WATCH: Matt Luke reveals reason to step away from Georgia program

Georgia Bulldogs offensive line coach Matt Luke stepped down from his post after the national championship, opting to “shift” his “focus to spending more time” with his family.

Luke, 45, simply said he needed to step away from the game of football, which can be taxing for coaches and players alike — but after stepping down, Luke had not provided any further details on his decision outside of a relatively brief statement. On Monday, however, Luke gave a bit more insight into the decision in an exclusive interview with Rusty Mansell of 247 Sports.

“Coaching football is all I’ve ever done my entire life. From the time that I graduated, I’ve been a ball coach. So, there’s a lot of fear and nervousness about it, because you’ve never done anything else,” Luke said, via a clip shared by Mansell. “But I just didn’t want to have any regrets. My oldest son is 14, my youngest one is 10 and I just didn’t want to have any regrets about seeing them grow up and being there. I’ve been blessed and fortunate in my career to go out and win a national championship. I told Kirby that I was going to try and help him win one, it just happened a little faster than I thought. But it was a very tough decision, and what made it even harder was the way that people treated me here, from the time I got here in Athens… Everybody was first class from the time I got here, and made it a very, very tough decision. Probably the hardest thing was walking into that offensive line room and talking to those players.”

EXCLUSIVE Interview today at Noon with Matt Luke. He talks about his decision to step away as a coach, what makes Kirby Smart different and much more. Tune in @Dawgs247 to catch this special Junkyard Dawgcast pod.. @Dawgs247 @247Sports pic.twitter.com/XrEwavEpu1

— Rusty Mansell (@Mansell247) March 7, 2022

Luke, 45, came from Ole Miss to Georgia in 2020, where he served as co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach before his promotion to head coach with the Rebels. He came to Georgia to replace Sam Pittman, who accepted the head-coaching role at Arkansas, and Luke quickly departed to take time away from football.

Matt Luke releases statement on stepping down at Georgia

After announcing his intention to step down as the Georgia Bulldogs offensive line coach, Matt Luke released a statement about his decision.

“Today, after much prayer and conversation with my family, I have decided to step away from coaching and shift my focus to spending more time with my family,” said Luke. “I want to thank coach Smart, his wife Mary Beth, and the entire Georgia family for an incredible past two seasons. I also appreciate coach Smart’s support in my decision today. He’s a great coach, and I’ll always cherish his friendship. It has been an honor of a lifetime to be able to win a national championship with this staff and these players, and something I will never forget.”

Luke cited family reasons as the main proponent of his decision to walk away from the game of football at this time. Although he is leaving his Georgia football family, for the time being, the team and head coach Kirby Smart thanked him for his work done with the offensive line. His offensive line unit that gave up just 16 sacks over the 15 games this past season, and in the college football semifinal against the Michigan Wolverines, Georgia denied the potential number one overall draft pick in the 2022 draft, Aidan Hutchinson, and the Wolverines defense a single sack.