Georgia makes Kirby Smart head coaching hire official

Kirby Smart officially has returned home.

Georgia announced Smart will be the 25th head coach in program history Sunday. Smart, who has been the Alabama defensive coordinator for the past eight years, will replace Mark Richt, who was fired one week ago.

The Georgia Athletic Association board of directors agreed on the hire at 12:30 p.m.

"It's an honor and privilege to return home to the University of Georgia and my home state," Smart said in a statement. "I'm deeply appreciative of the faith president (Jere W.) Morehead, (athletics director) Greg McGarity and the athletic board executive committee have demonstrated in asking me to lead one of the truly great college football programs in the country. I also want to thank (Alabama head coach Nick) Saban. I have been fortunate to spend 11 seasons with him as my mentor and have learned a tremendous amount from him as a coach and teacher. I'm honored and excited for the opportunity at Georgia and promise high energy, effort every day and hard work every minute on the part of all our coaches, staff and student-athletes."

Smart will have big shoes to fill, considering Richt won 145 games, nine bowls and two SEC championships in 15 years. Smart is familiar with the Georgia landscape, having played for the Bulldogs from 1995-98 and spending the 2005 season as the Bulldogs’ running backs coach.

Smart has enjoyed tremendous success under Saban. Since becoming the Crimson Tide’s defensive coordinator in 2008, Smart’s units have finished in the top five in total defense six times (with Alabama ranking second this season).

Smart first hooked up with Saban in 2004, when he joined his LSU staff as a defensive backs coach. After spending 2005 in Georgia, he joined Saban’s staff with the Miami Dolphins as a safeties coach in 2006. After Saban’s one-and-done year in the NFL, Smart returned with his mentor to the college ranks as Alabama’s defensive backs coach in 2007.

Following his initial season at Alabama, Smart was promoted to defensive coordinator.

"First and foremost, I'm surprised it's taken this long,"said Florida head coach Jim McElwain, who worked with Smart as Alabama's offensive coordinator. "And he is going to be an outstanding coach and head coach. Both of us have had the opportunity to learn from one of the best. And it's not just the football part. Sometimes it's all the things that touches the desk of that head football coach, and that's why the training I think is so invaluable."

Known for being a detail-oriented coach, Smart will immediately have high expectations from the onset, considering he’s taking over a team that went 9-3 during the 2015 season.

"He was in a different role as an assistant coach but I got to know him because he worked on the offensive side," former Georgia quarterback D.J. Shockley said, who was on the 2005 team Smart helped coach. "I saw how hard he worked, the time he put in with the running backs coach. He was always paying attention to the details. He had a lot of energy, a lot of intensity. He was very outgoing."

Smart’s hire comes a day after Alabama’s 29-15 win over Florida in the SEC championship game. Alabama’s defense held the Gators – who struggled throughout the season – to 180 total yards. Smart’s defense also stifled Georgia’s offense, thought at the time to be one of the top groups in the country, to 299 total yards in a 38-10 rout on Oct. 3 – which included an 83-yard run from Nick Chubb after the game was long decided.

Since 2004, Smart has only spent one year away from Saban's staff, which caused Saban to become a bit emotional prior to the conference title game kicking off.

"His leadership with what he's responsible for, which is the defense, for us has been outstanding. Got good relationships with the players," Saban said. "They respond well to him. He's sound in how he goes about the things that we do and we've worked together for a long, long time. He's as good an assistant coach and as loyal an assistant coach as I've ever had on my staff."

Smart, a native of Bainbridge, recorded 13 interceptions during his playing days at Georgia. He earned first-team All-SEC honors as a senior in 1998. Coaching Georgia’s running backs in 2005, his group averaged 162.2 yards per game, which ranked third in the SEC.

"It was critical to identify a person who would focus on a specific, defined process of developing championship football teams on and off the playing field," McGarity said. "Someone who understands the true meaning of a student-athlete by actually experiencing it himself -- someone who competed at the highest levels on the playing field, was mentored by some of the very best in the game, and understood the specific ingredients necessary to excel at the highest levels of college athletics -- Kirby Smart fits that profile. I believe Kirby Smart is the perfect fit for the University of Georgia."

Smart is a finalist for the 2015 Broyles Award, which is given to the top assistant coach in the country. Smart won the award in 2009 and was also named the AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year in 2012.

Morehead said he interviewed Smart on Sunday morning and agreed with McGarity's recommendation to hire him.

"I am pleased to welcome Kirby, his wife, Mary Beth, and their three children back home to the University of Georgia, and I look forward to supporting him in his new role as our head football coach," Morehead said.

This story was originally published December 6, 2015 at 12:33 PM with the headline "Georgia makes Kirby Smart head coaching hire official."