Georgia HC Kirby Smart on Texas: "It’s extremely tough, the fact that they’re in our conference"
DESTIN, Fla. — There’s no Nick Saban at this year’s edition of the SEC Spring Meetings. The six-time national champion head coach who won 11 SEC titles in 22 seasons stepped down following the 2023 campaign, and the lack of his presence was something various SEC head coaches from Texas’ Steve Sarkisian to Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin touched on throughout the week.
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The lack of Saban means one of the game’s larger-than-life presences is no longer in the coaches meetings that are held in an attempt to find solutions to the sport’s pressing issues. But that doesn’t mean those meetings are without a leading voice.
Stepping into that role is Georgia’s Kirby Smart, who, as the second-longest tenured SEC head coach and with two SEC and national titles to his name, makes sense as Saban’s successor at least in the meeting room. With the Texas Longhorns moving into the league and a trip to Austin on Georgia’s 2024 schedule, Smart was asked earlier this week about his perception of Sarkisian’s program.
“It’s extremely tough, the fact that they’re in our conference,” Smart said. “They’re further away. They’re a powerful football team. They’ve got a great state to recruit in.”
A Sarkisian-called offense has faced a Smart defense just once, when the 2020 Crimson Tide routed Georgia 41-24 in the SEC Championship. Sarkisian was offensive coordinator for Saban that season, the last Sarkisian spent at Alabama before heading to Texas.
Of course, Texas is joining the league along with Red River rival Oklahoma. Smart noted both the Longhorns and the Sooners coming into the SEC changes the conference and makes it more difficult.
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“Both their coaching staffs are really good,” Smart said. “Sark and Brent (Venables) both have SEC experience, with Brent being over in the ACC and playing at Clemson he’s played SEC teams forever. They both know the climate their jumping into and we think it makes our conference better. The brand extends further west.”
Texas will host Georgia on Saturday, October 19. The Bulldogs are likely to enter the season ranked No. 1 and could become the fourth team to ever venture into Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium as the top team in the land. The Sooners aren’t on UGA’s schedule in 2024 or 2025, though they could be added to the Bulldogs’ slate as early as the 2026 season.
Despite only observing those programs from afar in recent years, Smart knows they’ll make strong additions to the SEC.
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“Two tremendous programs,” Smart said. “When you add those two in, it makes the scheduling much tougher.”
