Kirby Smart still grateful for offer from Samford's Chris Hatcher
Kirby Smart got his start on Chris Hatcher’s 2000 Valdosta State football staff. Smart is now a National Championship FBS head coach, and Hatcher leads Samford‘s program in the FCS.
Will Muschamp recommended Smart for an entry-level position on Hatcher’s upstart staff paying $5,000.
“(Hatcher) later promoted me to $10,000 after I did academics and a salary cap on Division II, which you work off of equivalencies, you don’t have full rides,” Smart said at SEC Media Days.
The job entailed more than just X’s and O’s. But without the gritty start, Smart likely misses out on some well-earned perspective.
“I could tell you about a 20-hour bus ride I took to Arkadelphia,” Smart said.
“I can tell you about Texarkana, all the places I went in Mississippi that I didn’t know existed. It’s where I cut my teeth as a coach. There were some really long bus rides. We built our own lockers.”
Fast forward 22 years, and Smart’s built something else: one of the premier college football programs in the country
Kirby Smart isn’t the kind of coach, or person, who will forget where he came from.
Even though he’s the second-highest-paid head coach in the sport, all those experiences and hours spent in a bus seat have their way of sticking with you.
“I learned a lot while I worked at Valdosta State. You only learn trial by fire, and I certainly appreciate Coach Hatcher for giving me that opportunity,” Smart said.
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The Smart-Samford connection goes beyond the early days of his career.
Sonny Smart will cheer for both Bulldogs this Saturday.
“(Hatcher)’s at Samford, which is my father’s alma mater. My dad played at Samford and was a college football player there. So it’s always unique when we get to play Samford, because my dad gets to pull for his old school. Hatcher is a good friend. He’s done a tremendous job.”
This is the second Georgia – Samford matchup of the Smart era
Georgia beat Samford 42-14 in the Dawgs’ 2017 National Championship runner-up season.
The Dawgs just beat Notre Dame in a 20-19 South Bend thriller the week before.
Once again, Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs come off of a statement win over a power-five opponent – it just wasn’t nearly as close against Oregon.
Whether it’s genuine respect for Hatcher, Samford, ‘coach speak,’ or a combination of the three, Smart won’t take his opportunities to speak about the other Bulldogs lightly.
They gave Florida all it wanted in The Swamp last season, in a 70-52 rock fight.
“I think if you look and see what they did last year against Florida, and throwing the ball all over the field and scoring points, they did an incredible job,” Smart said this week.
“For them, for their players, this is an opportunity to play on a really large stage. And Chris Hatcher does a great job of getting his team prepared for moments like this and confidence in throwing the ball.”
Chris Hatcher did a great job of getting Kirby Smart prepared for some big moments, too.
But I don’t see ‘Build Football Lockers’ popping up on his Georgia to-do list any time soon.
