Kirby Smart on avoiding complacency ahead of 3-peat opportunity: 'We expect to be good at' UGA

With back-to-back championships under its belt, success is the standard at Georgia. Head coach Kirby Smart will accept nothing less.

“We expect to be good at the University of Georgia. We want sustained success,” Smart said at SEC Media Days. “We have to do that by winning every day. And that’s not going to change whether we win [the championship] or not this year.”

Smart knows the dangers of complacency. Before building a dynasty in Athens, Smart was the defensive coordinator at Alabama from 2008-15. During that time, Alabama also won the National Championship (at that time, the BCS Bowl) in back-to-back seasons.

Nonetheless, complacency struck in 2013. Instead of finding a three-peat, Smart watched Auburn‘s Chris Davis run back a 109-yard missed field goal to end the Crimson Tide’s chances of reaching the National Championship for a third year in a row.

Although the memory is certainly still within Smart, he claims he doesn’t think about it.

“I can’t even remember that far back. I’ll be honest with you. I don’t remember that next season or anything that carried over from that season. Because you’re not thinking about the last season. Sometimes you guys want to make it about ‘what are you going to learn?’ ‘How are you going to combat this?’

“All we’re thinking about is the next 24 hours. Like, how can we get better in the next 24 hours? I’m not sitting here thinking of some motivating factor. People are like, ‘What are you going to tell your team this year? You gonna tell them people are saying you’re gonna be 7-5?’ No, I’ve never said that,” Smart said.

It’s safe to assume Georgia won’t be 7-5 no matter what strategies Smart employs. Per ESPN, Georgia will bring back 52% of its offense this season and 70% of its defense. The Bulldogs should be as dangerous as ever in the 2023 season, and Smart will ensure that.

“There’s a lot of things we can do better. We can play much better pass defense later in the season. We can grow as a team. Better our special teams assets. This is like a constant improvement for us,” Smart said.

See how much Smart improved his team this offseason when Georgia takes the field against UT Martin in its season opener on Sept. 2.