Mike Bobo thinks being an assistant is easier after working as head coach

Riding in the passenger seat can be comfortable. Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has certainly learned to enjoy the ride.

“When you come back and you’re not running your own program, it’s a little bit easier,” Bobo said on Thursday. “You’ve sat in that chair as a head coach and you know everything that that head coach is dealing with, not just in respect to practice and planning for games.

“There’s so much that comes across a head coach’s desk. While before, you wonder why the head coach might do something or why we’re not doing this, and, really, you don’t know what all a head coach has to balance.”

Bobo boasts the experience to back up his claims. From 2015-19, Bobo was the head coach at Colorado State. Bobo followed up the act by serving as the offensive coordinator at South Carolina in 2020 and Auburn in 2021.

Bobo believes his time leading the Rams improved his skills as a head coach’s right-hand man.

“It makes you a better assistant, knowing when to voice your opinion. Maybe walking in there and saying something private. Or the head coach can ask you questions and you say, ‘We might do it this way,'” Bobo said. “You know how to be a good soldier because you’ve been in that chair and you know what your responsibility is, and your No. 1 responsibility is to be loyal to the head coach.”

Bobo only had to spend one season loyal to head coach Kirby Smart before being promoted to offensive coordinator this offseason. As UGA’s quality control analyst last season, Bobo boosted the Bulldogs to rank top five nationally in both scoring offense (41.1 ppg) and total offense (501.1 ypg).

Mike Bobo feels at home

While Bobo couldn’t have known how quickly he’d rise through Georgia’s ranks, he always knew he wanted to be in Athens.

“First of all, there wasn’t an official opportunity to come back here three years ago. I made a decision to go to South Carolina with Coach Muschamp and, unfortunately, that didn’t work out,” Bobo explained. “This time, after Auburn, I had opportunities to go other places. But I wanted to go somewhere where I could continue learning as a coach.

“I always wanted to be under Coach Smart, or the Coach Saban tree, and learn how they practice. How they organize, how they went about things. And I even tell recruits that you want to go somewhere where you’re developed,” Bobo said. “I came here last year to try and get developed more as a coach.”