2022–⁠20254–⁠0Georgia Tech4
Derek Mason 2016–⁠20193–⁠1Vanderbilt4

Kirby Smart’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.

Most-faced opponents

OpponentGamesRecord
Auburnseries1210–⁠2
Kentuckyseries1010–⁠0
Tennesseeseries109–⁠1
Floridaseries108–⁠2
Alabamaseries103–⁠7
Georgia Techseries98–⁠1
Missouriseries88–⁠0
Vanderbiltseries87–⁠1

National coaching awards

The awards

National title staffs

Every title staff

The champions’ staffs from 1990 on, as the schools listed them that season: Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages. Roles as the source words them.

How he was hired

  • Hired by Georgia for the 2016 season from Alabama, where he was defensive coordinator. He had a prior connection to the school.

Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.

Career

YearsTeamJob
1999GeorgiaAdministrative assistant
2000Valdosta StateDefensive backs coach
2001Valdosta StateDefensive coordinator
2002–⁠03Florida StateGraduate assistant
2004LSUDefensive backs coach
2005GeorgiaRunning backs coach
2006Miami Dolphins NFLSafeties coach
2007AlabamaAssistant head coach and defensive backs coach
2008–⁠15AlabamaDefensive coordinator
2016–presentGeorgiaHead coach

Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.

Coaching tree

Worked under

Kirby Smart

Assistants who became head coaches

Worked under (4)
Head coachTeamYearsHis job
Jim DonnanGeorgia1999Administrative assistant
Bobby BowdenFlorida State2002–⁠03Graduate assistant
Nick SabanLSU2004Defensive backs coach
Mark RichtGeorgia2005Running backs coach
Nick SabanMiami Dolphins NFL2006Safeties coach
Nick SabanAlabama2007–⁠152007: assistant head coach and defensive backs coach; 2008–⁠15: defensive coordinator
Coached under him, later head coaches (17)
CoachWith himHead coach at
Brian VanGorderGeorgia, 2016: defensive assistantWayne State (MI), Georgia Southern
Dell McGeeGeorgia, 2016–⁠18: assistant head coach and running backs coach; 2019–⁠23: running game coordinator and running backs coachGeorgia Southern, Georgia State
Jim ChaneyGeorgia, 2016–⁠18: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coachTennessee
Mel TuckerGeorgia, 2016–⁠18: defensive coordinator and defensive backs coachColorado, Michigan State
Sam PittmanGeorgia, 2016–⁠18: offensive line coach; 2019: assistant head coach and offensive line coachArkansas, Hutchinson
Shane BeamerGeorgia, 2016–⁠17: tight ends and special teams coachSouth Carolina
Dan LanningGeorgia, 2018: outside linebackers coach; 2019–⁠21: defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coachOregon
Tyson SummersGeorgia, 2018: defensive quality control coachGeorgia Southern, Colorado State
Shawn WatsonGeorgia, 2019: offensive quality control coachWofford, Southern Illinois
Matt LukeGeorgia, 2020–⁠21: assistant head coach and offensive line coachOle Miss
Todd MonkenGeorgia, 2020–⁠22: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coachSouthern Miss, Cleveland Browns
Will MuschampGeorgia, 2021: special teams coordinator; 2022–⁠23: co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach; 2024–⁠25: defensive analystFlorida, South Carolina
Bryan McClendonGeorgia, 2022–⁠23: pass game coordinator and wide receivers coachGeorgia, Oregon
Fran BrownGeorgia, 2022–⁠23: defensive backs coachSyracuse
Mike BoboGeorgia, 2022: offensive analyst; 2023–⁠26: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coachColorado State, South Carolina
Darrell DickeyGeorgia, 2023: offensive assistantNorth Texas, Memphis
Donte WilliamsGeorgia, 2024–⁠26: defensive backs coachUSC
Other assistants under him (14)
CoachWith him
Glenn SchumannGeorgia, 2016–⁠18: inside linebackers coach; 2019–⁠23: co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach; 2024–⁠26: defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach
James ColeyGeorgia, 2016–⁠17, 2024–⁠26: wide receivers coach; 2018: co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2019: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
Kevin SherrerGeorgia, 2016–⁠17: outside linebackers coach
Will WindhamGeorgia, 2016–⁠17: defensive quality control coach
Jay JohnsonGeorgia, 2017–⁠18: offensive quality control coach
Cortez HanktonGeorgia, 2018: wide receivers coach; 2019–⁠21: pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach
Austin ArmstrongGeorgia, 2019: quality control coach
Charlton WarrenGeorgia, 2019–⁠20: defensive backs coach
Buster FaulknerGeorgia, 2020–⁠22: quality control coach and quarterbacks coach
John JancekGeorgia, 2020–⁠21: defensive quality control coach
Jahmile AddaeGeorgia, 2021: defensive backs coach
Brandon StreeterGeorgia, 2023–⁠25: offensive assistant; 2026: quarterbacks coach
Andrew ThackerGeorgia, 2024: defensive analyst; 2025–⁠26: nickels and stars
Travaris RobinsonGeorgia, 2024–⁠26: co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach

From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.

Pay

YearSchoolJobContract payState payroll
2024Georgiahead coach$13,803,000
2023Georgiahead coach$12,200,941
2022Georgiahead coach$13,253,751
2021Georgiahead coach$7,955,000
2020Georgiahead coach$6,900,000
2019Georgiahead coach$500,025
2018Georgiahead coach$500,000
2017Georgiahead coachbonuses up to $1,800,000; $75,000 in bonuses paid; buyout $10,800,000$3,753,600 USA Today$6,425,000
2016Georgiahead coachbonuses up to $1,800,000$3,753,600 USA Today$400,000
2015Alabamadefensive coordinatorbonuses up to $250,000$1,501,500 USA Today
2014Alabamadefensive coordinatorbonuses up to $250,000$1,355,850 USA Today

USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–⁠17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.

Open Georgia (State of Georgia, unaudited): salary paid in the fiscal year from July to June, shown against the season inside it.

Contract pay and the state payroll differ by design: one is the season’s contract, the other what the state paid in a calendar or fiscal year, so a December hire’s short first year, bonuses and camp money paid as special payments, and pay that ran on after he left all show in the payroll.

Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.

How he coached

Smart’s teams went for it on 17% of fourth downs and on 30% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 46% of plays and took 28.0 seconds a play, 2016–⁠2026.

SeasonWent for it on fourthWhen the model said goPass rateSeconds a playEPA a play
2016 13 g13 of 103 13%22%45%27.90.00
2017 15 g12 of 94 13%15%34%29.3+0.13
2018 14 g13 of 76 17%26%41%28.0+0.22
2019 14 g10 of 103 10%13%46%27.9+0.07
2020 10 g13 of 66 20%41%48%25.9+0.07
2021 15 g14 of 87 16%24%45%28.1+0.13
2022 15 g16 of 82 20%35%49%28.1+0.24
2023 14 g11 of 67 16%43%50%28.4+0.26
2024 14 g27 of 94 29%47%57%26.5+0.11
2025 14 g21 of 89 24%52%44%28.1+0.12
2026 7 g3 of 31 10%9%49%29.3+0.22
All 145 g153 of 892 17%30%46%28.0+0.14

His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.