Georgia Bulldogs Countdown to Kickoff: 46 Days

Georgia Football is 46 days away from kickoff to the 2022 season with the first game day set for September 3rd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta against Oregon. The Ducks are going to be led by Dan Lanning, a newly added part of the Kirby Smart coaching tree. And speaking of Smart, he’s the focus of today’s countdown to kickoff. Why you might ask? Well, Smart is 46 years old.

So what has Kirby Smart done in his first 46 years of life? Let’s get a little bit of back story on Coach Smart.

Born on December 23rd, 1975 in Montgomery, Ala., Smart spent the majority of his upbringing in Bainbridge, Ga. There his father, Sonny Smart, was the head coach of the Bainbridge High School Bearcats from 1988 to 1994. He would later move on to coach at Rabun County in 1995 until 2003.

“My dad was a high school coach. I grew up around football. I grew up around players. I got a lot of friends and family back there, and I’m proud of where I’m from,” Smart said. “You ask these guys where they’re from, everybody takes pride in where they’re from. I take a lot of pride in being from south Georgia where we played good football and I grew up around a lot of good football players.”

During his playing days at Bainbridge, Smart had 16 career interceptions. That helped him earn the opportunity to play for the in-state Georgia Bulldogs. While he didn’t quite reach the heights of his 16 high school interceptions, 13 at the collegiate level wasn’t too shabby, earning First-Team All-SEC honors as a senior in 1998 with five in that season alone to lead the league.

A four-time letterman at defensive back playing alongside the likes of Champ Bailey while crossing paths with Mike Bobo and Will Muschamp – both of whom are on his staff now – Smart still ranks sixth in the Georgia record books for career interceptions. He graduated with a bachelors in Finance in 1998.

Smart gave the NFL a go in 1999, signing an undrafted free agent contract with the Indianapolis Colts before being cut during training camp. That led him back to Athens where he served as an administrative assistant before getting his own start in coaching in 2000 at Valdosta State. Smart spent two seasons there, the first as the defensive backs coach before being promoted to defensive coordinator for the second, and went back to school for his master’s degree in Physical Education at Florida State. There he worked as a graduate assistant under Bobby Bowden.

Once Smart graduated, it was time to go get a full-time job in coaching. He joined Nick Saban’s staff at LSU in 2004 after the Tigers had won the BCS National Championship the season before. Muschamp was the defensive coordinator at the time, and Smart coached the defensive backs. He was able to learn from the two defensive masterminds and would ultimately reunite with both of them later in his coaching career.

A one-year stop back in Athens – oddly enough as the running backs coach – was next in 2005 before Smart rejoined Saban, this time in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins. Saban decided to go back to the collegiate level in 2007, and Smart joined him. After one year as the defensive backs coach, he was promoted to defensive coordinator, a title he held for eight seasons. During that time, Smart won the Broyles Award as the nation’s best assistant coach and helped the Crimson Tide to take home four National Championship trophies including back-to-back in 2011 and 2012.

All that has led to Smart being where he’s at today, a winner of his own National Championship in 2021. He took the Georgia job when it came open in 2015, leading the Bulldogs to an 8-5 record and a bowl victory in 2016. Every year since, Georgia has been in a New Year’s Six bowl game including two appearances in the College Football Playoffs, both of which ended in the National Championship Game. Smart is the on brink of receiving his second raise and extension during his time at Georgia and is expected to be one of the highest paid coaches with the latest update to his terms and agreement.

Smart and his wife Mary Beth Lycett met when she helped arrange his trip to interview for the Georgia running backs coaching job in 2005. Lycett was also a four-year letter-winner in Athens, playing for the women’s basketball team from 2000 to 2003. They are the proud parents of 14-year-old twins Weston and Julia and 10-year-old Andrew.

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