Mike Bobo hire gives Georgia potential to continue with 'the system'

Georgia announced the hire of Mike Bobo as its next offensive coordinator yesterday, and it’s a talking point on today’s episode of The Inside Scoop. On3’s Josh Newberg is joined by columnist Jesse Simonton in the “Coaches Corner” to discuss the move, one that Simonton believes is a good move for the Bulldogs.

“I would say that I was not surprised Mike Bobo was tabbed as Georgia’s next offensive coordinator. I think this was teased about a year earlier when he was put on staff as a senior analyst,” Simonton said. “It’s going to be hard for them to replicate what they did under Todd Monken. That doesn’t necessarily mean that this is a bad hire or a gamble by Kirby Smart. It’s a safe bet. Georgia’s staff has continuity. They have that trust, they have that chemistry. Just bumping up Bobo, it made a lot of sense.”

“Todd Monken, I think he really helped change or kind of alter Kirby Smart’s perspective on how to view his offensive philosophy. Ever since he brought him in after that 2019 season Georgia has kind of become a rocket ship,” he continued. “The last two years they’ve had one of the most efficient offenses in the country. On a down to down basis they’ve been ruthless in terms of getting that seven, eight, nine yards. Always in the top of metrics in terms of success rate, yards per play, scoring. Todd Monken was a wizard play caller. We saw it against TCU in the National Championship Game, so it’s going to be hard for Mike Bobo to just step in and do exactly what Monken did but I do think he’ll be able to keep the train rolling with the athletes and playmakers Georgia has.”

Under Monken’s watch, the Bulldogs had the nation’s No. 9 scoring offense in 2021 en route to the program’s first National Championship in 41 years. They averaged 38.6 points per game. Georgia improved to No. 4 nationally in scoring offense in 2022 as it went back to back on the title front. It averaged 41.1 points per game and became the second offense in school history to average more than 40 per contest.

As for Bobo, this won’t be his first stop in the SEC. In fact, it won’t be the first time he’s been in Athens either. A former Georgia quarterback, Bobo was on staff under Mark Richt for 14 seasons, holding the title of offensive coordinator the final eight from 2007 to 2014. He won the 2012 Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach, and the Bulldogs’ 2014 offense was Georgia’s best in school history, still holding the school’s single-season scoring record. After the 2014 season Bobo was hired as the head coach at Colorado State. He returned to the SEC in 2020 as the offensive coordinator at South Carolina and spent 2021 in the same position at Auburn. This past season Bobo served as an offensive analyst for Georgia.

For fans that are concerned by Bobo’s past, specifically his last two stops at South Carolina and Auburn, Simonton says it’s like comparing apples to oranges. Georgia simply has more talent for him to work with which should make the overall job easier.

“I would push back a little bit on that. I think it’s an apples to oranges situation,” he said. “Much like Alabama, Georgia has become a system. The offense? That is the system. You’re not running the Mike Bobo system at Georgia, you are running the Georgia offensive system. It’s notable that he’s going to come in and the terminology’s not going to change, the playbook’s not going to change. He’ll put his flare and kind of fingerprints on it, but the fact that it’s not a whole rebrand or rebuild I think it kind of softens the blow a little bit. He’s not going to be working with Luke Doty at quarterback like he had at South Carolina or the turnstile offensive lines at Auburn.”

“Georgia did not upgrade because I think Todd Monken was the best offensive coordinator in the country. You can only go down from there, but I don’t think a safe hire makes it a bad bet.”