Kirby Smart recalls hilarious story about best lesson learned working under Nick Saban

With Nick Saban retiring in January following 17 seasons at Alabama, many have officially crowned Georgia‘s Kirby Smart as the best head coach in college football coming off of an impressive three-year run. Leading the Bulldogs to two national championships and a 42-2 record in the last three seasons.

But before Smart reached college football’s mountain top, he worked under Saban for nine seasons at Alabama. Learning from the man who most regarded as the greatest college head coach of all time.

Smart joined ESPN’s Marty Smith and Ryan McGee at SEC Media Days last month, asked what the best lesson he learned from Saban was and telling a hilarious story in the process.

“That’s a pork chop.”

— Kirby Smart on Nick Saban’s best lessons. pic.twitter.com/CCmVI5pW0p

— Marty Smith (@MartySmithESPN) August 15, 2024

“I was thinking today when I got on stage I was going to talk about the story where we were sitting in a staff meeting once,” Smart said. “Nick was asking the staff if we thought any of the players were tired.”

Saban was in attendance at SEC Media Days once again, but this time as an analyst for SEC Network. With many head coaches giving him his flowers and telling stories about his impact on them when they got on the podium. But Smart’s story shared with Smith and McGee may top them all.

“‘We look tired, y’all think the legs are tired? You think they’re tired?'” Smart said as if he were Saban. “He’s asking and asking, nobody’s really saying anything. And this coach beside me starts drawing a little figure, and I thought it looked similar to like the United States map.

“And I said, ‘What is that?'”

“He said, ‘That’s a pork chop, he’s dangling a pork chop to see if one of y’all will bite on that pork chop.'”

The comment got a big laugh out of Smith and McGee, but that day Smart did not bite the pork chop laid out by Saban. Instead, Smar learned a valuable lesson in the process.

“I didn’t say a word, and we had a young coach in there that said, ‘Yeah Coach, I think their legs are tired.’ Man, he went off. He lit him up. It was great for a young coach to sit back and shut your mouth,” Smart concluded.

Smart’s years of sitting back and shutting his mouth have clearly paid off. He’s taken lessons learned from Saban and others in his career and used them along with his own way of doing things to take the Georgia program to new heights. Entering the preseason as the No. 1 ranked team in the country for a second straight season with high expectations.