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 cites 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. An offensive line unit that gave up just 16 sacks over their 15 games played. And in the college football semifinal against the Michigan Wolverines, they denied the potential number one overall draft pick in the 2022 draft, Aidan Hutchinson, and the Wolverines defense a single sack in the came.

Kirby Smart on Luke stepping away

The Bulldog head coach had some kind parting words for his former staffer. Attached to Luke’s statement was the one made by Georgia’s national championship-winning head coach Kirby Smart.

 “Matt Luke has made the decision to step away from coaching football,” Smart added.  “He has been an invaluable part of our staff and played a great role in helping us win a National Championship. We are so appreciative of everything he has done for Georgia Football.  Matt, Ashley, and his children have been, and will continue to be, an important part of the Bulldog family and Athens community. We’re working on finding a coach that will continue to develop our young men and build our strong foundation with the offensive line.”

Before coming to Georgia, Luke had built a long history as a successful offensive line coach at Murray State (2000-01), Ole Miss (2002-05 and 20012-16), Tennessee (2006-07) and Duke (2006-11). In addition to coaching offensive line, Luke held co-offensive coordinator titles while at Duke and during his second stint with Ole Miss. Under his direction, the Rebels set program records for scoring, touchdowns, total offense, passing yards and passing touchdowns, leading the SEC and ranking top-10 nationally in scoring, total offense and passing during the 2015 seasons. Furthermore, Luke helped coach future NFL Draft selections Laremy Tunsil and Fahn Cooper on the offensive line. Tunsil and Cooper are among the 42 all-league selections and 27 NFL draftees that Luke coached prior to his time at UGA.