Kirby Smart shares what it means to help others achieve their goals

Kirby Smart has had his fair share of success in coaching. He got started at a young age and quickly made his way up the rankings. With stops at several of the sports’ top schools including Florida State, LSU, Alabama and of course Georgia, Smart’s been a part of six National Championships. However, that’s not how he defines success.

To Smart, his job as a coach is to get the most out of each group – and individual – that he’s given so that the whole is greater than the sum of all parts.

“For me, it’s getting the most out of what you’re given. I think it’s a loose term, probably not a great term but it’s about maximizing what you’re given and getting the most out of it. That, for me, would define what success is,” Smart said.

“Everybody has their own terms. I think about when I was a young coach and I said, ‘Okay, my goal in coaching is to be a defensive coordinator.’ Then at 24 I was a defensive coordinator at Valdosta State. Then I was like, ‘Okay, my goal is to be an SEC defensive coordinator.’ Then at 30, 32 somewhere around then I was an SEC defensive coordinator. I was like, ‘I’m not aiming high enough,'” he continued. “I had decided I wasn’t going to decide if I was successful or not by whether I was ever a head coach. I was comfortable being a defensive coordinator, especially with the salaries and the pay that defensive coordinators were getting at that time, I didn’t have to be a head coach to find success for me and then that happened. That opportunity presented itself. Then it became, ‘Okay well, I’m the Georgia head coach now. I’m comfortable if we have success and do this. We may never win a national title while I’m here, but I’m not going to define my success or failures on whether or not you win a national title.’ Now we’ve done that, twice, so I try to keep it pretty general on asking, ‘Did we maximize and get the most out of what we were given?’ I do that in terms of football players, the weight room, relationships with kids. ‘Did I maximize my relationship with Nolan Smith while he was here? Was it a successful relationship?’ I measure it in a one-on-one status and a team status to see if I got the most out of it.”

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Smart’s philosophy shows on a day to day basis. He’s not concerned about comparing his program to any other. Instead, he wants to get the most out of it that is possible for his specific group. That means helping others meet their goals and make dreams into realities.

Sure, he might accomplish things along the way too, but the longtime assistant and now head coach entering his eighth season on the job at Georgia knows that players and parents from around the country put their faith in him to get to the next level. It’s his responsibility to help them do so.

“There’s no shortcuts … there is no substitute for a relationship over time. It’s an age old theory that you are going to be who you invest in. They’re going to care more about you, and you’re going to care more about them when you spend time together,” Smart said. “We spend tons of time together, and I think intentional time is important. It’s one thing to go over and just ask a guy how his mom is doing every day. You’ve got to sit down and talk to them and have meaningful conversations, letting them have the freedom to speak. So much of America and business and the corporate world is somebody talking at you instead of listening to you. I always want to be a really good listener.”

“One of the most important questions that you can ask someone – player, coach, employee, friend – is, ‘How can I help you get where you want to go?’ Ultimately that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to facilitate a coach to reach his dreams, a staffer to reach his next goal, a player to reach his individual goals as well as the team goals,” he continued. “I can’t have a great relationship with someone if they don’t know that I care about them and their family and where they get. I think I’m good at criss crossing with somebody in the hallway, at a weight workout, at stretch, at flex. It’s a chance to visit with guys, but you have to invest the time and one thing that we have during the offseason is time to grow those relationships.”

Smart and Georgia are going for three in a row this fall. The Bulldogs are considered the favorite by Vegas, and if they accomplish that feat, they’d be the first to do so since the 1930s when Minnesota won three straight in 1934, 1935 and 1936.