Paul Finebaum considers whether Kirby Smart’s success eats at Nick Saban
Alabama head coach Nick Saban has had many assistants throughout his career move on to the head coaching ranks, but nobody has done it quite like Georgia head coach Kirby Smart.
Smart and his Bulldogs have been on a dominant two-year stretch featuring a 29-1 record and back-to-back championships representing the SEC, a conference that Saban has reigned supreme of for over a decade.
Following SEC Media Days, ESPN’s Matt Barrie and Paul Finebaum spoke about the head coaching duo and if it’s possible that Saban may have some resentment towards his former protege for being on the opposing side of his recent success.
“Yeah, and I think Saban was the last person to beat Kirby Smart in what truly was an insignificant win as things go, because all it did was give Nick Saban a chance to lose to Kirby Smart again three weeks later and get this thing started,” Finebaum said.
Saban was the last person to defeat Smart, securing the SEC title in 2021 only to be defeated by Georgia in the national championship game a little over a month later. The two have not squared off since, but during that time Smart has bolstered his impressive resume even more.
“So I think it’s an issue and I do think Nick Saban will address it, you’ll see sit-downs with Saban where he’s more relaxed and you can’t avoid that question,” Finebaum said. “He’ll say all the, ‘Oh I’m so happy for Kirby, you know, we love Kirby.’ But I mean we’re talking about something now that if Kirby accomplishes it, Nick Saban didn’t accomplish.”
There’s no doubt that Smart would put himself in rarified air if he was able to lead the Bulldogs to a third straight national championship this upcoming year, as Georgia would become the first team since Minnesota in the 1930s to do so. A feat that even Finebaum admits would be impressive compared to the illustrious career of Saban.
“I mean Matt, winning two championships is great, not that many people have done it. Winning three? Three in a row? You cover golf, there are a lot of guys at Top Golf right now who have a major championship, there aren’t very many that have two, or three, or four, or five,” Finebaum joked. “I mean it really changes once you get that second one, and if you get a third one in a row and the debate is on.”
But at the end of the day, Finebaum believes the real kicker is that Smart has used a similar blueprint that Saban has in Tuscaloosa but in Athens, and for the past two seasons it’s been more successful.
“And it’s not really relevant, but Kirby Smart has really taken what Saban did so well ,and I think the thing that is gnawing at Nick Saban more than anything, is that Kirby Smart’s program in Athens looks a lot more like Alabama right now than Nick Saban’s program,” Finebaum concluded.
The two coaches do not square off in the regular season this year, but a Georgia versus Alabama matchup in the postseason is always a possibility. And one that would have extremely high stakes not just for both teams, but for the joint legacy of Kirby Smart and Nick Saban.